[OPEN-ILS-DEV] "Choose a library to search" behavior in the opac

[Mike Rylander]

On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 12:46 AM, Jason Etheridge <jason at esilibrary.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 11:04 AM, Michele Morgan <mmorgan at noblenet.org> wrote:
>> We have the following setup in our 2.0.6 test system:
>>
>> Our Org tree is set up as:
>>
>> - Consortium
>> -- System
>> --- Branch
>> ---- Department
>>
>> In our copies, we have set the Owning Lib (asset.call_number.owning_lib) at
>> the Department level and the Circulation Library (asset.copy.circ_lib) set
>> at the Branch level.
>
> Interesting.  This is the first time I've seen such an arrangement
> (owning library being a child of the circ library).  Usually, the
> owning lib and the circ lib are the same, though the circ lib will
> change for rotating and floating collections.
>
>> With this setup, we've been able to create circulation policies that work as
>> we intend based on the Owning Lib (Department). Also, the copies don't
>> transit when checked in at a workstation registered to the branch. This all
>> works well.
> <snip>
>
> I assume avoiding transits is the big motivator here?  Hrmm.  It may
> be worthwhile to develop a setting for suppressing transits if the
> check-in library is within a certain proximity to the item circulating
> library.  Or a field or mapping table that says treat lib A as lib B
> for the purpose of transits, etc.  That may be easier than re-working
> the OPAC and associated searches.  Then your circ libs can equal your
> owning libs and everything else will just work.
>

I would suggest against YAOUS (yet another org unit setting) or
equivalence mapping.

How about, instead, adding a parent field to asset.copy_location to
allow a hierarchical setup.  Since Shelving Location
(asset.copy_location) is already a filterable field you could then
create a top level Shelving Location for each Department and then
create sub-locations under those.  Then, teach search about this
hierarchical nature and search "down" the tree when given a non-leaf
location.

You could approximate this today by embedding the department name a
the front of the shelving location, but that's slightly more messy,
perhaps.

-- 
Mike Rylander
 | VP, Research and Design
 | Equinox Software, Inc. / Your Library's Guide to Open Source
 | phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
 | email:  miker at esilibrary.com
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