[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] ***SPAM*** Inquiry for various circulation enhancements

[Kathy Lussier]

Hi all,

As we’ve been working with our Evergreen test installations in preparation
for our networks’ move to Evergreen in 2011-12, we’ve identified several
possible enhancements we are interested in implementing. We wanted to share
these ideas with the community to see if there is any interest in this
development, if there are suggestions for improving upon these enhancements,
or if there is any overlap with a current development project. Most of the
enhancements listed below are related to circulation, and there are more
details for some at http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/2217. 

OPTION TO CONFIGURE CIRC RULES TO FOLLOW OWNING LIBRARY OR CIRCULATING
LIBRARY - My understanding is that when using the new in-db circulation
rules, the rules will follow the policies of the circulating library with no
way to configure the system to follow the rules of the owning library. I
would be thrilled to find out we have missed something here, but, if not, we
propose an enhancement that would allow consortia to configure circulation
rules to go by the owning library's policy when using in-db rules.

MAKE PATRON ADDRESSES ASSOCIATED WITH A DATE THAT MAKES THEM ACTIVE/INACTIVE
- Many of our libraries are in communities with large seasonal populations.
We also have several academic libraries that may find this feature useful.
This enhancement would provide an option to add an active date range for an
address in the user record and provide a mechanism to automatically switch
patron addresses to active or inactive based on that date.

GRACE PERIODS FOR ORG UNITS AND CIRCULATION MODIFIERS - Grace periods for
fines are currently set for the entire consortium. This enhancement would
allow consortia to set different grace periods for different libraries and,
within those library, different grace periods for specific items.

COLLECT FINES AT CHECK IN WHEN RETURNING OVERDUE ITEMS - This enhancement
would provide a one-step method for getting to the user's bills record from
the check-in window.

SYSTEM PROVIDES PROMPTS BEFORE CLOSING DATA ENTRY SCREENS - Across the
system, we would like to see prompts to save data before data entry screens
are closed to protect against the accidental loss of data.

LAST DAY OF AUTHENTICATION ADDED TO PATRON RECORD - This enhancement would
add an authentication date and client's service name to the user’s record
when a patron uses a third-party product that authenticates against
Evergreen using the SIP2 protocol.  This date can then be included in a
query along with the last-checkout date as a measure to determine if a
patron record should be deleted.

LOGGING THE LAST EDITOR AND CREATOR FOR A USER RECORD - This enhancement
would store information about the creator and last editor of a user record
and display this information in the user interface for the record.

LOGGING USER INFORMATION FOR TRANSIT TRANSACTIONS- This enhancement would
store the user name for the logged-in user and workstation whenever a copy
is received from or placed into transit.

Thank you in advance for any feedback you can offer. We'll probably be
sending more ideas for enhancements out to the list shortly.

Have a nice weekend!
Kathy Lussier

-------------------------------------------------------------
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 756-0172
(508) 755-3721 (fax)
klussier at masslnc.org
IM: kmlussier (AOL & Yahoo)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/techielibrarian
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier