[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Evergreen and book groups

[Thomas Berezansky]

On the "check out to fake card, then check in before checking out to  
someone else" and the issue with transits and holds, checkin should  
have a "Suppress Holds and Transits" mode that will prevent holds and  
transits from coming into play when doing the checkin/checkout dance.  
At least in all the versions I have played with.

Alternatively, when I try and check an item out to a different patron,  
I get a "Normal Checkin then Checkout" button on the "you can't do  
that, it is already checked out" prompt. Dunno when the system started  
doing that.

Thomas Berezansky
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium


Quoting Kate Sheehan <ksheehan at biblio.org>:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm looking for best practices for getting materials together for book
> groups. Our libraries seem to have book groups of two flavors.
>
>
>
> The more traditional book groups have a set list of members and are either
> run by the library or in some way connected to the library. The book group
> members can simply place holds on the title for the month and Evergreen does
> the rest. Sometimes, the library staff will place multiple holds for a title
> using a book group card, and when the items arrive, they check them out to
> the various members and cancel  the book group card's hold. That seems to be
> working relatively well.
>
>
>
> The book groups that are more like open book discussions are a little
> trickier. For these groups, the library will pick a title and hold a book
> discussion or lecture on a particular date. For about a month before that
> day, they want to have a bunch of extra copies of the book on display. They
> can do this with more traditional ILL methods, but we've been looking for
> ways to make it work in Evergreen. One library tried manually giving all the
> copies they requested a status of "On Hold Shelf" which worked until an
> owning library wondered where their book was (since it wasn't actually on
> that library's hold shelf, Evergreen didn't say which hold shelf it was on).
>
>
>
>
> It's possible to check all of the copies out to a fake book group card, then
> check copies out to individuals and override the error message. Some of our
> libraries have said they dislike that method because it's too easy to leave
> it checked out to the fake card and not know who has the book. Checking it
> back in from the fake card before checking it out runs the risk of
> triggering transits and holds.
>
>
>
> So, how does your consortium handle book groups, especially those without
> set membership?
>
>
>
> We're appreciative of any insight you can provide - who knew book groups
> would be so complicated?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kate
>
>
>
> ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>
> Kate Sheehan
>
> Open Source Implementation Coordinator
>
> Bibliomation, Inc.
>
> 32 Crest Rd.
>
> Middlebury, CT 06762
>
> biblio.org
>
>
>
>