[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Anyone using Custom Org Unit Tree

[Kathy Lussier]

Hi Tina,

MassLNC funded the development for the custom org unit tree, so I can 
give you some background on the use cases behind the development.

It essentially was created for display purposes as we didn't like the 
way systems and branches were displaying in the org unit selector. 
You're right, the custom org tree won't affect the way search results 
are retrieved. For our use cases, we didn't need a change in the 
retrieval of search results. Its only purpose was to allow us to reorder 
the org units in the selector, and therefore it doesn't play into 
circ/holds policies either. I'm not quite sure how it interacts with org 
unit hiding depth.

We had two specific use cases we were trying to address:

- Removal of the system level in the org unit dropdown: In 
Massachusetts, we have very few multi-branch libraries, so the default 
display with a branch appearing under a system did not work well for us. 
Users didn't understand what the difference was between the two 
different selections (and there really wasn't a difference) and it added 
needless clutter to the interface. For the most part, this problem was 
solved by the "Org Units Do Not Inherit Visibility" global flag (added 
at the same time as the custom org trees) since it allowed us to hide 
the system level while keeping branches visible. However, those hidden 
system-level org units do display in the staff client, and I don't think 
everyone liked that, so the custom org tree provides another means of 
hiding that system level in both the public and staff view.

- As Tim mentioned in his e-mail, C/W MARS has an additional level in 
their org hierarchy. Consortium > Region > System > Branch. They needed 
to create this additional regional level due to the way the delivery 
sorting happens in our state. They wanted holds to be filled within a 
region before moving on to the rest of the consortium. However, we 
didn't want libraries to display in the OPAC within each region. The 
custom org tree allowed C/W MARS to interfile all of their libraries 
into one big alphabetical dropdown list.

- Another use I've seen of the custom org tree is, in cases where we do 
have multibranch systems, we might want the main library to display 
above the other branches, even if it doesn't come first alphabetically. 
We can make the main library appear out of order using the custom org tree.

I hope this helps!

Kathy

Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

On 4/1/2014 3:17 PM, Tina Ji (Project Sitka) wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> We are facing the following scenario. We wonder whether the Custom Org 
> Unit Tree will help.
>
> SYS1 and SYS2 do not share their collections, meaning no holds allowed 
> on each other. Now BRA1 from SYS1 wants to share its collection with 
> all branches of SYS2, which means collection of BRA1 should show up 
> when a search is scoped to SYS2. For some reason, it is not desired to 
> move BRA1 to SYS2 on the org unit tree.
>
> We tried the Custom Org Unit Tree. We made BRA1 under SYS2, same as 
> the other branches in SYS2. BRA1 showed up on the OPAC as a branch in 
> the search location list (and the hold pickup library list). But it 
> seems for 'display' only. When a search is scoped to SYS2, titles, of 
> which only BRA1 has copies, are not returned on the result list. We 
> also tried to hide an org unit from the Custom Tree, but its holdings 
> keep showing up on the holdings grid.
>
> I wonder anyone is using the Custom Org Unit Tree. Can you shed some 
> light on how it works?
>
> Other issues on my radar includes how custom tree interacts with the 
> Org Unit Hiding Depth on the Library Settings Editor, and the OUs in 
> circ_ and hold_matrix_matchpoints. We do not use Strict OU matches.
>
> Thank you
>
> Tina Ji
> 1-888-848-9250
> Trainer/Help Desk Specialist
> BC Libraries Cooperative/Sitka
>
>