[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Confusion about Circulation Modifiers

[Rogan Hamby]

Do circ modifiers define the kind of material, such as Book, DVD, etc.... ?
 Well, not by definition but often yes.  Circ modifiers are literally a
variable to pass for circulation.  So they can be things like BOOK, VIDEO,
etc.... or they could be 14-DAY, 21-DAY, etc.... or anything else.  You
wouldn't use the durations unless your setup is so simple that you don't
need to distinguish the items further but if you do that's really nice -
libraries not in a consortium can do that a lot of time.  But for the rest
of us it's often useful to define the circ mods by the material type but
that's a choice we're making.  Still, we keep it as simple as we can.  So
for example, we had libraries that perhaps had BOOK and CHILD BOOK but
since they both circulated for 14 days they were all consolidated to just
be BOOK.  Circ mods don't show up to patrons, only staff, another sign that
they are for circulation configuration not an identifier to help
distinguish items.

As an FYI SCLENDS does that and we always type the circ mods in all caps so
we know that when send communication about a book we're talking about an
item and when we mention BOOK we mean the circ mod.  That's handier than
you would think.  And we use material types for some of the same reasons
you do, library A circulates a BOOK for a different time period than
library B does.

And you can absolutely have everyone use the same circ mods - in fact if
you don't you'll probably create a mess over time.  The circ mods will all
show up together so having circ mods not in common use can cause big
cataloging problems.  It's far easier to just have Library A have Circ
Policy A for BOOK and Library B have Policy B for BOOK than the same number
of policies for different circ mods.




On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 11:00 AM, Donald Butterworth <
don.butterworth at asburyseminary.edu> wrote:

> Simple is good. Simple is really, really good. It give me hope that I will
> one day understand ...
>
> So, what I am hearing is that Circulation Modifiers essentially define the
> type of material that is circulated. Book, DVD, Kindle, etc. Is that
> correct?
>
> Another curve-ball. Our Org Unit Network includes two Main Libraries. Can
> our sister institution share the same Circulation Modifier without creating
> a problem?
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 10:42 AM, Rogan Hamby <rogan.hamby at yclibrary.net>wrote:
>
>> Short answer : No you don't need different circ mods and there are a few
>> tables that affect this.
>>
>> Longer answer: There are separate places to set things like circ
>> durations, fine rates and max fines.  You then set circulation matchpoints
>> that in your case would invoke different durations depending on what
>> library someone is checking out at.  Just make sure that in your matrix
>> weights the location is given a lot of weight so it's rules are always
>> invoked.
>>
>> It may sound complicated at first but it actually is pretty simple in
>> principle.  In practice you can make it very simple or very complicated of
>> course.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 10:37 AM, Donald Butterworth <
>> don.butterworth at asburyseminary.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Experts,
>>>
>>> Here is another newbie question. I am confused about the Circulation
>>> Modifier table and how extensive it needs to be. Here's the scenario. Our
>>> Org Unit structure includes a main library, a branch library, and three
>>> sub-libraries. All libraries have "books" that all have different
>>> circulation periods. My question is do we need to have 5 different
>>> Circulation Modifiers in order to accommodate the 5 loan periods? e.g.:
>>> book | book-fla | book-bl |  book-fi | book-sa or is there a matrix that
>>> handles this a better way?
>>>
>>> Don
>>>
>>> --
>>> Don Butterworth
>>> Faculty Associate / Librarian III
>>> B.L. Fisher Library
>>> Asbury Theological Seminary
>>> don.butterworth at asburyseminary.edu
>>> (859) 858-2227
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
>> Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
>> York County Library System
>>
>> "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to
>> stop reading them."
>> -- Ray Bradbury <https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1630.Ray_Bradbury>
>>
>> "You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to
>> suit me."
>> -- C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Don Butterworth
> Faculty Associate / Librarian III
> B.L. Fisher Library
> Asbury Theological Seminary
> don.butterworth at asburyseminary.edu
> (859) 858-2227
>



-- 

Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
York County Library System

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop
reading them."
-- Ray Bradbury <https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1630.Ray_Bradbury>

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit
me."
-- C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
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