Item is in the closed stacks / Item is on an open shelf messages

• Article Type: General
• Product: Aleph
• Product Version: 18.01

Description:
When placing holds, If the item says "on shelf" and I click on Request item, the OPAC gives me the following statement:

Item is in the closed stacks.
Item status: 28 day loan (28) Call number: Z52.5.U54 G43 1986

We always allow holds but do not have any closed stacks, so do not want to display this message.

Resolution:
This message is 6010 in the $aleph_root/error_eng/ directory. It, and a companion message, 6011 ("Item is on an open shelf.") appear in both the check_hold_request and www_heading files:

6010 L Item is in the closed stacks.
6011 L Item is on an open shelf.

The messages come from the check_hold_request program when it examines the value of column 8 of the line in the xxx50 tab15.eng for the item's z30_item_status:

! COL 8. 1; ALPHA {Y,N,C,T}, UPPER; ;
! Hold request;
...
! Y - item can be requested. In addition, item availability
! is checked when a hold request is placed.
! If a copy is available, and the patron does not have permission
! for requesting an available item, a message displays.
! C - Item can be always be requested, there is no availability
! check because hold requests are always allowed (e.g. closed
! stack)

The messages are generated purely from an examination of tab15.lng's column 8 for the item. If it has a value of "C", it produces the "closed stacks" message. If it has a value of "Y", it produces the "open shelf" message. It has nothing to do with the actual on- or off-shelf status of the item; it just tells you whether it is normally an item that can or cannot be held. You can blank out the messages completely by replacing the current lines in both www_heading and check_hold_request with this:

6010 L
6011 L

• Article last edited: 10/8/2013