Receiving Physical Resource Sharing Requests

You can view a list of received resource sharing items on the Received Items page.

1. On the Received Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Receiving Items), select a format for the received items in the Received format field that you want to view (Digital, Physical, or Physical non-returnable), regardless of which method you use to receive resource sharing materials.
   
   Received Items Page
2. Select an Identifier type by which received items are to be identified:
   • Barcode
   • External identifier

3. Clear the Automatically notify patron check box to prevent Alma from sending a notification email to the requesting patron when the item arrives at the resource sharing library. This can be useful for Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests with the format Physical non-returnable, when the receive operation is used to notify Alma that an item has already been supplied directly to the patron, so that no additional item ready for collection notification to the patron is required. By default, this check box is selected. 

4. Optionally, add a note in either or both of the following fields: This note appears in the following format:
   <Name of partner><Note text>
5. Internal note: A note that appears only on the side from which it is sent (that is, when configuring a note from the borrower, the note appears only in the list of borrowing requests. When configuring a note from the lender, the note appears only in the list of lending requests). These notes do not appear on the History tab, and are to be used for notes not intended to be publicized (that is, they are not sent to the peer partner). An example of a note would be a borrower writing, This lender has historically been difficult to deal with.
   • Note to partner: The note that is sent to the partner. This note appears in the Notes tab of both the sender of the note and the receiver of the note, and on the request’s History tab (i.e. – Only in reading room).
6. Enter a barcode or an external identifier for the received resource in the Barcode or External identifier field and select OK. The field that appears corresponds to the Identifier type selection, performed in step 2.
   • If you selected Physical as the received format, a dialog box opens where you configure receiving information for the item:
     
     Receiving a Physical Item – Dialog Box
     Configure the fields in the dialog box fields, as described in the following table:

     Receiving a Physical Item Dialog Box Fields

     Field	Description
     Automatically print slip	Select Yes to automatically print the Resource Sharing Receive Slip Letter, the option defaults to No. The selection is remembered for the duration of the session. When set to Yes, if multiple items are being scanned, a print slip is generated for each barcode. For more information on configuring the letter, see Configuring Alma Letters.
     Multiple Items	Select the check box if multiple items were received from the lender for this request.
     Temporary barcode	Enter the item’s temporary barcode.
     Item policy	Select an item policy for the item. For details on item policies, see Configuring Item Policies.
     Location	Select the location of where the item is to be received. When receiving an item from an NCIP partner, the value of this field is the value specified in the Default Location field on the Resource Sharing Partner page Parameters tab (see NCIP Parameters).
     Fulfillment note	Enter a note, as required.
     Due date	Configure a due date for the item. If the NCIP Resource Sharing Borrowing Request message contains a due date, the date displays in this field. A due date that is in the past or is for a date by which the item cannot be delivered (for example, the item is due tomorrow and delivery takes 3 days for the item to arrive), the item must be handled accordingly (see the section, To handle a non-deliverable item and enable it for delivery, in Receiving Items).
     Internal note	As described in step 4 above.
     Note to partner	As described in step 4 above.
     Shipping Cost	The shipping cost is defined in the relevant policy. It may be overridden by changing the value at this point.
     Patron Receive Cost	The patron receive cost is the resource sharing receive fee defined in the relevant policy. It may be overridden by changing the value at this point.
     Patron Request Cost	The patron request cost is the resource sharing request fee defined in the relevant policy. It may be overridden by changing the value at this point.
     For Reading-Room Use Only	Select to restrict access to a reading room.

     The values of the Item policy and Location fields are populated with the values of the Temporary Item Creation Rule for the item (see Configuring Temporary Item Creation Rules). If no rule is configured, the Item Policy field is empty and the Location field contains the current location of the item, based on the library and institution default settings.
   • If you selected Digital as the received format, the received item displays at the bottom of the page.
     
     Received Items Page – Digital Item
     Select Complete the request when you have completed the request to mark it as closed. If you do not select this option, the resource's status is listed in the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests list as Digitally received by library.
7. When working with a Physical non-returnable request, select Complete the request to change the item's status to Request Completed and mark the request as Closed. If you do not select Complete the request, the resource's status is listed on the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page as Physically received by library. If Automatically Print Slip is set to Yes, the Receiving Slip Letter (code: ReceivingSlipLetter) is printed for physical and physical non-returnable items. For more information on the receive slip, see Configuring Alma Letters.
   For more information about non-returnable requests, see the Non-Returnable Borrowing Requests video (4:26 mins).
8. If the lender is an ISO or NCIP partner, the request’s status is updated and the Received message is sent.

• Select Cancel to return to the Received Items page and modify the due date. When you fix the due date, the item displays on the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page with the status Physically Received by Library.
• Select OK to retain the insufficient due date. The item displays on the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page with the status Received - not for loan, indicating that the item has been received by the Resource Sharing Borrowing Library, but cannot be loaned.

Receiving Multiple Items for a Single Request

It is possible to receive and return more than one item for a single borrowing request. The receive or return operation will be considered done when all items are scanned in, though a partial receive may also be done. Items may be added to a request after the original receive if the request is still in an active status. A manual receive can be done from the row action in the Borrowing Task List and from the Receiving Items interface. A manual return can be done from Return Items, the Returns tab in Patron Services and Scan in Items.

Receive Multiple Items

On the Receive Items screen, the Multiple Items check box is visible only if the Physical format was chosen on the receiving interface. When the check box is selected, as each item is scanned and accepted, the barcode field is cleared. Select Done to indicate that all parts of the request have been scanned, and send a hold shelf notification to the patron. Selecting done also triggers the following validations on the entered barcodes:

• No barcodes are empty
• No barcodes are duplicated
• No barcodes are already used (in the repository)

If the request is still missing some items, a receive may still be done to indicate a partially received request. When the additional items are received, they can be added to the main request if the request is not returned yet and the multiple option is selected.

The Borrowing Requests Lists have a link for Multiple Barcodes when multiple items have been shipped or received. Selecting the link opens the request to the Received Items tab.

Borrowing Request List with a Multi-Item Request

Received Items Tab of the Request

When selecting the Return action, the Return pop-up window indicates that this is a multi-item request.

Return Pop-up Window

To add items to a request after the original receive:

1. On the Received Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Receiving Items), enter the External Identifier and select OK. A pop-up appears indicating that the request is already received.
2. Select Confirm. A pop-up appears to enter the barcodes. Enter the barcodes one at a time and select OK after each one. (See Receive Multiple Items above.)
   When accessing the pop-up after the original receive, the multiple items check box, due date and costs are view-only, taking their values from the original receive.
3. Select Done when all barcodes are entered.

The following behaviors apply to multi-item requests:

• The status of the request changes to Loaned to Patron when any of the items is loaned.
• Cancelling a hold request cancels only the specific hold request. The parent borrowing request is only canceled if all items are canceled.
• Renew and recall messages received from the lender update all loans under the parent request.
• Only one renew fee is applied to the loan.
• In Primo, only one item will appear for the request on the Requests List of the My Account tab.

For more information, see Resource Sharing Requests with Multiple Items and More Information About Receiving Multiple Resource Sharing Items (Borrower).

Receiving Digital Resource Sharing Requests

Creating a Resource Sharing Lending Request

• Create Lending Request Manually - Add a lending request, either manually (see Adding a Resource Sharing Lending Task Manually) or using search (see Adding a Resource Sharing Lending Task From a Search).
  
  Manual Lending Request
• Create Lending Request Automatically - from an ISO, NCIP Peer to Peer, or SLNP message.
• The request may also be created at the time of shipping when the item is scanned.

Physical Request

Shipping Items 

This section refers to step 5 of the Peer to Peer Lending Workflow diagram.

The physical item is sent to the borrowing institution, where it is received by the resource sharing partner (see Shipping Resource Sharing Lending Request Resources). This may be done through the Shipping Items page or from the action on the request in the Lending Request Task List.

To ship resource sharing items, you must have one of the following roles:

• Fulfillment Services Operator (for the resource sharing library)
• Fulfillment Services Manager (for the resource sharing library)

Ship a Single Item

Alma performs the following steps prior to a resource sharing request being shipped:

1. If a resource sharing request was not previously created, the request is created and linked to a resource sharing partner.
2. The item is moved to a temporary location based on the partner configurations you have set up.
3. The item is marked as Shipped Physically and is unavailable in Alma.

You can update the due date and shipping cost simultaneously for multiple items being shipped together.

You can ship items on the Shipping Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Shipping Items).

• The Shipping address type is mandatory for ISO or NCIP enabled resource sharing libraries. When an ISO/NCIP request is sent, it includes the Shipping address as the address to which the request should be shipped. The lending institution, when shipping digitally, ships to this address. For more information about configuring the shipping address, see Managing Institution/Library Contact Information.
• The system blocks shipping items that are in process such as on loan, on hold shelf or in acquisition.

The fields displayed on the Shipping Items page depend on the selected Shipping Format.

Shipping Items Page - Physical format

An option exists to create a lending request automatically if it hasn't been created when shipping an item. This allows libraries that manage lender requests manually to perform two steps in one action. In order to accomplish this, turn on the Automatic Creation attribute for the resource sharing library (see Configuring Parameters of a Resource Sharing Library). This makes the partner field visible on the shipping items page for physical requests. The partner field is mandatory if the request ID entered does not exist. Attempting to leave the partner field blank results in an error message, Selecting a partner is mandatory when the request has not been previously created. After selecting the partner, a new pop-up window warns, Lending request does not exist in the system. A new request will be created. The pop-up window optionally may be turned off in the customer parameters (see Configuring Other Settings). The new lending request is created and marked as shipped.

For more information about lender workflow optimization, see the Lender Workflow Optimization video (3:11 mins).

Shipping Items Page – Digital or Physical non-returnable Item

For more information about shipping items, see the Set Due Date and Shipping Costs at Ship Time video (5:13 mins).

To set a due date and shipping cost for shipping multiple items from a lending institution:

1. On the Shipping Items page, in the Automatically Print Slip field, select Yes (the default is No). The selected option in this field is persistent for a user during a single session. This option automatically sends a print a Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter when shipping an item. The shipping print slip is sent for the item specified in the Scan request ID and Scan item barcode fields. The slip contains information that is specific to the item being shipped. For information about configuring the Resource Sharing Shipping Slip letter, see Configuring Alma Letters.
   You can manually print a shipping slip by selecting the Print Slip link on the Resource Sharing Lending Requests Task List page (see the Print Slip description in the Request Sharing Lending Requests Task List Links table in Managing Resource Sharing Lending Requests).
2. In the Shipping Format field, select the format in which the request is shipped.
3. In the Shipping cost field, enter a shipping cost for the item.
4. In the Due date field, enter a date by when the item must be shipped. This field appears only when Shipping format = Physical.
5. When shipping a resource sharing lending request, in the Location field, specify a temporary location for the item to be shipped. The options appearing in the Location field are the locations for the library (appearing in the Currently at: field in the persistent menu).
   When specifying a location and entering the item’s barcode in the Scan item barcode field, the request’s status changes to Shipped Physically.
   This field appears only when Shipping format = Physical, and is enabled only when one of the following is true:
   • You are at a resource sharing library circulation desk; see Library/Desk Selector in The Persistent Menu.
   • You enter the External ID of a lending request in the Scan Request ID field.
   • You access the Shipping Items page using the Ship Item link on the Resource Sharing Lending Tasks List page.
6. Optionally, add a note in either or both of the following fields: This note appears in the following format:
   <Name of partner><Note text>
   • Internal note: A note that appears only on the side from which it is sent (that is, when configuring a note from the borrower, the note appears only in the list of borrowing requests. When configuring a note from the lender, the note appears only in the list of lending requests). These notes do not appear on the History tab, and are to be used for notes not intended to be publicized (that is, they are not sent to the peer partner). An example of a note would be a borrower writing, This lender has historically been difficult to deal with.
   • Note to partner: The note that is sent to the partner. This note appears in the Notes tab of both the sender of the note and the receiver of the note, and on the request’s History tab (i.e. – Only in reading room).
7. In the Scan item barcode field, enter the item's barcode. This field displays only when Shipping format = Physical. When shipping an itemless request, leave this field blank.
8. Select the Complete the request check box to change the item's status to Request Completed and mark the request as Closed. This check box displays only when Shipping format = Digital or Physical non-returnable.
9. In the Scan request ID field, enter the item's external identification number.
10. Select OK next to either the Scan item barcode or Scan request ID fields. The item is located and displays on the bottom of the page.
    Repeat step 7 and step 9 for all items you want to ship. The items display in the table at the bottom of the page, and the configured shipping cost and due date are applied to each of the items.
    If an item is scanned in twice, the item will be added to the list, displaying data from the initial ship, but no additional action is taken. This is to prevent mistakes when an item for shipping is scanned twice.

Ship Multiple Items for a Singe Request

For more information about shipping multiple items for lending requests, see the Shipping Lending Requests with Multiple Items video (1:42 mins).

Lending requests may ship multiple items attached to a single request. If multiple move requests have already been created for the lending request or if the request has already been shipped and more items are being shipped, Alma will automatically mark the lending request as a multiple item request. Otherwise, adding multiple items is done during the process of shipping items to the borrower. This can be done from the shipping interface or the Ship Item row action of the Lending Requests Task List.

Shipping Items

After checking the Multiple items check box and scanning the first item's barcode, the multi-item window displays.

Multi-item Window

For each item, the barcode is scanned. When all items are done, select Done. The lending request status changes to Shipped Physically and the barcode is displayed as Multiple barcodes.

Lending Request Task List

Selecting the Multiple Barcodes links opens the lending request to a new tab, Items.

Lending Request - Items Tab

When shipping to an ISO partner, or an NCIP peer-to-peer partner, a shipped message is transmitted. When the borrowing institution receives the message, the message is recorded in the History tab of the borrowing request. The borrowing request's status is changed to Shipped Physically.

Digital Request