Managing Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests
- Fulfillment Services Operator (in the scope of a resource sharing library)
- Fulfillment Services Manager (in the scope of a resource sharing library)
Workflow Actions
- Status – Status of the borrowing request.
The following statuses indicate that the final step in the request is completed. Requests in these statuses may be removed.
- Canceled by partner
- Canceled by patron
- Canceled by staff
- Digitally received by library
- Expired
- Request completed - This is the final status before removal, and may be manually set. If the request is for an ISO partner, there must be a reply from the partner before the status will switch to Request completed.
- Conditional – Appears only when Conditional is enabled in the borrowing workflow profile. See Adding Workflow Profiles.
- Created borrowing request
- Damaged communicated – Appears only when Damaged communicated is enabled in the borrowing workflow profile. See Adding Workflow Profiles.
- Declared lost by partner
- Expired
- Exported to third party
- Externally obtained
- Lender check in
- Loaned item to patron
- Locate failed
- Locate in process
- Lost communicated – Appears only when Lost communicated is enabled in the borrowing workflow profile. See Adding Workflow Profiles.
- Mediated patron renewal
- Overdue request
- Pending approval
- Physically received by library
- Ready to be sent
- Recalled by partner
- Received – not for loan
- Rejected by partner
- Renew request not accepted
- Renew requested
- Renewed by partner
- Report damaged item to partner – Same meaning as Damaged communicated.
- Report lost item to partner – Same meaning as Lost communicated.
- Request accepted
- Request sent to partner
- Returned by patron
- Returned item to partner
- Shipped digitally
- Shipped physically
- Waiting for cancel response
- Will supply
- Active Partner –The active partner in a request rota
- Creation Date – Date on which the request was created. Possible values are:
- Today – Requests created on the current date
- Yesterday – Requests created on the day before the current date
- Up to three days ago – Requests created two or three days before the current date (excluding today and yesterday)
- Up to a week ago – Requests created 4-7 days before the current date (in other words, excluding the above three options)
- Up to a month ago – Requests created between 8 days and a month before the current date (in other words, excluding the above four options)
- Older – Requests created more than one month before the current date
- Update Date – Date on which the request was updated. Possible values are the same as those for the Creation Date facet.
- Requested Format – The format of the requested item. Options are: Digital, Physical, and Physical non-returnable
- Supplied Format – The format in which the requested item was supplied. Options are: Digital, Physical, Physical non-returnable and Undefined
- Due Date – The date by which the item must be delivered. Possible values are the same as those for the Creation Date facet.
- Last Interest Date – The date after which the requester has indicated that they are no longer interested in the item
- Need Patron Information – Requests for which mandatory information has not been supplied by the patron
- General Messages – Requests which contain general messages of Type = Received. The operator may dismiss and activate general messages from the request's General Messages tab (see Sending a General Message With a Resource Sharing Request).
- Owning Library – The library which owns the requested resource
- Active Notes – The requests with notes marked as Active on the Notes tab.
- Pickup Location–Libraries, reading rooms, and personal delivery are all included in the facet
- Level of Service – The level of service assigned to the request.
- Optionally configure the parameter check_patron_duplicate_borrowing_requests; see Configuring Other Settings.
- On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests), locate the requests you want to manage.
You can select any of the following tasks in the Tasks List in the persistent menu (see Tasks in the Task List) to open this page with the relevant filter preset:
- Borrowing requests - New - with no partner
- Borrowing requests - Overdue
- Borrowing requests canceled by partner
- Borrowing requests recalled
- Borrowing requests returned by patron
- Borrowing requests with active general messages
- Borrowing requests with active notes
- To add a request, select Add and select to add an item manually (Manually Adding a Request), from a search (see Adding a Resource Sharing Borrowing Task From a Search), or from an external resource (Adding a Request From an External Resource).
- To manage a request, select the action for a request, as described in the following table:
Resource Sharing Borrowing Request Page Links
Link Description Cancel Cancel the request. Appears only when: - The request is still active
- The request does not have a status of Loan
- The request has not been shipped
- No partner exists or the configured active partner supports the Cancel feature
When canceling a request, the request’s status becomes Canceled by staff.You can also delete requests in Primo, on the My Account tab. When doing so, the borrowing request’s status becomes Canceled. If an item is on the hold shelf when canceled in Primo:- The hold request is canceled
- The item moves to the expired hold shelf
- The request is marked as Completed
For details on the Primo My Account tab, see My Account.When a request is canceled, a message is sent to the patron. The letter is Ful Cancel Request Letter (email) or Cancel Request Letter (SMS). To configure the message, see Configuring Alma Letters.Check Out to Patron Marks that the patron received a physical non-returnable item and completes the request. Conditional Reply When an ISO message is sent from the lender, the borrowing request changes to Conditional status, and the Date for Reply field is displayed. When selecting this action, a window is displayed to select Yes or No in response to the condition specified by the lender. If the response is Yes, the request status changes to Sent and Date for Reply field is cleared. If the response is No, the status changes to Rejected by Partner and continues to the next partner in the rota. Damaged Send an email to the lender and set the status to Damaged communicated. Appears only:
- For email or ISO partners
- When the request is received by the library (and not as 'Physical non-returnable') and has not yet been returned to the partner
- When Damaged communicated is enabled in the borrowing workflow profile. See Adding Workflow Profiles.
Duplicate Create a new request based on the existing one. You can then modify the request as required on the Resource Sharing Borrowing Request page. For details on the displayed fields on this page, see the Resource Information Fields table in Adding a New Book or Journal Article and Request Attribute Field table in Creating a Borrowing Request.When duplicating a Resource Sharing Borrowing request, the values in the following fields are copied to the new request:- Title
- ISSN, ISBN (Metadata fields)
- Author
- Requester
- Owner
- Request Status
- Requested Format
- Delivery Location
- Request Note
Edit Modify the request in the Resource Information dialog box (see Editing a Borrowing Request). Edit Shipping Cost This allows the user to update the shipping cost without opening the full edit form for the borrowing request. The option is also available for completed requests. Externally Obtained Sends a request using the GetItNow service. See Sending a Request for a CCC GetItNow Resource. General Message Send a general message with a borrowing request to a lender (see Sending a General Message With a Resource Sharing Request). Locate Resource Manually activates the Borrowing Locate process. This action only appears if the request has an assigned partner or rota. See Borrowing Locate Process. Lost Send an email to the lender and set the status to Lost communicated. Appears only: - For email or ISO partners
- When the request is received by the library (and not as 'Physical non-returnable') and has not yet been returned to the partner
- When Lost communicated is enabled in the borrowing workflow profile. See Adding Workflow Profiles.
Purchase Request
For Fulfillment Services Operators / Managers with the appropriate privilege enabled, you can create a purchase request with the information in the borrowing request. If the borrowing request is inactive, you are taken directly to a purchase request form. If the borrowing request is active, a window is displayed to select whether to cancel the borrowing request or keep the borrowing request active alongside the purchase request.The purchase request's requester field is populated as follows:- If the resource sharing request is canceled, the field is populated with the requester from the original borrowing resource sharing request.
- If the resource sharing request is inactive or kept active, the requester field is populated with the logged in user's ID.
Reactivate Request Reactivate borrowing request will appear when:
- The Operator has the Reactivate privilege in the scope of the owner of the request.
- If an active partner exists, it should have the Reactivated step in the Borrowing workflow.
- Status is one of: CANCELLED, REQUEST_COMPLETED, CANCELLED_BY_PATRON ,CANCEL_REQUESTED, REJECTED, EXPORT_TO_THIRD_PARTY.
Select this option to reactivate a completed peer to peer resource sharing request. A temporary item is recreated using the previous barcode with the process status set to In resource sharing. The library and location of the item are set to the same values as when the item was initially created. If the item is not yet on loan, a hold request is reinitiated.
When reactivating, two options appear on the confirmation window: Reactivate loan and Send general message. If no loan is initiated, the request status is Request Reactivated. The request's original external ID is maintained.
Reassign Reassign a task to another user (see Reassigning a Task). Recalculate Rota Assignment To attach a rota to a request based on configured rota assignment rules, select the Recalculate Rota Assignment link to attach the rota to the request according to the configured rules (see Configuring Rota Assignment Rules). This process also performs a locate process automatically if the Automatically activate locate profile option is selected for this resource sharing library (see Configuring Parameters of a Resource Sharing Library). Remove and Recalculate Rota Assignment Remove all partners, recalculate, and create a new rota in one action.
If request was already sent to a partner and you select this option, the partner is not removed from the rota and it remains the active partner. Only the rest of the rota is removed.
Recall Recall shipped items when a local hold request is placed for that resource. The recall function is applicable to both ISO and email partners. You can configure which loans are recalled first if the requested resource has both copies that were shipped to a remote borrower and copies loaned to local patrons. The parameter that controls this choice, rs_prefer_recall_method, defaults to False (see Configuring Other Settings). Changing it to True recalls the shipped item first, rather than the locally loaned copy.Recalls are supported if the borrowing workflow profile includes the Recall item action (see Configuring Workflow Profiles). In that case, borrowing requests display a new action, Recall.For more information about the recalling resource sharing requests, see the Resource Sharing Request Recalls video (7:33 mins).Receive Select a receiving format and enter a temporary barcode to enable receiving the resource (see Resource Sharing Partners). If the generate_resource_sharing_temp_barcode configuration setting is set to true, the temporary barcode is displayed automatically (see Configuring Other Settings). See Receiving Items.Reject Mark a request rejected by the lending institution as Rejected (see Rejecting a Borrowing Request). Reject is only visible if the workflow option Reject is enabled. When rejecting a lending request you must enter a reason. The reasons are transferred to the borrowing library so a common set of reasons is used. The list can be found here. Release Assign (on the Assigned to Me tab) Move the task from the Assigned to Me tab to the Unassigned tab. Remove Remove the request. Appears only when the request’s status is one of the following: - Returned item to partner
- Request completed - The request was either delivered or canceled before it reached the hold shelf.
- Shipped digitally
- Canceled by partner
- Cancel requested
Renew Renew a resource sharing borrowing request. A dialog box appears, where you enter a due date for the request and an optional note in the Internal note and/or Note to partner fields. For details on these fields, see step 3 in Rejecting a Borrowing Request. The request status is changed to Renewed by Partner. For more information, see Managing Borrowing Renewals. This option appears when Staff renewal is selected for lending requests in the Resource Sharing Lending Workflow Profile (see Configuring Workflow Profiles).If the request is renewed, a message is sent to the patron and a renewal fee may be charged. The letter is Ful Borrowing Info Letter. To configure the message, see Configuring Alma Letters. A resource sharing renew fee is set as part of a fulfillment policy; see Adding Fulfillment PoliciesFor more information about requesting renewal of a borrowing request, see the ISO ILL: Request Renewal video (10:06 mins).Request Renew Renew a resource sharing borrowing request under the following conditions:
- A Resource Sharing Lending Workflow Profile exists with Staff Renewal enabled.
- The partner is not part of a fulfillment network.
- The item has arrived.
- The item has not been returned.
A dialog box appears, where you enter a due date for the request and an optional note which displays in the Notes tab page of the request.
If the Resource Sharing Lending Workflow Profile has the Renewal Response and Staff Renewal options selected, the request status is changed to Renew Requested. For details on workflow profiles, see Configuring Workflow Profiles.If the request is renewed, a message is sent to the patron and a renewal fee may be charged. The letter is Ful Borrowing Info Letter. To configure the message, see Configuring Alma Letters. A resource sharing renew fee is set as part of a fulfillment policy; see Adding Fulfillment Policies.If Renewal Response was not selected for the workflow profile, the request is automatically renewed after selecting the Request renew link; the request's status is Renewed by partner, and the Renew link does not appear.This option appears for requests with a Received status.Resend Patron Email For digital requests with document delivery, the email may be resent may be resent to the patron. Return Appears when the request is received by the library (and not as 'Physical non-returnable') and has not yet been returned to the partner. If the borrowing Workflow Profile for the partner includes the Lender check in option, the request status is changed to Returned item to partner (see Configuring Workflow Profiles). The Resource Sharing Return Slip Letter is printed when returning a borrowing item to the lender. For more information, see Configuring Alma Letters.For more information about the returning items to the lender, see the ISO ILL: Lender Checked-in Message video (8:35 mins).Send Appears only when an ARTEmail or ISO partner is configured. Opens the Resource Sharing Borrowing Parameters page, where you configure details to be sent to the partner (see Sending a Borrowing Request). The parameters displayed are those selected for the partner during the partner configuration process (see Resource Sharing Requests). Send Query to Patron Display the query types configured on the Patron Query Types Code Table page (see Configuring Patron Query Types). The Select email template dialog box appears to select the email template you want to be used for the query. The dialog box also contains a Note to Patron field for a free text note to be included on the Query to Patron letter (QueryToPatronLetter). If there is only one template type of Query to Patron, the dialog box will appear with just the Note to Patron field available for input. For details on system behavior when selecting this option, see Configuring Patron Queries.Status Query Request a status update from the lending institution. This is only applicable to ISO partners. The returned borrower ISO status is recorded in a note. Each ISO status corresponds to the following Alma request statuses:
- Not supplied - Rejected by partner, Locate failed, Canceled By Patron, Expired
- Pending - Created borrowing request, Request sent to partner, Ready to be sent, Locate in process, Will Supply, Pending Approval
- In Process - Loaned item to patron, Returned by patron, Renew request not accepted, Renewed by partner, Renew requested, Renew Accepted, Mediated Patron Renewal, Exported to third party, Manual renew, Automatic renew, Waiting for receive digitally
- Cancel Pending - Cancel request not accepted, Waiting for cancel response
- Canceled - Canceled by partner, Canceled by staff
- Shipped - Shipped Digitally, Shipped Physically
- Received - Physically received by library, Digitally received by library, Received - not for loan
- Overdue - Overdue request
- Returned - Returned item to partner
- Checked In - Request Completed, Lender check in, Externally Obtained
- Recall - Recalled by partner
- Lost - Report lost item to partner, Declared lost by partner
- Unknown - Report damaged item to partner
View View request information. Appears only when the request’s status is one of the following: - Returned item to partner
- Request completed - The request was either delivered or canceled before it reached the hold shelf.
- Shipped digitally
- Canceled by partner
- Cancel requested
View Local Resources If local resources exist but a borrower creates a resource sharing request, you can view the local resources for the request (see Viewing Local Resources on a Borrowing Request). View Network Resources Opens the Network Zone search results list. The search parameters are the same as they are for View Local Resources. If a query cannot automatically be created (for example, the locate by field OCLC does not exist in the request), a query will run with a single condition of Tag Suppressed equals false. See Adding Network Partners to Resource Sharing Rota. You can perform actions on multiple requests simultaneously using the following actions:- Change Status – Select the requests, select a status, and select Change Status.
When the status of a request is changed from Report lost item to partner or Report damaged item to partner to Completed, the temporary item is removed and the loan is closed.
- Remove Requests – Select the requests and select Remove Requests. The requests are removed from Alma. After the request is deleted, it is viewable only in analytics.
Cannot remove/delete requests that are not Completed.
Reassigning a Task
- On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests Task List page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests), select Reassign for the relevant task. The Assign To dialog box opens.
Assign To Dialog Box
- From the Assign to drop-down list, select an operator.
The list of operators includes only those users who have the Fulfillment Services Operator role.
- In the Note field, enter notes, as needed. The field is limited to 1,000 characters.
- Select the Send as e-mail check box to notify the operator of the new assignment.
- Select Assign To.
Sending a Query to the Patron
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If you are using patron query templates, and there is only one template, and if Edit if Single is set to true, the Email Message dialog box opens. This is where you configure a message to send to the patron by email.Email Message Dialog Box
- The Subject field contains the External Identifier of the request (if one exists).
- The Body field contains text relating to the requested resource. You can update the text in this field, as needed. Enter the text for the patron by replacing the string [please enter your query here] under Query to patron:
- If you are using patron query templates, and there is only one template, and Edit if Single is set to false, the query is immediately sent.
- The query is also sent immediately if you are using patron query types and there is only one type defined.
- If you are using patron query templates and there is more than one template – The Select Email Template dialog box appears, where you select the template you want to use.
Select E-Mail Template Dialog BoxSelect Open for Edit to edit the contents of the message before sending it, or select Send Email to send the query immediately, without editing its content.The dialog box also appears if you are using patron query types and there are multiple types defined. In this case, only the Send Email button appears.
Sending a General Message With a Resource Sharing Request
- The request is an ISO or NCIP-P2P request.
- The request has already been sent (this limitation is for borrowing requests only)
- On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests), locate an ISO or NCIP-P2P request. Select General Message from the row actions list. The General Message dialog box appears.
The General Message link also appears on the Resource Sharing Lending Requests page for ISO and NCIP-P2P requests.General Message Dialog Box
- In the Message field, enter a message and select Send. The message is sent to the lender using the General Message Email Letter. The request is limited to 1,000 characters.
- On the Resource Sharing Lending Requests Task List page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Lending Requests), locate the message with the external identifier belonging to the Borrowing request message, and select Edit. The Resource Sharing Lending Request page opens.
- Select the General Messages tab. The General Messages page appears, and the general message sent by the borrower appears in the table with Type = Received.
- When the message has been noted or acted upon, select Dismiss to remove the message from the page. The Dismiss button appears only for messages with Type = Received.
You can view requests that have received messages (messages of Type = Received) that are active by selecting the Active General Messages link in the General Messages facet on the left side of the Resource Sharing Lending Requests Task List or Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page.You can also access active general messages by selecting either the Lending request with active general messages – unassigned or the Lending request with active general messages – assigned to you links on the Tasks list.
Viewing Local Resources on a Borrowing Request
- Enter a borrowing request. If the requested item already exists in the local institution, the self-ownership pop-up appears.
Self-ownership Pop-up
- Select View Local Resources to bring up a listing of the matching local resources.
Local Resource List
- Select Request from the local item to abort the borrowing request and create a local request. A confirmation message appears.
- Select Confirm Request on the resource listing (Local Resource List) or Confirm on the self-ownership pop-up (Self-ownership Pop-up) to continue with the creation of the borrowing request rather than place a local hold request. The request appears in the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests List. The local resources can still be accessed from this point. Each request has a link to View Local Resources.
Borrowing Request List
- Select View Local Resources to return to the resource listing (Local Resource List). You can still create a local request even though the resource sharing request has already been placed. Select Request, and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
Viewing Borrowing Request Actions
- On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests), select Edit for a request. The Resource Sharing Borrowing Request page displays.
- Select the History tab. The History tab displays the list of actions performed on the resource sharing borrowing or resource sharing lending request. Select Full view mode to display all records for the request. Select Brief to display only those enabled in the configuration page Brief Audit Fields (see Configuring Brief Audit Fields).
History Tab
- The Operator column appears only for managers and administrators. See Configuring Users' Ability to View Operator Details.
Rejecting a Borrowing Request
- On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests), select Reject for a request. The Reject Request dialog box opens.
Reject Request Pop-up Window
- Select a reason for the rejection in the Reject reason field.
- Optionally, add a note in either or both of the following fields: This note appears in the following format: <Name of partner><Note text>. The fields are limited to 1,000 characters.
- 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).
- Optionally, select Notify user to send a notification to the requesting patron regarding the rejection.
- Select OK. The request's citation status changes to Rejected the borrower request, and the Reject reason and Reject note are displayed in the Notes tab for the request. (Select the Edit link for the request to view the Notes tab. You can also select Borrowing requests with active notes from the Tasks list. This link leads to the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page, filtered by Notes from Partner.)