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Context/Goal

Patrons cannot place requests on items that are unavailable (loan, missing, lost, claims return, in a work order, etc.), but they can place requests on items that are available or in transit. This means that sometimes request queues form (i.e. more requests are placed than we have copies for). Because we no longer have recalls, the patron lucky enough to be first in line can keep the book for up to 4 years. This means, for those not first in line, their request can linger for months or years.

We will explore an enhancement that will prevent requests queues for forming on already requested items. Put another way: the number of requests for a title should never exceed the number of copies available.

Questions/Things to Test

  1. If patron cannot place a request on an “available” item because it has been requested by someone else and the patron is prompted to submit a BD/ILL request, will that request be accepted by those systems? (BD/ILL are currently configured to not accept requests for “available” items.

  2. Requests are currently placed at title level, so how does this work with titles/bibs that have multiple items?

    1. How does Alma prioritize copies to request when multiple libraries have the same item?

    2. How does Alma prioritize copies to request when the same library has multiple copies? A: Alma doesn’t, any copy can fulfill the request.

  3. How does Alma deal with the order of the requests if one of the books gets marked missing?

    1. 2 copies and 2 requests; request 1 goes to WID, request 2 goes to HKS. WID copy goes missing, who gets the item?

      1. Scenario 1: WID copy goes missing before HKS copy pulled for 2nd patron

      2. Scenario 2: WID copy goes missing after HKS copy pulled for 2nd patron

  4. Confirm: number of requests limited to number copies available.

  5. Should patrons get notified of their priority level?

    1. Not sure if this is possible, but definitely something to explore if what we are testing now isn’t viable and request queues remain.

    2. I think if this works the way we are hoping, there won’t be queues any more.

  6. Can patron requests be placed at the item level?

    1. It is unlikely Harvard Library will ever choose this configuration. It’s the problem folx have with requesting at the item level for reserve work orders. If the copy requested isn’t found, the request isn’t routed to a different copy that is available. Imagine this at scale of patron requests and how much of a pain it’s been for just reserves.

Steps for Testing

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