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Current situation or problem:
The library needs a way to distinguish some loans as for internal use only, and some as external. Those that are external can leave the building. External loans have a 60-day loan period and internal loans are longer (policy is changing from indefinite to more than 60).
Whether a loan is internal or external is determined by staff preference and item type.
There are exceptions to external loans:
- LC classes CR, CS, F BELOW 1000, and Serials cannot circulate outside the building. Exceptions are not handled by the system - staff at charge stations know what they are.
- Other charge groups, like Telework, Exhibits, Interns, are exceptions in that the loan periods can differ, the number of items allowed at checkout differ, and Interns are only allowed internal check outs
Check out/charge stations must be able to handle both internal and external checkouts.
Check out/charge slips are required for both internal and external charges. They must indicate whether the charge is internal or external and include the patron's name and the item's due date. These checkout slips are used by security when allowing people to leave reading rooms or buildings with Library materials. Security inspect the item charge slip and match it with a staff/Congressional id.
The library wants to be able to know and report on what is in use within the library, and what has left the building.
In scope
A solution that is configurable so it could be utilized by multiple libraries.
Out of scope
Use case(s)
Internal - Long loan period use cases
- Research for congress and may need to check out items for three or four months
- KLUGE scholars can be on site for a long time and may need long term checkouts for reference
- Digitization projects/trouble shooting
- As a researcher in the Kluge Center, I want to be able to charge materials for a long period of time and leave them at my desk in my office, so that I can reference them as I write my book over a one year period.
- As a CRS analyst, I want to be able to charge Library materials for an extended period of time, so that I can reference them as needed for Congressional requests I may have on the particular topic.
- As a cataloger at the Library of Congress, I want to be able to charge a book on subject headings for a long loan period, so that I can keep them at my desk and reference as I do my work.
External - 30-day loan period (typically)
- A staff member would like to take a copy of a popular book like Becoming by Michelle Obama home to read
- As a staffer working in X Member's office, I want to be able to charge a book externally related to banking, so that I can take it with me on the metro and learn more about the topic before an upcoming hearing.
- As a LOC employee, I want to be able to check out the latest Tana French book externally, so that I can read it while on vacation at the beach.
- As a teleworking employee working in cataloging, I want to be able to charge items that have partial cataloging completed, so that I can continue work when teleworking at a location different than the Library campus.
- As a patron from a military service academy, I want to be able to charge a book related to my studies and have it delivered to my duty station for use.
- As a member of the CIA, I want to be able to charge a book about international finance laws and use it at my duty station.
Proposed solution/stories
Potential solution A:
Allow alternative charges
- User record: A new (checkbox?) field (eg. "Allow alternative charges")
- Circulation settings:
- A new "alternative charges" settings pane, like TLR settings, to allow this to be configurable for all libraries
- An additional section in (at least) the loan policies for "alternative charge policy" that has its own "loanable" check box, loan period, etc. configuration
- Check out app:
- The label of this field should be customizable to fit the terminology of the library, via the circulation settings. Eg. for LoC, they could label it "External charge"
- Staff would check this when the patron indicates they want an external charge
- When the check out app calls check-out-by-barcode with the box checked, the policy configuration in the "alternative charge" section of the policy in the applicable circulation rule would be applied, instead of the "normal" policy configuration, and the loan would be tagged as "alternative charge"
- When the operator ends the current session, a modal would be presented asking if they want to print the "normal" charge slips, similar to how check-in slips work now.
- Once that "normal" slips modal is dealt with, if there are alternative charge loans in the session, a second modal would be presented (consider making whether the user can skip printing these part of the "alternative charges" settings, rather than relying on the service point configuration for printing staff slips, which could be used for the "normal" charge slips). This would let them select a different printer or printer configuration (eg. paper source) for the two types of slips.
- A new checkbox alongside the item lookup field to indicate that the patron would like an "alternative charge" (if the requisite flag is set on their user record) for this item (instead of needing to switch between different patron records with different patron groups)
- Separate sets of charge slips for "normal" and "alternative" charges
Potential Solution B:
Allow for manual processing of checkout when there are two or more circulation rules present, allowing the user with the corresponding loan rules to make the decision. This solution should be configurable.
1. Scan Patron Record
2. Scan Item Record
3. Display options according to circulation rules (e.g., Internal / External / Telecommute)
-This process would usually be automated with FOLIO selecting the checkout based off a hierarchy of rules
4. Selection is made and item is checked out to patron
Links to additional info
Questions
- Does the library need the ability to indicate internal/external charge when placing requests? No
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