2025-02-05 Cross App SIG Meeting notes
- Tara Barnett
Date
Feb 5, 2025
Housekeeping
Convener and notes: Tara
Topics: 2025 Meeting and Topic Calendar
Discussion topics
Time | Item | Presenter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
5 min | Announcements |
|
|
| Hide/Remove Fields | Laura/Tara |
|
Notes
We focused today on a feature request to hide or remove fields in FOLIO, brought forward by Laura. We quickly decided to narrow the scope to only "hiding" fields rather than "removing" them, as removing would involve fundamentally changing the underlying data structure and was deemed too complex and risky.
We defined hiding as making fields invisible in the interface while preserving the underlying data, similar to how hidden fields work in acquisitions order templates. The main use cases discussed were hiding calculated values that confuse staff (like effective shelving order) and hiding fields that institutions don't use (like volume fields at Cornell) to prevent accidental data entry.
A key challenge we identified is what to do when hidden fields contain data that was imported or added through other means. We explored the idea of showing such data in a grayed-out state in view mode, though how to handle editing remained unclear. We also discussed whether this should be controlled by permissions, with some staff able to view hidden fields while others cannot.
We examined how hidden fields currently work in acquisitions orders and noted both benefits and potential confusion when records look different depending on how they were created. Maura shared insights from the users app about hiding sensitive information, and we considered whether required fields should be allowed to be hidden.
We talked about the importance of establishing establishing clear principles, such as always providing an easy way to show hidden fields for troubleshooting, and potentially restricting the feature to non-required fields initially.