Key concept:
Smaller public libraries don’t have a developer (or development team) to create custom applications, workarounds, or reporting tools for FOLIO when the core application fails to meet their needs.

Purpose:
This list is designed to call out the “workarounds” created by institutions, the features and functions that make an LMS “turnkey” for smaller libraries, deficiencies in the product, and have them available for review and discussion in order to formalize them in the application itself.

Process:
PubLib members gather information from prospective public libraries (from RFPs as well) and track them here - JIRAs are created to represent these issues back to the community. Links to these JIRAs are included with each (if created).

Acquisition and Processing

Label Printing

There is no application/method within the FOLIO UI for designing label templates, or using said templates to print labels directly. Having a WYSIWYG editor for call number/label printing (ability to align text, change font, etc.) would be necessary for a turnkey LMS solution. Several workarounds exist but nothing that is inherent to the application.

Implementers' Guide To Label Printing - Implementers SIG - FOLIO Wiki

Data Import

Loan Types (order import)

A major improvement for organizations that deal with high volume orders (like public libraries) would be to automate the means of setting item loan types during order import. This feature is lacking at present but could be added soon:

JIRA: [UXPROD-5586] Data Import - Include Loan type for field mapping profile

Catalog (Discovery)

There is no “FOLIO” discovery later, but there are a few projects that can be used with FOLIO that meet most requirements of public libraries. Spokane Public Library uses VuFind which works with FOLIO out of the box or can be modified/customized (as with project Blacklight) as needed.

See the Catalog FAQs - Public Library SIG for more information.

Circulation

Circulation in FOLIO is easy, but a few “core” functions are needed to get it the rest of the way.

Check-in receipt printing

There is no method to print a receipt for patrons from the check-in screen in the FOLIO UI. A notice template/email can be used, but this is insufficient for most libraries.

Check-out receipt printing

There is no method to print a receipt for patrons from the check-out screen in the FOLIO UI. A notice template/email can be used, but this is insufficient for most libraries.

Current implementation is lacking and prints a receipt for each item:
https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/UXPROD-4959

Check-out Override

See Requests below.

Renewals

Things related to renewing already checked out materials.

Automated Renewals

Being able to set, via-circulation rules, automatic renewals if an item is not requested by another patron is a valuable feature for Alma-migrating libraries.

JIRA: [UXPROD-2375] Automatic renewals - FOLIO Jira

Collection Maintenance

Weeding list

There are no predefined weeding workflows in FOLIO. Because institutional needs vary greatly, custom reports using the List app nearly makes this possible. Some of the following are included for collection reports but cannot (yet) be combined with loan/circulation information natively in the application.

For weeding and collection evaluation purposes, staff should be able to easily pull lists of items by collection/format by a variety of staff-defined metrics, including:
• Last CKO date
• CKOS within a user-defined date range
• Last record update
• Number of CKOs
• Call number
• Last in-house use
• Publication date
• Date created/added to catalog

Batch Item Editing

The current method for batch editing is done with combining Lists app exports (csv) with the Bulk Edit app (importing CSV). Having a graphical tool for real time barcode scanning, rendering a list, then editing the properties of the record(s) for bulk operations would be a significant workflow tool that is missing from FOLIO.

Fee/Fines

Automated Actual Cost

There is no automation for billing a customer the cost of their lost/overdue item. The current implementation of Actual Cost requires staff to manually update these billing items with the appropriate cost. Couple this with no Item Cost on the item record, such a cumbersome process is untenable for public libraries.

JIRA: [UXPROD-5094] Proposal for Automated Actual Cost Billing - FOLIO Jira

Payment receipt printing

There is no method to print a receipt for patrons from the UI when they make a cash or check payment with a staff member. A notice template/email can be used, but this is insufficient for most libraries.

JIRA:

Metadata

Item Cost

There is no metadata field for storing item cost from migrating institution’s ILSs in FOLIO.

JIRA: [UXPROD-4776] itemCost Field on item record - FOLIO Jira

Notices

Card Renewals

A method for automatically generating notices - with patron group rules - to borrowers reminding them that their card is due to expire soon.

Phone vs. Text

Scenario: Many public libraries (SPL included) use services to send notices outside their ILS provided communication channels.

For SPL, we use email (PatronPoint), text (Twilio), and phone call (Illion-iTiva Connect) notices. To identify what notices should be “text message” we use “Mail” as the preferred contact for the user then pull appropriate data to send to the 3^rd party service.  

Problem: Many public libraries include the three above AND mailed notices. How should one identify what notices should be “text” vs. “phone call” if there’s no option for it?

JIRA: [UXPROD-5585] Modify Preferred Contact - Include "Text" vs. "Phone"

3rd Party Sending

MOD-Notice does not support retrieval of batched notices for 3rd party sending. Instead, libraries have to develop their own queries/tools to retrieve patron/item/title/loan information and format it in such a way that can be used by 3rd party services. Also, like MOD-Notice, the custom solution must keep track of previously sent/generated notices as to not re-send notices to borrowers.

JIRA:

Reporting

Reporting in the FOLIO UI does not have “out of the box statistics” that most public libraries would want with one-click. While additional reporting products can be added to FOLIO (see Reporting FAQs - Public Library SIG) and queries copied or written to get the data needed, there is no “one click” solution. Examples of such reports include:

Circulation

• Checkouts (CKOs)

  • By collection, patron group, preferred pickup location (home branch), etc.

• Renewals (by type)

• Request (placed, fulfilled, lead time, etc.)

• Overdue

• New item reports

Users

• New card signups

  • Aggregate functions by patron group, geographical location, etc.

• Recent renewals

  • Aggregate functions by patron group, geographical location, etc.

• Upcoming expirations.

Requests

FOLIO has come a long way in terms of request features in recent years. There are a few lingering enhancements that most public libraries would need.

Check-out override

Scenario: Item is paged for patron A but not yet pulled by staff. Patron B retrieves the item and proceeds to checkout. Because the item is request by Patron A, staff cannot override the request on the item to check it out to Patron B, leading to a poor customer experience.

JIRA: [UXPROD-5400] Single Tenant - Override non-requester checkout - FOLIO Jira

EPIC: [UXPROD-2733] Override non-requester checkout - FOLIO Jira

Expired holds list

The methods in FOLIO for clearing items off the shelf (Hold shelf clearance report) is not intuitive and, rather than rendering a list for printing directly in the UI, generates a CSV that requires extraneous steps to format and print desired columns for use.

Ideally, a customizable table of information rendered directly in the UI can be referenced on a tablet or printed and used by staff would make this workflow much easier.

JIRA:

Geographical Fulfillment

Many institutions would like request fulfillment to choose “available copies” from a branch closest to the pickup location.

Scenario:
Copy A is available at Location A and Copy B at Location B. Pickup location is Location C.
Location C is closest to Location B.
Request fulfillment would place the page request on Copy B.

JIRA:

Pause (suspend) Requests

A valuable feature used by public libraries is the ability for a patron pause their holds for a period, say, when they’re on vacation or when they’re at the top of the queue but not ready for their book yet. This feature is in development but not yet realized.

JIRA: [UXPROD-3567] Suspend/Freeze/Pause a Patron Request - FOLIO Jira

Picklist

The methods in FOLIO for picking requested items off the shelf is not intuitive and, rather than rendering a list for printing directly in the UI, prints slips staff use to match shelved items.

Ideally, a customizable table of information rendered directly in the UI can be referenced on a tablet or printed and used by staff would make this workflow much easier.

JIRA: [UXPROD-923] Requests in-app report: Requests Pick List - FOLIO Jira

A portion of this gap could be satisfied by the implementation of the following JIRAs but are not needed for this use case if the above is implemented:

[UXPROD-4688] Add "Item effective location" as an optional column in the Requests results pane - FOLIO Jira

[UXPROD-2285] Filter requests by item effective location - FOLIO Jira

Title (Bib) Level Requests

BUG: [CIRC-2159] Cancelling Paged TLR results in stalled queue and previously paged item becoming "available" - FOLIO Jira

Deficiency: [UXPROD-5117] TLR: Move page request when item is not found - FOLIO Jira

Weighted Request

There’s a desire by some organizations to weight request fulfillment based on patron group priority. This is not supported in FOLIO and would be a desired feature for some.

JIRA:

User Mangement

Automated user “promotion”

Automatic handling of transitions between patron groups following institution-configurable rules. Example: automatically change from youth to adult on appropriate birthdays, etc.

JIRA:

PIN Reset

There is not a method in the FOLIO UI to reset the patron PIN on their behalf. Resetting a PIN requires a custom tool to interact with the API.

JIRA:

New user template

Users are typically created using a custom intake form designed by the institution. For creating users from scratch, this feature makes it much simpler with pre-filled information based on the new patron’s type.

JIRA: [UXPROD-4038] Create templates to apply to user records - FOLIO Jira