Circulation components (thought exercise - not functional, last updated 2019)
This page represents the RA SIG's thought process and is NOT a model for current FOLIO functionality.
Location Hierarchy
Object | Use Cases |
Consortia | - Use cases being worked by Consortia SIG. See current thoughts on v1 here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Yf81Xmfwj40gT_sd2AE5ZdiYeDmJp3W4No1X7fNOEYc/edit#gid=1046755404 |
Institution | - Each institution has own FOLIO configuration (enabled apps, organizational settings etc) |
Campus | - Can refer to a specific, semi-independent campuses within a large institution (e.g. Indiana University Bloomington vs. Indiana University Kokomo) - Can refer to a single institution with some geographic diversity (e.g. Duke's East Campus vs. Duke's West Campus) |
Library | - Libraries are a mechanism for grouping shelving locations so you can differentiate between, say, Reading room (Law library) and Reading room (Main library) - You should be able to do reporting on all the physical items in a given library |
Collection | - Collections can be spread across multiple shelving locations within a library or they can all be located in a single shelving location - More than one collection can reside in a single shelving location - Collections often (but not always) have the same loan rules so it would be nice if there was a way to create loan rules at the collection-level rather than at the physical location level - Since more than one collection can reside at a single shelving location, there needs to be a way to create separate loan rules for them - Floating collections are collections of physical items that have no home. Wherever they are checked in is where they are going to live for the time being. |
Shelving Location | - Libraries have physical locations where items (e.g. books, newspapers etc) reside - Loan rules for physical items are associated with physical locations |
Circulation Desk | - Circ desks need to be associated with physical locations in such a way that, when an item is checked in, the system knows whether it is “home” or if it needs to go in transit back to the physical location it calls home - There can be 2 or more circ desks serving one physical location but most ILSes don’t support this – there are work arounds for this, but would be great if FOLIO could make this possible (can a many to many relationship work without causing additional problems) - There can be 2 or more physical locations served by a single circ desk – this is very common and must be supported - Would it worth differentiating between circulation desks and processing locations (e.g. bindery or ILL office)? Would we have a use for this if the system provided a decent workflow engine? |
Loan Periods
| item | notes | comments/questions (please include your name for follow-up) |
|---|---|---|
loan period | Do we need to include a loan interval variable (as well as a loan period)? Do we want to allow for Indefinite Loan (which has no loan period or interval)? (JL) | |
| renewal | Y/N, #, time frame | Also allow for renewal point-of-reference date: renew from today's date, or from the date that the book had been due (JL) |
| grace period | Y/N, time frame | |
| requests | type (hold, recall, delivery), # | |
| hold shelf life | clock starts ticking from when the item is actually placed on the hold shelf (JL) | |
| fines | fine amount and fine interval as variables; might want to make fine interval NOT automatically tied to loan interval (JL) | |
| fees | service fees; penalty fees (JL) | |
| pick-up location limitation | is this loan policy or patron permission?? (Andrea) I think patron permission (JL) | |
| proxy limitation | is this loan policy or an item permission?? (Andrea) I think this is loan policy (JL) | |
| notice configuration | which notices, at what intervals, how many times | |
| calendar connections | include/exclude closed dates /times | where do we handle default due time? is it here, location or a calendar? (Andrea) I think here; but to clarify, this would be the default rule that would take effect in the case of a missing rule for a particular circ situation, true? (JL) |
| override default | pre-set date/time interval for overrides | |
| Time to hold shelf | does this belong here or is it tied to pick-up location?? (Andrea) Does this need to be a standard setting at all? Can't it be however long it takes the book to reach the destination hold shelf? (JL) | |
Item Statuses
| status | notes | comments | Bucket |
|---|---|---|---|
| available | Not checked out / available / on shelf | Availability | |
| charged | checked out | Availability | |
| lost | we don't know where this is (1 level) | not requestable; May trigger coll.dev./acq processes | Availability |
| lost and charged | so overdue that we assume the patron has lost it and we are billing them | depending on internal processes, it could also be a status of "lost" and a patron status of "charged" for that fee (DB and CW). | Availability |
| lost and paid | patron has paid the fee | depending on internal processes, it could also be a status of "lost" and a patron status of "paid" for that fee (DB and CW). | Availability |
| missing | we don't know where this is (another level) | not requestable; May trigger coll.dev./acq processes | Availability |
| missing/requested | patron has expressed interest in a missing title | May trigger collection development/acquisition process | Availability |
| claims returned | charged to a patron who swears they've returned it | remain on loan | ??? |
| recently returned | recently checked in (either from patron use or in-house use) | ||
| in transit | en route from one library location to another | ???? | |
| requested | a patron has asked for this item that is currently NOT checked out | should this status also cover items that are checked out and requested but not recalled? (TF) | Request |
| on hold | available for pick-up | Request | |
| recalled | a patron has asked for this item that is currently checked out | special kind of request that demands a return by current borrower (shortens their loan time) (and possibly also increases the fine rate and hastens progress through overdue-lost-billed sequence TF) | Request |
| in transit / requested | en route from one library location to another to fulfill a request | Info about location status: Permanent location / Current location / shelving location (e.g. new materials shelf) (if relevant here - see ARL's comment below) (CW) | ???/Request |
| withdrawn | withdrawn from the collection (record retained for historical purposes) | not requestable | availability |
| on order | ordered but not received | shared with TS; usually triggered by ACQ processes | workflow / availability |
| in process | received but not yet ready for patron use | shared with TS; usually triggered by ACQ processes; often requestable | workflow |
| overdue | checked out + late being returned | availability | |
| circulation review | item has a circulation issue that requires review by circulation dept. | flag rather than status? | workflow |
| cataloging review | item has a circulation issue that requires review by cataloging dept. | flag rather than status? | workflow |
| damaged | item has known damage (and next patron shouldn't be blamed) | flag rather than status? | condition |
| on reserve | item is on reserve | is this a location or item status - or both? Not requestable? I think of it as a combination of location and (usually temp) item type rather than a status (ARL) (TF - I've worked in places where reserve items are requestable tho not recallable, to create a waiting list for an in-demand item) (TF - I tend to think of "on reserve" as a status that is contingent on/triggered by being attached to an active course/reading list, with other statuses layering on top like "checked out" or "on hold" or "overdue." But I'm ready to think about it differently if needed) | |
| missing pieces | multi-part item is missing a part | condition | |
Check-in challenges/exceptions
| Label | Description | Comments | Questions? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not on loan return | Discharge of item that wasn't charged to a patron | Used for tracking in house use, triggering workflows, and tracking inventory | |
| Transfer required | Item is housed at a location other than where it was returned. | ||
| Requested | Outstanding patron request for the item at the return location | ||
| Transfer for hold | Item fulfills a hold, recall, etc. request with pick at (or delivery from) another location. | ||
| Lost + charged | Item is charged to a patron and has aged to 'lost' | needs to be able to trigger various workflows, depending on institution, such as waiving outstanding lost item fee, calculating overdue fines, etc. | |
| Lost, missing,etc | Item is lost, missing or otherwise unavailable - but not charged to a patron | ||
| Missing pieces | Item is flagged as having missing pieces. | ||
| Multi-part | Item has multiple parts | needs to inform operator of number of pieces and description of pieces, e.g. "parts: 3" description: "2 DVDs and 1 insert" | |
| Internal request | Item has been flagged for internal workflow. | e.g. need for additional cataloging or for repair has been noted in the workflow engine. ideally should offer multiple departments to route item to | |
| fees + fines | incurred costs for this item (e.g. overdue fine) | ||
| Backdating | item checked in but needs to be treated as if checked in at an earlier time (for purposes of overdue fines, etc.) | system needs to capture and be able to display both actual system time of check-in as well as the bacdated, override time | |
| internal routing alerts | text alert to operator on checkin at the shelving location level | used to give staff an alert at the most granular shelving location level to tell them how to route a given location internally within a library. The item is home and recently returned, but needs special handling, like a reserves collection or a reading room collection |
Cross module functions - Examples/User Stories of circulation staff needing to do work in cataloging and acquisitions
Use cases for a workflow engine - Examples/User Stories of how a workflow engine would assist circulation / access services work