2023-02-07 Discovery Integration Subgroup Meeting notes

Khalilah Gambrell 

Prioritized topics:

• Retrieve both holdings and Item information at the same time
  • Does this functionality reside in the discovery layer?
    • For the discovery layer, it needs to know the service point of the effective location. It would be difficult to maintain that map on the discovery side.
  • Do we want an array of pick up locations as part of the item information that comes back?
  • What are the assumptions in this description?
    • The way this reads is that, as a patron, you can only pickup something from one location?
    • Should this apply to all request?
    • We may need more details from Kara Hart about what the expectations are/more details.
      • Doesn't this logic belong in the discovery layer?
      • Are you really looking for just a list of valid pick up locations for the specific item?
• Single Request for Multiple Items
  • Khalilah Gambrell From an RTAC perspective this is already possible.
• Retrieve both holdings and item information at the same time
  • Khalilah Gambrell agrees with this request. This would require a number of changes to RTAC.
    • Maybe should have had less logic in RTAC, but allow for parameters and filters to allow more user-end customization.
    • What field(s) in FOLIO could be used to allow users to filter what gets returned?
      • Marie Widigson We all use slightly different fields, so I think there would need to be a number of fields. Examples: Material type (item), Mode of issuance (instance), Nature of content (instance), Holdings Statement (instance)
      • QUESTION FOR ALL: What others?
  • How often do you have one instance with one holding and no item (for example electronic), and then a holding and multiple item (for example print)?
    • RTAC currently does not support that situation. If it finds a holding with an item, it will only return the holding with an item.
    • EDS would recognize the 856 and present the link.
    • Blacklight logic can recognize the 856 and create a fake item display to support.
    • VuFind can ignore or present the holdings information and the 856 if the institution sets it up that way.
  • Serial holdings and serial items are where this is particularly relevant. 
    • There are cases where libraries want to show items, whereas right now it shows the holdings based on it being a serials. 
  • Tod Olson Tree hierarchy would be nice, have the holdings and then items under the holdings.
• Performance / Handling of many items
  • Can call EDGE or directly, what causes performance issues?
  • VuFind is not using EDGE
  • Blacklight Jenn Colt We are caching some of this information at the solr level and then getting updates in real time ish. So by the time someone actually looks at the record the cache is current hopefully. 
  • Brooks Travis Having some kind of paging logic worked in could help with this. RTAC tries to give you everything (hundreds of items, for example) at once.
  • Khalilah Gambrell Could this be handled on the discovery end (i.e. pagination)?
    • If the performance issue comes from RTAC trying to deliver too much information, then it needs to be fixed on the RTAC side.
    • Khalilah Gambrell When does this happen?  
      • Jenn Colt We see it when someone has 200 things checked out and they try and renew all 200 things. 
      • Marie Widigson We had an issue a few weeks ago, with records that had both few or many items, and it seems to be resolved.
      • Brooks Travis There’s an RTAC component to displaying loan information (at least in EDS), so it’s not unreasonable to ask, for sure
      • Demian Katz I just tried an item with a somewhat large number of items, and it loads quickly: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/90816 -- but this is not a HUGE item.

ACTION ITEMS:

Khalilah Gambrell Ask Kara clarifying questions

Khalilah Gambrell Will provided some stories based on discussions at the next meeting

ALL: For Retrieve both holdings and items, what fields would people rely on to determine when users can see holdings and when users see items?

ALL: Please record examples of Availability RTAC being slow. Does it happen with records with many items attached? Just a few?

21 Feb 2023