Controlling Lending for Sierra Libraries

OpenRS makes the determination if an item can  be requested at the server level. Once login checks are passed the four criteria are:

• Ptype:  Is the patron allowed to request?
• Shelving Location: Is the shelving location visible in OpenRS?
• Itype: Is the Itype allowed to lend?
• Item Status:  is the item status available, or on hold or checked out?

The local loan rule determiner in Sierra is allowing a request to be placed on the item requested. In Sierra the Ptype and Itype must not supersede the criteria on the OpenRS server.  Other lending management features such as rules for requesting can block the page/request but will make an error the patron or library may not be aware of.  Sierra libraries locally manage their servers and loan rules, MCO staff make recommendations and ensure these rules agree with the OpenRS server.

There are three types of items that can be lent on OpenRS:

• Monographs, aka Books
• AV (Audiovisual items)
• Audiobooks, nominally AV items that circulate as if they were books

In Sierra there can be up to  seven loan rules:

Purpose	Location	Ptype	Itype	Rule number
Book Loan rule	Wildcard location	Book only OpenRS Pytpes	Local Book Itypes	Institutional Book loan rule
AV Loan rule	Wildcard location	Book/AV Ptypes	Local AV Itypes	Institutional AV loan rule
Audiobook Loan rule	Wildcard location	Book/AV Ptypes	Local Audiobook Itypes	Institutional Book loan rule
Book Borrow Loan rule	6* wildcard location	Local Ptypes	OpenRS Book/Audiobook Itype	Local book Loan rule
AV Borrow Loan Rule	6* wildcard location	Local Ptypes	OpenRS AV Itype	Local AV Loan rule
Book Borrow Loan rule	9* wildcard location	Local Ptypes	OpenRS Book/Audiobook Itype	Local book Loan rule
AV Borrow Loan Rule	9* wildcard location	Local Ptypes	OpenRS AV Itype	Local AV Loan rule

The purposes are:

• Lend Books
• Lend AV
• Lend Audiobooks
• Borrow Books/Audiobooks from a library with a 6* location
• Borrow AV from a library with a 6* location
• Borrow Books/Audiobooks from a library with a 9* location
• Borrow AV from a library with a 9* location

Lending or borrowing AV and Audiobooks are optional, libraries should at a minimum have a monograph collection they lend and monographs they borrow.

Deciding on who should borrow

To set up/update your OpenRS borrowing and lending, first decide which of your patrons should be able to borrow or request from OpenRS.  These will be updated on OpenRS by MCO staff and then added by your site manager to the Book, Audiobook and AV Borrow loan rules.  A list of your current Ptype mapping can be supplied by MCO.

Deciding on Books, AV, or Audiobooks

Does your library want to only borrow and lend books, or do you want to borrow or lend AV and Audiobooks as well?  Lending or borrowing can also be decided separately.  If you choose only to borrow and lend books then you will need 3 rules, the Book lend and two Book borrow.

Deciding on Item Types

Local item types are mapped up to a pair of central Item Types, that function the same on all servers:

• OpenRS Monograph (Itype 209)
• OpenRS AV (Itype 202)
• Noncirculating on OpenRS (Itype 210)
• Itype 211 was used for Audiobooks, this is no longer used with OpenRS

Multiple local Item Types can be mapped up to these, so for example there can be Blu-Ray, CD-ROM and DVD which all map to OpenRS AV.

The Itype mapping in use by your library can be supplied by MCO.  More or fewer Item Types can be added or removed, as long as the intent is to loan the items per one of the three categories.  Changes will be done by MCO Staff on the OpenRS server and locally by your site manager.

Displaying Shelving Locations

Sierra locations can be displayed in OpenRS.  If the location is enabled all items using that location will show, while if not then none will show.

Whether items in a shelving location can circulate comes down to the Item Type as follows:

To display and allow requests

The location must be set to display and all attached items should be using one of the allowed item types as above.  An example is a Stacks location with Monograph Itypes.

To display and not allow requests

The location must be set to display and all attached items must NOT be using one of the allowed Itypes. An example is a special collection with Archive Itypes.  Typically these are items the library wants researchers to know they possess even if they can’t be lent.

​Notes:

It is possible to use statuses other than available such as “Restricted” instead of item type, but these can be problematic to maintain, especially if an item circulates locally.

A shelving location of mixed item types or statuses can work to allow some items to circulate and some not to, it will be the library’s responsibility to maintain it.

A list of allowed shelving locations can be supplied by MCO to your library.