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Requests in queue - notice to patrons

When you have more request for an item than you have items, the new requests are automatically queued, but the requester do not get any message about this, and unless they check their Oria account they have no way to find out when they can expect to receive their item.

We propose a function that automatically sends email to patrons if their requests have been queued. This must include their position in the queue.

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Svein Opdahl shared this idea  ·   ·  Admin →

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  • Chris Jones commented  · 

    a) Place in Queue when placing request:
    As Chris Sloan has said, the November feature can be 'removed' by changing the label:
    see: Fulfillment Configuration > Labels > c.uresolver.request.placeInQueue

    b) 'Length of the Request Queue'
    In January 2016 a further Patron-facing element of request queue information was added, see p.41 of the Release Notes:
    http://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/@api/deki/files/39720/Alma_January_2016_Release_Notes.pdf

    However this time there does not appear to be any way of hiding this information. Title-level requests appear with the availability statement, but unlike anywhere else within Alma, the request queue length is repeated/split across each holding of the title.
    This feature is not very clear for the reasons given for the Nov release,
    i.e. request priority. Also the number appears to Patrons when not logged in.
    Its appearance should really be configurable as in some cases it may even discourage requests is users read the 'length' count wrongly and add up the same single requests as split across each holding of the same title.

  • Chris Sloan commented  · 

    We have switched off the new feature in Alma Nov.release (by changing text to "You will be notified when this item is available")
    This is because we feel any display would potentially be very misleading to our clients given the request priority configurations built into our borrowing rules.
    We would not support this change unless it could be switched off by the institution

  • Chris Jones commented  · 

    "2. As part of the December release, a patron submitting a request via Primo will get an immediate notification about the request’s place in the queue via the Primo screen."

    This functionality appeared in the November 2015 release in fact, though unlike the June 2014 My Account feature (non-active requests), users will often see '0', which is perhaps confusing. May be better to have a logical number '1' here even when no queue, so that a customer would understand that they are first.

  • AdminAsaf Kline (VP Library Solutions, Ex Libris) commented  · 

    While reviewing this idea, Alma Product Management identified existing functionality as well as short term enhancements that were already planned, which provides information on the patron's place in the request queue:

    1. After the request has been placed, the patron may refer to the My Account list to monitor her requests list. In that list, the patron can view the place in the queue

    2. As part of the December release, a patron submitting a request via Primo will get an immediate notification about the request’s place in the queue via the Primo screen. The notification will show up in the GetIt tab, where the request has been placed from.

    In addition, our roadmap plans have been updated to include the ability to send ‘Your request is waiting in queue’ notification to patrons, helping them keep better track of the their requests.

    Thanks for your contribution

Alma: Fulfillment - General

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