Add Job Category as an input parameter for the Borrowing Resource Sharing rule
Why this is desirable:
To facilitate personal delivery for a subset of a user group (online or distance learners, for example), Alma needs an additional input parameter in the Borrowing Resource Sharing rule. Due to additional cost implications for these patrons and the delivery of their requested items, we do not want to offer this service to all users with a certain user group. Giving these patrons a separate user group, where all other loan, request, etc. rules are identical other than the personal delivery setting adds an undesirable level of complexity to the existing fulfillment rules and patron groupings. By using a job category, we can easily identify users across user groups that are eligible for special delivery services.
In the main fulfillment unit rules for Request rules, we can already use Job Category as an input parameter to identify a special group of users to use a special TOU for just those users with that job category. We can use that rule to set pickup options to allow personal or office delivery for those users for items owned locally (patron physical item requests).
For resource sharing requests, we have a very limited list of input parameters available to determine borrowing and delivery options, and cannot use the same kind of identifying data in the patron record as we can for local requests. We would like to be able to offer the same pickup and delivery options for both locally held items and for resource sharing requested items.
Desired behavior:
Patrons with a special job category that allows personal delivery for both local requests (patron physical item requests) and resource sharing requests will have the same delivery and pickup options that the library will define in the applicable TOUs. Resource Sharing requests will be sent to the patron’s Resource Sharing Library as defined in their patron record. The requests will follow the existing workflow for personal delivery that exists if we use User Group as the input parameter, currently. The borrowing library will intercept the requested materials and mail them to the user, as appropriate.
Completed as part of the February release.
Alma has enhanced its borrowing resource sharing rules to include Job Category
For more information please see Release Notes