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AFN Fulfillment Network, Add patron's home institution to the fields available on the hold shelf's display

When an Automated Fulfillment network allows for their patrons to pick up materials at any Institution in the AFN, it is possible for a patron to pick up their item at a third institution, that is neither the patron's home library, nor the item's home library.

With how Alma currently manages Linked Users, and with the fields available for display on the Active and Expired hold shelf screens, library staff at that third (pick-up only) institution are unable to determine which institution the patron is from.

This is because:

Since the patron is not a local patron to the pick-up institution, and the item was not from the pick-up institution, the patron's linked user record is not automatically saved to the pick-up institution's Alma instance.

This means that the Requester ID that shows when the item is scanned in for hold is not searchable (that requester ID is only searchable at the item's home library), and, without knowing the patron's home library when the AFN is set up for staff to select the patron's home affiliation (because patron identifiers are not unique across the consortium), their name is not searchable either.

We realize the patron would, in theory, receive an email letting them know the item was ready for pick-up from the shelf and would bring their ID with them when they came to pick up the item, but, if the library wanted to contact the patron for some reason, we don't know how they would do that as we don't know how to help them retrieve the patron's record in fulfillment.

Thanks!
Debbie

208 votes
Debbie Campbell shared this idea  ·   ·  Admin →

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  • Debbie Campbell commented  · 

    Hello! Checking to see if there's an update on the ETA for this enhancement.
    Thanks much,
    Debbie

  • Debbie Campbell commented  · 

    Hello!
    I can see that the status for this issue is updated to "Accepted" on 8/31/2022.
    Is there an ETA, or has it been placed into the roadmap?
    Thanks much,
    Debbie

  • Debbie Campbell commented  · 

    Hello!
    I can see that the status for this issue is updated to "Accepted" on 8/31/2022.
    Is there an ETA, or has it been placed into the roadmap?
    Thanks much,
    Debbie

  • Debbie Campbell commented  · 

    This issue remains an issue for our libraries two years later.
    Our libraries at minimum should be able to tell from the active hold shelf which institution is the patron's home institution.

    Knowing the home institution, in many cases (when patron name is unique), would allow them to save the user's linked user record to their IZ to then have access to further user record details if needed, such as email address.

  • Chris Cougill commented  · 

    We are frustrated by this issue as well. It would be helpful to have access to more borrower information (or their home institution, at least). Thank you!

  • Anonymous commented  · 

    Yes, having home institution data on available on the hold shelf so that we can provide the best service to a visiting patron and know what library to contact if we have questions regarding anything that comes up.

  • R Whitney commented  · 

    Please provide additional borrower information so that our circulation department can easily contact the patron to set up curbside pick up of ILL materials.

  • Kyle Olney commented  · 

    Our ILL department tries to give the front line circulation staff a heads-up whenever a non-home-patron will be picking up from our library. Because it doesn't happen all that frequently it can sometimes throw staff for a loop. However, as things stand currently, it is very difficult to even identify that a patron is from another institution, let alone which one.

    Patrons can also make mistakes when choosing a pickup library. If our ILL staff notice that a patron is not from our institution and also does not live locally, we will try contacting them to make sure they intended to pick up the item from us. Again, that is not easily done in this environment.

  • John Matthews commented  · 

    In general, any display (or printing) of the requester ID seems like it will cause confusion. If at all possible, it would be ideal if the patron's local library barcode/ID # would display or print. I support this request for enhancement.

  • Debbie Campbell commented  · 

    This issue has become more important for our member libraries in that, with the COVID-19 pandemic, more of our libraries are using "contactless pickup" where the material needs to be checked out to the patron before placing it in a remote-retrieval site (such as lockers).

    Without knowing the patron's institutional affiliation, library staff are unable to check out the item to the patron.

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