I'm curious to know which pop-ups are suppressed using the "Suppress popup-dialogs during check-in." Is it all pop-ups (including holds and transit, which we really need to see) or just the missing, lost, and claims returned pop-ups that seem unnecessary to most of the users here in MA?

Libraries may not be performing brain surgery, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to make our systems the best that they can be for library staff so that they can spend less time working in the ILS and more time working with their users. It's true - if a book is put on the shelf without being checked in properly, it's not the end of the world. But if it happens a lot, the time spent fixing those errors that could have otherwise been spent providing other services to patrons start to add up. Brain surgery or not, what we all want is to make the most productive use of our time, isn't it?

Some library staff may find it important to be alerted every time a missing or lost item is checked in. The library staff I generally talk to do not think this information is important. Ideally, we should have control over which of these alerts display. Some libraries may want to get the alert of number of pieces when they are checking items in, so that they can make sure everything was returned, but they might not want this information when they are busy checking out these items to patrons. Right now, we can't distinguish between a checkin and chekout alert, but it would be nice if we could.

My hope is that the web client will help with some of the speed issues we've seen at checkin, but it won't help us gain more control over these alerts. I'm hoping we could see more development in this area once circulation has been moved over to the web client, because I think we could save time if some of these alerts were suppressed.

There have been some good ideas generated through this discussion. MassLNC had recently come up with some development requirements (http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/2764) that would give Evergreen sites more granular control over which alerts display. We opted not to proceed with the development because of the upcoming freeze on new circulation features. However, it's something that I know many of our libraries would like to see us pick up again once circulation has been moved to the web client.

Kathy

Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
kluss...@masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

On 4/14/2014 4:36 PM, Ruth Frasur wrote:
The web client will fix EVERYTHING!! Even the kitchen sink (if you have a kitchen sink).


On Mon, Apr 14, 2014 at 4:30 PM, Betty Massie <bmas...@arlnc.org <mailto:bmas...@arlnc.org>> wrote:

    Response # 2 from Georgia Pines -- ever the team player

    -----Original Message-----
    From: open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org
    <mailto:open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org>
    [mailto:open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org
    <mailto:open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org>] On
    Behalf Of McCanna, Terran
    Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 4:12 PM
    To: Evergreen Discussion Group
    Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Items not checking in?

    Most of those alerts are important, are they not? It's been a
    little while, but when I've covered Circ and done check-ins, I
    don't recall getting anything that I regarded as an unnecessary
    alert - I only recall things that required some sort of staff
    action such as routing, printing hold slips, etc. If alerts were
    suppressed, wouldn't that cause far more staff error?


    Terran McCanna
    PINES Program Manager
    Georgia Public Library Service
    1800 Century Place, Suite 150
    Atlanta, GA 30345
    404-235-7138 <tel:404-235-7138>
    tmcca...@georgialibraries.org <mailto:tmcca...@georgialibraries.org>

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Jason Etheridge" <ja...@esilibrary.com
    <mailto:ja...@esilibrary.com>>
    To: "Evergreen Discussion Group"
    <open-ils-general@list.georgialibraries.org
    <mailto:open-ils-general@list.georgialibraries.org>>
    Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 4:02:49 PM
    Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Items not checking in?

    > Evergreen has lots of alerts - we tracked them for a week once.

    One thing I want to mention is that it was an intentional design
    decision that certain workflows got "halted" by pop-up alerts, and
    there was a great fear of users accidentally "scanning through" an
    alert without noticing.

    It seems like we've been slowly trying to mitigate the
    consequences of that decision, for example, with the menu option
    Checkin
    Modifiers->Ignore Pre-cataloged Items and the experimental Fast Entry
    (Asynchronous) checkbox, and culminating in the "Suppress
    popup-dialogs during check-in" library setting.

    It may be time to rethink this behavior from the ground-up, or at
    the very least, better document it (I had forgotten all about that
    library setting, despite having wrote it, and I bet a lot of folk
    would love to have it enabled).

    --
    Jason Etheridge
    | Support Manager
    | Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts
    | phone: 1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
    | email: ja...@esilibrary.com <mailto:ja...@esilibrary.com>
    | web: http://www.esilibrary.com




--
Ruth Frasur
Director of the Historic(ally Awesome) Hagerstown - Jefferson Township Library
10 W. College Street in Hagerstown, Indiana (47346)
p (765) 489-5632; f (765) 489-5808

Our Kickin' Website<http://hagerstownlibrary.org> Our Rockin' Facebook Page <http://facebook.com/hjtplibrary> and Stuff I'm Reading<http://pinterest.com/hjtplibrary/ruth-reads/>


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