Legend: NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS STALLED DECIDED
Recommendation
The Fulfillment and ILL FG recommends that all campuses adjust the following parameters in their Alma institution zones, to allow patrons to check out AFN borrowed materials via their self-check machines.
fulfillment_network_unique_barcodes setting - Configure this settings on the Customer Parameters Mapping Table page (Configuration Menu > Fulfillment > General > Other Settings).
FULL - Barcodes are unique across all members of the fulfillment network and are not duplicated. The Item Owner drop-down list does not appear on the Manage Patron Services, Return Items, or Scan In pages. Alma searches for the barcode, first locally, then in all other institutions. The search completes as soon as the barcode is matched and processing continues automatically.
NONE - Barcodes are not unique. This is the default
Allow Fulfillment Network Users parameter in self-check machine integration profile setting- Configure this setting on the Integration Profiles List page (Configuration Menu > General > External Systems > Integration Profiles).
Yes- select for Alma to search for the user locally, then in fulfillment network members. The search stops when a match is found and the linked account is created automatically.
When the field is set to No, Alma searches only local users in response to SIP2 messages.
Currently, these settings are set to indicate that patron and item barcodes are not unique across all UC institutions, and patrons are unable to check out their AFN borrowed items using self-check machines.
To determine whether or not barcodes are mostly unique, if not fully unique across the consortia, CDL ran Alma Analytics reports. The data showed that the duplication that did exist was minimal, and the risk of issues occurring from changing the parameters above is very low.
Questions to consider
What are the Pros and Cons?
Pros
The Item Owner dropdown list will no-longer appear on the Manage Patron Services page when staff are checking out/in items from patron’s accounts, streamlining both processes.
AFN requested items will be able to checked out using self-check machines at institutions that have self-service hold shelves, like UCSD and UCLA.
Patrons attempting to use the machines to check out AFN loans along with their local materials will not become frustrated with the machines and walk away with the items without checking out the materials.
It will alleviate lines at service desks, since patrons will be able to check out all their items using the machines
Cons
In the event that a patron or item barcode is not unique, the machines/Alma will not allow a check out/in of an item until the duplication is resolved.
It's our understanding that there are 5 patron identifiers that can be used in Alma (Primary ID, UID, Additional ID 1, Additional ID 2, Additional ID 3, Additional ID 4, Barcode, Illiad ID for export), which one or one(s) must be unique for the purposes of enabling self-check without any issues?
When you activate network_users_unique_identifiers, all User Identifiers need to have the Uniqueness Type = Across Institution. This will guarantee that all identifiers unique in IZ.
User has user card with identifier. It can be barcode or primary id (if this is the barcode number on user card), any other ID. This card number should be unique not only across institution, but across consortia. Otherwise, system will not be able to find unique user in the system.
Will users with shortened identifiers be problematic when attempting to use the self-check machines? At UCB, there is a small number of users who have user IDs that are truncated down to 6 digits of their 10 digit campus ID number. For UCB, when they were on Millenium, they often experienced seeing two user accounts when scanning in these types of id numbers.
If this identifier is stored in the system and unique, system should be able to identify user.
For duplicate items across the UC system: What actual effect will that have for patrons when they attempt to use the self-check machines to check out one of those items? Will it cause an issue for requesting, or just check out?
Exlibris thinks that the system in this case will not be able to record the check out transaction and error will appear because of duplicate barcode.
For the duplicate items across the UC system: Should we only be concerned with the item barcodes being duplicated, or is there another item identifier that could cause issues if there's a duplicate at another campus?
You can define item barcode as identifier in self-check machine profile and confirm that it is unique across consortia.
Action Log
Action/Point Person | Expected Completion Date | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|