Tip of the Week - #010 (No automatic selection of lender - multi-volume set?)

Keywords:  automatic selection, multi-volume set

When the user is placing a PCIRC request, normally the system automatically selects the lender for the user. There is one exception to this and that is if the system 'thinks' the item is part of a multi-volume set. If this is true, then the user will need to select which volume he wishes. This is why you get a screen with all the holdings listed and the user is asked to select a volume. In this case, the user is actually selecting the lender as well.

Unfortunately, there are times when the item is not part of a multi-volume set but the user is still asked to select a copy. This is caused by one of the owning institutions placing a number (usually a copy number) in the volume field of the item record. If the system sees a number in ANY of the volume fields, it automatically assumes that item belongs to a multi-volume set and the user is then asked to choose a copy. This causes a bit of confusion, but the user can still complete his request by choosing one of the available copies. To correct this problem, the institution whose attached item record is incorrect will need to be notified so they can edit the record. Once that is done, then the requesting process would return to the normal steps of automatically selecting the lender.