CUL Discovery and Access

What is the logic behind the request button?

When an item (actually, a bib record) is requested, we first have the patron select a particular volume if the record is a multi-volume object. Then we look at every item record associated with the main bib record. For each item record, we determine the item type (book, map, etc.), its loan type (regular, day, or minute), and its status (available, charged, etc.). Then we go through a rather ugly chain of conditional logic statements to determine which delivery options are available for that specific combination of patron status, item type, item loan type, and item status. (This includes a homebrew attempt to determine item availability in the Borrow Direct borrowing consortium.) The logic here is an attempt to translate a written borrowing matrix obtained from our librarians into code.

The options the system offers include:

• Library-to-library delivery (within CUL)
• Hold
• Recall
• Borrow Direct (local borrowing consortium)
• Interlibrary Loan
• REequest a purchase (if an item is lost or missing, for example)
• Document Delivery
• Patron-driven acquisition (for titles not yet owned by CUL; this is semi-transparent to the user)
• Ask at the circulation desk (for short-term/hourly loans)
• Ask a librarian (default option for when all else fails)

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