The Requestability logic determines for a particular item which fulfillment option to display
Requestability uses parameters derived from each bibliographic record retrieved along with the patron type to determine which fulfillment option to display.
The configuration for requestability is specific to each catalog configured in the Relais D2D system.
The Requestability logic determines whether the patron can use the service based on their patron type. The patron type is included in the NCIP Lookup User response in the 'patron profile'. If NCIP is not used then the patron type from the Relais patron record is retrieved.
If the patron type matches one of the values configured for Not Allowed Patron Type then a message is displayed to the patron advising that they are not allowed to use the service.
The text for this message is configurable by each library. By default this message is:
You are not allowed to request via this service. Please contact ILL staff.
For example, if the patron profile returned in the Lookup User response is 'alumni' and this value is configured for the patron's home catalog, then the message is displayed and the patron is not be allowed to proceed.
For each of the parameters from each bibliographic record, appropriate logic is used to determine a true or false value used in building a requestability evaluation matrix.
Is the format considered requestable?
The format provided in the bibliographic record is compared with the format configured for each catalog.
Example 1: If the format specified in the record retrieved from the Brown catalog is 'book', and 'book' is configured as a value in Brown's configuration, then the value for the Format cell for this record is set to true.
Example 2: If the format specified in the record retrieved from the MIT catalog is 'ebook', and 'ebook' is not configured as a value in MIT's configuration, the value for the Format cell for this record is set to false.
Is an item with this shelving location considered requestable?
For the shelving location returned in each record, for example, ILR Library (Ives Hall), Library Annex and Perkins/Bostock Library Stacks:
Is the call number or the start of the call number considered NOT requestable?
The call number returned in each record is compared with the call numbers configured for each catalog.
For example, the configuration for this parameter may include values such as: Dis, Micro, Folio. Any records for which the call number starts with any of these configured values is considered not requestable.
Is the item on loan?
If the item is on loan, then the cell value is false. If the item is not on loan the cell value is true.
Does the loan policy provided allow the item to be requested?
The loan policy returned in the record is compared with the loan policies configured for each catalog, for example: Regular loan:01, Regular loan (depository):01, 28-day loan:28, 28-day loan (depository):28
Is the item held in the patron's library?
If a record is returned from a catalog which matches the patron's 'home' library then the item is held locally and so the cell value is true. If the item is not held in the patron's home library then the cell value is false.
if the item is held locally but is not requestable (as determined above) are there situations where a library may still want to push the patron to the record in the local catalog rather than submit a request, for example if the item is on loan?
The value for Availability for this record is matched with values configured for Local Override, for example: In Transit, Shelving Cart, On order
Is the item held at a Secondary Supplier, e.g., CRL?
A Secondary Supplier is not considered part of the consortium but the catalog of this supplier is included in Discovery. For example some libraries in a consortium may include CRL (Center for Research Libraries) as one of their targets. This allows the patron to direct a request to the local ILL system if found in this catalog.
Is there a quota for the number of requests that can sent by all members of the consortium to the specific shelving location(s) configured?
Note: Each time a request is sent to one of these locations, a count is updated by Increment Request.
The count of requests sent to these shelving locations is reset each day by the Relais Process service.
The results of the Requestability evaluation matrix are used to determine what option, i.e., message and link, to display to the patron. See Requestability options for patrons.