My Account release notes, September 2021

Administrative actions

These items require immediate action or decisions.

Follow-up actions

In an effort to keep your staff informed of new features and changes, you may also want to consider these items.

Include Request ID with problem reports

When reporting an issue with My Account or WorldCat Discovery, it's very helpful to include the Request ID. It can be found at the bottom of the screen on which the issue occurred. Including this information allows us to directly trace what happened on the request we are troubleshooting.

Display a custom message for your library users

You are now able to create custom notifications for your library users within My Account. If your library uses WorldCat Discovery, the same message appears in both interfaces.

To create a custom notification, go to OCLC Service Configuration and navigate to WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > Display Settings > Custom Notification. 

As needed, you can enable/disable the message, include translated text, and incorporate links.

For more information, see Add a Custom Notification.

Provide improved messages for WorldShare Circulation renewal failures

For libraries with WorldShare Circulation

Your library's users will now see more specific and useful error messages on the Checkouts tab when an item fails to be renewed. The new messages will help users to take appropriate action. Prior to this release, users would see a generic error message for all failed renewals. 

Users will see a specific renewal error message when:

• Their account is expired or blocked from circulation
• They owe too much in library fees
• They have too many overdue items
• The item is needed to fulfill another patron's hold or item scheduling request
• A system error occurred while attempting the renewal

Any other conflict with Circulation policies will result in a generic error message indicating that renewals are not allowed.

This example shows the message when the user owes too many fees:

If a user selects more than one item to renew, then item-specific failure messages display for each item that fails to renew. A list of successfully renewed items will continue to be displayed in the confirmation message:

For more information, see Renew items.

For libraries with both WorldShare Circulation and Tipasa

Reminder: If your library has enabled Tipasa and Circulation integration, the Renew option will only display in the Checkouts tab for items borrowed from another library if Tipasa’s Patron Request Management settings allow patrons to renew ILL requests in My Account.

Renewal requests from My Account for borrowed items are submitted directly to the lending library for approval, and the user will not see a new due date until library staff have manually updated the item's due date in Circulation. Tipasa staff should monitor the Renewal Approved queue or use Tags to identify recently-renewed loans that need to be updated in WorldShare Circulation.

For more information, see Renew Request.

For libraries with Tipasa (without WMS)

Reminder: If Tipasa’s Patron Request Management settings allow patrons to renew ILL requests and view the due date in My Account, renewal requests can be initiated from the Requests tab. Renewals requested from My Account are submitted directly to the lending library for approval, and the user will not see a new due date until one is provided by the lending library.

For more information, see Renew Request.

Improved link from Create Request form to results

For libraries with Tipasa

On the Create Request tab, the link for "Back to Requests" has been updated to "View requests". The former text was not accurate when the library user arrived on the Create Request via OpenURL from a discovery service.

Post-release sessions

To help you become familiar with the new features, enhancements and improvements included in this release, update sessions scheduled. Please note the session time zones when registering. The sessions will be recorded and archived for future viewing on the OCLC Community Center. Please register, even if you are unable to attend, to receive a link to the recorded session.

• Tipasa
  • Product Insights: Resource Sharing
  • Date: Thursday, October 21, 2021, 2:00 pm EST
  • Register Now
• WorldShare Circulation
  • Product Insights: WorldShare Management Services
  • Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2021, 1:00 pm EST
  • Register Now
• WorldCat Discovery
  • Product Insights: WorldCat Discovery
  • Date: Thursday, January 20, 2022, 12:00 pm EST
  • Register Now

Support websites

Support information for this product and related products can be found at:

• Tipasa
• WorldCat Discovery
• WorldShare Circulation
• OCLC Community Center
• OCLC Support