Updating Items in Transit Too Long
You can set up the Automated Update of Items in Transit Too Long feature to identify items that have been in transit for a period of time that your library considers too long. The system identifies affected items, updates their status, and if the item is in transit to fill a title- or volume-level hold, moves the hold back to the bib or volume level so that another item can fill the hold.
Setting Up Automated Update of Items in Transit Too Long
To enable Automated Update of Items in Transit Too Long, contact Innovative. You must specify:
- How many days an item can remain in transit before it is considered "in transit too long."
- The STATUS value the system assigns to items that have been in transit too long. Innovative recommends choosing a unique status that is not used for any other purpose, such as 'x', to easily identify and facilitate searching for these items. If you specify a new status code, you must add this status code to the Fixed-Length Codes file (Sierra 3.4 and earlier) or the Item Status Codes table (Sierra 4.0 and later) before asking Innovative to enable this feature.
Automated Clearing of In-transit Status Is Incompatible
Automated Update of Items in Transit Too Long is incompatible with Automated Clearing of In-transit Status. Contact Innovative to verify that Automated Clearing of In-transit Status is disabled before enabling Automated Update of Items in Transit Too Long.
How Automated Update of Items in Transit Too Long Works
Once per day, the system checks each in-transit item and identifies any that have had a STATUS of 't' (IN TRANSIT) for longer than the number of days specified by your library.
Days Closed and Hours Open Tables
The system does not consult the Days Closed or Hours Open tables when calculating how long an item has been in transit.
If an item is found to be in transit too long, the system does the following:
- Updates the item's status to the value specified by your library.
- Adds the current date and the text "IN TRANSIT TOO LONG" to the transit message variable-length field in the item record.
- If the item is in transit to fill a title-level or volume-level hold, removes the hold from the item record and replaces it at the top of the hold queue on the bibliographic or volume record for which the hold was originally placed. If the item is in transit to fill an item-level hold, the hold remains on the item record and can be filled only when the item is found and checked in.
Some Items Are Not Updated
Automated Update of Items in Transit Too Long does not update items checked in before it was enabled or items borrowed through Interlibrary Loan or INN-Reach.
If an item marked as in transit too long is later found and checked in, the system prompts you to clear the item's status (see Checking In an Item whose STATUS is Not '-') and fills any holds on the item, title, or volume, but does not remove the transit message from the item record. You must delete the transit message manually.