Creating INN-Reach Circulation Records

INN-Reach Circulation processes inter-institution patron requests rapidly and easily, ensuring delivery of materials to the patron in a very short time. Although the circulation processing steps are simple, tracking the lending transaction is quite complex. This tracking allows the requesting patron and staff at both owning and patron sites to monitor the status of the request.

When a patron places a successful INN-Reach request, the INN-Reach Catalog sends circulation transactions to both the patron site and the owning site. On receipt of these initial INN-Reach circulation transactions, the system creates records locally that enable INN-Reach circulation. These records are created simultaneously when the system receives the initial transaction, and they include the following:

• virtual records
• INN-Reach hold records
• INN-Reach message fields

INN-Reach deletes these records from both the patron and owning sites after the requested item is returned and checked in to the owning site.

Creating Virtual Records

INN-Reach uses virtual, or temporary, records to keep track of the requested item as it passes through the INN-Reach circulation process. The virtual records do not have assigned record numbers nor do they increase the count of patrons or items on the system.

INN-Reach creates virtual records as follows:

• When the owning site receives the initial INN-Reach circulation transaction, the system creates a virtual patron record and associates it with the requested item record. The elements of the virtual patron record include the requesting patron's name and home library.
• When the patron site receives the initial INN-Reach circulation transaction, the system creates a virtual item record and associates it with the patron record of the patron who requested the item.
  
  The elements of the virtual item record are determined by the first item record defaults at the patron site (that is, the first item record template with an initial underbar in the name, _i). Typically, the virtual item includes ALL fixed-length field values set in the first item record default with the exception of the item STATUS, I TYPE, and LOCATION. It is especially important that the PRICE field set in the first item record default is either $0.00 or a price you want to use for the billing of an INN-Reach item. If the price is $0.00, the system uses the billing price from the INN-Reach patron loan rule.

Staff at both the owning and patron sites can view INN-Reach virtual records.

Creating INN-Reach Hold Records

When the owning site receives the initial INN-Reach circulation transaction, the system places a local hold on the requested item to prevent an item from being checked out or otherwise assigned to another patron. If the item has an "AVAILABLE" status, the INN-Reach hold becomes the first (and only) hold in the queue for the item. If the item already has holds, the INN-Reach hold is added to the end of the existing hold queue. INN-Reach holds operate in exactly the same manner as local holds; the hold is filled in the order in which it is received, unless library staff manually re-sequence the holds.

When the patron site receives the initial INN-Reach circulation transaction, the system adds a hold for the INN-Reach item to the requesting patron's hold queue.

These INN-Reach circulation holds can be modified as you would modify local circulation holds. Library staff can view, re-sequence, transfer, and even cancel the holds.

Creating INN-Reach Message Fields

The system creates an INN-Reach message field at the owning site only. When the owning site receives the initial INN-Reach circulation transaction, the system adds a message field to the item record containing the following elements:

• If the request is a standard INN-Reach request, the message contains the requesting patron's record number, the date of the request, and the pickup location. For example:
  
  mIR00:00-00-00 requested by .p0000000@site1 for pickup at "Location"
• If the request is a Pickup Anywhere for INN-Reach request, the message contains the same elements as the standard INN-Reach message, and the unique location key of the Pickup Anywhere location. For example:
  
  mIR00:00-00-00 requested by .p0000000@site1 for pickup at "Location" (key)

INN-Reach modifies this message field during circulation to indicate whether the item is in transit to or from the owning site.