Bookings Preparation Table

To view circulation parameters, you must be assigned permission 373 (View Circulation Parameters). To edit the Bookings Preparation table, you must be assigned permission 390 (Bookings Preparation). See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information.

If your library has acquired Materials Booking and enabled Transit Time for Booked Items, you can define booking preparation periods in the Bookings Preparation table (also known as the Preparation Periods table). The table specifies the amount of time needed to prepare the item for use (for example, to transport an item between its owning and pickup locations). The system then blocks checkouts and bookings during the booking preparation period, both before and after the booking.

You can access the Bookings Preparation table via the following menu path:

Admin | Parameters | Circulation | Bookings Preparation

For information on modifying this table, see Maintaining System Parameter Tables and Maintaining Circulation Parameters.

For more information, see Functionality Information and Data Elements.

Functionality Information

When viewing and modifying the Bookings Preparation table, note the following:

Maximum Number of Entries

The Bookings Preparation table can contain a maximum of 1,500 entries.

Table Read Top to Bottom

The system reads the Bookings Preparation table from the top to the bottom. General entries (such as those that contain wildcards) should appear lower in the table than more specific entries.

Table Does Not Apply to Patron-placed Bookings

The system consults the Bookings Preparation table only for staff-placed bookings. The table does not apply to patron self-bookings.

Data Elements

Entries in the Bookings Preparation table contain the following data elements:

Element	Description
Item Location	The item locations (from the LOCATION fixed-length field in the item record) to which the entry applies. Possible values are a location from the Branches table, a wildcard code ????? to represent all locations, or a partial location code followed by an asterisk (for example, sci* to represent any location value that starts with "sci").
Pickup Location	The pickup location to which the entry applies. Possible values are a location from the Branches table, a wildcard code ????? to represent all locations, or a partial location code followed by an asterisk.
Preparation Hours	The number of hours required to prepare an item to be sent between the item and pickup locations.