Request Balancing Table
The Request Balancing Table on the INN-Reach Central Server specifies a priority system for selecting a lending site when a requested item is held by more than one site. Selecting lenders based on a prioritized list of sites enables INN-Reach systems to balance the borrowing-to-lending ratio of their sites. The Request Balancing Table does not affect the way that multi-volume works are selected, because the patron chooses a specific volume in the WebPAC.
INN-Reach uses the Request Balancing Table to:
- Identify potential lending sites within the requester's group or, if no lending site can be identified within the requester's group, lending sites outside the requester's group.
- Select a potential lender within a group using the sites' priority values, as follows:
- If more than one lending site in the group owns the item, the system selects the lending site with the highest priority value.
- In the event of a tie (that is, lending sites within the group share the same priority value), the system randomly selects the lending site from among those sites.
For information on other criteria INN-Reach uses to select a lending site, see Requesting INN-Reach Items.
Central System Administrators maintain the Request Balancing Table.
Data Elements
The Request Balancing Table must contain an entry for each site in the INN-Reach System. Each entry consists of the following elements:
- LIBRARY
- A site code (minimum of 5 characters).
- PRIORITY
- A numerical value between 00 and 99. When assigning priority values, use the following guidelines:
- A new INN-Reach System should begin all sites with the same request priority until lender/borrower patterns are established.
- Assign a low priority to libraries when they might have difficulty supplying materials (for example, libraries undergoing renovations or shifting materials).
- Assign a lower priority to newly added INN-Reach sites until procedures are established and running smoothly.
- GROUP
- A numerical value between 00 and 99.