Agency File

To edit the Agency file, you must be assigned permission 657 (Edit Agency Codes). If you are assigned permission 651 (View System Parameters) but not 657, you can view this file but cannot edit it. See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information.

The Agency file enables you to group your library's locations and branches into agencies. The Agency file is available only to libraries that have acquired the Consortium Management Extensions product. The system uses agencies in the following ways:

As possible values in the AGENCY fixed-length field in item records.
As possible values in the PAT AGENCY fixed-length field in patron records, if your library has enabled the PAT AGENCY fields feature of Consortium Management Extensions.
To determine the order in which to fill holds, if your library has acquired the Agency Holds product.
To generate the Collection Development Report and Age of Collection Report in Web Management Reports.
In statistical reports based on call numbers, if your library has enabled the Consortium Call Number Statistics feature of Consortium Management Extensions.

You can access the Agency file via the following menu path:

Admin | Parameters | General | Agency

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

By default, your library can define up to 256 codes in the Agency file. If desired, Innovative can increase the maximum number of AGENCY codes allowed at your library to a number of your choosing. For more information, contact Innovative.

Because each entry in the Agency file is identified by its numeric position in the file, the Append, Copy, Delete, Insert, and Move tools are unavailable when editing this file. To delete or insert an entry, select and edit the entry.

Entries in the Agency file contain a single data element:

Element	Description
Label	A descriptive name of up to 32 characters. At multi-lingual sites, the system repeats this element for each language enabled on your system.