Branches Table

To edit the Branches table, you must be assigned permission 652 (Edit Branches). If you are assigned permission 651 (View System Parameters) but not 652, you can view this table but cannot edit it. See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information.

The Branches table contains location codes to identify your library's locations. Location codes can represent distinct physical locations (for example, branches of the library) or different areas within the same physical location (for example, a department, a collection, or a shelf). The system uses location codes as possible values in many other parameter tables and in several fixed-length fields. For example:

Location codes in bibliographic and item records enable the system to display a title's location in the WebPAC.
An item's location determines its schedule and the loan rules that apply to the item.
The location code in a patron record specifies the patron's home library.
Location codes in program and section records specify where the program will take place.
Bibliographic location codes are used by WebPAC to populate the Location search filter and by Encore to populate the Collection facet's physical (shelf) locations. See Display of Branches in Limit by Location Filter for more information.

You can access the Branches table via the following menu path:

Admin | Parameters | General | Branches

For information on modifying this table, see Maintaining System Parameter Tables, Adding Location Codes, and Deleting Location Codes.

Because the system automatically orders entries in the Branches table alphabetically by code, the Move tool is unavailable when editing this table. Because the Code element of each entry must be unique, the Copy tool is unavailable.

For more information, see Functionality Information and Data Elements.

Functionality Information

When viewing and modifying the Branches table, note the following:

Maximum Number of Entries: The Branches table can contain a maximum of 10,000 location codes. For more information on record or field limits, see Record and Field Limits.
Library Schedule Regenerated Upon Update: When you save changes to the Branches table, the system updates the library schedule. The update process usually takes only a few seconds; however, for a library with many branches, the process can take up to several minutes. While the library schedule is being updated, the system displays the following message:

             Regenerating the library schedule...

Data Elements

Entries in the Branches table contain the following data elements:

Element	Description
Code	One- to five-character mnemonic code for the location. The code must be lowercase alphanumeric and must not include spaces or symbols. The system does not enable you to edit this element for an existing entry. If you want to edit the Code element for an existing entry, delete the entry and append or insert a new entry with the corrected code. Do not use the values "no", "non", or "none" (or "NO", "NON", or "NONE") for your codes. The system converts all of these values to the code "NONE" (and therefore selects nothing).
Circulation Address Number	An integer value from 1-400, corresponding to the row number of the address in the Branch Addresses table that appears as the return address on circulation notices for items at this location.
Branch Name	A descriptive name for the location (up to 100 characters). This name appears in the public display of the record. You must assign a unique branch name to each entry in the Branches table. At multilingual sites, the system repeats this element for each language enabled on your system. Note that the location limiting tools in WebPAC and Encore display the Branch Name value specified in the Branches table for the name of the Location.
Public	A "true" or "false" value used by the Sierra Desktop Application (SDA), WebPAC and Encore to control the display of a location in location limit filters. (Note that as of Sierra 3.1, this element replaces the Branches Menu file formerly accessible through Advanced System Access & Administration.)

Display of Branches in Limit by Location filter

The SDA, WebPAC and Encore use the Public data element of each entry in the Branches table to determine whether or not a branch appears in the location limiter. When choosing which locations to display in these limiter tools, choose only locations that are stored in bibliographic records. When limiting by location, WebPAC and Encore only search bibliographic record LOCATION fixed-length fields, and do not search the location fields of item records or other attached records. Bibliographic locations are typically the top-level codes in a location hierarchy.

For more information on location code hierarchies, see Location Codes and Location Hierarchies : Design and Purpose on CSDirect. See also How Updating Location Relationships Works for information on using the Campus/Branch Location Mapping file to map specific shelf locations to general bibliographic locations.