We'll use this page to list all the enhancements we'd love to see Atlas add to ILLiad.  The initial set of desiderata comes from the CIC ILLiad discussion group.  We've left in which libraries asked for each specific enhancement idea and tried to group them by function area.  Any enhancement list is wholly dependent on contributions from the group so don't hesitate to leave comments as appropriate and if you'd like to contribute your own enhancements just zip

Mark Beatty at mbeatty@wils.wisc.edu

an email to get contributor rights to the wiki.

 

Table of Contents

 

Lending Web Page Odyssey Shipping Address Database and billing to symbol Processing Issues Additional Requests

 

Lending Web Page

 

IL; MI; OH FIX the lending web pages that worked fine until one of the upgrade releases during the summer of 2004.  This was a valuable enhancement at the time they were introduced, so please restore our useability with them by fixing the web .dll so that individual transactions with the reason for “no” and the tracking can be seen.

 

U.Chicago The lending web pages should allow borrowers to see their outstanding invoices.  A number of functions on the lending web pages do not work, including borrower’s ability to: Request Renewals and Reactivate Requests.  We should also be able to View details of requested items (Users receive an error message stating, “ILLiad Error.  Status: Unknown System Error has occurred [sic]. Please contact your interlibrary loan office for assistance.”)

 

WI Improve web form lending - enable all updates like "conditional" and "cancel" to generate an email to the Requesting library.

 

U. Chicago We need better ways to serve clients that do not use OCLC or an ILL management system., including:  the ability to send email notifications automatically when materials are filled, overdue, or cancelled.  Currently, patrons have to constantly log in to check the status of their accounts; the ability to post articles directly to our server and deliver these materials through our lending web pages (using the model already present in the borrowing module).   When these articles are posted, the requestor needs to be automatically sent an email that includes instructions for obtaining the article.

 

Odyssey

 

WI; OH; IL  Continue to work on Odyssey/Ariel compatibility. 

 

OH Odyssey 'off' needs to be the default for libraries new to Odyssey. Relates to other suggestion about Odyssey IP---if they don't want to do Odyssey the borrowing library should turn it off, rather than force lenders to have to keep lists of Odyssey borrowers who don't really use Odyssey.

 

MN  A display of the requests in the Awaiting Odyssey scanning queue, in the same format as all the other queues.

 

U. Chicago  We need the ability to specify by institution whether or not to supply materials via Odyssey.  Some libraries specify an Odyssey IP address in their requests but in fact do not receive articles via Odyssey.  When we learn this, we should be able to indicate in the maintenance record not to attempt future delivery via Odyssey.

 

Shipping Address Database and billing to symbol

 

IL; MN; WI  A better way to get the correct shipping address in ILLiad – either a method to keep the ILLiad address database updated, or the address needs to come from the request itself, or some other soloution.

 

OH  Is there a solution when one symbol has multiple relationships with us, like EYM, and so some requests are exempt while others are billed?  Currently we  manually go in and bill IFM for each MITS request although the bulk of the requests are reciprocal.  A symbol can have many addresses and multiple relationships.

 

IL  For each new patron we should be able to assign a permanent lending code and cost.  Only if something changes should we have to worry about assigning a cost.  Then, we need an override function.

 

Processing Issues

This list had more than one institution requesting a similar enhancement.

 

MN; MI; IL  Make the "View Entire Record" option available from any screen (most importantly, the Receives form in Lending). Users should also be able to edit a request while working in any queue.

 

IL  When processing lending requests we shouldn’t have to go into the “edit” screen to enter “Special Instructions”.  We want to have access to the same information on the processing screen that we do on the edit screen if it need to be filled out.  Would like to be able to access any option from any screen.

 

IL; MN  A boldfaced message should appear if an institution has Special Instructions for a particular request.  The Lender must first acknowledge this before further processing.

 

U. Chicago  It would be great if ILLiad would automatically highlight MaxCost fields that fall below an amount specified in the customization manager.  It should be possible to set different thresholds for each billing category. This approach might help get our staff's attention when they are filling requests that should really be conditionalized for maxcost or passed on to the next library.

 

U. Chicago  When checking in materials on the Return Form, we have to first scan a barcode and then use the mouse to press a button.  This process would be much more efficient if we could simply scan the barcode again and have the second scan serve to select the “Check Item In” button.  Clio worked this way, and we found it much more efficient when completing hundreds of items a day.

 

IL; MN  Printing of requests should be separated from the Stacks Searching.  Too many students might accidentally move requests.

 

MN; IL A "Print shipping label" command in the Process menu next to "Print request," so that individual items that need to be resent could easily be labeled on a one-by-one basis. Along the same lines, it would be nice if there were a way to get rid of the "Awaiting secondary shipping label" queue altogether.

 

U. Chicago The General Search Form does not allow searching by institution name (only by institution symbol), but we frequently would find it useful to be able to search in that way.

 

IL; OH Let ILL departments control their own update and download schedules.  This

really needs to be consistent.  At a minimum we need the connector to run exactly every two hours, not every two hours from the end of the previous connector session.  It is difficult to schedule staffing and workflow with the current method.  The best scenario is that each ILLiad site could schedule their own connector sessions to match their needs.

 

MN; IL When bibliographic changes to a request are made on the Edit Request form, staff members need to remember to save these changes or they are lost.  They should be automatically saved (as are the Call Number and Location fields). (This applies to both borrowing and lending).

 

MN; IL Fix the “reason for no” in the cancels so that the borrowers can read the reason why we’re canceling the request.  Currently, the borrower does not see the reason for No when it is “other” with an explanation unless the “conditional” is used instead of the cancellation.

 

U. Chicago; MN; IL; OH We would like to be able to decide which fields print when we use the “Illiad Request Printout” in lending.  When we print requests currently, the information printed does not even include the requesting library’s name or symbol.  This functionality is already included in the borrowing module, and it should be transferred to the lending module.

 

MI; MN When checking items in from returning libraries and the item arrives without paperwork, it would be helpful if a field was added for call numbers under “Select Record”; this would speed up the search for the item record.  (Mich)  When updating from the “Update Stacks Search Form” it would be helpful to have another field added for “Billing Category”

 

Additional Requests

Each of these were suggested once and did not seem to match up with other suggested enhancements.

 

IL Each user should be profiled so that specific queues, views, etc. are not available to them.  The User Manager allows for some profiling, but it is extremely buggy and many components seem dependent on other.  (For example, you can’t turn off some processes for some users without derailing the workflow for others).

 

IL Information that appears on printed pull-slips should reflect all of the information that appears on the OCLC request.  ILLiad has separate fields for the author, title, and place of publication, however OCLC has one combined field “imprint” that includes the copyright date.  Also monographic series titles are too long and it doesn’t transfer well from the OCLC request to the ILLiad form.

 

IL When we are in a queue but have not yet clicked on a specific request it would be great if we could check the OCLC status for all requests at once!

 

MI  When updating and accidentally hitting “Found” instead of “No’ or “Conditional”, it should be possible to “x-out” of the billing screen without having to cancel the update and change statuses.

 

WI Create a "journal listing" on the Lending side similar to the copyright list on the borrowing side.  When the request is searched, the list is automatically checked and matched by OCLC number (or ISSN) and the previous search information is displayed and copied into the lending request form.

 

U. Chicago  We need the ability to automatically notify borrowers that materials are overdue via email.

 

U. Chicago  Although ILLiad allows us to send an overdue notice that serves as an invoice for replacement, it does not interact with the billing module or allow us to track payments effectively.

OH  What are the future plans to help large lenders get call numbers and locations so that we don't have to continue to use OCLC Passport macros to search our own catalogs?  Is there a batch pre-searching coming? Or could the LDR call number information come in automatically? The LC call number from the OCLC record? Would any other library like their LDRs to come into ILLiad instead of just display as part of the OCLC request?

 

OH Would it be helpful to have ILLiad bring in the Material type (which includes Thesis/dissertation  or Videorecording (vid); DVD video (dvv)) from OCLC in both borrowing filled and lending?

 

OH  We would really like to be able to redistribute requests in lending to library locations that don't have the Illiad client, by email or print to fax. This isn't really well thought-out, but does any other library want to re-direct requests internally within lending? Currently we print them off with all the others and then fax or ARIEL to email them to various libraries away from our central campus.