Sierra Record Template Outline

Record Template Outline (Areas that will be shown and discussed during training)

• Discuss how the loan rules table affects record templates.  Loan rules are determined by itype and ptype combinations.

  • Items

    • IType

    • Location

    • Agency

    • ICode2 (suppression icode affects the display of an item in Pika and Prospector, but does not affect loan rules)

  • Patrons

    • PType

    • Home Library

    • Patron Agency

    • PCodes - Statistical (does not affect loan rules)

• How changing the invalid text background helps with finding invalid or blank record template fields

• The naming convention for record templates

• How to create a new item record template

  • Adding the Code 

  • Adding the Description

  • Adding Information to the Fixed Fields

  • Prompting and removing prompts for Fixed Fields 

    •  Think about what you want staff to be prompted to fill in when creating a new record

  • Inserting Variable Fields

  • Use the View|Put fields in record sequence, or move the variable fields to your preferred order by using Edit|Move Up(H) or Move Down.

  • Prompting, removing prompts, and deleting Variable Fields

    •  Think about what you want staff to be prompted to fill in when creating a new record

• How to create a new patron record template

  • Adding the Code 

  • Adding the Description

  • Adding Information to the Fixed Fields

  • Prompting and removing prompts for Fixed Fields 

    • Think about what you want staff to be prompted to fill in when creating a new record

  • Inserting Variable Fields

  • Use the View|Put fields in record sequence, or move the variable fields to your preferred order by using Edit|Move Up(H) or Move Down.

  • Prompting, removing prompts, and deleting Variable Fields 

    • Think about what you want staff to be prompted to fill in when creating a new record

• How to edit an existing record template

• How to change the code or description of an existing record template

• How to delete an existing record template (must have permissions for this process)

• Preferred Templates & Other Templates

  • How to add or remove a template from the Preferred or Other Template boxes

• Why is prompting for a record template important

Sierra Loan Rules Explanation

Loan Rules define the parameters that Sierra uses to circulate items to patrons. Each loan rule comprises variables that govern many aspects of circulation. This includes checkouts, renewals, holds, notices, fines, and bills that are configured, either entirely or in part, by your library's loan rules. 

The system uses the Loan Rules and the Loan Rule Determiner table to determine whether to circulate items to patrons and, if so, how. Sierra uses the Loan Rule Determiner table to calculate which loan rule to apply to a circulation transaction.