Materials Request

Configuration options for the Materials Request section of the Library System.

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Table of Contents

Materials Request Configuration

Go to Pika Configuration and Library Systems from the left sidebar.  

Open

Click the Library Id number or the Edit link to gain access to the Library Systems page.

Open

Click on the Materials Request tab. 

Enable Materials Request

The Pika Materials Request System allows patrons to request library purchases directly from the catalog and facilitates a workflow for collection development staff and patrons requesting purchases.

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External Materials Request URL

The External Materials Request URL option can be used if you want to provide a link to a materials request system on your website or on another site rather than using the Pika Materials Request System. 

If this field is fulfilled, users will be directed to the provided URL from the catalog.

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Max Requests Options

The Max Requests Per Year and Max Open Requests options allow you to control how many materials requests a patron can place per year and the amount of open materials requests a patron can have open simultaneously.

The Max Requests Per Year and Max Open Requests display for patrons at the top of their My Materials Requests page.

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New Request Summary

The New Request Summary allows you to set a custom message for patrons. If a unique value is not set, the form will display the system default message.

The New Request Summary message displays at the top of the Materials Request form.

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Delete Closed Request

The Delete Closed Request Older than (days) setting controls how long closed materials requests are stored in the system. The default value is zero.

Marmot staff recommend setting this value to 395 days (a year plus one month) to give the staff in charge of Materials Requests a month to extract statistics for the year.  If the value is set to zero, no requests will be deleted.

The Delete Closed Requests Older than (days) will only remove the requests that have a status of Completed.

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Fields to display on Manage Materials Request Table

The Fields to display on Manage Materials Request Table is used to determine which data is displayed in the main table on the Manage Materials Requests page that library staff use to manage materials requests. 

Click Add New to add fields to the table. Choose the desired option in the Name of Column to Display and add a relevant Display Label to match that filter. You can reorder the fields with the arrows in the Sort column and delete any fields with the red x button in the Actions column. Save your changes at the bottom of the page to commit new or edited fields.

The Manage Requests table will follow the settings configured in the Fields to display on Manage Materials Request Table.

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Formats of Materials that can be Requested

The Formats of Materials that can be Requested controls the format of materials that can be requested. If no values are set in this table, the system will follow the defaults.

Marmot recommends that you Set Materials Request Formats To Default with the button to pre-populate the table with the default formats, which you can edit or delete.

Columns and settings

• Format : internal value that is only displayed in the configuration table, but it is stored in the database. 

• Format Label : label displayed on the request and detail forms. 

• Author Label : label displayed for the author of the given format.

  • This label can be customized to better represent the creator of a given format. For example, for DVDs the Author Label might better to set with the value Director/Actor

• Special Fields for Format : special functionality for certain formats

  • This field enables limiters that are used when a patron selects a format that has a special field.  Additional form fields will be displayed on the request form for the patron.  The additional fields are displayed directly below the format field.  In addition, multiple special fields can be added to a format.

To remove a format option from the table, click on the red x located under the Action column. 

To add a Format of Materials that can be Requested, click the Add New button. This will bring up a blank entry where you can add any other formats.

You can Sort the order of the formats by dragging and dropping the formats using the double arrow associated with entry. The order you set here is the order the formats will be listed in the dropdown menu on the request form.

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Materials Request Form Fields

The Materials Request Form Fields controls the structure of the information on the Materials Request form, the Details, and Update Requests form.

Marmot recommends that you prepopulate the fields using the Set Materials Request Form Structure To Default button. This will list all the fields for the structure, which you can then modify and configure to meet your library’s needs.

Columns and settings

• Form Category and each field will be grouped under the supplied Form Category. Form Category labels drive the section headers for the forms.

• Field Label is shown under the Form Categories. 

• Field Type is the input value that is used by the system.

Below are examples of the Form Category and Field Label display in Materials Request Details form and the Update Materials Request form.

To add a Material Request Form Field, click the Add New button.

This will bring up a blank entry where you can add more categories. There is a drop-down menu for the Field Type.

To remove a form field option from the table, click on the red x located under the Action column.

You can Sort the order of the categories by dragging and dropping the formats using the double arrow associated with each one. You should group similar Form Categories together when sorting e.g. all Title Information form categories should be grouped together in the sort.

Hold Option settings

The Hold Options in the Material Request Form Fields have some special functionality.

The default form structure includes the following Hold Options:

• Place Hold when Available

• Hold Pick-up Location

• Inter-Library Loan item

The default settings do not automatically include the Bookmobile Stop option, however you can manually add this option if your library has a valid bookmobile location where patrons can pickup holds.

If the Bookmobile Stop Hold Option is enabled, an additional option will be shown in the Pick-up Location drop-down for the Bookmobile Stop. When a patron selects a bookmobile stop for the pick-up location, the Bookmobile Stop field will be displayed for the patron to fill out their address.

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Materials Request Form

Patrons can access the Materials Request Form by two different methods. The user must be logged in to their account to access the Materials Request Form using either method.

Materials Request Form in the Patron Account

Patrons can create a new Materials Request from their patron account. When a patron navigates to the Materials Requests section in their account, they can click on the Submit a new Materials Request button to access the Materials Request Form.

When the patron creates a new Materials Request from the My Materials Request page, the form doesn’t prepopulate with any information other than the patron’s contact information as found in their patron record in the ILS.

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Materials Request Form in Search Results

If the patron performs a search for a title and does not return results or doesn’t find the title in the served search results, they can use the Suggest a purchase link to create a new Materials Request via the Materials Request Form.

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Materials Request Form

If the patron creates a Materials Request from search results, the form will prepopulate the Title field (for keyword or title searches) or Author field (for author searches) in the Title Information section based on the search term from the user.

If enabled, the Hold Options will offer different hold actions that the patron might want the library to handle on their behalf.

The optional Supplemental Details section allows patrons to provide more detailed information about their Materials Request.

The Contact Information section prepopulates with information from the patron’s record in the ILS.

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