The Zombie Stack Exchanges That Just Won't Die
Reserve books seem to be a contentious subject (and often subject to contention!) at many universities and colleges. Since these are often one-of-a-kinds and sometimes are loaners from professors, there is by nature a limited supply.
Is there a way to use an add-in module in circulation software so that
the program could keep track of the balance of time between different
patrons and warn desk aides, e.g.,
"Student had the text for 4 of 10 available hours yesterday, student must wait until 5/25/2012 to check the book out again"?
Or is there perhaps an easier way to keep track of this rather than the old fashioned pencil and paper pushpinned into the corkboard?
jonsca
My experience is in public libraries, but in the Polaris ILS we are able to put blocks on patron accounts that pop up when the barcode is scanned. If there are issues that need to be addressed, staff members can place one of these blocks. (We normally use it to alert to books being held or a phone number needs to be updated.) Would something like this be feasible in an academic setting? It would take an extra step or two by circulation staff to keep those blocks up to date about used hours but it might be slightly more effective than pencil and paper push-pinned to the corkboard.
Would having limited check-out times help? We have two-hour, in-library use check outs. When another student needs the item, we put the request into the circ software as a hold, so that when the first student turns it in, the second student is notified. Sometimes we get line waiting for an item, but the holds seems to keep things orderly.