Examples - reservation rules

Different rules affect how reservations are handled. This example includes:

Length of reservation queue: Defining the number of reservations on a title that is considered a queue.
Length of renewal period depending on reservation queue: Shortening the renewal period if there is a queue.
Condition for renewal of reserved item: Denying patrons from renewing items of a certain type that someone else has reserved.
Reservation scope: Limiting reservations of a certain manifestation type to home branch or home authority only.

All the examples are made from the Rules page, that you open by clicking Configuration in the main menu and then selecting Rules under Settings/Circulation and notifications.

Reservations queue

The reservations queue defines how many reservations that are needed before it is considered a queue. When this condition is fulfilled, it can be used to trigger other rules. If you set the reservations queue to 3, it means that as long as there are none, one or two reservations made on an item on loan, no other actions will be triggered. It is only when the third reservation is made, that, for example, a shorter renewal period is triggered. A trapped reservation is not taken into account when calculating the reservation queue.

Note:
Calculation of the reservation queue is affected by a number of factors, such as settings for reservation cooperation. This means that the value set for the reservations queue might not always be reflected exactly as defined.

This is how you define that three reservations are required to be considered a reservations queue.

Select the Counts rule type and the Minimum number of reservations to count as queue rule.
Click Add rule.
Give the rule a descriptive name, such as Reservations queue 3. Consider if the correct organisation is already selected or if you need to change it, and if any other settings need to be made. Enter 3 for Minimum number of reservations to count as queue, and click Save.

Renewal periods

In this example, let’s assume that the normal checkout period is 28 days and there is no period defined for renewals. This means that when a patron renews an item, they get another 28 days before the item has to be returned. But now we want to set a shorter renewal period if there is a reservation queue.

Select the Periods rule type and the Renewal period for reserved item rule.
Click Add rule.
Give the rule a descriptive name, such as Renewal period for reserved items. Consider if the correct organisation is already selected or if you need to change it, and if any other settings need to be made. Enter 7 for Number of days, and click Save.

Now, a patron that has an item on loan and want to renew it, the renewal period depends on if there is a reservation queue - in this example, if three or more patrons have reserved the same title.

Renewal of reserved item

The default setting allows renewal of reserved items, but in this example we are going to restrict loans of DVDs with reservations.

Select the Circulation control rule type and the Renewal of reserved item rule.
Click Add rule.
Give the rule a descriptive name, such as Deny renewal of reserved DVDs. Consider if the correct organisation is already selected or if you need to change it. Select DVD for manifestation type. Select No, and click Save.

Now, a patron cannot renew a DVD with three or more reservations (taking the Minimum number of reservations to count as queue rule into account).

Reservation scope

The default setting makes it possible to reserve items from any branch in the organisation, but in this example, we will limit reservation of Blu-Rays to the home branch (or home authority) only.

Select the Reservation control rule type and the Item reservable rule.
Click Add rule.
Give the rule a descriptive name, such as Reservation scope Blu-Ray. Consider if the correct organisation is already selected or if you need to change it, and if any other settings need to be made. Select Blu-Ray for manifestation type and Home branch only (or Home authority only) for reservation scope. Select Yes, and click Save.

Now, the system will only trap an item for a reservation of Blu-Rays when the reservation pick-up branch matches the home branch of the item.

Note:
The Item reservable rule depends on the item’s home branch and not on where you are currently signed in, and for trapping, the item’s home branch and the reservation’s pick-up branch are compared. This means that an item that belongs to Branch A will not be trapped for a reservation with pick-up branch B if you have defined the reservation scope Home branch only. The same goes for Home authority only; on authority level instead of branch level.

Note:

The Item reservable rule depends on the item’s home branch and not on where you are currently signed in, and for trapping, the item’s home branch and the reservation’s pick-up branch are compared. This means that an item that belongs to Branch A will not be trapped for a reservation with pick-up branch B if you have defined the reservation scope Home branch only. The same goes for Home authority only; on authority level instead of branch level.