Book Group Kits may be booked by borrowers logged in at the OPAC with a Book Group Transaction Account, or by library staff in Circulation or Enquiry.

Prerequisites

There are a set of features that must be pre-configured to allow booking of Book group kits.

Booking policy

A booking policy must be configured to allow book group kits to be booked. The policy scope should be selected on either:

• The Book group borrower category, or
• The Book group kit collection, or
•  Both the borrower category & collection

At a minimum, it is recommended to set the following parameters:

• Allow bookings: Yes
• Booking type: Checkout and issue
• Maximum adjacent slots/days: Set this value to the maximum selectable booking period
  • Loan period in the loan policy is ignored for Book group kit bookings; the selected booking period is used

Notice policy

To accommodate notices being delivered for unlinked book groups, a notice policy should be created with the scope selected on the Book group borrower category. The policy should include:

• Reservation notices
• Overdue notices

Any additional desired notice types may be configured in the policy.

Home page widget

To allow staff to action book group kit booking requests, add the Pending book group bookings (PENDBGBKG14DAYS) to the Roles section of all relevant User groups.

This widget displays bookings requested by a book group that are:

• due to start in the next 14 days, and
• yet to be checked out

Suggested workflow for placing & processing kit bookings

Booking a Book group kit at the OPAC

Only Book Group Transaction Account borrowers may search for and place bookings for Book group kits.

To place a booking for a Book group kit;

1. Log in at the OPAC using a Book Group Transaction Account.
2. From the My Account page or the user menu, click the Book group kits search.
3. Perform a search to find a kit based on either (searches may be based on titles in the kit, the kit description, the desired booking period, and more)
4. After finding a kit to be booked, either;
   • click the Place Booking option at the Brief Display, or
   • click through to the Full Display and select Place date/time booking

   images/OPAC_BKGRP_BKG_PLC_thumb.png Click image to enlarge

   images/OPAC_BKGRP_BKG_DATTIM_thumb.png Click image to enlarge

5.  Select the desired booking period.
   • In the 'Place booking' interface, select the desired start date, and the end date. The interceding days will not be highlighted, but will be included in the booking period.
   • In the 'Date and time booking' interface, click the drop-down calendar to select the desired start and end date.
6. Click Continue.
7. Confirm that the displayed booking details are correct, and click Continue.

Booking a Book group kit in Circulation or Enquiry

After finding a book group kit by using the Box set search in Circulation or Enquiry, the process for booking a book group kit is the same as that for a material booking.

Processing a Book group kit booking

Spydus provides a system widget (ID PENDBGBKG14DAYS) for identifying upcoming Book group kit bookings. If added to a user's group and displayed on the Home screen, this widget will display requested bookings with a start date within the next 14 days.

If the system widget does not capture the set of bookings that the library would like to display, staff may prefer to copy the Boolean Query from Widget Parameters and create a custom widget.

Once a suitable widget has been added to the Home screen, to process a book group kit booking;

If the book group is linked

If the book group is unlinked

Click the ellipsis at the end of the row and select Check Out A reservation will be generated for each book group member Pickup location will default to borrower's last pickup location, or borrower home location for first reservation Return each copy from the box set to generate a reservation or transit slip for each borrower When each copy is returned at its pickup location, a reservation available notice will transmitted when the notices task is next run If any copies are not required, they should be returned to the kit Each borrower attends their pickup location, and the allocated copy issued to each borrower When the booking/loan period elapses, each borrower returns their copy to the library and the copy is returned in Circulation The booking is considered complete when every issued copy has been returned Until every copy has been returned, the kit may not be checked out for the next booking If a loan is not returned by the due date (derived from the booking end date), an overdue notice will be generated for that borrower

Click the ellipsis at the end of the row and select Check Out A reservation will be generated for the book group administrator Pickup location will default to the book group's last pickup location, or book group home location for first reservation Return the box set in Circulation. Reservation/transit slip will be generated When the box set is returned at its pickup location, a reservation available notice will be transmitted when the notices task is next run The book group administrator attends the pickup location, and the book group kit is issued to the transaction account When the booking/loan period elapses, the administrator returns the kit to the library and the box set is returned in Circulation The booking is considered complete when the box set is returned Once returned, the kit is available for the next booking If the book group kit is not returned by the due date (derived from the booking end date), an overdue notice will be generated for the book group administrator If a booking is checked in before the box set is issued, the reservation & booking will both be completed. If this happens accidentally, the booking will need to be re-made.

Book group notices

As discussed in the Prerequisites section above, it is recommended to create a notice policy for the Book group borrower category for notice delivery to administrators of unlinked book groups.

In a linked book group, notices will be delivered to the individual members of the group based on the applicable policy (selected based on existing policy hierarchy), but as regular borrowers will not be registered to the book group category it will not be the same policy.

Book group-specific alerts

A number of alerts have been implemented to support book group functionality that may be encountered.

Alert code	Alert description	Is alert critical?
BKGNOTBOOKGRP	Item reserved for book groups (can only be booked by a Book Group Transaction Account)	No
BOOKGRPNOTAPPROVED	Book group has not been approved	No
BKGCHECKOUTREQ	Booking must be checked out before issue can proceed	No
BKGITMBOXSET	Item is part of a box set (cannot be booked separately)	Yes
BKGNCHKINISKONLOAN	Box set item(s) linked to this booking are still on loan (a box set booking cannot be checked in if any child items are still on loan)	No
BKGMAXDAYS	Maximum booking period of 'n' days exceeded (if selected booking period exceeds Maximum adjacent slots/days)	No
BOOKGRPBRWDEACT	Book group has been deactivated (if the barcode of a deactivated transaction account is scanned in Circulation)	Yes