Library Online 3.7 - changes (part 3)

Another post about new features and changes coming with Library Online 3.7 in May. (I think we'll probably have one more post after this one, and then a final post about changes that will come when the clients are also updated to version 3.7...)

Allow librarian to view banned patron across all branches
The infraction tracking system has been enhanced so that a librarian can view which branch a patron has been banned from, including those branches which the librarian has no access to.

What this means: This allows VIEWING of suspensions from other libraries. Library staff can still only suspend patrons from their own library.

Non-bookable Workstation Types
This addition gives library staff the ability to make all workstations under a specified type non-bookable, without having to go to each workstation to set the bookable flag to ‘No’. When used in conjunction with the workstation type schedule, staff now has the ability to close a branch in the middle of the day without having to do a special workstation booking for all workstations in that branch.

What this means: This will be especially helpful to libraries like BER, BLV, and MAZ that close during the middle of the day and could eliminate the need for the special workstation bookings.

Patron Time Limit Extension
A librarian can now extend time to specific workstation types instead of extending time for the entire branch. A librarian can also now extend bookings for a patron.

What this means: In 3.7, you can extend time and/or bookings for specific workstation types for the current day. 

Workstation types display on Public Site
Order of workstation types in the drop-down box on ‘Search By Workstation Type’ screen and ‘Display Search Results by PC Type’ screen are displayed in alphabetical order. The system now also has the ability now to set the ranking of workstation types to be displayed according to priority. This will enhance the flexibility and usability of the LibOnline public site.

What this means: Library Online displays the workstation types in the workstation type drop-down and also in the “sort by workstation type” results alphabetically by default. If the library wishes to have them displayed in a non-alphabetical manner (ex. "Word Processing PC" before "Internet PC"), this can be done through the Public Ranking setting in the workstation types.

Comments

[liz]

i like this ranking of workstation types in the drop down. for awhile now we've used 'creative' naming to get the results we wanted... it will be nice to be able to name them what we'd like.

regarding 'SEEING' suspensions across libraries: i think this is already available. I've certainly seen MOO ones when searching for MPL ones... not sure what is now different about this feature. Got screen shots?

[Kerri]

Good catch, Liz! You're absolutely right. In 3.2, libraries CAN view other libraries' infractions and suspensions (and EDIT them, it appears from my testing just now).

In 3.7, libraries can still VIEW other libraries infractions and suspensions, but CANNOT EDIT them.

I had been taking their word on this particular item in the release notes-- clearly I should have investigated a little more! Thanks for pointing that out!