A big part of our library collections are located in a remote storage which is about 12 km from its managing library. Until recently, the only way to request a volume was by filling in a paper form at a library desk. The form was then faxed to the remote storage whose staff treated the request and delivered the ordered item to the pickup library. This workflow forced patrons to go to the library desk, no remote request was allowed. In order to modernize the workflow, we wanted to implement Aleph remote storage functionalities. We found it not so easy to set up and were faced moreover with two additional problems: we wanted to allow patrons to request (1) some items which are not in a remote storage and (2) serial issues from older collections which had never been itemized and so could not be requested through the traditional Aleph functionalities. Therefore, we set up a PHP form that any registered patron can call from the OPAC holding page (item-global) and that automatically contains patron information, bibliographic information and item details (location, call number, description, status, barcode). The patron just needs to select the appropriate pickup library before the form is sent by e-mail to the remote storage. That form can be used for any location (not necessarily for volumes located in a remote storage) and for serial holdings with few itemized volumes (a Z30 is not required to make a request).

1. AUTOFILL REMOTE STORAGE
FORM
ON THE OPAC HOLDINGS PAGE
François Renaville, Sylvain Danhieux
University of Liège Libraries
IGeLU Conference 2012
Zürich, 11–13 September 2012

2. Our Library Network
 5 main libraries:
 Arts & Humanities Library
 Agronomy Library
 Law & Social Sciences Library
 Life Sciences Library
 Science & Technology Library
 17 library facilities
 + 1 Remote Storage
4 campuses:
 Liège Sart-Tilman (main campus)
 Liège City centre
 Gembloux
 Arlon
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3. Remote Storage
 Managed by the Arts & Humanities Library
 Collections mainly for A&H researchers and students
 Far from 12 km from the Library, on 2 campuses:
 A&H Library : Liège City centre
 Remote Storage : Liège Sart-Tilman
 RS Collections in numbers:
 More than 280,000 catalogued books
 More than 700,000 uncatalogued books (no item in the ILS)
 About 25,000 serials titles (50% of the whole serials collections)
 Less than 30,000 ISSUE items created
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4. Ordering items from the RS
 Exclusively with the good old call slip
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5. Ordering items from the RS
 What about Ex Libris’ documentation « Remote Storage Setup
and Management » ?
 We failed using it! Why?
 Probably PEBKAC error ("Problem Exists Between Keyboard And
Chair“)…
 ID-10T error
We tried
another way…
maybe not the best one
or the only one
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6. To a solution that
 Is not time-consuming for the staff (IT & Aleph administrators)
 Could be quickly deployed:
 Request from the A&H Library for a better service (less restricting)
 Anytime: open hours are not a problem anymore
 Anywhere: no need to go the Lib to fill in a paper form
 Claims from patrons
 Would be temporary on Aleph opac
 Working at the same time on
 Primo Implementation Project
 A new ILL & Document Delivery application
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7. So, we deployed « Get it! »
 request form
 PHP + Javascript + mailer
 Accessible on the item-global Aleph opac page
 Already filled in with information about:
 the Requester (< cookies)
 the Document (short bibliographic references)
 the Item (barcode, item status, call number, call number 2)
 Available for
 Items (= with a Z30)
 Non itemized volumes (= no existing Z30)
 Many serials holdings
 Serials issues that haven’t been requested from the RS for about 20
years
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8. Two cases: Z30 or no Z30?
 “Get it!” button:
 in item-global-body for items (Z30)
 in item-global-tail-2 for non itemized serials volumes (no Z30)
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no Z30

9. 9
 Requester
 Document +
Item
 Delivery
Z30

10. Requester
 Information retrieved from the opac cookies
 Name
 Patron’s barcode
 Only the e-mail address can be changed
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11. Document + Item
 Références = Basic bibliographic info
 Localisation = Sublibrary + Collection + Call Number (+ Call
Number 2)
 Info compl. évent. = Item Description
 Statut = Item Status + ( Barcode )
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12. Delivery
 Requester selects the pickup library
 Estimated arrival date
 Any additional comments
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13. Not always
a “Get it!” button
Already on loan
Hold request
Process Status
Specific Item Status
(here: can not be loaned or
consulted)
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Javascript 
extremely well
modifiable

14. No Z30
 About 25,000 serials titles in RS
 Less than 30,000 ISSUE items created
 How to request all those non itemized serials volumes?
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no Z30
Z30

15. No Z30
 Only for serials
 Serials info
 Holdings:
 Library
 + Collection
 + complete
holdings
 + [Call Number]
 Volumes to request
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16. No Z30
 Requester can add as many lines as needed
 1 line per requested issue
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17. Request sent to RS
 As an e-mail
 Requests get an ID: aaaa-mm-dd-sequential nber
 1 e-mail per requested item (= per line)
 E-mail content duplicated :
1) delivery slip within the phyical item
2) slip on the shelf, where item is located
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18. Usage statistics: requests
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
"Get it" requests
Print requests
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 “Get it” service launched on 16th April
2012
 Real tendency to use it

19. Usage statistics: requests
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
16 Apr-31
Aug 2008
16 Apr-31
Aug 2009
16 Apr-31
Aug 2010
16 Apr-31
Aug 2011
16 Apr-31
Aug 2012
Total requests from 16 April  31 August
"Get it" requests
Print requests
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 No appreciable increase of
requests

20. Usage statistics: who?
26.1%
68.0%
6.0%
University staff (incl.
librarians) (n=738)
students (n=1,924)
external patrons (n=169)
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21. Usage statistics: when?
73.7%
14.0%
12.3%
when A&H Library is open
(n=2,087)
after A&H Library has closed
(n=396)
on WE's & holidays (n=348)
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22. Usage statistics: Z30 or no Z30?
86.6%
13.4%
requests with Z30 (n=2,452)
requests for non-existing Z30
(n=379)
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23. Code…
 PHP & Javascript
 Available on EL Commons:
http://www.exlibrisgroup.org/display/AlephCC/Autofill+remote+stor
age+form+on+the+OPAC+holdings+page
 Developed for our own institution & needs  very oriented
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24. francois.renaville@ulg.ac.be | s.danhieux@ulg.ac.be
Paper available at http://hdl.handle.net/2268/130093
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