NRE Tips and Q&A

Terminology | Discovery: Help with Searching in WorldCat . Searching in NRE | Error messages.

Quick tips:

1. Don’t use “refresh” or “reload”
2. Owning site-Shipping: When shipping items use batch to process regular and short term loans, and standard search for nonsupply.
3. When processing a number of items: Start out batch/bulk updating a group of items. Then, if you need to search the queue for individual items the list will be shorter
4. When using Bulk action, you can use <enter> instead of using a space or comma between numbers
   
5. Number without L or B.  Searching for Borrower or Lender number (Request ID). If you have a request number and you don’t know if it is a lender number or a borrower number use “Standard” search or if you use “Advanced” search be sure to click the radio button for “both” under “Your Library’s Role.” In “Advanced” you cannot search lender numbers if you list yourself as the borrower and, conversely, you cannot search by borrower number if you list yourself as a lender. See Searching for Request ID (Borrower and Lender numbers).
   

Will supply queue, no hold, no paging slip

Situation: we have an item in our "will supply" queue, but no paging slip has been generated and no hold has been placed on the item in our local catalog. Time stamp indicates the request was made yesterday, and request still appears to be valid, i.e. it doesn't look like it's been cancelled.  Action: submit a problem report as soon as you notice this happening.

Searching for something, can't find it?
Searching for requests, and using Request ID (Borrower and Lender numbers)

• Standard search looks only at "active" requests and does not include completed requests, etc.  To search thoroughly, it's better, and quicker to (always) use Advanced search.

  (Original issue: Whenever you are searching for an item that could have been returned to the owning library you must always click the button to “search completed requests”.  Why? Because if the item has indeed been returned and checked in it will have been auto completed by NRE.)

• Advanced search: check the boxes for Display Completed requests and Display Not Supplied requests.
• when searching for Request ID - Borrower # and Lender #
  
• be sure to click the radio button for “both” under “Your Library’s Role.”
  
• you cannot search lender numbers if you list yourself as the borrower and, conversely, you cannot search by borrower number if you list yourself as a lender
• when searching for Barcode,
• if you are the Lender, search by Shipped Item (in Other fields)
  
• if you are the Borrower, search by Circulating Item Barcode (in Other fields)
  
• The search defaults to "Both" (Lender and Borrower). This can be a problem searching by barcode for popular items that have been loaned or borrowed on Summit many times: same barcode, many different NRE#’s. If NRE does not delete old transaction records, the instance of multiple barcode numbers will increase.
  

Patron cancels request; catch it before Printing paging slips

Sometimes a patron will cancel a request, but you don't catch it until Batch Shipping. The only way to avoid this is to check NRE for any requests in the Cancel Requested (Lender) queue right before printing paging slips.  If there are any requests in there, cancel the hold in Millennium; the paging slip won't print out; and then update the NRE request to Complete.

Received two items for same request

Receiving an item from two different members: This happens when the Circulation Gateway (CG) has problems. The CG did not place a hold for the request and the site did it manually.  Then OCLC receives a list of requests that failed and resubmits them to the CG. If the hold was (already) placed manually, the CG returns an error and NRE will answer non-supply and send the request on to the next location.

OCLC is working on a solution that will allow staff to resubmit the request via a user defined action. This should prevent the second problem from occurring.  [Oct.2009]

SSR: Same site requests

Accidentally used action to "complete" a request

Situation: Owning library received a request for an item and (in error) actioned it to "complete." After that point it can't be viewed from lender side, so there was no evidence that there was a problem

On the borrower side, the request remained in their "pending" queue. Once the borrowing library called and asked for a status on their pending request, we were able to retrieve the item and action it to Shipped.

Duplicate bib-and-item created

Sometimes a 2nd or 3rd bib-and-item is created for the same request due to system problems; you need to delete one manually.

Received, but automatic bib-and-item not created

Use this for requests that have an error in the log message.  If in Receiving the action was incomplete and errored out (for example, a glitch in circ gateway) you can re-receive the item in NRE and the automatic bib-and-item should get created.

Moving unfilled requests after 3 days, and Will Supply queue

Aren't requests supposed to move on in the rota after 3 days, to find another lender?
Answer "Will Supply" actually stops the expiry clock; it's designed that way to allow the lender to supply the item when you can without the request disappearing because it has gone on to next lender in the rota. If an item was available and on the shelf and a hold placed for it but, for some reason, can’t be shipped, make the action to Answer "Non Supply".

Request for multi-part material

see Processing a request for multi-part material

Requests stuck

Requests move from their first posting -- New Requests -- to Will Supply, but not instantaneously; sometimes it takes several minutes or longer.  For requests stuck in New Requests queue:

If problem was due to "can't get availability" : OCLC will be investigating.

Most of those stuck requests are unavailable for some reason. Do not try to manually "push" them to the next queue right away; just wait until NRE automatically moves them. Wait until next day.

• Institutions where paging slips aren't working: you may continue current practice for filling requests.
  

• All other institutions: For all transactions from previous day or older: Answer "non supply" to move the request along. Only fill requests for which you get a paging slip.
  

What about Idle/Check Manual queue? If something is in I/CM and it seems to be available, try to push it through again: check the action. At top of screen: change from "authorize" to "to be authorized" and it will go through DocFind again.  [Dec. 10 2008: problem still being investigated]

End of rota file: While request is waiting for rota to be built, it will show up at end of rota.  Watch the Idle/Check Manual queue.

More information on Managing work queues and Idle/Check Manual queue

Can't check in item from lender (owning site) - problem with status

1. Contact the lending site: ask them to checkout item to their Summit Institution Record for your site, so the lender will show a checkout.
2. Create a brief bib/item in your database.
3. Place a hold for the patron, and checkin the item to send a hold-pickup notice. This bypasses NRE, but at least the item can be checked out to patron.

Patron alert has failed, or not sent

When you get the error that the alert has failed this means that the system saw an alert needed to be sent but failed to do so.  Usually  this is because of a problem with the patron's email address.  Sometimes, there is more than one email address, separated by a semicolon - that's a problem too. 

Send a manual alert? Staff at member libraries should NOT manually send a user alert (Borrowing side option "send user alert") unless it's an exceptional situation. If you do, you must type in a custom alert message, since the system will not use any of the pre-defined notices set up by the institution; otherwise, the e-mail notice to the patron will contain no useful information.

Info on paging slips- where does it say where to SEND the item?

OCLC and Alliance are actively working on this.  The fix is in the works to have information transmitted correctly from Navigator to the site.  The plan is for sites to produce paging slips that have normal language such as "Ship to: " followed by the real location, not a code.  There are several layers to this, including a table to translate the CODE into the location NAME, and a script to provide instructions on how to print the info on the paging slip.

What you see (such as WOS-Patron61) is not the permanent or even long-term pattern - just what there is as of today, or this week.

No response: NRE system doesn't confirm a transaction (when it has processed an action)

The system doesn't confirm that the processing was accepted, or completed.  Assume it's okay.  Testing has shown that the system will respond with an ERROR message if an item was processed incorrectly.

Can you un-do a "shipped" action?

Yes; it's called Un-ship.

Login problem

I started a request and then didn't complete it, I just hit the back button and tried again, using different credentials. still didn't work.

response: It is not possible to re-login until there is a logout event. Backing up does not cause the logout event.

Visiting Patrons

This is not part of NRE, and is not handled automatically as it is has been.  See the new instructions for Adopting Visiting Patrons

Alerts for Item received, etc.

Question: We need NRE automatically to Send User Alert when an item is received at the borrowing location. In NRE right now it looks like Send User Alert is a manual Action staff will need to perform on each item after receiving the item. Is this correct?

Response: Yes, alerts will be automatically sent out when an item is received. They will also be sent out automatically when the overdue message is received by the borrower and when an item can’t be supplied. These are being configured right now and will be available on day 1.

The only purpose for the Send User Alert [manual] action is to send an ad hoc message to the end user – to send them information when needed outside of the normal automatic alerting.

Recall

NRE is not used for recall.  See statement on recall.

Idle/Check Manual queue

Two  kinds of requests are added to this queue; requests...

1. with zero locations in the Rota (couldn't get holdings from Availability service?)
   Requests with zero locations should be going automatically to ILL but are not at this time
2. where the first Rota location is the home library of the borrower (Same Site Request).
   Same Site requests may be processed according to local policy.