Resource Sharing Administration

Partner configuration

• Two partners - BorrowDirect and TRLNDirect

  • BorrowDirect: https://duke.reshare.indexdata.com - borrower requests start with NCD-

  • TRLNDirect: https://duke.reshare.indexdata.com - borrower requests start with DUKE-

• Using Resource Sharing Library as default

  • Means items go in transit to all pickup locations - at Perkins, they have to be scanned in a second time

Borrowing and Lending workflow

• Defined in Configuration > Fulfillment > Workflow profiles

• Controls what staff can and can’t do with requests once they are in Alma - e.g., whether requests can be cancelled, reactivated, indicated as lost by borrowing library, etc.

• Four profiles exist - 2 for borrowing and lending, each for TRLNDirect and BorrowDirect - lending and borrowing are same, but choose to separate them in case we wanted to have different behavior later on

• Configuration was done with Michael Edwards. Would be the place to look if a resource sharing function wasn’t available to staff in Alma and you weren’t sure why

Role configuration

Any staff that are in ReShare, also need Alma role profiles that give them “Fulfillment operator” roles, scoped to the resource sharing library.

Legacy transactions from Aleph as migrated to Alma

ReShare transactions created when we were on Aleph became items stored in the BorrowDirect sublibrary, which migrated from Aleph to Alma. There are also a series of dummy patron accounts in the Borrow Direct or TRLNDirect patron group, which represent the schools in those networks. Aleph managed the loan process by checking items out to dummy users.

There’s a third dummy account with the ID of LENDINGACCT that is where ILLiad lending transactions are tracked, and that is still done (as of August 2024 when this is being written) as loans to the dummy patron account. It is not yet an Alma integration.

Troubleshooting

Item cannot be renewed, even though the associated loan policy allows renewals

• Resource sharing loans are handled differently than standard Alma loans - even though the loan policy may say that renewals are allowed, Alma treats them as renewals from the lending partner, not standard patron renewals, and declines them even though the loan policy allows it

• This is a configuration issue that (as of November 2024) we are working on cleaning up - in the meantime, if the patron is entitled to more time, you must use Change Due Date to give them the extra time (rather than renewal)

Item is received successfully for a Duke borrower, but pickup location is Resource Sharing Library and cannot be changed

• Happens when the pickup location in ReShare is a library in Alma where there is no hold shelf - e.g., LILLY

• The item is received, Alma tries to put it in transit to the library with no hold shelf, it can’t do it, so it chooses the default pickup location instead, which is the Resource Sharing Library

• Options to fix are to manually contact patron / tell them to pick up at another location, or to cancel the ReShare request and redo it with another pickup location'

• Intent is to evaluate the configuration of the partner / default desk when we have the premium sandbox to figure out if it can change to Perkins or some other library.

Staff or student staff accidentally prematurely closed a ReShare request in Alma, can anything be done?

• Locate the completed request (may have to uncheck “Activity status” filter)

• Use Reactivate Request from the More actions menu…

Open