Academic Reservations

Overview

Academic Reservations allow users to make advance reservations on Reserve materials to guarantee that the materials will be available at the Reserve Desk at the requested time. Unlike placing a hold, which requests library materials for use as soon as they become available, making a reservation on a Reserve title requests a copy of the title for a specific date and time and for a specific period of time. Other patrons may use the Reserve materials until the reservation time period; at that time, the item must be returned to the Reserve Desk so it can be checked out to the patron who made the reservation. SirsiDynix Symphony tracks and schedules reservations for the entire reservation cycle, from the staff preparation of Reserve materials, to the actual use of the item, and to the return of Reserve materials.

Reservations can be made only on copies of titles that are currently on reserve at the Reserve Desk. Reservations can not be made on materials in regular circulation, or on materials that do not circulate.

The Academic Reservations module includes the following features.

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Reservation profiles can be created to determine how reservations may be made on Reserve items.

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Reservations can be restricted by item type and by user profile.

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Reservations may be placed by the minute. Starting and ending dates and times must be specified for each reservation.

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Reservations can be configured to be unavailable for certain times even though the Reserve Desk is open.

The Academic Reservations module is integrated with the Circulation module. Users are subject to the same eligibility checks when making a reservation for an item as they are when checking out an item. Items may not be checked out if their date due falls within the time period needed for another reservation.

Policies can be configured to determine how far in advance a reservation may be made, define the minimal amount of time before an upcoming reservation in which another patron may check out the Reserve item, define by what time an item must be returned for an upcoming reservation, and determine the amount of time after which a reservation will expire if the requesting user has not checked out the item. Policies can be configured to display a message to notify staff about an upcoming reservation when an item is discharged.

Each time a user makes a reservation for title on a given date or dates in the future, a reservation record is created. A reservation record contains pertinent information about which items are to be used for a reservation by which user, along with significant dates and times from the reservation calendar.

Wizards

The following wizards are used to create, display, modify, and remove reservation information.

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Create Reservations Wizard

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Display Title Reservations Wizard

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Display User Reservations Wizard

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Modify Reservations Wizard

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Remove Title Reservations Wizard

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Remove User Reservations Wizard

Set Properties may display as the first step of some wizards. Click OK to accept the default values.