Purchase suggestions can be generated in one of two ways. You can create suggestions via the staff client either for the library or on the patron's behalf from their record. Depending on your settings in the suggestion system preference, patrons may also be able to make purchase suggestions via the OPAC. When a suggestion is waiting for library review, it will appear on the Acquisitions home page under the vendor search.
It will also appear on the main staff dashboard under the module labels:
Clicking 'Manage suggestions' will take you to the suggestion management tool. If there are no pending suggestions you can access the suggestion management tool by clicking the 'Manage suggestions' link on the menu on the left of the Acquisitions page.
Your suggestions will be sorted into several tabs: Accepted, Pending, Checked, Ordered and/or Rejected. Each accepted or rejected suggestion will show the name of the librarian who managed the suggestion and the reason they gave for accepting or rejecting it (found under 'Status').
An 'Accepted' suggestion is one that you have marked as 'Accepted' using the form below the suggestions. A 'Pending' suggestion is one that is awaiting action from the library. A 'Checked' suggestion is one that has been marked as 'Checked' using the form before the suggestions. An 'Ordered' suggestion is on that has been ordered using the 'From a purchase suggestion' link in your basket. A 'Rejected' suggestion is one that you have marked at 'Rejected' using the form below the list of suggestions.
For libraries with lots of suggestions, there are filters on the left hand side of the Manage Suggestions page to assist in limiting the number of titles displayed on the screen.
Clicking on the blue headings will expand the filtering options and clicking '[clear]' will clear all filters and show all suggestions.
Note
The suggestions page will automatically be limited to suggestions for your library. To see information for all (or any other) libraries click on the 'Acquisition information' filter and change the library.
When reviewing 'Pending' suggestions you can choose to check the box next to the item(s) you want to approve/reject and then choose the status and reason for your selection. You can also choose to completely delete the suggestion by checking the 'Delete selected' box.
Another option for libraries with long lists of suggestions is to approve or reject suggestions one by one by clicking on the title of the suggestion to open a summary of the suggestion, including information if the item was purchased.
Clicking 'edit' to the right of the suggested title or at the to pof the suggestion detail page will open a suggestion editing page.
From this form you can make edits to the suggestion (adding more details or updating incorrect information provided by the patron). You can also choose to accept or reject the suggestion on an individual basis.
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Choosing to mark a request as 'Pending' will move the request back to the 'Pending' tab.
Reasons for accepting and rejecting suggestions are defined by the SUGGEST authorized value.
If you choose 'Others...' as your reason you will be prompted to enter your reason in a text box. Clicking 'Cancel' to the right of the box will bring back the pull down menu with authorized reasons.
You can also assign this suggestion to a fund.
This edit can trigger a notice (defined in the Notices & Slips tool with the TO_PROCESS notice) to the fund owner that there is a suggestion ready for them to manage if you have turned on the cron job to generate these notices.
Once you have clicked 'Submit' the suggestion will be moved to the matching tab. The status will also be updated on the patron's account in the OPAC and an email notice will be sent to the patron using the template that matches the status you have chosen.
