LINK+ books can be delivered to a library near you, for pickup while you're away from the library where you are registered.
If your library is participating in this service, you will notice new choices when placing a request. Choose from a number of different pickup institutions and have your LINK+ materials delivered to the most convenient location.
Go to http://csul.iii.com/screens/help_pu_anywhere.html for a list of current Pickup Anywhere participants.
Contact Amy Homick for more information or to become a Pickup Anywhere participant.
If the owning site did not check out the item in "INN-Reach - Check-Out to Remote Site" mode before sending it to your PUA location, the system will have no record of the item and will be unable to process it. The system will display the following message when you attempt to process the item:
Item is not in database
If the system displays this message, contact the owning site. The owning site can perform the remote site check out and you can reprocess the item.
The central server maintains statistics on PUA transactions, which you can view and export:
You may export any PUA statistical report by clicking the "Export" button in the upper-right portion of the screen. In the "Save" dialog that opens, specify the directory on your PC to which you want to export the statistics and enter a file name.
Pickup Anywhere statistics are delimited by the pipe '|' character. In some applications, you will need to specify this delimiter before you can view an exported statistics file.
The system records statistics at every phase of the PUA process. As a result, you may find several entries for a single request when running PUA statistics (e.g.: when selecting "All" in the Item Status drop-down list.) The system assigns each request a unique transaction number. You may sort your report by this unique transaction number:
If you receive a shipment of LINK+ items that have no paging slips, you can still find out if any of them are PUA items:
You will receive a list of all expected PUA items from that site.
When receiving PUA items, you must first go to "Pickup Anywhere - Receive Item" submode in Pickup Anywhere mode. This can be an easy step to forget since the system defaults to "Pickup Anywhere - Check-out" submode.
You must also remember to click the Process button (ALT P is the keyboard shortcut.) This is a bit different from regular LINK+ transactions and it can be easily forgotten. If you do not click the Process button, the system will not change the item's status from "Shipped" to "Received."
You must also click the Process button when checking in and returning PUA items.
If a PUA item is not returned to the proper library (i.e.: not your patron, not your item, you are not the return location), you can still return it to the owning library:
You will not receive confirmation of the checkin on your screen but the item is, indeed, checked in and ready to be sent to the owning location.
Take care when clearing expired holds from the PUA holdshelf. You have two options when viewing the PUA holdshelf:
When clearing expired PUA holds, make sure you click the "Show Expired Holds" button before processing. If you click the "Show All Holds" button and then process, the system will actually return any un-expired holds in the list (i.e.: the items' statuses will be changed to "Returned.")
In the tables in Pickup Anywhere mode, the third column indicates if there is a message or an error for a displayed item. Errors are represented by the E character and messages by the M character. If the third column for an entry is blank, there is neither an error nor a message associated with that item.
To view the message or error for an item, right-click its row and choose the "Show Message/Error" option. You can also view the details of an item. To do so, right-click the item's row and choose the "Show Detail" option. To print the detail, choose the Print icon. To close the detail, choose the Close icon.
There are three scenarios that can cause a "No item found in database" message to occur when receiving PUA items:
When the system displays this message, you should contact the owning site. If the owning site intended to send the item to your Pickup Anywhere location but did not perform the remote site check out, staff at the owning site can perform the remote site check out, and then you can reprocess the item.
If the item was accidentally sent to your Pickup Anywhere location, the owning site can advise you where the item should be sent.
If the item was intentionally sent to your Pickup Anywhere location and the owning site performed a remote site check out, you may have the wrong Pickup Anywhere key assigned to your login. Check in Login Manager to make sure the correct PUA key is set.
The Link+ Administrator can provide you with your Pickup Anywhere key.
Several members have recommended using a book band when processing PUA books because the book labels may not have adequate space for the required PUA sticker. PUA books without the PUA sticker can cause problems at the pick-up library, making it difficult to identify the books as being PUA items.
Some members have reported inability to check out PUA materials to certain patrons and troubleshooting has confirmed that the problem is due to the patron having a blank expiration date. The system thinks that the patron record is expired and therefore does not allow the checkout.
The best way to alleviate this problem is to make sure all of your patron records contain valid expiration dates.
Pickup Anywhere participants are assigned special PUA location codes and keys. The key must be associated with your staff logins.
If you always get a “Patron cannot be found” message when you try to receive and checkout PUA items, you may not be associated with the correct Pickup Anywhere key. Try checking your login to confirm that it is configured with your PUA key.
A list of PUA participants and their keys can be found on the repository.