Primo VE: I-Share Resource Sharing Requesting "Availability" Options
Related product I-Share

Primo VE: I-Share Resource Sharing Requesting "Availability" Options

Updated: 9/22/2023

This webpage gives an overview of three configuration options which the CARLI Office staff can configure for each I-Share library.
These three options work together to alleviate two long-term Known Issues in Alma/Primo VE.

Those two Known Issues are:
Screenshot of the PowerPoint Presentation from the 12/6 webinar. It shows two known issues, #1- Primo VE accepts requests for non-requestable material (posted 9/17/2020; updated 12/6/2022), and #2 Users cannot request a physical copy of a title from another I-Share institution when the title is held in electronic format at their institution (originally part of an entry posted 9/2020; updated 2/2021; removed 8/2021; reposted and updated 8/2022)

To address these Known Issues, three configuration settings that build upon each other, are involved:
This is a screenshot from the PPT presentation from 12/6. This lists the three configuration settings inside vertically stacked circles, with arrows connecting the three settings to show a hierarchy. These are the three settings with sections on this webpage. The settings are Setting 1- "Item Availability Indicator- enabled 6/22", Setting 2 "'Item Availability' is set to 'Mandatory' for Requesting" aka "Disable the 'Send Request' button if no item is found to be available in I-Share to request", Setting 3- Requesting Print Copies of E-Owned Titles.

These three settings are discussed in depth in the webinar recorded on 12/6/2022, and are discussed at a high level in the sections below.

Recording of 12/6/2022 webinar

Please send any questions to .

expand / collapse all

Consortial Setting: Item Availability Indicator is Enabled

Implementation Hierarchy

  • This setting, "Item Availability Indicator," must be enabled (and was enabled in all I-Share libraries in June 2022) before the "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting" setting can be enabled.
  • The "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting" setting must be enabled before the "Ability to request a physical copy of a resource from I-Share when your library owns an electronic copy" setting can be enabled.

Background

During the week of June 27, 2022, the CARLI Office staff enabled the "Item Availability" indicator as visible in the I-Share/AFN request form in Primo VE for all I-Share institutions. Having this setting enabled is a consortial requirement.

When patrons are logged into their Primo VE account and open the I-Share request form, new information will display at the top of the form.
Primo VE will perform a real-time search for the title to determine if any copies of the title are available for request by the logged-in patron.

  • An initial line of text at the top of the request form will display "Checking item availability" while Primo VE performs the search.
  • Once the search is complete, the text will display either: "Item Available for Request" or "No Item Available for Request." [screenshots included below]
  • The determined availability is FYI only:
    • This setting alone does not affect the patron’s ability to place the request, aka, the patron can still "send request" for an unavailable title.
      • The "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting" optional setting also described on this page can control this functionality.
    • It does not guarantee that the identified-as-requestable items will be sent by the potential lending libraries.
    • If a library is set up to use a "lender of last resort" with Alma (currently in small pilot phase for CARLI member libraries; more information will be available spring 2023), all physical materials will display as "Item Available for Request."

Our hope in enabling this functionality is that patrons will be able to more easily identify materials that are not available and that will result in immediate request cancellation.

Screenshot of the request form when an item that is available for request:

Image shows a Primo VE I-Share request form where there is a copy identified as Available for requesting. At the top of the form, it says "Item Available for Request" as an indication to the patron.

Screenshot of the request form when an item that is NOT available for request:

Image shows a Primo VE I-Share request form where there is a copy identified as not available for requesting. At the top of the form, it says "No Item Available for Request" as an indication to the patron.

Recording of 12/6 webinar

Optional Setting: Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting

Implementation Hierarchy

  • The "Item Availability Indicator" setting must be enabled (and was enabled in all I-Share libraries in June 2022) before this setting, "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting," setting can be enabled.
  • This setting, "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting," must be enabled before the "Ability to request a physical copy of a resource from I-Share when your library owns an electronic copy" setting can be enabled.

Overview

CARLI must make these configuration changes for your institution. I-Share Liaisons were initially sent a link to a survey on Dec. 7, 2022 to share with CARLI if a library wanted to enable or disable this option. If your library did not complete the original survey, or if your library wishes to change any decisions, please contact .

With the August 2022 update, Ex Libris released functionality that will allow a library to disable ("grey out") the Send button on the I-Share Request Form if no copies of a title are available for the patron to request through I-Share. This functionality is powered by the "Item Availability checking feature that CARLI enabled in the I-Share Request Form for all I-Share libraries at the end of June 2022. The CARLI Resource Sharing Committee has completed their testing of this functionality.

As with many settings, there are considerations that a library would need to be aware of before opting-in to this new functionality. These options are summarized below, but we recommend reviewing the further discussion in the 12/6/2022 webinar recording posted on this page.

  • Considerations for choosing whether Mandatory should be Yes or No:
    • Alma Analytics: Do you need the ability to track titles that your patron wanted to request, but where there was no lender to request it from in I-Share? If the need for this information outweights the other factors (such as patron frustration with immediate cancelations), you may want availability to No, Not mandatory.
    • Requesting Print copies of E-Owned Titles: Do you want to allow your patrons the ability to request a print copy of a title through I-Share, when your library owns an electronic copy of the title? If yes, then you will need availability to be Yes, Mandatory.
  • Considerations before enabling "Yes, Mandatory:"
    • Patrons will not receive request cancelation notices for requests they were not able to place (because the submit button was greyed out).
      • How else will you direct patrons to additional interlibrary loan services? You could consider adding information to the customizable message text that displays when no items are available to request; see more information below.
      • Does this affect the "earliest date" for when you’d like the CARLI Office to adjust your configuration settings? Does your library need time to adjust Instruction materials?
    • Changes to these configurations may affect existing General Electronic Services and/or Display Logic Rules that your institution has configured.
      • Would you like to meet with CARLI Office staff to review your settings in advance?
      • Or will you plan to contact the CARLI Office if the changes cause any issues that you would like help resolving?

Recording

Label Customization when Item Availability is Mandatory

When Item Availability is set to Mandatory for Requesting, new text will display above the disabled "Send Request" button that your library can customize for your users. This label appears at the bottom of the I-Share request form only when the configuration is set to disable the "Send Request" button when there are not items available to be requested AND there are no items available. The text will not appear if there are available items and the "Send Request" button is active. 

The default wording in your Alma IZ is:

No items currently available through I-Share. <br>Please contact the interlibrary loan department for more assistance.

This will display as:

Each I-Share library can customize this text further and/or add basic HTML to add bold <b>, italics <i>, line breaks <br>, or links to URLs.  For example, if you want to bold the first line:

<b>No items currently available through I-Share.</b><br>
Please contact the interlibrary loan department for more assistance.

This will display as:

If you want to add a clickable link to another webpage within the label text, such as an ILL Request Form, you can add HTML like this to open it in another tab:

No items currently available through I-Share. <br>
Please contact the interlibrary loan department for more assistance. 
<a href="https://www.library.institution.edu/illhelp" target="_blank">Click here for more information</a>

WARNING: Be careful of quotation marks in HTML! If you are copying from a document, we recommend a plain text document, not Microsoft Word.  We have seen instances where the wrong kind of quotes will cause the links not to work--the symptom being that the full HTML displays as text in the label rather than a hyperlink.

This text with HTML link will display as:

To customize this label text:

1. At your library, decide on the label wording you would like to present for when no items are available to request from I-Share.

2. Someone with Discovery Admin role in Alma should go to:

Alma Configuration > Discovery > Labels > Get it service labels table > Code = nui.request.checkAvailability.pleaseCheckAvailability

If your institution has not modified any labels in this table yet, you will need to choose to Customize the table first; for all subsequent changes you will choose Edit for the table.

3. Edit the Description to change the label text:

4. Once you've edited the text, click Customize in the upper right if you are changing a label in this table for the first time, or Save if this table has been edited before.

WARNING: When customizing any label in Primo VE, remember that this text appears on screens of all sizes, so keep your HTML customization within the label to a minimum and check the results on different sized computers monitors, tablets, and mobile phones.

For more information on customizing labels in Primo VE, see CARLI's page on Customizing Labels and Headings in Primo VE or contact for assistance.

Optional Setting: Ability to request a physical copy of a resource from I-Share when your library owns an electronic copy

Implementation Hierarchy

  • The "Item Availability Indicator" setting must be enabled before the "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting" setting can be enabled.
  • The "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting" setting must be enabled before this setting, "Ability to request a physical copy of a resource from I-Share when your library owns an electronic copy," setting can be enabled.

Overview

CARLI must make these configuration changes for your institution. I-Share Liaisons were initially sent a link to a survey on Dec. 7, 2022 to share with CARLI if a library wanted to enable or disable this option. If your library did not complete the original survey, or if your library wishes to change any decisions, please contact .

If you would like your library's patrons to be able to request a print copy of a title through I-Share when your library owns an electronic copy of the title, the "Item Availability is Mandatory for Requesting" setting must be enabled first.

This setting overrides Primo VE's default configuration to not display the I-Share request link for physical copies at other I-Share libraries when your library has access to the online version.  Currently, the only workaround for patrons is to have library staff place the request for the physical copy in Alma; they cannot request it themselves.

  • Considerations for choosing whether this setting should be Yes or No:
    • When your institutions has electronic access, if you'd like patrons to have the ability to request the physical copy from I-Share without staff mediation through Alma, choose Yes.
    • If you are content that your patrons only have access to the electronic version available to them, or prefer that they contact library staff to request a physical item from I-Share on their behalf, choose No.
    • Changes to these configurations may affect existing General Electronic Services and/or Display Logic Rules that your institution has configured.
      • Would you like to meet with CARLI Office staff to review your settings in advance?
      • Or will you plan to contact the CARLI Office if the changes cause any issues that you would like help resolving?
    • When the I-Share request form is hidden by a Display Logic Rule, such as when the item is an Article because we do not loan Articles through I-Share, the "How to get it" section will display "No available services for this item" in a yellow box. This can occur even when you have electronic availability in the View Online section above it. If you wish, you can customize the "No available services for this item" label text to change that message and/or you could change the yellow color of the background with custom CSS.

 

Recording

Start at 21:25 for a concentration on this topic.