[ILL-L] Grrr!!! Policies Directory!!!!

[Joe Ellison]

What you're seeing is a result of discrepancies within individual 
directory records. For instance, I repeated your search, also 
limiting to OCLC suppliers and state=Illinois. The very first entry 
on this list (no names mentioned--my point isn't to point to 
particular institutions so much as the issues in creating a coherent 
policies entry) falls into the area you're having trouble with. On 
the Unit tab, in both Quick View & Information, the Noncirculating 
note states "No AV materials, graphic novels or mass market 
paperbacks out of state. No DVD's at this time." So, they do have 
some limited circulation of some types of AV materials, but on the 
whole I'd class them as a non-lender of AV on the basis of this note. 
However, on the Policies tab, the loan policies contain lending 
parameters for, among other things, audio books, CD's, VHS, and 
DVD's. This particular institution has left the format type on both 
their lending policies set to "any", with the single exclusion of 
e-texts. They have also left borrower locations set to "any". 
Finally, under Deflections they have set up real-time deflection of 
requests for DVD's for all locations and CD sound recordings with 
in-state groups set as exceptions. If the search were looking at 
either the deflections or the free-form note text, this institution 
likely would not turn up as lending sound recordings. However, the 
search apparently only looks at the enumeration of types in the 
policies proper, which don't reflect the deflections and exclusions.

It may well be that some of the records with this type of discrepancy 
reflect the setting of temporary restrictions on particular formats. 
For anyone setting up custom holdings groups, though, this means you 
still have to look at each record individually if you want your group 
to be truly devoid of erroneous entries. Short of a change to the 
search routine that would allow the user to include searches of 
deflections, the only other way this could be avoided would be for 
each lender to edit their policies statements for consistency. Since 
we still have records that contain nothing more than the information 
that the OCLC system transferred from the old NAD records, I'm 
sceptical of this occuring any time soon.

Joe Ellison
Document Delivery Assistant, Transportation Library (OCLC symbol JCR)
Northwestern University Library, 1970 Campus Dr.
Evanston, IL  60208-2300
phone: (847)491-8600, fax: (847)491-8601
j-ellison at northwestern.edu
ARIEL: 129.105.19.35 or staff019035.library.northwestern.edu

At 09:15 AM 5/28/2008, you wrote:
>Just exactly HOW is this Directory supposed to work?
>
>I want to fine tune our Custom Holdings Groups by AV type, e.g. a group
>for free lenders of sound recordings, another group for free lenders of
>DVDs, another for free lenders of VHS, etc. As opposed to one huge
>group, "Free AV."
>
>I searched the Directory with the criteria:
>Group Affiliation = LVIS
>Format = Sound Recordings
>
>This results in 1271 records. I displayed the symbols & copied and
>pasted them into a Custom Holdings Group I had created.
>
>HOWEVER!! When I checked the symbols included against a recent "Reasons
>for No" report and then checked individual libraries' policies in the
>Directory, I see that their policy record clearly states that they DO
>NOT LEND any AV at all!
>
>So why were they included in my search? HOW does this search function
>actually work?!
>
>The "Quick Tip" displayed on the Search screen instructs, "Combine
>search terms on this screen to limit retrieval of policies matching
>specific conditions. For example, to search for public libraries in
>Indiana that loan Visual Materials, choose: State/Region of Indiana ;
>Library Type of Public Library ; Format of Visual Materials."
>
>That's pretty much what I did. Where am I going wrong?
>
>Thanks!
>
>
>Beth Willis, MLS
>ILL Department Head
>bwillis at mcpl.lib.mo.us
>Phone: (816) 521-7231
>Mid-Continent Public Library (CMI)
>http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us
>Unless explicitly attributed, the opinions expressed are personal.
>
>
>
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