ILS Bulletin 2005 - 11 - Changes to the Pull List and Eliminating the Current Requests Backlog

Unfortunately, this change to the requests process had some other effects that were not described in the release notes for 7.3; these changes were "unraveled" and documented by SELCO and Online Library staff (with help from Dynix). The algorithm that selects the best location to fill a request will often select the same best location every time the pull list is run. This means that if an item appears on your pull list, you are the best location and nobody else will ever see that request on their pull list. If you do not fill the request it will probably not be filled at all. This is a major change from the workflow Dynix originally trained us all on. In the past, no Online Library was expected to fill every request on their pull list because it was understood that unfilled requests would appear on another Location's pull list. This is no longer the case and our processes must change to reflect the fact.

Moving forward, it would be in the best interest of the region if you closely monitored the requests on your pull list, and understood that unfilled requests are probably not appearing on anyone's pull list but yours. The ILS Operations Committee, with SELCO's concurrence, asks that each Online Library fill every request on their pull list from now on. The ILS Operations Committee reserves the right to contact Online Libraries that appear to be having difficulties keeping their pull list cleared

Since requests are often not moving from one pull list to another, the practice of waiting one day before filling requests from the pull list (to allow the pickup
location a chance to fill the request) no longer serves any purpose. Therefore, you should dispense with this practice, effective immediately.

The ILS Operations Committee is aware that this represents a significant change from our original practice and has made a recommendation that SELCO feels is a reasonable way to handle the backlog of existing requests that has arisen. Items on your pull list where the request is older than 30 days will be marked 'missing' on Monday, August 08, 2005. This should give you ample time to deal with requests that were not filled (in the expectation that they would appear on another location's pull list) and provides a mechanism by which missing items will no longer be available to fill the request, moving it on to another pull list. The ILS Operations Committee reserves the right to ask SELCO to carry out this process again in the future if another requests backlog should develop; SELCO will carry out any such recommendations.

If you have any questions on this matter, please contact the Help Desk or Jeannie Johnson at Zumbrota Public Library, who is the chair of the ILS Operations Committee. Thank you for your cooperation in addressing this situation.