FAQ

How do I use the sandboxes to test resource sharing workflows?

As the CUNY Libraries ramp up for the partnership with SUNY to share physical resources in Spring 2024, it is important to get hands-on experience with the new workflows. This document explains how to use the CUNY and SUNY sandboxes to work with these new-to-us requests.

Be patient! You are working in non-production environments. They are slower, configured differently, and unnatural (e.g., it's not the IZ you usually work in, your roles are different, you haven't customized the menus, etc.).

But be bold! Remember that the sandboxes are there for you to practice and explore without fear of breaking anything.

Table of Contents

  1. Lesson Plan
  2. Appendix

Lesson Plan

To get familiar with the new workflows, you will practice receiving SUNY items at CUNY, returning SUNY items to another CUNY, and shipping CUNY items to SUNY.

The workflows will be easier in January 2024. We promise.

The steps outlined below are more cumbersome than they will be in January 2024 because you are playing both parts (supplying library and receiving library) for the purposes of this training. This is necessary because the sandboxes are not live so there are no lending requests on the "Pick from Shelf" list or borrowing requests to receive. You must simulate the experience by performing the prerequisite steps in the other university's Alma sandbox.

Consult the document on staff workflows for resource sharing with libraries outside of CUNY for cleaned up instructions for working in the production environments.

Practice Receiving SUNY Items at CUNY

Before you can receive SUNY materials at CUNY, someone at CUNY needed to have requested material that was supplied by SUNY. For the purposes of this training, you will have do that yourself first.

In January 2024, you will not have to do steps 1-3 to receive SUNY items at your institution.

  1. Perform a search in a CUNY sandbox (either as a patron by logging into Primo VE or as a staff member by logging into Alma) for a pre-selected title.

    Titles to request from a CUNY sandbox. This list was curated specifically for this training session. All titles here are guaranteed to work in our sandbox environments. Do not waste your time looking for other titles!

    • Blacks in the Adirondacks : a history (ISBN: 9780815635550)
    • The Catskills : its history and how it changed America (ISBN: 9780307272157)
    • Eleanor Roosevelt : a Hudson Valley remembrance (ISBN: 9780738538327)
    • The Erie Canal (ISBN: 9781426300226)
    • Native Americans of the Great Lakes (ISBN: 9781560065685)
  2. Place a resource sharing request.
    • "Requester" is the account that you're signed into ("SUNY").
    • Select Yes, find a copy at CUNY or SUNY (check email for pick-up location) for "Look beyond CUNY?" (Primo VE) or "Level of Service" (Alma) prompt.
    • Note which SUNY sandbox was selected to fill the request. (Open the borrowing requests to see that information.)
  3. Log into the SUNY sandbox that will fill the request and follow the workflow for supplying libraries. (Actually print the shipping slip!)
    1. Pull the item by opening the "Pick From Shelf" list, finding the item with the "Ship physically" process type, clicking 1 next to the "Requests" field, and copying the item's barcode.
    2. Go to Fulfillment > "Resource Sharing": Shipping Items and scan in the item.
    • If the sandbox won't print the pull slip:
      • Click the 1 next to "Requests" and copy the item's barcode from the request queue.
      • Go to Fulfillment > "Resource Sharing": Lending Requests, find the item to be pulled from the shelf, and click ... (action) > Ship item physically.
      • Paste the barocde into the "Scan item barcode" field. Ensure that "Automatically print slip" is set to Yes. Click OK.
      • Keep that item barcode handy! It's not always on the ship slip (because, in real life, you'll have the item in hand that you would just be able to scan) and you'll need it for the next step.

In January 2024, you will only have to do step 4 to receive SUNY items at your institution.

  1. In the CUNY sandbox, follow the workflow for receiving libraries and process the loan for the requestor:
    1. Receive the item.
    2. Optional: Check the hold shelf to confirm that the item is on the hold shelf as expected.
    3. Check out the item to the requestor.
    4. Return the item by scanning it in as usual. Make sure "Automatically print slip" is set to Yes.

Normally, the lending library would complete the process by receiving the item. For the purposes of this training, you will have do that yourself.

In January 2024, you will not have to do step 5 to receive SUNY items at your institution.

  1. Back in the SUNY sandbox, scan in the item as normal to kick off the reshelving process.

Repeat this entire section as many times as necessary for you to get the hang of the workflow.

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Practice Returning SUNY Items to Another CUNY

Before you can receive SUNY materials at CUNY, someone at CUNY needed to have requested material that was supplied by SUNY. For the purposes of this training, you will have do that yourself first.

In January 2024, you will not have to do steps 1-3 to receive SUNY items at your institution.

  1. Perform a search in a CUNY sandbox (either as a patron by logging into Primo VE or as a staff member by logging into Alma) for a pre-selected title.

    Titles to request from a CUNY sandbox. This list was curated specifically for this training session. All titles here are guaranteed to work in our sandbox environments. Do not waste your time looking for other titles!

    • Blacks in the Adirondacks : a history (ISBN: 9780815635550)
    • The Catskills : its history and how it changed America (ISBN: 9780307272157)
    • Eleanor Roosevelt : a Hudson Valley remembrance (ISBN: 9780738538327)
    • The Erie Canal (ISBN: 9781426300226)
    • Native Americans of the Great Lakes (ISBN: 9781560065685)
  2. Place a resource sharing request.
    • "Requester" is the account that you're signed into ("SUNY").
    • Select Yes, find a copy at CUNY or SUNY (check email for pick-up location) for "Look beyond CUNY?" (Primo VE) or "Level of Service" (Alma) prompt.
    • Note which SUNY sandbox was selected to fill the request. (Open the borrowing requests to see that information.)
  3. Log into the SUNY sandbox that will fill the request and follow the workflow for supplying libraries. (Actually print the shipping slip!)
    1. Pull the item by opening the "Pick From Shelf" list, finding the item with the "Ship physically" process type, clicking 1 next to the "Requests" field, and copying the item's barcode.
    2. Go to Fulfillment > "Resource Sharing": Shipping Items and scan in the item.
    • If the sandbox won't print the pull slip:
      • Click the 1 next to "Requests" and copy the item's barcode from the request queue.
      • Go to Fulfillment > "Resource Sharing": Lending Requests, find the item to be pulled from the shelf, and click ... (action) > Ship item physically.
      • Paste the barocde into the "Scan item barcode" field. Ensure that "Automatically print slip" is set to Yes. Click OK.
      • Keep that item barcode handy! It's not always on the ship slip (because, in real life, you'll have the item in hand that you would just be able to scan) and you'll need it for the next step.

To see that SUNY items can be returned to any CUNY library, you will have to play both parts (library where item was returned and library where material is due) for the purposes of this training.

In January 2024, you will only have to do step 4 to receive SUNY items at your institution. When the items return, you would scan them in as usual and then do what Alma tells you to do: either send them to another CUNY institution or ship them back to the lending library at SUNY.

  1. In the CUNY sandbox where the borrowing request was placed, follow the workflow for receiving libraries and process the loan for the requestor:
    1. Receive the item.
    2. Optional: Check the hold shelf to confirm that the item is on the hold shelf as expected.
    3. Check out the item to the requestor.
  2. Log into the other CUNY sandbox and scan in the SUNY item as you normally would. Note how it gets placed in transit to the requesting CUNY sandbox.
  3. Go back into the original CUNY sandbox and return the item by scanning it in as usual. Make sure "Automatically print slip" is set to Yes.

Normally, the lending library would complete the process by receiving the item. For the purposes of this training, you will have do that yourself.

In January 2024, you will not have to do step 7 to receive SUNY items at your institution.

  1. Back in the SUNY sandbox, scan in the item as normal to kick off the reshelving process.

Repeat this entire section as many times as necessary for you to get the hang of the workflow.

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Practice Shipping CUNY Items to SUNY

Before you can ship CUNY materials to SUNY, someone at SUNY needed to have requested material that is to be supplied by CUNY. For the purposes of this training, you will have do that yourself first.

In January 2024, you will not have to do steps 1-2 to ship your library's material to SUNY.

  1. Perform a search in a SUNY sandbox (either as a patron by logging into Primo VE or as a staff member by logging into Alma).

    Do not use the University at Buffalo sandbox here. Their Alma instance requires additional processing to receive borrowing requests and we wish to avoid that complexity for this training session.

    Titles to request from a SUNY sandbox. This list was curated specifically for this training session. All titles here are guaranteed to work in our sandbox environments. Do not waste your time looking for other titles!

    • The Central Park Five : the untold story behind one of New York City's most infamous crimes (ISBN: 9780307387981)
    • Coney Island : 150 years of rides, fires, floods, the rich, the poor and finally Robert Moses (ISBN: 9780786498161)
    • Harlem : the four hundred year history from Dutch village to capital of Black America (ISBN: 9780802119100)
    • Modern New York : the life and economics of a city (ISBN: 9780230115101)
    • New York : art and cultural capital of the Gilded Age (ISBN: 9781138493629)
  2. Place a resource sharing request.

In January 2024, you will only have to do step 3 to ship your library's material to SUNY.

  1. Log into the CUNY sandbox that was selected to fill the request and follow the workflow for supplying libraries. (Actually print the shipping slip!)
    1. Pull the item by opening the "Pick From Shelf" list, finding the item with the "Ship physically" process type, clicking 1 next to the "Requests" field, and copying the item's barcode.
    2. Go to Fulfillment > "Resource Sharing": Shipping Items and scan in the item.

Normally, the lending library would complete the process by receiving the item. For the purposes of this training, you will have do that yourself.

In January 2024, you will not have to do step 4 to ship your library's material to SUNY.

  1. In the SUNY sandbox, follow the workflow for receiving libraries and process the loan for the requestor:
    1. Receive the item.
    2. Check out the item to the requestor.
    3. Return the item by scanning it in as usual. Make sure "Automatically print slip" is set to Yes.

Repeat this entire section as many times as necessary for you to get the hang of the workflow.

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Appendix

Sandbox Environments

CUNY

The City College of New York

Queens College

SUNY

SUNY Brockport

SUNY New Paltz

University at Buffalo

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Borrowing Request Statuses

To check on the status of your patrons' borrowing requests in Alma, go to Fulfillment > "Resource Sharing": Borrowing Requests. You can click 🔄 (Refresh) until you see the request's status change.

When you first open the "Borrowing Requests" page, you will only see the active requests. To view additional requests, click Facets (just to the right of the main menu on the left) and click Active ⓧ next to "Activity Status."

A successful borrowing request will cycle through the statuses in this order:

  1. Locate in process
  2. Request sent to partner (with selected partner's name above the status)
  3. Physically received by library
  4. Loaned item to patron
  5. Returned by patron
  6. Returned item to partner
  7. Request Completed

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Lending Request Statuses

To check on your items requested by libraries outside of CUNY, go to Fulfillment > "Resource Sharing": Lending Requests. You can click 🔄 (Refresh) until you see the request's status change.

When you first open the "Lending Requests" page, you will only see the active requests. To view additional requests, click Facets (just to the right of the main menu on the left) and click Active ⓧ next to "Activity Status."

A successful lending request will cycle through the statuses in this order:

  1. Being processed
  2. Shipped Physically
  3. Received by partner
  4. Returned by partner
  5. Request Completed

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Answered By:
Alevtina Verbovetskaya
Last Updated:
2024-01-24
Views:
200
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