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Recall alerts

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Learn how alert notices are used for recalls in OLIB.

►Alerting> Notices

Email or SMS Text alerts can be sent to staff and/or users for a variety of reasons. Alerting is a feature utilised in many areas of OLIB; the following alert notice is relevant to recalls.

Recall sequences (Circulation> Odue/Recall Seqs) determine what recall notices should be sent and when they should be sent, and daystart processes create records in the odue_audit table to indicate that overdues/recalls should be sent.  

The Alerting facility is used to configure the content and format of the recall notices, who they should be sent to, whether they should be CC'd and/or BCC'd, the subject line of the email or the words in the text message.

An Example Recall Notice is included with OLIB. Make a copy of this to create your own notice as required.

Recall notice

  1. Go to Alerting> Notices and create a copy of the Example Recall Notice.
  2. Set the Notice Type to Recall Notice.
  3. Here is an explanation of some fields:
Field Instructions
Location For a manual recall notice it is advisable to set the Location, (for multiple locations, create a notice for each Location). For a recall notice that is part of the automated sequence, set the Location to System Location and the User Category to System Administrator to avoid conflict with manual recall notices.
Notice Text

Change the contents to specify the text and punctuation you wish to include in the email to the users. This is using the same syntax as is used for configurable export formats to define the main body of the email. The OLSTF Tags table indicates which User and Copy tags are available for you to use in the Notice Text field. For example, to include data from a field in the user record, enter the User OLSTF tag surrounded by angle brackets. If you only want the text to be included if the field itself contains data, surround the OLSTF tag and associated text with the appropriate hash tag combination.

Example Recall Notice text supplied with OLIB:

<body><basefont size="3" color="blue" face="Arial"/>The following item, which you currently have on loan, is required by another user. Please return it as soon as possible.<br /><br />Title: <CP_COTI><br />Copy barcode: <CP_BC><br />Due for return on: <CP_RETDATE><br /><br /></body>

This contains HTML tags so that the email is properly formatted. You can copy this notice text and paste it into to your own notice records as required.

If you want recall notices to include item information, you will need to include the #ITEM#...#/ITEM# tags. The example recall notice (OP015) includes these tags.

A set of OLSTF user address tags is used for overdues/recalls notices and letters:

UORADDRESSEE, UORHOUSE, UORSTREET, UORPOBOX, UORDISTRICT, UORCITY, UORREGION, UORCOUNTRY and UORPOSTCODE.

If addresses from the User records are included in the notices/letters, you need to include these tags.
Send Single Email It is possible to send an email with a single attachment to the library containing all the email recalls for users/patrons who do not have email addresses. This will allow the library staff to print the emails out and post them to the users. If this is required, set Send Single Email to Yes.
From Address Set to a valid email address, e.g. a generic address for your library, so that if the user clicks the Reply button, the reply email will be delivered to the appropriate member of staff who deals with user responses to recall notices.
Transmit Type Set to To user's email address sends the email to the email address in the user's record, or if this is empty, to the email address in the To List field. If you do not want to email the user directly set the Transmit Type - To To List. Set To copy's location if you want the email to go to the library location of the copy that is being recalled. This allows the library to print the notice for shelf checking or for posting to the user.
List

Configure the recipients of the email:

To List: used to specify who the notice should be sent to if it is not to be sent to the user.
CC List: enter an email address to which a copy of the notice should be sent.
BCC List: enter an email address to which a blind copy of the notice should be sent.

 Tip: in all three of the above fields, multiple email addresses can be entered. Multiple addresses should be separated with a semi-colon.
Subject Line

Enter the text to be used as the subject line of the notice.

More options for the Subject line of the email

You can include Copies OLSTF tags in the Subject: line of recalls notices. OLIB replaces the tags with the relevant data when the email is sent. For example:

1st Recall for <CP_COTI>, Barcode <CP_BC>
will be output in the Subject: line of the recall as

Subject: 1st Recall for HTML For Dummies, Barcode JC099832

If the email includes several copies, the details from the first copy only will be added to the Subject line. Tip: write the Subject line to reflect the fact that the notice could relate to more than just that item, e.g:

First Recall Notice for <CP_COTI>, Item Barcode <CP_BC>, etc.
Enabled Set to Yes for OLIB to start sending recall notices in daystart, using the above settings. If Enabled is set to No or is null, loan reminder notices will not be sent.
Object

Optionally a recall letter can be generated from an RTF template attached to the notice record and sent as an attachment to the email. In this way, graphics such as the library’s logo, can be included in overdue letters. As with Overdue notices, a new Output format record is required first as described in Send overdue notices as an attachment.

Attach a RTF template, in the Object field. The RTF template will be a standard document with your library’s logo, address, letter text, etc., together with an <ITEMS> tag in the relevant point in the letter, saved as an rtf file. The <ITEMS> tag will be replaced by the details of the recalled items, as defined in the relevant output format record. A model RTF template can be downloaded from the OLIB For Customers web site. Set the Object Type to ASCII text. Ensure that the In Database and Import Now flags are set to Yes before saving the object, so that the rtf template is imported into the database.
Incl. As Attachment? Set to Yes to include as an attachment to the notice.
Output Format Set to the Output format created. For example, the Output format with the description such as Format for the copy details of the recall notice rft file.
SMS Notice Text If this alert is to be sent as a text message instead of, or as well as an email, enter the text.
SMS or Email? In the drop down, select from SMS, Email or Both.