Skip to main content
OCLC Support

WorldShare Acquisitions release notes, June 2025

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF

 

Release Date: June 30, 2025

Introduction

This release of WorldShare Acquisitions provides new features and enhancements in addition to numerous bug fixes. We are pleased to introduce a significant enhancement to the serials management system:

  • Claiming by Branch

This update introduces the ability for users to manage the receiving and claiming of serials specifically tied to individual branches within their organization. This enhancement allows library systems with autonomous branches to manage their own serials workflows independently.

Recommended actions

For this release, we recommend that you review the following checklists and complete the relevant tasks so that you can adjust your policies and workflows and train your staff. These checklists identify updates that we have determined as significant for most institutions. We encourage you to review all of the items in the release notes to determine whether there are other items that might require additional action or follow-up by your institution.

Administrative actions

These items require immediate action or decisions.

Action

We encourage you to review all materials before turning this feature on.  Once enabled, Claiming by Branch cannot be disabled. Therefore, libraries wishing to use this feature must be certain of what is involved before enabling the feature.

Follow-up actions

In an effort to keep your staff informed of new features and changes, you may also want to consider these items.

Action

Review documentation and consider whether Claiming by Branch is appropriate for your library system.

New features and enhancements

Claiming by Branch

You can now configure serials management in WorldShare Acquisitions to allow for branch-based receiving and claiming. Previously, branches could not manage their own serials receiving and claiming. With the Claiming by Branch feature, you can now claim serials issues and manage receiving settings individually if your branch operates autonomously from the parent institution. When enabled, filters will be pre-set based on the branch selected by the user when logging into WMS. The following areas and functionality are affected:

  • The Receive issues screen is pre-filtered by login branch
  • The Missing issues list is pre-filtered by login branch
  • You can only claim issues for one branch at a time
  • You can set up automated jobs to claim for multiple branches

Claiming by Branch is a permanent change in WMS, and it cannot be disabled. Consider enabling Claiming by Branch only if your institution:

  • Has branches that are autonomous/decentralized for the management of serial issues
  • Wants each branch to do their own receiving and claiming
  • Accepts that receiving settings must be reconfigured for each branch and for every serial title currently being received
  • Typically has each user receive and claim for a single branch during each session
  • Has separate order items for each branch

To enable Claiming by Branch

If you are sure that Claiming by Branch works for your institution, please contact OCLC staff for next steps. You can do this by contacting OCLC Support or a member of your Implementation team. The general process is as follows:

  1. Your institution requests enabling the feature or more information about the feature.
  2. Your institution reivews the provided training videos on the feature and confirms that you want to move forward with enabling Claiming by Branch.
  3. OCLC sends your institution a form of acknowledgement to sign and return.
  4. OCLC arranges a specific date with your institution for when the feature will be enabled.
  5. Your institution follows the steps to configure the feature (details below).

To Use the Claiming by Branch Feature

  1. Search for a serial using Discover items in the left navigation menu
  2. From the search results, click the serial's title. The Receive Issues tab is pre-filtered to your default login branch.
  3. Click the Manage Settings tab to configure receiving settings for the copy.

Stop Receiving at the Institution - Note: this is only required if you have previously received issues prior to enabling the Claiming by Branch feature.

  1. In the list of results, locate the receiving setting you would like to adjust. In the Action column, click the ellipses button.
  2. Select Stop Receiving.
  3. On the Stop Receiving dialog window:
    1. Choose the most recently received issue from the Stop Issue drop-down list (ex., v.1 n.1).
    2. Click Save.
  4. The following now displays for the serial on the Manage Settings tab:
    1. The Receiving Status is set to Not Receiving. 
    2. The End Issue is set to the most recently received issue.

Start Receiving Settings at the Branch

  1. Click Start Receiving at a New Branch
    Manage Settings > Start Receiving at a New Branch
  2. On the Start Receiving at a New Branch dialog window:
    1. The value for Branch is automatically set to your default login branch.
    2. From the Shelving Location drop-down menu, select the desired shelving location.
    3. For Copies Expected, enter the number of copies you expect to receive for the serial.
    4. For the Start Issue drop-down menu, select the starting issue (ex., v.1 n.2).
    5. Click Save.
      Start Receiving

      Start Receiving at a New Branch
  3. Click the Receive Issues tab. The serial you configured now displays with the updated information.
    1. The branch is pre-filtered to the user’s branch
      Receive Issues
  4. Click the Receive button in the Action column
    1. (Optional) In the Receive Issues dialog, users can scan or enter a barcode
    2. Check the Received box
    3. Click Save

Note: The Status is an aggregate of all the branch statuses. This means if one branch is receiving issues for a title, the status will indicate Receiving.  For titles received by multiple branches, once the last branch has stopped receiving and received all outstanding issues, the status will return to Not Receiving.

With Claiming by Branch, missing issues are also pre-filtered by the user’s branch.  To view issues missing from other branches, users can adjust the filters to include other branches.  
To view missing issues

  1. In the left navigation, click Serial Issues.
  2. Click Missing Issues. Note that the missing issues list is filtered by your default login branch.
  3. (Optional) To find missing issues for other branches:
    1. Click the Receiving Branch drop-down menu.
      Missing Issues
    2. Select the branch you want to claim issues for.
    3. Click Apply.
  4. (Optional) Use filters to narrow down the missing issue search.
  5. Enter search terms in the text box at the top of the screen and click Search.
  6. Click the checkbox next to the issue you want to claim.
  7. Click Claim.

You can only claim issues for a single branch at a time when manually claiming.

 Visit Claiming by Branch for additional information and workflows.

Support website(s)

Support information for this product and related products can be found at: