NCIP AcceptItem message
When loaning an item to your own patron, Relais uses the NCIP AcceptItem message to communicate with your library system. AcceptItem allows Relais to tell your local library system to create a brief bibliographic record, an item record, and to place a hold on the item you are loaning to your patron.
AcceptItem sends five key pieces of information:
- Title
- Author
- Patron barcode of the requesting patron
- Item barcode (as entered via Loan Document)
- Pickup location code (only if Delivery Method=Pickup)
When the brief bibliographic and item records are successfully created and a hold placed on the material in the local library system the following occurs:
- The item barcode is returned to Relais
- Relais updates the loan tracking information for the request with this information
-
Your local library system generates and sends a hold pickup notice for your patron the next time these notices are set to run in your local system
Caution: If the Delivery Method for the request is 'Pickup', the item must be checked in / discharged in the local library system to trigger the hold pickup notice. If the item is checked in / discharged in a location other than the pickup location, your local library system may set the item 'In Transit' to the pickup location. Upon arrival at the pickup location, staff must check in / discharge the item again to trigger the hold pickup notice. This ensures that the hold notice is only generated when the item is truly available for pickup.
If an error is encountered, the error message is communicated back to staff. Common errors include:
- Unknown User
- User Blocked
- Cannot Accept Item
- Patron Record is Busy
| Error | Definition | Action to take |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown User | The patron id cannot be found in the local library system to place the hold on the item. | Ensure that the active patron id exists in the alt_patron_id field of the patron record. Sometimes a patron's id can change in between the time they place a request and the time the material arrives and is loaned to them. |
| User Blocked | The patron record has a block against it that is preventing the hold from being placed. The block could be due to max fines, max overdues, or a max holds threshold, etc. that has been exceeded. | Adjust thresholds or reduce fines/overdues/holds to reinstate hold placement privileges. |
| Cannot Accept Item | This catch-all error indicates that the transaction could not be completed. One common issue that occurs is the brief bibliographic record can not be created because the title and/or author for the request contains diacritics and your local system may not be able to handle saving them to your local database. | Check the title and author of the request through Query Requests to see if there are any diacritics in them. Use Edit Request to remove the diacritic characters and retry loaning the item again. |
| Patron Record is Busy | This error is specific to the Innovative Interfaces Millennium system. The error indicates that the patron record is in use by another process in Millennium and cannot be released. | Check Millennium to see what process is locking the patron record and release it if possible, otherwise, wait until the patron record is unlocked and try again. |