Skip to main content
OCLC Support

Request Forms

Use the Patron Request Workforms screen in OCLC Service Configuration to customize your patron request forms. Patrons can use the patron request forms to request interlibrary loans.

Use the Request Forms screen in OCLC Service Configuration to customize your patron request forms. Patrons can use the patron request forms to request interlibrary loans.

WorldShare ILL Request Form

Use the WorldShare ILL Request form to configure and customize elements of the form for your library users and provide access from any discovery services and request any item via WorldShare ILL. Requests submitted via the form can be automatically routed to the automated request manager

This single form is used for all ILL requests, but the system will preselect the Service Type (Loan or Copy) based on the type of request (e.g., book, article). Refer to Configure OpenURL, OpenURL parameter mapping.

WorldShare Management Services (WMS) libraries have Identity management (IDM) set up for authentication in using this form. For libraries that do not use WMS, IP authentication is recommended. Refer to:

When you have familiarized yourself with the sections of the form, see Customize the patron request form for instructions on customizing your request forms.

 Note: For an explanation of each available field, please see Request Form fields.

Screenshot of fields on the patron request workform in WorldShare Interlibrary Loan with numbering representing different areas of the form
 

1. Preview
Once you have configured the form, you can preview how it will appear to patrons. To preview the form, click Preview.
2. Display Name
3. In Use
4. URL
5. Section Header
6. Remove a Section
7. Move a section
8. Field
9. Input Type
The Input Type displays how the patron inputs information into the field. Input type is fixed for each field.
10. Field Labels
11. Field Values
Field Values can be used to enter default text or options that will appear on the form to the patron. For example, you may enter a value for Patron Max cost to let patrons know the maximum amount charged for any item. If the Input Type is dropdown, you can select the default selection from the list, or depending on the field, you can enter your own values to appear in the dropdown. If the Input Type is textentry, you can enter default text in the field.
12. Options
13. Remove (delete) a field
14. Add a field to display on this Section
15. Add a Patron Section
16. Add a Bibliographic Section
17. Reset to Standard Form
18. Save and Cancel

 Note: You will need to substitute your institution's registry ID to customize the direct links. If you have customized your patron request form names, the direct link name will not reflect those changes.

Find your Registry ID:

  • Sign in to OCLC Service Configuration
  • Navigate to the WorldCat Registry > Identifiers
  • Find the Identifier Type WorldCat Registry ID and the associated number

WorldShare ILL Request form configuration

Follow the instructions below to configure and provide links to your patron request forms. For an explanation of each available field, see Request Form fields.

Some points to keep in mind when configuring your form:

  • Use the definitions in Bibliographic section fields and Patron Section Fields to create a draft of your form.
  • Only the Note to Patron field can be reused on a form. All other fields can only be used once.
  • Fields can be grouped into sections under a labeled Section Header to organize the information on the form.
  • Sections can be moved up or down at any time by clicking the arrows in the upper right corner of each section.
  • Fields can be reordered by removing and adding them in the order that you would like them to appear on your form.
  • You can preview your form before you save it to confirm that it will appear to your patrons as you expect.
  • Any updates you make to the patron request form will not take effect immediately. Changes will usually appear on the form within 2-3 minutes.

Before you begin: WorldCat Discovery libraries only

Enable OpenURL in WorldCat Discovery or WorldCat Local:

For more information, see Configure OpenURL.

  1. Navigate to the WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > Place Hold/Request Buttons module of the OCLC Service Configuration.
  2. Locate the Resource Sharing (Any Level) section.
  3. Configure the fields below:
    • Resource Sharing Button Label: enter the text to appear on the WorldShare ILL request button in WorldCat Discovery
      • For best display, keep this label under 40 characters.
    • Type of button configuration: select OpenURL 1.0
    • Choose an OpenURL Resolver from the OpenURL Resolvers you have already registered with OCLC: select the WorldShare ILL OpenURL resolver previously configured.
  4. Under the For items owned by WorldCat Libraries section, determine which item types should display the OpenURL request button in WorldCat Discovery.
    • If you do not want patrons to be able to place an ILL request for a particular item type, select None.
  5. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.

Customize the patron request forms

If this is your first time customizing the patron request forms, the forms will contain default fields. Forms can be customized to include parameters and information relevant to your library. 

 Note: For an explanation of each available field, please see Request Form fields.

To customize your patron request forms:

  1. In Service Configuration, on the left navigation, click WorldShare ILL > Request Forms.
  2. Click the WorldShare ILL Request Form accordion.
  3. If this is your first time customizing the form, you will see the default form.
  4. Edit the Section Header or use the default text.
  5. Under Field, click the field list to select a field.
    • Input type is fixed for each field and will change depending on the field you select.
  6. Optional. Rename the field by entering a new Field Label.
    • Use the field label to provide patrons with a description of the information you would like them to enter.
    • For example, Patron Max cost could be relabeled Max cost I am willing to pay.
    • Field labels are limited to 30 characters.
  7. Determine whether you would like to apply any of the Options to the field.
    1. Select the required or editable check box to turn the options on.
    2. Deselect the check boxes to turn the options off.
  8. Optional. To remove the field, click the remove icon (remove-sc.png) at the end of the field line.
    • You will not be asked to confirm the removal of a field. Before clicking the icon, make sure you want the field to be removed.
  9. To add another field, click Add a field to display on this Section.
  10. Continue adding and editing the fields you want to include until you are satisfied with that section of the form.
    • At any time, you can click Preview at the top of the form to view the form as a patron will see it.
  11. To add another section, click Add a Patron Section or Add a Bibliographic Section (fields will differ depending on the section you select).
  12. Repeat steps 4-11 until you are satisfied with the sections and fields within each.
  13. Click Preview to confirm that the forms looks as you expect.
  14. Click Save you save your customizations to the form. Patrons will not be able to see the changes you have made to the form until you save it.
  15. Repeat steps 2-14 for any additional forms you want to configure.
  16. Continue to Step 2: Provide links to your patron request forms for information on providing links to the forms.

 Note: At any time, you can click Reset to Standard Form at the bottom left of the form to return to the default (non-customized) version of the form.

Confirm and track acceptance of local copyright terms by adding the Copyright Acknowledged and Copyright Declaration fields to your request form.

Libraries in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom require a copyright acknowledgement to track acceptance of local copyright terms. 

Screenshot of copyright compliance and acceptance options with highlighted checkboxes “required” and “editable” applicable to non-US libraries

  1. Click Add a Patron Section.  Enter a Section Header title.  
  2. In the new Patron Section, click Add a field to display on this Section.
  3. Select Copyright Declaration and enter your Copyright terms.
  4. Click Add a field to display on this Section.
  5. Select Copyright Acknowledgement.
  6. Click Preview to confirm that the form looks as you expect.
  7. Click Save to save customizations to the form.

Links and basic HTML formatting can be included in selected fields within Request Forms, making it easier to communicate information to users within the forms. 

The below fields allow basic HTML formatting:

  • Section Header
  • Copyright Declaration
  • Notes
  • Note to Patron

The allowed formatting tags are:

  • Link tag: <a></a>
  • Bold tag: <b></b>
  • Italic tag: <i></i>
  • Underline tag: <u></u>
  • Paragraph tag: <p></p>

 Note: Any other HTML or JavaScript codes will be stripped and will not display on the form.

Automatically populate Patron Type on Request Forms

The value of illPatronType from the patron record will automatically populate in the Status field on Request Forms. Patron Status will then automatically apply on ILL requests and in Usage Statistics.

Values from the Status field are available in OCLC Usage Statistics.

 Note: If your library uses WMS Circulation, the value from the Interlibrary Loan Patron Type section of the patron record will be used and not the borrower Category.  Be sure to supply values in the illPatronType field of the patron load that reflect meaningful categories for statistics related to Interlibrary Loan. See Patron data files for more information about patron loads.

  1. In the Patron Section, click Add a field to display on this Section.
  2. Select Status.
  3. Select the Field Values drop-down.
  4. Enter all of the values in use for illPatronType for your institution.  
    • Matching is not case sensitive.
    • illPatronType values for each patron are typically included as part of the patron load. See Patron data files for more information. For libraries who manually create and/or update patron records in the staff interface, the value set as illPatronType in the patron record will be used here.
  5. Optional.  Edit the Field Label for Status to be more descriptive to your users.
  6. Click Preview to confirm that the form looks as you expect.
  7. Click Save to save customizations to the form.

The value from the patron record for Patron Type will automatically populate the Status field if a match is found between the value in the patron record and the values configured in the field values drop-down.

 Note: If a patron has a Patron Type that has not been added in the Field Values for Status on the Patron Request Workflows, no value will automatically populate in the request.  The patron will need to select an option from the configured values.

Configure Pickup Location on Request Form

The request form can be configured to provide patrons with pickup locations, which allows you to easily identify where to send an item for patron pickup if you have multiple branches.

 Note:  If a Home Branch and/or Pickup Location value is defined within a patron’s record in the WorldShare Admin module, that value will override the default pickup location that has been defined in the WorldShare ILL request form within OCLC Service Configuration.

  1. On the left navigation, click WorldShare ILL > Request Forms.
  2. Open the form (i.e., Book Request Form) that should have the Pickup Location field.
  3. Add the Pickup Location.
  4. Set the Pickup Location field as required/not required based on the desired behavior.
    1. Click click to view/edit field values
    2. Select the desired pickup locations you would like to include on the request form.
      • If no active locations are available, No selection is automatically selected. 
    3. Set the desired default location. A default pickup location is required.
    4. To add or edit locations, see ILS Locations within the Circulation Integration module. 
    5. Click Save.
  5. Click Save to complete the Pickup Location setup.
     Note: Be sure to save the form to save changes to the Pickup Location. Click Preview to see how the drop-down list will appear to patrons using the form.
  6. Repeat steps 5-8 for each form that has a Pickup Location.

Provide your patrons with a link to the WorldShare ILL Request Form using OpenURL. Refer to Configure OpenURL for more information.

OpenURL

An OpenURL can be used to configure your library's discovery interfaces to send OpenURLs to the request forms for items that your patrons want to borrow. OpenURLs take the bibliographic information from the discovery interface and insert it into the appropriate patron request form.

Use the following base URL in the configuration modules of your discovery interfaces and replace xxxxxx with your library's WorldCat Registry ID (Find your Registry ID):

https://yourregistryid.account.worldcat.org/account/route/wsill/openurl?

  • If your library uses EZproxy, prepend the EZproxy information:  https://yourezproxybaseurl/login?url=https://yourregistryid.account.worldcat.oclc.org/account/route/wsill/openurl?

If the discovery interface requires you to configure custom linking syntax, see Configure Custom OpenURL Links.

Request Form fields

Bibliographic Section Fields

The Bibliographic Section contains fields that patron can use to describe the item they are requesting.

These are all the fields available in the Bibliographic Section:

Field Description
Article title/Chapter title Name of the article or chapter
Article author Author of the article
Author Author of the item
Date Publication date of the item
DOI Digital object identifier
Edition (text) Edition of the item
Format Format of the item
ISBN International Standard Book Number (ten or thirteen-digit number)
ISSN International Standard Serial Number (eight-digit number)
Issue Issue of the article
OCLC# OCLC Number, a unique identifier assigned to WorldCat records
Page Numbers Page numbers of the article or chapter
Place of Publication Item's place of publication
PMID PubMed identifier
Publisher Publisher of the item
Title/Journal Title Title of the item [e.g., book or journal (if it is an article request)]
Where did you learn about this item Allows the patron to enter information about where they found the item (e.g., catalog, Google Scholar, etc.)
Volume Volume of the item

Patron Section Fields

The Patron Section contains fields that the patron can use to describe themselves or the item they are requesting.

These are all the fields that are available in the Patron Section:

Field Description

Address 1

Patron's street address

Address 2

Other address information, such as Apartment, Suite, etc.

City

Patron's city

Copyright Acknowledged

Patron acknowledges the copyright terms set by the institution.  The patron must acknowledge the copyright terms on the patron request work form to submit copy requests. 

 Note: This setting is for libraries in Australia, the U.K., Spain, and New Zealand. See Add copyright compliance and acceptance for non-US Libraries for more information.

Copyright Declaration

Declaration of copyright terms to the patron.  Links and basic HTML formatting can be included in the Copyright Declaration as well. See Include links and formatting.

 Note: This setting is for libraries in Australia, the U.K., Spain and New Zealand. See Add copyright compliance and acceptance for non-US Libraries for more information.

Country

Patron's country. Select your country from the list to make it the default setting or, to pre-populate Request Forms with the country as entered in the patron record, see Tab-delimited patron data loading.

Department

This field can be customized to allow patrons to select a department they are associated with from a customized list.

  • Note: Be consistent when entering the department names.

Examples:

  • Department of Chemistry, Department of English, Department of History, etc.
  • ChemDept, EngDept, HistDept, etc.
  • Chemistry, English, History, etc.

Edition

Allows the patron to select the preferred edition of the requested item from a list (Any, Recent, This).

Email

Patron's email address

Fax

Patron's fax number

First Name

Patron's first name

Last Name

Patron's last name

Need by Date

Allows the patron to enter the date by which the item is needed (in YYYYMMDD format)

This field appears in the Notes field of the Patron section in the borrowing request.

Note to Patron

Enter additional information or provide directions to patrons. When displayed to the patron, the field will not begin with the Note to Patron field label. This field can be reused throughout the form.

Links and basic HTML formatting can be included in the Note to Patron field. See Include links and formatting.

Examples:

  • Using the dropdown below, select which edition of the item you would prefer to receive. (Placed above the Edition field)
  • In the box below, provide any additional information about this request. (Placed above the Notes field)

Notes

Provides the patron with a free text field to enter any relevant information about themselves or their request. This field cannot be reused.  The borrowing library can use this field to enter relevant information as well.

Entered via the Comments field in the form. The borrowing library can access the Notes field in the Patron section of the borrowing request.

Links and basic HTML formatting can be included in the Notes field. See Include links and formatting.

Character limit: 500

If the Patron Max cost and Need by Date are included on the Request Form, any information added to these fields are included in the Notes field and are included in the 500 character limit.  

Examples of potential patron entries:

  • Maximum cost $5.00
  • Can pick up from East Branch on Tuesdays.

Patron ID

Allows the patron to enter an identification number (library card, student or faculty id, etc.) in a free text field.

If you have enabled WorldShare ILL and WorldShare Circulation integration, you must include this field on the Request Form and select Required.   Please see Set up integration for more information.  

The barcode field in the Patron data load maps to the Patron ID field in the Patron request form.

Patron Max cost

If your library charges patrons for certain types of ILL requests, this field allows you to ask patrons to provide information about the maximum amount (in US dollars) that they are willing to pay for a particular item. If it is used, the label could be changed to provide patrons with clearer instructions about what information to enter, or a Note to Patron could be added to explain the meaning of this field.

This field appears in the Notes field of the Patron section in the borrowing request.

Examples:

  • Max cost I am willing to pay
  • Enter the maximum amount that you would be willing to pay for this item if it cannot be obtained for free. (Note to Patron)

Please see Maximum Cost for information about setting the institution's maximum cost.

Phone

Patron's phone number. 

Pickup Location (Maximum 400 branches)

Allows the patron to select a preferred pickup location from a customized list. 

The request form can be configured to provide patrons with pickup locations, which allows you to easily identify where to send an item for patron pickup if you have multiple branches.

  • See Configure Pickup Location on Request Forms for more information about configuring your institution's Registry branches
  • The illPickupLocation field in the Patron data load maps to the Pickup Location field in the Patron request form.

Postal Code

Patron's postal code (e.g., zip code)

Service Type

Allows the patron to select the type of service being requested from the two options in the list (Book/Media-Loan and Article - copy)

State/Province

Allows the patron to enter their state. Select your state or province from the list to make it the default setting. Values are available to the United States, Canada, and Australia. A country must be selected if State/Province is included on the form or, to pre-populate Request Forms with the state/province as entered in the patron record, see Tab-delimited patron data loading

Status

Patron's status (within the library, company, school, etc.), selected from a list of customized statuses.

  • Enter the values one per line.
  • The first value will be the default value.  If you do not want a value to be selected by default, leave the first line blank.
  • To pre-populate Request Forms with the patron's status as entered in the patron record, see Tab-delimited patron data loading.
    • The illPatronType field in the Patron data load maps to the Status field in the Patron request form.

Patron form field population 

When a library user is signed in, the user account will be linked to the request automatically. If they are signed in, some patron data is automatically populated into the form.

Auto-populated fields include:

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Patron ID
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Address 1
  • Address 2
  • City
  • State/Province
  • Postal Code
  • Status

Other fields, although they may be present in the patron record, will not auto-populate in the form. These include:

  • Pickup Location
  • Department

Keep in mind that you can label fields so that they are more meaningful to your patrons.

An OpenURL can be used to configure your library's discovery interfaces to send OpenURLs to the request forms for items that your patrons want to borrow. OpenURLs take the bibliographic information from the discovery interface and insert it into the appropriate patron request form.

Use the following base URL in the configuration modules of your discovery interfaces and replace xxxxxx with your library's WorldCat registry ID (Find your registry ID):

https://yourregistryid.account.worldcat.org/account/route/wsill/openurl?

Here's an example of OpenURL 1.0 syntax:

  • https://xxxxxx.account.worldcat.org/account/route/wsill/openurl?rfr_id=<?rfr_id?>&genre=<?rft.genre?>&jtitle=<?rft.jtitle?>&rft.atitle=<?rft.atitle?>&rft.volume=<?rft.voume?>&rft.issue=<?rft.issue?>&rft.date=<?rft.date?>&rft.pages=<?rft.pages?>&rft.issn=<?rft.issn?>&rft.au=<?rft.au?>&rft_id=info:oclcnum/<?oclcnum?>
Form field name OpenURL 0.1 OpenURL 1.0 (Z39.88-2004)
Article Title/Chapter Title atitle rft.atitle
Author/Article Author

aufirst

auinit

auinit1

auinitm

aulast

rft.aufirst

rft.auinit

rft.auinit1

rft.auinitm

rft.aulast

rft.ausuffix

rft.au

rft.aucorp

Date date rft.date
DOI id=doi: N/A
Edition (text) edition rft.edition

Format

genre rft.genre
ISBN isbn rft.isbn
ISSN issn rft.issn
Issue issue rft.issue
OCLC# N/A

rft.oclcnum

rft_id=info.oclcnum/

Page Numbers

pages

spage

epage

rft.pages

rft.spage

rft.epage

Place of Publication N/A rft.place
PMID id=pmid: N/A
Publisher N/A rft.pub
Title/Journal Title

stitle

title

rft.jtitle

rft.btitle

rft.stitle

rft.title

Where did you learn about this item?* sid rfr_id
Volume volume rft.volume

*The value of sid/rfr_id will not display to the user in the form.  This data is stored and will be visible to library staff in the request Verification field in WorldShare ILL.  If the user enters a value in the Where did you learn about this item? field, this data will also be visible to staff in the Verification field.

Customize the request form display

You can customize the look of the request form by navigating to the WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > User Interface Options in the OCLC Service Configuration. Use this screen to update your banner and custom links.

 Caution:  Altering these settings will change the appearance across your WorldCat Discovery interface. See User Interface Options for additional WorldCat Discovery configuration options.

Request form custom colors

Request form custom colors are controlled by the below settings:

Setting Option Recommendations
Header and footer color
  • Header and footer

For header and footer, select a light color that best reflects your institution's main brand color.

Navigational bar color
  • Navigational bar    
    • If a Navigational bar color has not been previously set, the default color 545454 (dark gray) is used.

Based on the color selections, the text on the navigation bar will be either white or black. 

  • To test the white or black text:
    • In Service Configuration, select the new color and Save. On the request form page, refresh the browser to apply the new color.
      • Pick a slightly darker color to change the text from black to white.
      • Pick a slightly lighter color to change the text from white to black.

Logo Settings

Field Action
Logo image URL

If your WorldCat.org currently does not have a logo image, or if you would like to replace the current logo image, provide a URL to an image of your institution’s logo. The logo image cannot exceed 80 pixels in height and 275 pixels in width. Match the background color of this image to your logo background color to mimic a screen-width banner.

 Note: Images larger than this will automatically be resized.

For the best user experience, we recommend configuring a secure image (beginning with "https://”). If the logo image uses “http://” but your user is accessing your customized URL via a secured URL, the logo image will not display in the header. In this case, users will see your text from the Alt-text for the logo field in place of the logo image.

After adding your logo, click test URL to confirm your choice.

Home page URL Type the URL for the page where the user is sent when they click the logo image.
Logo alternative text

Type text that will appear when the cursor hovers over the logo.

 Note: Make sure that the colors used for Alt-text for the logo and Text to appear with logo are descriptive, and the colors are a good combination with the banner color.

Choose up to 7 custom links to appear in the Resources menu. Provide the URLs, link type and accompanying text for up to 7 custom web links (e.g., links leading to your library home page, Ask a Librarian, or My Account).

There is a 25 character limit on the text for each link.

 Note: If you wish to allow remote access outside your IP address, one of your custom links must be to your remote access page, and you must choose remote access login as the link type.

Custom link How to configure
Custom link: Proxy

Create this link if you have a proxy service that allows off-site users outside your IP address to access restricted library content and services.

Use Custom link 3 to configure the remote access login custom link.

  • Link type:Select remote access login
  • URL:Enter your library's proxy URL. Use this format if your library uses EZproxy: http://ezproxy.oclc.org/login?url=
    You might need to check Append current URL to the end of this link
  • Display text: Create a custom text label of your choice

When a resource is selected that requires remote authentication, library users will see a box that says Authentication Required and includes a link to sign in.

For more information, see EZproxy documentation. If your library's authentication is managed through a service other than EZproxy, you will want to confirm the URL format with the proxy vendor.

Custom link: other URL

Create this link for other resources you would like to provide to library users, for example, your virtual reference service.

  • Link type: Select other
  • URL: Enter <URL for the resource>
  • Display text: <descriptive text>

Add a custom notification

Configure a custom message to display to your library users in WorldCat Discovery and in My Account to notify them of important information.

See Display Settings, Custom Notification for more information.

Screenshot of a custom message displayed to your library users in WorldCat Discovery and in My Account.

​Choose a label for the Resources tab

Configure the label for the Resources menu in the navigation bar and footer. Retain the default label of Resources or enter a custom label appropriate for your users.

To configure a custom label:

  1. Enable the Use custom text setting. If not, the default text of Resources will display.
  2. Enter the Display Text.
    • 35 character limit.
  3. Optional. Add Translation for the Display Text.
    1. Select the desired language from the drop-down.
    2. Add Custom Text to display when the user has selected this language in the WorldCat Discovery, My Account or patron request form interface.
  4. Click Save.

WorldCat Discovery Request Form 

The WorldCat Discovery Request Form should no longer be used. Use the WorldShare ILL Request Form. Contact OCLC Support with any questions.

 

Watch a video

Configure patron-initiated requests in WorldCat Discovery

Run time: 12:08

Learn how to configure patron-initiated ILL request for WorldCat® Discovery to allow your patrons to search and identify items, then initiate requests.