Monitoring Outgoing Requests

You can use the VDX Web Admin. interface to monitor incoming and outgoing requests. To do this you use the ILL Request Search screen. Click on requests in the left hand pane to access this screen. There are a number of searches you can perform to retrieve the requests you want. Note that all searches are restricted to requests where your own location is either the Borrower (Requester) or the Lender (Responder), unless you are operating as a Bureau user.

The Lender (Responder) Location may send messages back to you to confirm that the item has been shipped, not supplied, etc. These cause the Authorisation Status of the request to be updated to: Unread. If a note has been added by the responder, a 'note' icon will be displayed against the request in the hitlist.

Authorisation status = Unread

Tip:You can monitor the progress of requests which are updated automatically by the Lender (Responder) Location by using a search that has Authorisation Status = Unread. This is always limited to requests from your location.

To check whether you are the Requesting Location or the Responding Location:

1. In the hitlistThe format that search results are presented in VDX. This can be a search of external databases for resources, or an internal search for users or locations etc. of requests click details .

2. Scroll down to the end of the request record to the History section.

3. This displays an audit trail. Where this indicates REQUEST then you are the requesting location; where REQUEST- indication is displayed then you are the responding location. 

4. If the lender (responder) has sent back a note, a 'clickable' action will be displayed. Click on this action to display the message in a pop-up window.

If you operate as a Lender (Responder) Location to another organisation, or if you operate an inter-branch loans service, you will also need to monitor for incoming requests on a regular basis, and respond to them accordingly.

Tip: All new requests received for your location are at status In Process.

Performing an Action

Whenever you want to respond to the latest status of a request you perform an action on it. This can send another ILL message to the responding location.

1. In the hitlist of ILL requests, a list of valid Actions is available in a drop down box. (Only valid ILL responses are listed depending on: ILL protocol - Current status - Valid transition states - Possible actions).

2. Click the arrow on the drop down box to choose the action.

3. Click the Action button to obtain the relevant action details screen. The new screen provides relevant fields associated with that Action.

4. Complete the details for e.g. Action:Received and click on the button e.g. Ship to submit the action.

5. A confirmation message shows if the action was successful.

You can perform Actions on ongoing requests to record receipt, to cancel a request etc. Over 30 Actions are provided in VDX. The usual valid Actions for the current state of the request are made available.

Note that a single action can also be performed on several requests simultaneously - Multiple Request Processing.

Reports List

A relevant 'book slip' printout can be obtained from the Request details page. A report outputs data about the current Request such as Standard Received List (for Requests where you are the Borrower). The PDF file containing the request details can then be printed.

The reports available depend on permissions for your user and whether or not this feature is enabled on your system in the Windows Admin Client. To run a report:

1. From the hitlist click the Details link to display full details.
2. From the Reports Available drop down select which report you would like to run.
3. Click the Run button.
4. You can print or save the PDF display.

Other Web Admin Reports are also available.

ILL Statuses (ISO)

From the point when a request is created and sent to a Lender (Responder) location to the point where the request is satisfied, a number of messages may be sent between the requesting location and the Responder(s). According to the last event that occurred, the valid status of the request is displayed. See the statuses listed here, especially from the viewpoint of the requesting location, to determine their meaning. For each stage in the lifecycle of a request there are corresponding ILL Actions and Statuses.

Locking and unlocking Requests

This allows you to assign Requests to yourself or to others for working with later, so that no other VDX user can update them. Unlock allows you to subsequently unlock a Request you had previously assigned. Permissions to allocate requests to yourself and to others is configured in Windows Admin Client.

1. Click the check box next to the item you want to lock.
2. At the top of the page click the Lock button. The drop down displays your user name by default. Alternatively you can allocate the Request to other users in your Location / Bureau displayed in the drop down - if they have User can be allocated Requests permission.
3. VDX states the item was locked successfully.
4. When the results are refreshed, the item appears in red font and a padlock icon displays next to the Title.

To subsequently unlock the Request, click the Unlock button.

Actioning a request successfully will also always automatically unlock a request.

Note: the above feature is particularly useful for Bureau users.

DocFind Requester

This is an automatic process that may be configured at your organisation (check with local policy). Potentially it can remove much of the mundane work of the requesting librarian by validating the request before transmission, and automatically compiling a list of potential suppliers for the rota. This is based on items located via Z39.50 searching, library groupings and other Borrower (Requester)-defined filtering and sorting rules.

The holdings records of the remote supplier databases are checked, and if the requested item is located, the supplier location is added to the rota. All this is configured in the Windows Admin. Client.

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