New Features: Version 17 - 18

New features in Acquisition Serials Module:

1. *Invoice printing permissions:*
   Ability to print invoice with line items.
   
   
2. *Arrival Form:*
   The arrival function has been enhanced with an option for a pop-up message to appear if any of the arrived items has been requested. If this option is activated, the pop-up message will appear whenever arrivals are registered, whether when creating arrivals or when invoicing the order. In addition, when the arrival form is printed, a message indicating that the arrived items are requested will be included in the form. This will be done via version check once we have completed the service pack update. TTo activate it now, you can set ArrivalMessages=Y at explore/AL500_18.01.LIVE/ACQ/TAB/ACQ.INI. Please note that the path may vary depending on how the Aleph client is installed locally.
   
   
3. *Vendor Fields*:
   A new field, Mail Attachment, has been added to Vendor Tab 3. Vendor Info3. This field defines how vendors receive e-mail messages. The following options are available:
   H - Attachment Only
   P – E-mail Body Only
   B- Attachment and E-mail Body
   
   
4. *ISBN Validity Check:*
   We have this capability before the version 18 implementation. However, it is included as a new feature in 18: 13-digit ISBN is now supported by ALEPH. The 13-digit ISBN always begins with "978", followed by the core 9-digit number and a recalculated check digit. Both 10-digit ISBNs and 13-digit ISBNs are considered valid. The ISBN validity check routine is capable of validating both types.
   
   Example:
   10-digit ISBN: 091661736X
   13-digit ISBN: 9780916617363

New features in Circulation Module:

1. *Automatic removal of Process Status:* ( ITD/RSTG are working on it)
   The system may be configured to remove specific process statuses automatically when the item is circulated by its barcode. This is useful if the process status has been placed to signify that the item is lost, missing or otherwise removed from the library's stack. The item being circulated by its barcode should therefore trigger removing such a process status.
   
   Any of the process statuses that are listed in this variable will be removed if the following applies:
   
   Item is loaned or returned.
   Item information is changed in the Circulation GUI.
   Item is requested by using its barcode.
   Item is renewed by its barcode.
   
   
2. *Library Open hours Management Interface:* (under testing)
   The Circulation client in version 18.01 includes an easy-to-use interface for updating the library open hours table (tab17). The Library Open Hours Management Interface is designed to enable circulation staff to view and update the library's opening hours' schedule without requiring the assistance of the system librarian. The interface is password-protected.
   
   The interface has been added as the Open Hours node in the Circulation GUIs Loan tab.
   
   In principle, the interface operates at the level of a sublibrary or remote depository unless all sublibraries have been defined as belonging to the same group. In this case, the interface operates at the level of the ADM library. The sublibrary or remote depository is selected by the staff user from a drop-down menu. If the same schedule is shared by other sublibraries (that is, they belong to the same group as defined in tab_sub_library by the system librarian) a warning will be issued prior to any update of the schedule. In that case, the operator must have update privileges for all of the sublibraries whose schedule is shared.
   
   Once a sublibrary has been selected, and depending on the user's privileges, the user can view and update two forms of information regarding the library's opening hours ' a weekly schedule and the exceptions schedule. If changes are made, clicking the Apply command saves the changes on the server's tables. Please refer to the online Help for more information.
   
   Note that tab17 has an additional column for a comment which can be added using the new interface. If you have added comments by prefixing them with an exclamation mark to your tab17 table, you should move them to the new column before you start to use the interface. All comments that have been added with an exclamation mark will be deleted when the table is updated using the GUI-based interface.
   
   Also note that if you want every sublibrary to manage its own open hours using the new interface and currently your sublibraries belong to a group, you can define every sublibrary as a separate group in col. 8 of tab_sub_library using the code of the sublibrary. You should also duplicate the relevant section of tab17 per sublibrary so they do not need to start from scratch.
   
   
3. *Printing a Patron's Renew List:* (implemented)
   An option to print a patron's renew list has been added to the list of letters that are printable when Letter is clicked in the patron global information tab. The renew list is a list of all of the patron's loans, and an indication of whether they have been renewed or not. This report is similar to the report that is printed at the end of the Renew All process.
   
   
4. *Return Receipt:* (ITD is working on it)
   The return receipt can now also include fields from the Z36H record of the returned loaned. The return-receipt.xsl file can therefore be edited to display information tags from the item historical circulation table.
   
   
5. *Sound:* (Local implementation)
   It is now possible to define up to 100 different sounds for Circulation functions.
   
   
6. *Printing Utility:* (under testing)
   A new printing utility has been added to ALEPH with improved handling of printing redirection.

New features in the OPAC:

1. *Renew All/Renew Selected*
   Renew All (available in "my account") enables the patron to renew all items that he has on loan. If some items have not been renewed, he will receive a report of the items which were not renewed followed by the items which were renewed so that the total number of items (not renewed and renewed) will be the number of all the items loaned by the patron. Information explaining why a certain item was not renewed appears in the Reason for non-renewal column.
   
   A patron may want to renew several loans only. To do this, he needs to select the check boxes of the items to be renewed and click Renew Selected. If some items have not been renewed, he will receive a report of items which were not renewed followed by a report listing the items which were renewed. The total number of items (not renewed and renewed) appearing in the report will be all of the items selected for being renewed.
   
   Sometimes, items are not renewed for the whole renewal period. If an item has been renewed, but not for the whole period, a message appears in the "Due Date" column of the renewed items section, stating: Renewal for the full loan period is not possible. New due date has been set to dd/mm/yy. The message will not specify why the item was not renewed for the entire period.
   
   
2. *SDI*
   A patron can set up an SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information) request from the current Results List and Previous Searches screens. The SDI function is designed to alert patrons to recently added or updated records in their specified area of interest. This is particularly important for researchers and scholars for whom access to the latest information is essential (for example, medical or legal updates). The SDI function can be tailored to fit the interest profile of a specific individual or group.
   
   The SDI mechanism enables sending notification about new publications on a specific field as well as new journal issues that arrive at the library.
   
   An SDI request defines a search query, a sublibrary to search (a patron may also set his SDI request regardless of location), a list of bases to search, a frequency with which the SDI query will be run, expiry date for the SDI request, the suspend period, and the character set. When the library activates a special service, the system runs the query and retrieves records that have been added to the database since the last time the query was run. The resulting set is sent by e-mail to the patron. The format of the records is defined in the patron's SDI profile.
   
   A patron must have SDI permission in his profile in order to be able to create SDI requests.
   
   

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