Troubleshooting Problems With A Request

There are various reasons why Horizon/ValleyCat will not allow a customer to request an item. Many times the message the software returns when it encounters a problem is not clear. Here's a list of reasons why the request did not go through and the resulting message to help you troubleshoot the issue.

1. Customer already has the title requested. The following message appears: "Unable to place request. You have the maximum number of requests allowed for this title".


2. Borrower type of the customer does not allow requests (i.e. btype=FSURF). The following message appears: "This title is not available for requests".

3. Itype of the item does not allow requests. Examples include if a child/teen btype tries to request an R-rated movie (itype=fvir). Or the customer tries to request a reference item (itype=fre). The following message appears: "Your request cannot be filled because no requestable items exist for this title".

4. Status of the item does not allow requests. An item cannot be requested if it has a status of damaged, librarian review, lost, missing, relocation in progress, trace, weeded or withdrawn. The following message appears: "This title is not available for requests".

Request Problem: Single Disk DVD on a Multi-Disk DVD Record

It is FCPL's practice on multi-disk DVD items to keep all the disks together as a one unit in a single case. These sets are linked to a title/bib record that reflects this. For example, see bib# 1965885 - Glee. Season 1, volume 1, Road to sectionals [DVD]. There are 4 disks in the set. If a customer places a request on this bib record and it is filled by a FCPL copy, they will get all 4 disks at one time. That is what they expect to happen.

However some SJVLS members split up these DVD sets into single-disk cases then link them to the same title/bib# that contains multi-disk items. This can cause problems for the customer. The request could be filled by one of the single-disk items instead of the entire set. So the customer expects to get disks 1-4 and only receives disk 2.

Some jurisdictions are making efforts to correct this problem. However at this point in time, it is still possible one of your customers could be surprised and disappointed when their request arrives with only a single disk instead of the entire series. In the short term, you can help your customer by placing another request for them through Horizon. Either locate another title/bib record that contains only multi-disk items or place an item specific request on a multi-disk item. In the long term, we will continue to work with other SJVLS members to reduce or eliminate the instances where this is occurring.

Since this is a known issue that is being resolved at the cataloging level, there is no need to place a note in Horizon or on the single-disk itself telling the other jurisdiction to fix it. Branch staff receiving the note do not usually have the ability/authority to make the change. These records are being identified in other ways.