Add, select, and order patron block descriptions

To add a patron block to the Patron Block Descriptions table, then select blocks for branch use, determine their display order, and designate whether they trigger display text in the PAC patron account:

  1. In the Administration Explorer tree view, open the Policy Tables folder for the organization, and select Patron Block Descriptions.

If you open the table at the system or library level, you can add new blocks. If you open the table at the branch level, the table includes controls for selecting and ordering blocks, and specifying which ones should display a message in the PAC patron account.

  1. (System or library level only) To add a new block, follow these steps:
  1. Click btnInsert00502.gif to display the Insert Patron Block Descriptions dialog box.
  2. Type text describing the patron block in the Description box.

Note:
The description can be up to 80 characters long. For best display results, limit your description to fewer than 40 characters.

  1. Click OK on the dialog box.

The Insert Patron Block Descriptions dialog box closes, and the new patron block entry is displayed in the table. The new block is displayed in the table for all organizations. Each branch can decide whether to use the block (set to Yes by default), and determine the order of blocks in lists in staff client dialog boxes and user controls.

  1. (Branch level only) To select or de-select blocks for use by the branch, or to change their Display in PAC status, follow these steps:
  1. Double-click the block that needs the change, or select the block and click ModIcon00503.gif. The Modify Patron Block Descriptions dialog box opens.

dPatrnBlokModify.gif 

  1. Select Yes or No in the Selected box to indicate whether the new block should be selected for use at the branch.
  2. Select Yes or No in the Display in PAC box to change that status.

The Selected box must be set to Yes if you want to set Display in PAC to Yes. That is, a block must be set to display for the patron’s registered branch in the staff client if you also want to display the library-block text in the PAC patron account summary.

Note:
You can set the display text with the PAC profile Patron library assigned and free text block default text (maximum 255 characters). The profile is available at the system, library, and branch levels. The default setting is Library assigned block. The same text is displayed for any library-assigned block you set to display in PAC, and when the patron record has a free text block.

  1. Click OK.

Note:
You can also change the description at the system, library, or branch level. Limit your changes to correcting spelling or using a different choice of words for the same type of patron block.

Important:
If you set a block for address check and/or expiration dates in the past, when the address check term or expiration term is updated in a patron record, the system process that removes the block looks for the exact block text specified in thePatron Block Descriptions table. If the Address Check or Expiration block text is missing or has changed since the block was placed on the patron record, the patron record will still be blocked when one of these dates is in the past, but the block will never be removed by real-time or overnight processing and will need to be manually removed.

  1. (Branch level only) To order the block display, select any block in the table with a status of Yes and click btnUpArrow00504.gif or btnDownArrow00505.gif.

The order of blocks in the table determines their display order in the New Block dialog box when a block is added to a patron record, when blocks are displayed at check out, and when multiple blocks are listed in the Delinquent Patrons Report.

  1. Select File | Save.

Related Information

Delete a table entry - Select the entry and click btnDelete00506.gif. You cannot delete a block description if the block is currently assigned to a patron.