ComCat Help

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ComCat Handouts and Slide Shows
ComCat Reminders and Best Practices
Contact
Passwords
Shipping Resources
Status Queues
Too Long Report Instructions
Troubleshooting ComCat

Status Queues

  1. Awaiting approvals: Requests in this category are here because of a patron note.  If the patron note is relevant (e.g.  Want volume 2 only), copy it into the Borrower’s Notes field.  Patron notes are not visible to the Lending Library.  If the patron note is not relevant (e.g. Thank you), leave it.  After evaluating the note, click on the Awaiting Approval drop down menu and select the appropriate action, usually Approved – Send.
  2. Lost: Do not use this status. If an item is truly lost and the lending library sends you an invoice for it, please forward electronic invoices to shareit@bpl.org and print invoices to the Interlibrary Loan Department.
  3. Not Received: If an item has not been marked Received by 14 days after it was marked as being Shipped it will go into Not Received.
      • If the item has been delivered, mark it Received.
      • If the item has not been delivered, contact the Lending Library, then the Delivery System, to locate the item.  (The Delivery System can be contacted at: delivery@masslibsystem.org)
  4. Renewals: There are no renewalsfor ComCat items.  Please check for the following signs to avoid mistakenly renewing a ComCat item:
      • The item(s) has a bookstrap or sticker indicating it was borrowed through ComCat
      • An error message pops up that says, “This item is NOT available for renewal…Proceed with Check out?”  (Click “No”.)
      • It’s an On The Fly (OTF) item (Says OTF in the call number field)
      • It has a loan period of 28 days.
      • It says 0 renewals available.
      • It has a non-standard bar code number
  5. Retry and Cancelled: ComCat requests in these status categories count against a patron’s active request limit.  While they will change to Expired once the Need By date has passed, patrons may want them off their active request list sooner.  Only staff can change the status, so check your Retry and Cancelled lists regularly.  Retry items can be changed to Approved – Send to try again or Deleted.  Cancelled items should be Deleted.
  6. Returned: Your ComCat lending requests are not complete until you have checked them back into the system. Please check your Returned queue in ComCat on a regular basis. If an item was returned more than one month ago, there is a good chance it got checked back into Polaris without being updated in ComCat.
    It is easy to check an item’s status by opening the Returned queue under the Lender action items. Copy the barcode from the returned ComCat item and paste it into the Polaris item record search box. If the item status is “In,” change the ComCat status to “Check In.” Then remember to click “Submit.” The ComCat request is now complete.Request manager
  7. Will Supply/In Process: If you mark an item as shipped and it shows up in the Will Supply/ In process status queue, check that the item bar code is correct and/or in the free text box in Polaris for messages. If the item bar code is incorrect, correct it and resubmit as shipped.  If there are messages, send the Polaris item record # to shareit@bpl.org. We will remove the notes and let you know so that you may try to change the ComCat request status to Shipped. If this does not solve the problem or there are no notes in the free text box, we will be unable to loan this item through ComCat. Please change the Comcat request status to Will Not Supply. Then check the item back into Polaris and do not reactivate the hold.

Contact

Have another situation or tip? Please let me know and I will add it to the list. Email afaheyflynn@bpl.org

Questions? Email shareit@bpl.org

Patron FAQ

Passwords

BPL staff usernames/passwords by branch (In order to provide the best customer service possible, you may need to log in to other MBLN locations from time to time.)

The first time your location logs in to Commonwealth Catalog use:
Barcode: ill staff
PIN: userpass
You will be prompted to create a new password. If you are a BPL branch that uses floaters, please send this new password to afaheyflynn@bpl.org, so that the floaters are able to process ComCat requests at your location.

Each BPL location has its own username on ILLiad, but the password is the same for all: ill (all lowercase.)