Wishlist: More call number options in Holdings Editor dropdown menu (055, 060)

[Mackenzie Johnson]

Current EG version: 3.8.0

From my understanding, in older versions of Evergreen, the "Call Number Label" field (or its equivalent) in the old Holdings Editor was formatted to include a dropdown menu contained a list of Call Numbers already associated with items listed in Holdings. This feature is not available thus far with the new Holdings Editor, and staff in my unit are hoping to have this functionality restored, as it reduces the risk of error when transposing call numbers since all previously used call numbers are immediately listed.

Edit to update: I misunderstood how the dropdown menu worked in previous versions -- it didn't pull from holdings, but from MARC fields such as 050 and 082. We are still hoping to have this feature restored, and have the source fields expanded so that it pulls from 050, 055, 060, 082, and 090/09x fields.

[Michele Morgan (mmorgan)]

I'm not familiar with a call number label dropdown as a feature in Evergreen. I wonder if this behavior was the browser's Autofill at work?

[Elaine Hardy (ehardy)]

I don't recall this either. As far as I remember, the dropdown box always filed from the 050 or 082 fields and never from the call number records attached to the record.

[Mackenzie Johnson (mtjohnsonupei)]

Hmmm... Interesting feedback. I will have to check in with the staff member that made this request and get some clarification.

[Garry Collum (gcollum)]

Confirming - we just upgraded to 3.9 and our catalogers miss this feature. Prior to the upgrade call numbers pulled from the Marc record did display in a dropdown list.

[Mackenzie Johnson (mtjohnsonupei)]

I followed up with the staff member, and I'm glad I did because I misunderstood what she was saying.

Elaine is right in that the dropdown menu pulled from the MARC fields -- as with Garry's staff we are hoping to see this dropdown menu feature restored. The hope was expressed that the source fields would be expanded to pull from the 050, 055, 060, 082 and 090/09x fields. I'll update the description.

[Elaine Hardy (ehardy)]

Mackenzie,

I am seeing this in both 3.8 and 3.10

Have your catalogers verify that there is a 082 and/or 050s are in the bib records.

And have them verify that they have the correct classification scheme set in the Holdings editor, including preferences.

Also verify that in Local Admin -- Library Settings editor -- Default Classification Scheme is correctly set. PINES is 2 for Dewey, so our catalogers only see any 082 in the bibs.

If the default is set for Generic anywhere, the dropdown might not be populating as expected.

[Garry Collum (gcollum)]

A follow up from our catalogers. Under the Holdings tab they discovered the 'Batch Actions' button. If this is opened, the Call Number Label field is populated with call numbers from the Marc record.

[Elaine Hardy (ehardy)]

Ahh! I forgot that that button was added as some point and the default is to not have access to batch actions. I have it set so always have the drop down menu.

However, even with the dropdown menu not visible, the label well is still populated from the 082 in the bib record for me.

[Mackenzie Johnson (mtjohnsonupei)]

I changed the setting in the Library Settings editor to 3, and have confirmed that the Holdings Editor has pulled the 050 field. However, as a Canadian academic institution with programs tied to medicine and healthcare it also would be useful for us to have the dropdown pull from the 055 field, as well as the 060 field to a lesser degree.

[Elaine Hardy (ehardy)]

+1 to having more call number fields available.

[Mackenzie Johnson (mtjohnsonupei)]

Renamed title to better reflect intent