We've been working with Data Management / NLS on a...
We've been working with Data Management / NLS on a patron project in PIMMS. As part of this project, We've been thinking about how to better manage patron status transitions in PIMMS.
PIMMS has a Suspendedstatus and a Deletedstatus. Once a patron record has a Deleted status, that ID cannot be used in PIMMS again.
KLAS can have many statuses, but currently most libraries have Deceased, Suspended, and Withdrawn all mapped to the PIMMS Suspended status (and now collecting reasons for discontinuing service). The thinking here was that we didn't want an "oops" change of status to permanently delete a patron from PIMMS.
NLS has expressed concern that patrons are lingering in Suspended status for extraordinarily long periods of time. In KLAS, there is nothing currently that automatically moves a patron to PIMMS Deleted, except when withdrawn patrons are purged.
We think that Withdrawn should be the status that corresponds with PIMMS Deleted status. It is the next step in the process.
Currently:
- Most libraries move patrons from Active to Suspended to Withdrawn.
- It's very rare that a patron is "accidentally" changed to Withdrawn. Once the patron is withdrawn, they are gone, generally for good.
- Changing a patron to Withdrawn marks all outstanding items as Lost.
It's a logical step for us to add:
- Delete patron record from PIMMS.
This does mean that if a patron goes from KLAS status Withdrawn back to Active for some reason, you'll need to create a brand new patron record for them, so that they get a new PIMMS ID. The old Withdrawn record could then be merged in to transfer the HasHads to the new record.
Let us know if you do not agree! Otherwise, look for this change to come in January 2024.
