Searching course reserves in Web OPAC

Searching for course reserves in the Web OPAC is quite simple. Because students may not know the names of the items the professor has placed on reserve, patrons can search on any of the following three points: course name, course number, or professor name.

From the main OPAC menu, patrons can click on a Course Reserves link, which will bring them to a page that will look similar to this:

From here, the patron chooses how to search. They may know that they are enrolled in CHEM210, or they may know that Prof. Chartre teaches the course.

Searching by course number is made easier if the record reflects a number of different ways that the students may search for it, such as

  • CHEM210
  • Chemistry 210
  • Organic Chemistry 210
By entering a number of course name/number fields in the course record, the library is increasing the likelihood of patrons finding what they are looking for.

Searching by professor or instructor name, on the other hand, is much more straightforward. If there is more than one instructor, then multiple entries may be added. These entries may also be used to add TA names, if the professor so wishes. Keep in mind that some students may only know the name of the TA, and thus search that way.

If the search only has one match, that course record will open and the items on reserve for that course will display. If there are multiple matches, a browse list will display, and the patron will be able to select the course they are looking for.

WebOPAC Options that affect Course Reserve display

The following are some Web Options that can affect the display of Course Reserves records in the Web OPAC. Review these Web Options before making changes.

RSRV_FORMAT

This option can be set to true if a library wishes to display the format of items that are on reserve. If the option is set to false, then only Title, Author, and Call No. will display. By default, this option is set to true.


RSRV_HEADER

This option controls what displays at the top of the display of the list of items that are on reserve.

Examples:

RSRV_HEADER=Reserves List
RSRV_HEADER=Materials for this Course

TABLEPARAM_RSRV_BIBS

This option controls the display parameters of the table showing the items on reserve in the bibliographic display. The data entered in this option is inserted between the <TABLE> and </TABLE> tags. The values for this option must be valid HTML tags. The format of this option may be:
TABLEPARAM_RSRV_BIBS=cellpadding="2" cellspacing="20" border="20"
This option can vary by scope, if need be.

Within Course Reserves, an item can be suppressed from the normal web OPAC, but remain visible in a search of the reserves. This is most often done with a personal copy of an item that a professor has placed on reserve, or with individual articles. If a patron searches for the title in the regular OPAC, they will see the record, but will not see any available copies. However, if they search within the reserves, they will find the items available.

At the end of a semester, items can be suppressed from view in the reserves by making them inactive. See .

Effect of Changing Courses/bibs to Inactive/Active

Changing courses or bibs from active to inactive (and vice-versa) will affect how patron's OPAC searches turn out. If bibs/items are made inactive within a course record, they will no longer show up when searching under a course record. However, they will show up in the regular, non-reserve section of the OPAC.

If course records are suppressed, they will not be available in the OPAC. A professor's name will return no hits, and any items on reserve for that course will not be seen. However, as with inactive bibs/items, the items on reserve for the suppressed course will be returned in searches in the non-reserve section of the OPAC if they do not contain suppression values.