PS - Nightly - New nightly selector codes

Currently you have an "ANY" code we can use on patron's records when they don't have a preference as to what kind of books they want to receive. However, we also have patrons that would like to get any non-fiction or any fiction title, but not the other type. Would you be able to add "ANY FICTION" and "ANY NON-FICTION" nightly selection codes.

I know here in Oregon we have local subject codes for Adult fiction and Adult non-fiction, as well as Bestsellers fiction and Bestsellers non-fiction, so it is possible. I'm assuming it's a subject code your KLAS admin could add, not a product-wide feature that needs to be added.

Joel - we do have the subject codes general fiction and general non-fiction in our catalog. However, not all books have been coded with these subjects. We use MARC overlays on our catalog and while we could always add those codes to the new books coming in - it would be a lot of work to go back and add them to the retrospective collection. And I'm sure there are other libraries whose catalog is an much of a mess as ours is. Plus it would save work on entering a new patron instead of putting in multiple non-fiction or fiction codes on their record we could just use the any fiction or any non-fiction. Seems that would make nightly run faster for those patrons too.

Unless there is something in the MARC records that already says fiction or non-fiction so you could sort and add the subject codes in batches, a computer isn't going to know how to automatically categorize a book into either fiction or non-fiction, so you're still going to have to manually add the subject code to each book, new and old.

The computer can use the "fiction" check box on the Title-Bib screen of the catalog module. If the box is checked the book is fiction and if it's not, the book is non-fiction.

OK, I think I get what you're asking for now. To be clear, you're asking for Keystone to write a custom script that will search through your catalog and add an ANY - FICTION or ANY - NON-FICTION subject code to all of your book records based on the fiction box on the Title-Bib screen? They could probably do that, but it would cost a pretty penny, since that doesn't really sound like a KLAS-wide feature, but more of a one-off project for your library. This type of work sounds more like something your cataloger should be doing instead of asking Keystone to do it for you. In my opinion it would be a better use of Keystone's time to develop new features for everyone.

No - I'm not asking for a custom script to add a code to my catalog records. Currently KLAS has a subject code "ANY" that only works with the nightly program. You can add it to a patron's preferences when they don't care which type of books they get - they just want a random selection from the collection. I'm asking if that feature can be modified to not just include any book, but be specific to "any nonfiction" or "any fiction". So there would be three potential nightly selector codes, "ANY", "ANY nonfiction" and "ANY fiction" that could be added to a patron's preference for use during the automated nightly selection process.

OK, I'm starting to get it. Mea culpa. I have never heard of that feature, and some of the terms we are using are causing a bit of miscommunication. When you say subject code, I think of a code I can add to a patron's preferences tab in the Patron module. Our Librarian has just informed me that there is an ANY function available you can set up in the background for a user's account, which is what I'm now assuming you are talking about. Two different things. Sorry for the confusion. However, we still don't use the ANY function, and wouldn't find it useful. We don't have a single user who doesn't have a preference. Instead, we use local subject codes for fiction and non-fiction for a particular age range (juvenile, young adult, and adult). That way we could potentially use those codes when we're setting up a new user's preferences, but again, in the 6 years I have been here as registrar I have never run into someone who I would use that subject code for. Maybe for a really young user, like a 2 year old, but even grade school kids care what they get. I still think it's better for subject categories to be added to book records in order to implement the functionality you're asking for, and for Keystone to use their time developing features like the automated email overdues.

We have 74 patrons currently set-up to use the ANY nightly selection feature. About two weeks ago we got a new application where the patron checked every category under our non-fiction section. So for him, it would save time for the RA who had to enter all those codes and probably also for the nightly process it there had been an ANY non-fiction category for us to use.

In Montana we have 3 staff doing all the cataloging, RA and registrar duties. In order to save staff time, when we load the completed NLS bibliographic records, subject codes are automatically applied based on a Code Maintenance file. The Maintenance file cross references the NLS codes to our local codes. This includes adding codes for Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Non-Fiction, Juvenile Fiction and Juvenile Non-Fiction. A cross reference to automatically create an Adult Fiction or Non-Fiction code was not an option when the Maintenance file was created.
We chose to manually add a few addition local codes to assist us in selecting books manually and also facilitate nightly selections. Two of the codes we choose to manually add to the book record are the Adult Non-Fiction and Adult Fiction code. We have done this knowing that it appears redundant to the fiction/non-fiction check box. We it do so we can offer patrons the option of excluding or including all non-fiction or fiction books without having to enter a lot of extra codes in the patron record.
From our stand point a means for nightly to select or exclude All Fiction or All Non-Fiction could potentially save us time entering the subject codes on both the patron and the bibliographic records.
I'd like to know a little more about what's possible.