Ohio Private Academic Libraries

The MBLOCK field (or manual patron block) in a patron record prevents the patron from checking out items. The messages available in this fixed field are as follows:

BAD ADDRESS
DELINQUENT
SEE LIBRARIAN
STOLEN CARD
UNIV. DEBT
INTERRUPT
BAD RECORD
NON RESPONSIVE
SEE CIRC SUPER
NOT ENROLLED
CHECK BOUNCED
VERIFY ADDRESS
MISSING CARD
ILL FEES OWED

When a manual block is assigned to a patron record, Millennium Circulation displays the message associated with the value of the MBLOCK above to alert staff.

Did you know that you can quickly look up what your patrons are limited to check out in the Patron Blocks table? The Patron Blocks Table is part of Millennium Circulation Parameters and there is an entry for each of your library PTYPES.

Millennium uses the Patron Blocks table to determine the circumstances under which patrons are blocked from checking out further items. Libraries can specify a different set of blocking criteria for each PTYPE.

You can view the Patron Blocks Table in Millennium Circulation under: Admin > Parameters > Circulation > Patron Blocks.

In addiiton, you can view the OhioLINK Patron Blocks Table here.

You can read more about how this table works on page #105402 of the Millennium Manual.

Please contact OPALhelp to make any adjustments to your Patron Blocks Table.

The Millennium system updates the CIRCACTIVE fixed field in the patron record whenever one of the following circulation activities is performed:

Checking out an item
Checking in an item
Renewing an item
Placing a hold
Placing a booking

The system updates the CIRCACTIVE field when the circulation activities listed above take place anywhere in the system (i.e., using Millennium, ILL, INN-Reach, Offline Circulation, or the character-based system). The system will also update the CIRCACTIVE field under additional circumstances such as Patron API logins.

The system does not add a date to the CIRCACTIVE fixed field until circulation activity acutally takes place; therefore, if the CIRCACTIVE field is blank, no recordable circulation activity has yet been performed on that patron record.

However, there is one exception to keep in mind. When the CIRCACTIVE field is updated with Offline Circulation activity, the system uses the date on which the Offline Circulation transaction occurred, not the date on which the data was uploaded.

So in a nutshell, the CIRCACTIVE fixed field tells you the last date a patron was active in the system!

The OHIONET office will be closed Monday, February 20th, in observance of Presidents Day. We will resume regular business hours on Tuesday, February 21st. In the event of a system emergency, please contact the emergency telephone number at 614-352-9411.

Since cataloging in OPAL is shared, all members use and view the same bibliographic record for an item. When cataloging your materials within OPAL, the
most important factor influencing the cataloging process is whether or not an appropriate bibliographic record already exists in the OPAL database.

It is important to remember when exporting a record from OCLC, the system does NOT check the OPAL database for an existing copy of the record. If the record exists in the OPAL database (i.e. a record with the same OCLC number), the system will automatically ADD a new record to the database, creating a duplicate record. These duplicate records in the database can be prevented by simply checking Millennium for the OCLC number before exporting.

To do this, copy the OCLC control number (BIB UTIL # 001) of the record you want to export > go to Millennium Cataloging > change the search index to o OCLC NO and paste the copied number > click search. If your search returns no results you are safe to export. If a record already exists you may attach your item to the record. Futher examination might require an overlay of the existing OPAL record.

You can review the cataloging policy here:
http://staff.opal-libraries.org/index.php/groups/cataloging/cat-manual/cataloging-in-opal/

So remember – search before you export!