User defined fields in the Data dictionary

The Question, Client and Bib tables of the Data dictionary include User defined fields. These are fields that your library can name and use in Request forms to meet your specific data capture needs.

The User defined fields in the Question table produce data that is displayed with other Question related data for example in the Question details section of the Details tab of the Summary screen, and in the Question details section of emails advising about questions to be worked on. Therefore these fields should be used to collect information that adds to the knowledge of the question that has been asked.

The User defined fields in the Client table produce data that is displayed with other Client related data for example in the Client details section of the Details tab of the Summary screen, and in the Client details section of emails advising about questions to be worked on. Therefore these fields should be used to collect information that adds to your knowledge of the client who asked the question, such as their contact information or the reasons why they are asking the question.

The User defined fields in the Bib table produce data that is displayed with other Bib/item related data for example in the Bib details section of the Details tab of the Summary screen, and in the Bib details section of emails advising about questions to be worked on. Therefore these fields should be used to collect information that adds to your knowledge of the item being requested, such as their title, publisher, or quantity of items.

You will usually decide to utilise a User defined field as a part of the process of designing a new Request form so there is no need to set up the User defined fields as part of the process of setting up RefTracker.

To utilise a User defined field, give it an appropriate name in the Label column and then set the field to either Optional or Mandatory in the Enabled column.

A text box is a single line field for entry of text (max length 2000 characters).

A text area is a multi-line field for entry of text (max length 2 million characters).

User defined Code tables are named and enabled by using the Code table functions and you can get to them by simply clicking on the code table name in this screen.

A date field stores a date or a date and time.

A money field stores amounts to which an International currency code applies – for example US dollars.A numeric field stores numeric data (can include digits past a decimal point.