Most borrowing requests sent to the RapidILL partner require no mediation. However, there may be some occasions when further processing is needed. The type of processing required depending on the borrowing request status. Please see below for a list of common statuses and how to manage them.
Requests that have a status of Ready to be Sent cannot be sent to RapidILL until the citation is edited. To determine what needs to be fixed, check for Notes attached to the borrowing request:
Common Error Messages
Unable to format ISBN AND/OR OCLC number: the ISSN, ISBN, and/or System Control Number (OCLC number) field on the borrowing request is missing or incorrect.
ERROR Book borrowing is disabled: the requester attempted to place a request for a book chapter but did not specify which chapter they needed.
If you are able to verify the what needs to be changed within the citation, you can attempt to resend the request through RapidILL. See instructions: Resending a Request for more information on this workflow. Alternatively, if your patron no longer needs the resource or if you choose to acquire the resource through another method outside of Alma, the request should be cancelled. See instructions: Rejecting a Request and Cancelling a Request for information on how to close and delete an active borrowing request.
Requests that have a status of Rejected by Partner should be be reviewed daily and have their status updated to Cancelled by Staff. Updating the status to Cancelled by Staff will cause the Cancellation Letter to be sent to the patron and will complete the request so that it removed from your Borrowing List. If your institution would prefer to have the system automatically cancel these requests, please contact the help desk.
Bad citations might occur due to lacking or faulty metadata in a CDI record in Primo. Requests that have a status of Bad Citation should be reviewed at least daily. For each request, check the notes to see what is lacking or incorrect or, if the notes are not useful, click Edit to check the citation. Some research might be needed to fix the request.
Some questions to consider:
See instructions Resending a Request for information on how to modify the citation and send the borrowing request through RapidILL again or instructions Rejecting a Request and Cancelling a Request for information on how to close and delete the borrowing request.
Requests that have a status of Pending Approval have exceeded the CONTU Rule of Five and need to be evaluated to determine whether they should be submitted as is, submitted after copyright has been obtained, or canceled. How you process these items is determined by your institution's policy.
Copyright payments must be managed outside of Alma. Recommended methods for doing this are purchasing the requested article directly from the publisher's website, purchasing the requested article from a commercial document supplier like Reprints Desk, or making a payment to the publisher via the Copyright Clearance Center.
See instructions: Resending a Request if you intend to proceed with the request or instructions Rejecting a Request and Cancelling a Request for information on how to close and delete an active borrowing request.
Requests with a status of Ready to Be Sent, Bad Citation, or Pending Approval must be edited before they can be sent to RapidILL. To edit the request:
Requests that are in a Status of Ready to be Sent, Bad Citation, or Pending Approval need to be rejected before they are cancelled. To reject a request:
1. Click on the ellipsis to the right on the borrowing request and select Reject
2. Choose an appropriate cancellation reason. Verify that Notify User is not selected and press Reject.
Requests that are in a status of Reject by Partner can be cancelled. To cancel a request:
1. Click on the ellipsis to the right on the borrowing request and select Cancel.
2. Choose an appropriate cancellation reason. Verify that Notify User is selected and press Confirm.
