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Web Widgets for Search & Requesting
Web widgets can be placed on your library website to help patrons quickly & easily create requests directly in SHAREit or search for SHAREit record results!
For more information on OpenILL requesting and OpenURL searching in other resources such as EDS and Databases please check-out our separate guide here: https://illumebc.ca/guides/openill-openurl
OpenURL Search Widget
A simple search form box can easily be added to perform an All Headings or Title search of your site-specific Illume! Example search widget below:
How-to add an Illume search widget to your website:
Watch a quick video on how to add a search widget to your website. [No sound] | Watch Video [3m30s ; MP4] |
- Search Widget Location: Check that you can add an HTML search form to your website including the form, button and input tags. For example, if using Drupal you may need to add these tags as "Advanced Content Filter" exceptions within CKEditor.
Note: Search widgets placed on LibGuide pages may not always work correctly due to conflicting widgets - try to embed only one widget per LibGuide!
- Search Widget Code Example: Add the snippet of example code to your website. Download the code example here [TXT] Updated October 2019.
- Update Labels or Text: If desired, update the HTML text and labels to display different text or tips. For example change "Search Illume Catalogue" to "Search for Interlibrary Loans". Or change your button display text to say "Search" instead of "Submit".
- Update Search Index: The code example above currently performs an All Headings "all_headings" search of Illume against your default guest patron Search Resources/Targets. If you'd like to search by Title instead change "all_headings" to "title". More search options and codes, such as "author", "subject", and "isbn" available in our OpenURL Search guide [PDF] from our Guides page.
- Update SHAREit LID Code (mandatory): Update the code to include your site-specific SHAREit LID code. For example Kwantlen Polytechnic University would replace value="ZZZZ" with "BSKC".
- Test your results: Publish your search form and test the results. If you receive a message saying "An error has occurred processing your request; the most likely cause is a bad LID." double-check that your site-specific LID library code is entered correctly. Errors can also occur from line breaks or spaces between the HTML tags in your form. After editing your Form we recommend you clear your browser cookies & cache or test again later as SHAREit V6 may cache recent errors. Contact us for assistance!
Note: You may wish to change or add additional HTML in order to format your form further. For example our code snippet opens the search in a new browser window with target="_blank" and you may want to remove that to open search results in the same window.
- Please let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions for additional Search Widget options. We'd love to see what you're doing to make Illume more accessible!
OpenILL Request Widget
If your library prefers to have patrons submit requests directly from your website, your web forms can be updated to use the OpenILL feature that collects bibliographic request details and transfers them directly into a SHAREit Blank Request form. This can save staff time on data entry & creation of requests from emails etc!
Check-out our example request form below and for more information on activating the OpenILL feature please contact us.
Example Article Request Form: Please enter your request details to submit your ILL request. Please note you will also need to include your patron information or login in the next step. |
How-to add an Illume request widget to your website:
- Request Widget Location: Check that you can add an HTML form to your website including the form, button and input tags. For example, if using Drupal you may need to add these tags as "Advanced Content Filter" exceptions within CKEditor. Please note that the request form submissions are a "GET" not a "POST" command.
Note: Request widgets placed on LibGuide pages may not always work correctly due to conflicting widgets - try to embed only one widget per LibGuide!
- Request Widget Code Example: Add the snippet of example code to your website. Example code coming soon.
- Update Labels or Text: If desired, update the HTML text and labels to display different text or tips. For example change "Request from Illume" to "Submit your ILL Request". Or change your button display text to say "Request" instead of "Submit".
- Update SHAREit LID Code (mandatory): Update the code to include your site-specific SHAREit LID code. For example Kwantlen Polytechnic University would replace value="ZZZZ" with "BSKC".
- Test your results: Publish your request form and test the results by creating a request while logged out of Illume. If you encounter any errors or issues please contact us for assistance!
Note: You may wish to change or add additional HTML in order to format your form further. For example our code snippet opens the search in a new browser window with target="_blank" and you may want to remove that to open the request page in the same window instead.
Additional Tips:
- We recommend updating and simplifying your patron forms before activating this feature. Even if you don't allow guest patron requesting directly in SHAREit via the "Request This Item" button, your patrons will benefit from custom simplified forms as the OpenILL feature displays all the fields on the Blank Request form.
- Update the "Allow patron/guests to change request type" field in your form settings to allow patrons to swap between "Non-Returnable (copy)" forms and "Returnable (loan)" forms if necessary. Currently OpenILL defaults to the Non-Returnable (copy) form if it detects an Article Title or ISSN. But requests for Book Chapters may require the patron to manually swap request form type.
- If your library uses permanent patron accounts, update the text of your Participant Record > "Display Disclaimer Notice" to remind patrons they can login first before submitting their request. The pre-populated form will save all the field information sent over from the vendor (eg. EBSCO) while a patron or staff member logs into SHAREit.
- We recommend that requests created from blank forms be sent to the "Awaiting Approval" or directly to the "ILL Review" status. Currently if a library uses both Patron-initiated requesting in SHAREit and OpenILL we recommend they send requests directly to ILL Review to make them easy to distinguish and assign a record/lenders. To send requests direct to ILL Review, check-off the option under your Staff Dashboard > ILL Admin > Send Blank ILL Request without Lender List To section.
- ILL Staff can use the ILL Review feature to assign an appropriate Journal Title record to Non-returnable (copy) requests created by Patrons using the OpenILL blank request form. This allows Staff to use the ERTI Smart-build to automatically build the Lender List field for the request. Alternatively, ILL Staff can use the Multi Copy form to quickly create an ERTI Smart-build Lender List that can be copy & pasted into the patron's blank request.
- Please note that requests created from Blank Request forms, such as those used in OpenILL, will always skip a lender's live availability shelf checks and format Lending Policy checks. These SHAREit software features are skipped even if ILL Staff assign an appropriate record using ILL Review.
- Libraries can use the OpenILL feature without activating patron requesting elsewhere! For example, if your library would only like to allow your patrons to create requests from EBSCO databases (eg. CINAHL) only activate the OpenILL setting "Access ILL Request" and not the "Show Request This Button" option within SHAREit.
- Many libraries place important patron information such as ILL Restrictions on the main page of Illume. Both OpenILL and OpenURL bypass the main SHAREit homepage so this information will not initially be seen by patrons. We recommend updating your Privacy Disclaimers & ILL Restrictions activated directly on forms to display important info if desired.
- Guest Patron Request Limits also apply to requests created from Blank Request forms. We recommend activating request limits if you have restrictions on the number of Copy or Loan requests a patron can simultaneously submit.
Please contact us if you'd like assistance setting up OpenILL, OpenURL or a Web Widget!