Online Selection & Acquisitions
Version 3.3.1 (April 2023)
The MARC 264 Publication field (second indicator 1) will now be used to extract date of publication information when uploading a MARC file or adding records from searches to a List. If a MARC 264 Publication field is present but does not include subfield c, OSA then looks for a MARC 264 copyright notice date (second indicator 4) field and will use that date in subfield c. The MARC 260 field will only be used if a record does not contain a MARC 264 field with a date of publication or copyright notice date.
OSA user accounts that integrate with Library•Solution can now assign items to collections marked as hidden when ordering. Users with applicable admin privileges can enable the Allow ordering for collections that are set to "Hide From Public" setting. This setting is disabled by default.
To enable this functionality, select the check box next to Allow ordering for collections that are set to "Hide From Public" in Admin > Library Information > Library System. The Synchronize With Local System process, in Admin > Library Information > Library Resources, must be run as well.
The library's list of collections can be reviewed in Admin > Library Information > Library Resources. Select a library from the drop-down menu, then click Update Library. Click View Collections to view the list of both Active and Hidden collections.
When constructing a list, the Collection field list under Options for Checked Items will contain both hidden and non-hidden collections. When updating the Collection value within the Distribution / Quantity Information setting, the collections list will contain both hidden and non-hidden collections.
Note: OSA users who do not integrate with Library•Solution will not see the Allow ordering for collections that are set to "Hide From Public" setting.
Technical updates have been made to OSA that improve performance of the application, making it faster to load and open pages.
Previously, an OSA user account that had one or more Redirect Order Configurations was able to be deleted, which caused the order to be unable to be redirected. This has been corrected and Order Redirect Configurations must be removed from the user account prior to deleting the user. Navigate to Admin > Electronic Ordering > Order Redirect > Order Redirect Configuration to assign Order Redirect Configurations to a different user in order to delete a user account.
Version 3.3.0 (September 2022)
Email is now a required user field in My Info. If a user does not have an email address listed, OSA will display a Verify Your Email Address screen upon login. Once an email address has been provided, an email will be sent to that address with a link to verify your email address.
Security updates required a change to the OSA homepage URL. Bookmarks that contain the full homepage URL will need to be updated in order to access the OSA site. TLC recommends using https://osa.tlcdelivers.com as the updated bookmark URL.
The "I forgot my log on information" link has been removed from the OSA homepage. Customers who do not remember their password will be required to contact support in order to obtain an updated password.
The OSA user Password field has been updated to allow up to 32 characters.
The Automatic Synchronization Process, which synchronizes the library's list of locations and collections in OSA with the customer's Library•Solution database was updated to support the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
The OSA browser support policy has been updated to include Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is no longer supported and has been removed from the list of supported browsers.
General security updates were made to improve the overall security of the OSA application.
Invoice Export functionally and User Reviews have been removed from OSA due to a lack of use.
Version 3.2.11 (June 2019)
Previously, if an order contained an item with a price of 0.00, or the price was left blank, an incorrect price of 0.00 was used in LS2 Staff as the replacement cost, instead of charging the appropriate pre-configured default replacement cost. This issue is now resolved. If the OSA on order item has no price available, or uses $0.00, the item's price in the database is recorded as a null value so the appropriate default replacement values can be utilized.
Version 3.2.10 (October 2018)
For Library•Solution 5.x users: Previously, if a Z39.50 database was deleted that had been configured as a Preferred MARC Source, an exception was thrown, preventing the records from downloading in Library•Solution. The issue is now resolved.
Previously, an extra forward slash was being added to the beginning of the current working directory, causing the directory to no longer represent a relative path. This caused a problem for users if non-root directories were used for storing files. This issue is now resolved.
Version 3.2.9 (January 2018)
Version 3.2.8 (May 2017)
A new option now secures transmissions of orders, invoices, and MARC data from vendors to the OSA service via a SFTP protocol. Interface changes to Administration > Acquisitions Setup > Vendors and Administration > Acquisitions Setup > Config MARC Upload require a Port number for the SFTP protocol.
OSA now supports the HTTPS protocol for accessing the website.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) invoices from Ingram now contain item location information. Previously, when an invoice arrived, OSA chose random locations for items on the invoice. With this update, OSA will invoice items for the locations specified in the invoices. This only applies to Ingram invoices.
Previously, when utilizing the Copy User option to create new users, OSA was allowing duplicate User Names. This issue has been resolved.
Version 3.2.5 (July 15, 2013)
Due to a lack of updates from the vendors involved, the Collection Development Corner section of the OSA Home page has been removed.
Version 3.2.4 (February 27, 2013)
Previously when navigating away from a page in OSA without saving changes, a message should have displayed asking if you wanted to save the changes before leaving. This behavior differed depending on the Internet browser being used. In some cases the changes were not being saved. This problem has been resolved.
Version 3.2.3 (January 25, 2013)
Previously, after the Clone Funds to New Fiscal Year process (Admin > Fiscal Year Maintenance > Clone Funds to New Fiscal Year) was completed, the old fiscal year funds were always retained in the Fund drop-down options for the Distribution Profiles (My Info > My Distribution Profiles). In this situation, problems would arise if default distribution profiles were configured, as the old fiscal year would be applied to items newly added to lists.
This problem has been corrected. Now, a new check box option labeled Update Distribution Profile(s) to new fiscal year has been added to the Clone Funds wizard. When this check box is selected, which is the default setting, OSA will automatically update the distribution profiles, changing the fiscal year for the funds that you cloned to the newly cloned fiscal year value.
When uploading a file of MARC records to a list, OSA checks the Distribution Information configured for the selected vendor from the Configure MARC Upload dialog (Admin | Acquisitions Setup | Configure MARC Upload) to determine where to locate the distribution data in the uploaded records.
Previously, if no distribution data was found at the configured location in the records, then no distribution information would be applied during the upload. This problem has been corrected. Now in this situation, if a default Distribution Profile has been configured, it will be applied.
Previously, if superscript and subscript characters were contained in the title, author, or publisher fields in a MARC record, they would not display properly on the search results screen. This problem has been corrected.
Previously, if special characters such as superscript or subscript were present in the title, author, or publisher fields, the Distribution Report 3x5 report would fail and display an error message. This problem has been corrected.
Version 3.2.2 (January 7, 2013)
New field added to MARC Upload Configuration form: For the convenience of users who have established item specific ordering details on the vendor’s web site, a new field labeled Vendor’s Item Number has been added to the Other Information section of the MARC Upload Configuration form (Admin | Acquisitions Setup | Configure MARC Upload). This information is being included to communicate additional details regarding the items being ordered.
This field can only be used in conjunction with vendors that provide a vendor number when a user downloads their cart from the vendor web site. When the MARC records are uploaded to Online Selection & Acquisitions (OSA), and then ordered via OSA EDI, the Vendor Item Number will be added to the specified subfield for each MARC record in the order.
TLC recommends the use of the 024 field, subfield a for this purpose.
Slow search results during Invoicing / Receiving: Previously during the Invoicing and Receiving processes, when using the Search for items to add to this invoice or the Search for items to add to this packing slip functions, OSA took longer than expected to return the search results. This problem has been corrected.
Version 3.2.1 (October 29, 2012)
Notes field renamed: In conjunction with the addition of the Notes to Vendor field to the Item Edit screen as described below, the Notes field has been relabeled as Item Notes.
Notes to Vendor Field added: A Notes to Vendor field has been added to the Item Edit screen. Notes entered using the Notes to Vendor field will display on purchase orders sent to the vendor. New and existing notes added to an item using the Notes (now Item Notes) field will no longer be included on the paper and emailed purchase orders. In conjunction with the new field, a Send Vendor Notes check box has been added to the X12 Purchase Order Settings.
About Notes to Vendor
The process of adding, modifying, and deleting a vendor note is the same as with the existing Notes field.
Multiple vendor notes can be added. Each vendor note is limited to 80 characters due to an EDI length limitation for electronic purchase orders. The regular notes are limited to 4000 characters.
Notes entered using the Notes to Vendor field will display on purchase orders whether the EDI Ordering Protocol on the EDI tab of the Vendor Configuration screen (Admin / Vendors) is set to Paper, Email, or X12.
Before Using Notes to Vendor
For vendors configured to use the X12 protocol:
In the X12 Purchase Order Settings the new Send Vendor Notes check box must be selected or the Notes to Vendor field will not display on the Item Edit screen.
The notes data is transmitted in the PID segment. Prior to utilizing the Notes to Vendor feature confirm that your vendor(s) can accept the notes data and the PID segment, and can make use of the note information provided.
Changing Vendor Selection for Items with Vendor Notes
On the Item Edit screen, if vendor notes are present, and the item’s Vendor selection is changed to a vendor that does not accept vendor notes (Send Vendor Notes is not selected), a popup message will open advising, This vendor is not configured to receive notes via EDI, so the “Notes to Vendor” will be lost upon Save.
Click Cancel to retain the current vendor selection. Click OK to continue with the change of vendor. The vendor notes will be removed from view.
Note: If you clicked OK, so long as you have not navigated away from the Item Edit screen you can restore the Notes to Vendor by assigning a vendor configured to accept vendor notes.
On the List Details screen, under Options for Checked Items, if vendor notes are present, and the Set Vendor option is used to change the Vendor selection to a vendor that does not accept vendor notes, a message will display advising; This vendor does not support notes. Existing vendor notes will be deleted.
Click Cancel to retain the current vendor selections. Click OK to continue with the change of vendor. The vendor notes will be removed from the items.
Note: If you clicked OK, so long as you have not navigated away from the List Details screen you can restore the Notes to Vendor by assigning a vendor configured to accept vendor notes.
New item Indicator for Library Services Centre orders: For electronic purchase orders only, if you have Library Services Centre (LSC) configured as a vendor, and select their entry from the Vendor drop-down list on the Item Edit screen, a LSC Process As Indicator field will display below the Vendor field.
This field will display a drop-down list from which you must select an option. LSC will not process the order if an LSC Process As Indicator option is not selected.
To the right of the LSC Process As Indicator drop-down a check box labeled Provide MARC Record will be displayed. Select this check box to have LSC supply a MARC record for the title in question.
Changing the Vendor field drop-down selection to a vendor other than LSC will remove the LSC Process As Indicator field.
Quantity Column sortable: The Qty (quantity) column on the list details screen can now be sorted by clicking the column heading. Clicking the heading a second time will reverse the sort order.
To allow you to configure the list details view to be sorted by the Qty column by default, or to set Qty as the secondary default sort, a Quantity entry has been added to the Primary Sort and Secondary Sort drop-down lists under the List Items View Sort Options heading on the Personal Information (My Info) screen. In addition, these options include a second drop-down allowing you to set whether the Qty column should be sorted in ascending or descending order.
Discounted Price column renamed: To better reflect the context of the displayed amount, the Discounted Price column headings on the Search Results for Items to Add to Invoice <invoice #> screen and on the Line Items For Invoice Number <invoice #> screen have been renamed to Encumbered Price.
Updated list of X12 Version 4010 compatible vendors: Currently the vendors who have completed OSA testing are: Baker & Taylor, Book Wholesalers Inc. (BWI), Emery-Pratt, Library Services Centre (LSC), Midwest Library Service, Midwest Tape, Quality Books Inc., The Book House Inc., and Yankee Book Peddler (YBP). Additional vendors will be added to the list as they complete OSA testing.
For the previous updates, see What's New - v3.2.0 and Prior Versions.