RICAT ILL: Patron-Initiated Requests

RICAT settings allow for students, faculty, or staff to place their own holds and ILL requests from within their own logins. If RICAT is not configured to allow this option, all holds and ILL requests must be placed by library staff on behalf of patrons (see Place ILL for Patron tab).

The document "Instructions for Patron-Initiated Holds" in the Related Documents box elsewhere on this page contains a pre-formatted handout you may feel free to distribute to your patrons. The handout instructs patrons how to place their own holds.

The document "Setting Up Your Site for Interlibrary Loan" in the Related Documents box includes a screen shot and reminder for the last bullet point below.

To enable patron-initiated holds, remember to:

• be sure the patron record has been added to Destiny© [Back Office top tab > Manage Patrons side tab > click New Patron button to add record]
• confirm the patron has been given a user ID and password [Back Office top tab > Manage Patrons side tab > use Find to pull up patron record > Edit > review/populate User Name and Password fields]
• ensure that the patron type has been granted self-empowered view and hold status [Back Office top tab > Access Levels side tab > click the Edit icon (paper and pencil) of the patron type you want to edit > click the Patrons sub-tab (look under the Cancel button) > check the following four boxes under Self-Empowered Patron Access: View own status, Place hold for self from Catalog, Place holds on available copies, and Place ILL for self from Catalog. All other settings are optional. ]

Here's how to enable your students using Destiny Discover to place interlibrary loan requests in this interface without going to Destiny Classic.  You can make this same change for any other Access Levels, such as Teacher, that you want to give the ability to place ILL requests in Destiny Discover. This feature is not currently available with any of the new themes.  You will still need to approve each request by using the Needs Processing arrow.

1. Go to the Back Office in Destiny Classic and click on Access Levels in the left-hand column.
2. Choose to edit (pencil symbol) the Patron (default) Access Level.
3. On the first tab, called Library Materials, click the box to the left of Search all library sites through Destiny Discover,  which is in the left-hand column under Library Catalog Search Access under the heading Search Using Destiny Discover, which must also be checked.
4. Remember to Save your changes.
5. In order to see this change in Destiny Discover as a student, the student would need to log out and then log in again after the change in Step 3 was completed and Saved.

A student searching in Destiny Discover will only see the holdings in your library, unless they click on the + sign to the right of the Search box.  Clicking on the + will show them the following list of choices:

Use the drop-down list under locations to choose the scope of your search.

Report delivery issues (and order additional delivery bins) at this link on the OLIS website:

For questions about RICAT ILL procedures, please contact Zach Berger using the contact information elsewhere on this page, or contact any member of RILINK staff for assistance. Contact information is available in the RILINK Staff box on the About RILINK page.