Glossary

Terms used across this site. Anything marked (Sierra) is specific to the Sierra integrated library system and may be called something else in another ILS.

ILS — integrated library system. The software that holds the catalogue, the item records, the borrower accounts, and the borrowing itself.

Sierra — the ILS sold by Innovative Interfaces, and the one the tools in the Sierra section are built against.

CLI — command-line interface. A tool you run by typing commands into a window and pressing Enter, rather than clicking through a web page or app. Bulk Holds ships as a CLI.

Bulk Holds web app — a separate, browser-based tool used inside the library that does the same job as the Bulk Holds CLI documented here: placing holds from a list. It is a different program, not another name for this one, and it is not covered by this documentation set.

API — application programming interface. The way one piece of software asks another to do something, over the network, without a person clicking through a screen. Sierra's API is what these tools talk to instead of the staff interface.

Item — one physical thing on a shelf, with its own barcode. A title can have many items.

Item barcode — the number on the sticker, which identifies one item.

Hold — a request that an item be routed to a location and kept for a borrower.

Pickup location — where a hold is to be delivered and held.

Branch code (Sierra) — the short code a location is known by inside the ILS, such as dc. Branch codes are what the tools ask for, not the branch's full name.

Plan and execute — the two-step shape these tools use: the first step reads everything and shows you what it would do without changing anything; the second step does only what the first step showed.

Dry run — the tools' own name for the plan half of plan and execute: it reads the spreadsheet, asks Sierra about every item, and shows the result, without changing anything. See Plan and execute.

Container card — a library card record created only to hold one run's batch of holds, not a real person's card. Nobody logs in as it, and it belongs to neither the requester nor the operator running the tool. Some pages call this a disposable card or a container patron; they all mean the same thing.

Patron type (Sierra) — a numeric code on a Sierra patron record that governs its borrowing rules, such as how long it lasts and what it may do. The container card these tools create carries a specific patron type set aside for this purpose.

Run — one invocation of a tool, and the folder of artifacts it leaves behind.

Exit code — the number a command-line tool returns when it finishes. 0 means success; each non-zero value means a specific kind of failure, listed on each tool's reference page.

XCirc (Sierra) — the part of Sierra's API that handles circulation actions, such as placing a hold. An error message beginning XCirc error is Sierra's circulation logic declining the request, not a fault in the tool.

Sierra Desktop (Sierra) — the staff-facing desktop application for Sierra, as distinct from the API these tools talk to instead.

Diátaxis — the documentation structure this site follows: tutorials, how-to guides, reference, and explanation, never mixed on one page. See diataxis.fr.