Under Acquisition > Subscription you can search for and maintain existing subscriptions, as well as create new subscriptions. By creating a subscription for a periodical, Cicero can automatically create new issues of a periodical record.
This article describes the following:
Creating a subscription
A new subscription can be created in 3 ways:
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From the subscription page
- Under Acquisition > Subscription you can click "Create subscription". You then need to search for and select a base card that you want to link to the subscription. If you cannot find the desired base card, you can read more under Create base card for periodicals (PIF record).
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From a base card
- The detail view for bibliographic records of the periodicals type has a "Base card" tab with key periodicals information. Once a base card has been created, you can create a subscription directly from this tab. Read more under Create base card for periodicals (PIF record).
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By copying an existing subscription
- You can copy a subscription at the bottom of the subscription's detail page by clicking "Copy subscription". This opens a new detail page for the subscription, where you can optionally change individual details and then click "Save". All information, except the items' placement details on the placement tab, is copied over to the new subscription.
Detail page for a subscription
A subscription consists of a range of information that is filled in when it is created.
Subscription info
General information about the subscription. Special notes:
- Subscription number: Provided by the supplier. If you do not have a subscription number, you may enter a value of your own choosing.
- Status: The status must be ”Active” if you are registering a new subscription.
- Auto-receive: If this is enabled, an order for the next issue is created automatically when the supplier sends a message to Cicero that the next issue is being prepared. This should only be selected if it has been agreed with the supplier.
- Create temporary items: If this is enabled, Cicero automatically creates temporary items for the upcoming issue when the current issue is received in Cicero. If auto-receive is enabled, the items will be created as soon as the order is created.
Subscription dates
Information about the creation date and any date for terminating the subscription.
Payment info
Information about the payment. Please note that these fields are ”passive”, meaning that no posting/deduction is made to accounts in connection with receiving journals.
The price can be retrieved from the supplier by clicking "Get price from supplier" . However, this option is only available if a supplier and a supplier agreement with a configured price service have been selected. Read more under Suppliers.
Delivery info
Information about the delivery of new releases. Special notes:
- Expected delivery date: Filled in automatically based on the publication frequency specified on the base card.
Item info
Information that is automatically assigned to the items linked to this subscription.
When a new issue is received, the issue's items are given the material group specified under "Material group (newest issue)". At the same time, the items in the previous issue switch to the material group specified under "Material group (older issues)". This makes it possible to differentiate loan and reservation rules for new and older issues of a periodicals record. Read more under Material groups and loan profiles.
Next issue
Filled in so the system can generate information about the next issue as well as the subsequent ones. At least one of these fields must be filled in. In the number field, you can only select values from the number sequence linked to the naming template specified on the base card.
Note! These values should not be changed in connection with receiving special issues. This should be handled manually when receiving periodicals. Read more about receiving special issues under Receive periodicals.
Internal info
It is possible to assign an employee who is responsible for the subscription.
Discarding rules
It is possible to add discarding rules to a subscription so that older issues are automatically marked for discarding. Select the maximum number of issues you want to have in your holdings. Cicero will then continuously mark all issues older than the desired number for discarding, so that only items from the newest issues are retained. The number specified does NOT include issues that have not yet been received.
Note! The order of which issues are newest is calculated based on the oldest acquisition date for the items in a given issue. If the items are not received in the order the subscription is set up for, you should therefore check whether the items are correctly marked for discarding.
If NO number is specified, no items will be marked for discarding.
Regardless of whether specific discarding rules have been configured for the subscription, periodicals items can still be marked for discarding via the general discarding rules. Read more under Discarding rules.
Placement
On the "Placement" tab, you specify the placement that the items should automatically be assigned when they are created in Cicero. The number specified under "Subscription info" determines how many items you want to receive, and thus also how many placements can be specified on the placement tab.
When a new issue is received, the issue's items are given the placement specified under "Placement (newest issue)". At the same time, the items in the previous issue switch to the material group specified under "Placement (older issues)". This makes it possible to differentiate the placement for new and older issues of a periodicals record. This can optionally be combined with the differentiation of loan and reservation rules for new and older issues via material groups, as described under Item info.
Cancelling/terminating a subscription
If a subscription should no longer be active, it can be cancelled in the following way:
- Search for the subscription you want to cancel and go to the subscription's detail page.
- Change the status to "Cancelled" or "No longer exists".
- Which of the 2 statuses you select makes no difference in practice. Both statuses result in the subscription being cancelled.
- Enter the cancellation date in the "Terminated as of" date field.
- Save the changes.
The subscription is now cancelled.