Aaron Blazer presented an overview of the Materials Booking module using the information in the IUG conference notebook. Full system integration is the main advantage noted. Bookings and checkouts are handled much like circulation transactions and generate statistics in the circulation statistics. If something is already booked, it cannot be booked again. Delivery and pick-up slips can be printed.
Bookings can specify one-time use, special events or regularly scheduled courses.
An Events database can be created to integrate all bookings for that activity. Events bookings can be retrieved as a group and updated globally. However, everything booked for an event has the same booking period, which is not always the ideal. When booking reserve items by staff, you need to be sure you have the item that is on reserve and not a stack copy. This function is defined and enforced by library loan rules.