Circulation Committee Meeting June 13, 2013
Melanie and Jesse from WLS were out.

Angela:

Introduction of the new head of Circ/Tech at GRE- Karen Heroart. Welcome!

1. Deletion of items with fines attached with the fines staying on the patron’s record.

This function was supposed to be available after the latest upgrade to Workflows.

Some libraries have reported that this function is not working yet. It also will not work with items that have been set to “Lost.”

If a message pops up saying “you will lose the history of this item” it means that some patrons are using the “charge history” feature.

You can still delete the item.

A discussion took place of Charge History and how long the history stays on a patron’s record.

Many believed it is after 1 calendar year and Melanie does the deleting.

For example: If a patron decides on December 1, 2013 that they would like the charge history feature turned on and Melanie wipes out all of the charge history on January 1, 2014, that patron will have their history wiped out with everyone else.
2. Using “Discard All” in Circulation

If at all possible, please do not use the Discard All in Circulation when deleting.

Go into Tech and use the Delete Title, Call Numbers or Items tab.
3. “Missing Items”

Once an item is set to “Missing” it should not allow holds to be placed on it.

However, if there is an item that is coming up on your library’s Holds List and you search for the item and cannot find it and set it to “Missing,” and your library has the only copy, someone in your library must notify the patron who had the item on hold that the item is no longer available.

It is not recommended that the hold be cancelled on the patron’s record in case the item is eventually found.

Some libraries are not notifying patrons when the item has been set to “Missing” and patrons are becoming frustrated that they are not receiving the item.

Please notify the patrons when the last copy has become unavailable for their hold!

This is actually WLS’s policy and can be found on the wiki page.

Angela also suggested that she may start emailing out a Policy of the Month.
4. Patrons’ Hold Notifications

Some libraries are reporting that patrons are being notified that holds are available for them when the item on hold has not yet gotten to the library.

This led to a discussion of modifying patrons’ holds when they cannot get to the library in time to pick them up.

If a patron has called and asked a library to hold their items longer, the pickup date should be changed in the computer, on the patron’s record, so that the item’s status does not become “In Transit” while it is still sitting on a library’s Holds shelf.

Once an item’s status becomes “In Transit” you cannot modify pick up dates.
5. Circ Note vs. Number of Items

There was a suggestion that when cataloging media, using the “Number of pieces” field is useful because this will trigger a pop-up box when checking in the item that alerts the staff member to how many pieces are associated with an item.

For Example: Your library has an audiobook that contains 10 CDs. In the “Number of Pieces” field you would put “10.”

When this item is returned, an alert will pop up saying “This Item has Associated Materials.”

It then lists the item’s title and how many pieces go with it.

There is then a box for you to type in “O” for override and you can either “Override & Return” the item (all pieces are there) or “Do Not Return.”

This is helpful for items that are missing parts of them because it will not check in the item unless you tell it to.

Some libraries like the idea, others like typing in a Circ Note of how many pieces there are.
6. Phone Renewals

There was a suggestion made that the automated renewal system inform the patron that their PIN number is the last 4 digits of their phone number.

This would cut down on the number of phone calls libraries receive from patrons panicking about their renewals.
7. New Item categories (Rob Calouri from WLS was present for this part of the meeting)

The latest Workflows upgrade added “Item cats 3,4,5” These categories are empty for now but will be useful in the future.

Rob also stated that the upgrade was necessary because OCLC changed on their end and we needed to upgrade to continue being compatible with them.

There were not many changes with this upgrade.
8. Other Items from Rob Calouri

Active Directory – Rob stated that 14 libraries are now using Active Directory and it has been working out nicely.

YWI, YRI and MTV will be the last libraries to get it.

Ossining is the first “big” library to get it which will happen the week of June 17.

Rob stressed how important it is for staff members to “log out” when they are not at their computer and especially when using a shared computer.

It is essential that each staff member register with their names in order to integrate with Sirsi.

Rob stressed that WLS does not monitor traffic on their network nor will they have the power to do so with Active Directory.

They do not have access to see what individuals are doing on their computers on a day-to-day basis.
Envisionware – If libraries are having issues with patrons violating their Internet Use Policies, WLS can set up Envisionware to have your library’s Internet Use Policy come up on the screen every time a patron logs onto a computer and they must click “I Agree” in order to use the computer.

Thank you, Rob for keeping us all informed!
9. Nora Mulligan will be a new representative for PEK at our Circulation Committee meetings! Welcome!
10. Media Issues

Please check for all pieces of an item (all DVDs, CDs, etc.) before sending item in the bins.

Please place all discs in their enclosed sleeves. This prevents the discs from falling out and being damaged in transit.
11. Sending Item Problems to Other Libraries

If there is a problem with another library’s material but it was returned to your library, please try to resolve the issue before sending it back to the owning library.

When the issue is sent to the owning library, please put your initials and the library the item is coming from on the note in case the owning library has any questions.
12. Please place magazines in manila envelopes when sending them in the bins!

The next meeting is scheduled for September 12, 2013 and DOB will take the minutes.

HAPPY SUMMER!

Marie Trapasso OSS