Circulation Committee Meeting Minutes

December 9, 2020, 11:00 am

Allison Midgley started the meeting with an update about deleting items that are Checked out, Lost, or Lost and Paid.

  • If an item has a status that Evergreen sees as unusual, like Checked out, Lost, or Lost and Paid, an alert/override similar to “Copy in bad status for deletion” will display. This alert should only be overridden in the case of “Lost and Paid” items.
  • Deleting an item does not remove the bill from the patron’s account. Deleting a lost item with an unpaid bill will cause problems should the patron return the item, most particularly if they return it to a bookdrop. The item will return an “item not found” error when scanned, and there is no way to find the patron whose account is associated with the item.
  • You can run a report of items that are Lost or Lost and Paid to for information about replacement.

It’s important to enter the Day Phone at the time of registration to update PIN. If a day phone isn’t entered at the time of registration, the PIN will be set to a random number and the patron will have trouble logging into their account or setting up digital resources.

Recently added Circ Modifier: Mobile Hotspot

  • If you would like to start using Mobile Hotspot, contact the help desk to request set up

A list of recommended Circ Mod loan periods can be found on the IT Wiki at
Services > Circulation > Policies > Loan Periods

There were two informal polls of libraries.

  • How many libraries are offering printing as a curbside pickup service? About 10 libraries said yes. Some recommended using the PrinterOn app
  • How many libraries use Evergreen Pending Patron? About ⅓ of the libraries do. All libraries should check their pending patrons list weekly to process patrons who requested cards through the catalog Request a Card link.

If you want to delete a Claims Returned item, you can mark it Lost/Forgiven so the patron isn’t charged. Then delete it.

If a staff person logs into Evergreen and their workstation settings aren’t right, they should check

  • If they are signed into Chrome and their profile is Synced. If they aren’t, they need to log out of Evergreen, sign in and sync Chrome, and log back into Evergreen.
  • If they are using the correct workstation. If they had to re-register their workstation and didn’t enter what they had been using, they won’t have their workstation settings. Go to Administration> Workstation> Registered Workstations and enter the workstation name they had been using. They will know it’s correct when they get a “Workstation already exists. Do you want to use it?” message. They should choose it from the dropdown and log back in.

Links to library websites have been added to the OPAC.

There will be a new WLS Helpdesk coming in January. You can sign up for a Preview session on Evanced.

Discussion

  • Please continue to follow the policy for marking only your own items Claims Returned. Especially with items going into quarantine, libraries recommended asking the patron to wait a few days and the item would likely come off their account. After that, a library can provide the library’s contact information, but the patron is responsible for contacting the owning library to follow up.
  • Several libraries are still having trouble with Chrome crashing and printers not loading or working properly.