Meeting Minutes–Tuesday, 6/15/21

3.6 Upgrade follow-up
  1. Email Test Notification in Patron > Edit and OPAC >My Account This is currently working.
  2. Item Grid columns and Holds tab not saving as expected; bug has been reported to Launchpad and a fix is committed for 3.7
  3. Staff Catalog Patron View is a snapshot view of the title record; use the public catalog to view live subject headings or Syndetics added content
    **HINT** Copying the TCN from the staff catalog to the OPAC will get you to the record you need in one step. This also works in reverse: the TCN appears in the URL of the OPAC and you can copy and paste it into the staff catalog.

The following will be impacted by the monthly software update to be applied overnight 6/15, and will be available 6/16

  1. The option to “Show Search Form” to view the catalog search form can now be expanded and collapsed. The display selection is also now sticky.
  2. In the catalog Item Table tab, staff users will see a link to Edit an item only if they have Cataloger permissions. Staff with Library Circulation permissions will only see the option to View.
    Anyone who currently has cataloging permissions will continue as is until the ILS Committee/ Permissions Sub-committee finishes work. Libraries recently completed an initial survey about what permissions libraries want staff to have and Lindsay is crunching data. The main goal is to prevent staff from seeing/trying to modify items belonging to other libraries. Allison will go back and review who was originally granted cataloging/tech services permissions.
  1. The Status column can be successfully added and saved to catalog grid displays.
  2. The Patron Barcode can now be added as a sortable column in the View Holds tab of the title record detail screen.
  3. In the Catalog Search Advanced options, the Shelving locations will display in the drop down at the WEST level. (You don’t have to pick a library to see them.)
  4. In grid column pickers,
    1. Visible columns are sorted to the top of the list and are sorted alphabetically within the columns that are visible.
    2. Invisible columns are sorted below the visible columns and are sorted alphabetically within the columns that are not visible.
  5. Hopeless Holds can be accessed on the Local Administration page. From here you can see holds with no available copies, and follow up with the patron.
User Record Database ID: Three types of User records
  • Active / inactive user records: Virtually all users are active. Inactivating users is not part of our workflow.
  • Deleted / not deleted user records: If you need to manually remove a user from the system, you should use User Buckets to delete them. They will still be accessible through the back end of Evergreen and their checkout data will not be lost.
  • Purged user records. These records and ALL of the attached personal information and transactions are completely wiped from staff access. (generally should not be used)

Expired accounts have not been purged since the migration. Scheduled user account purges are in process of being  set up using the same criteria as before: 18 months from expiration date with no open transactions
24 months from expiration with fines less than $25 (no Lost items)

Reminder: Patron data is connected to the three-letter home library as indicated in their account, NOT the 5 digit prefix to their user barcode. All policies are driven by that library code. Remember when updating a card from one library to another to change the home library, not just the patron barcode. Allison Midgley will look into a report of users with discrepancies between barcode prefix and home library.

Question
AG@ARD: Why and when has this been the standard?
Allison M: It was always this way, but maybe more in the background with Sirsi

“This item is not in an ideal state for deleting”
Before deleting, INVESTIGATE THOROUGHLY. Check the status; it’s most often checked out. Lost items generate this message, as they are still considered to be checked out.
If an item is accidentally deleted while it is checked out to someone, do NOT add it back in using the same barcode.

Question
AE@YRK: Can this action require a supervisor?
Lindsay: This is a broad message that applies to a lot of different statuses (not “missing”)
Some libraries may end up having this be a supervisor-only action, while other/smaller libraries may want it to be a more universal power. Again, the Permissions Survey is in Progress

Importing multiple barcodes in Check Status screen
Save your list as a .csv file (barcodes are separated by a comma) and you can upload the whole list at once. [uploading a .txt file still works too.]

Outreach, per Allison M (Krishna was not at the meeting)
WLS will be issuing temporary, digital-only cards through HeadStart, prisons, and other agencies as a first step to get under-served populations started using the library. Libraries will be able to replace these temp cards with regular cards. More information to follow from Krishna Horrigan @ WLS

Discussion/ Q&A

MW@ BRO: PC Res is allowing blocked/expired cards at their library
LS: This may be a local Envisionware configuration. What is PC Res asking for? It might be only a card number, it might look for blocks or expired status.
Info/authentication between Evergreen and 3rd party services varies
AM: suggested submitting a helpdesk ticket to make sure Envisionware is configured as expected.

LD@BRI: BRI is collecting fines again, and even though they are not using amnesty checkin, fines are not being assessed.
LS: Already fixed, but remember that fine-free checkout and amnesty checkin are two different processes. She had to reset the checkout policies.
Lost items are still billed at 60 days overdue, regardless of fine-free checkout status.

Best practice is to send emails to support@wlsmail.org rather than to individual staff members. In case someone is on vacation or otherwise unavailable, your issue will get attention instead of waiting for an individual.
Next meeting is Tuesday, September 14. It may be hybrid/in person rather than exclusively in Teams.

Happy Summer!

Laura Burk
GRE