Meeting Agenda: March 11, 2025, 9:30-11:00 AM 

 Member Intros and New Member Welcome 

Welcome, Kim Naples from Briarcliff for signing on to chair the committee!  And many thanks to Angela Groth from Ardsley for chairing the Circ. Committee for so many years! We look forward to continuing to see you at meetings as a participant.

Topics/Updates/Demos 

WLS Mobile Update: 

  • Wilson and Allison met with the ByWater President yesterday, Monday afternoon, for an update on everything they have been actively working on to address the login/log-out issues. 
  • ByWater has  implemented CloudFlare – a security measure that blocks bots, to the Aspen Catalog URLs and the WLS Mobile app. The app’s authenticators could not keep up with the bot attacks, and there should be improvement. Later this week, we will have a status report from ByWater on everything they’ve implemented to share with our Board and the Directors.
  • If you have several patron reports combine them into one ticket, and add as much detail as possible to the report. But, because of the volume of reports, please be aware that you may not get specific followup to your ticket.

Proposal for raising the hold limit from 25:

The original proposal suggested raising the hold limit from 25 to 75 items, to match the checkout limit. This proposal was based on patron feedback submitted to Scarsdale. The patron, an “avid reader” / power user commented that holds on on-order and other very popular titles can fill up the 25 item hold limit.  The goal would be reducing friction for “power user” patrons placing more holds, rather than need to wait for library staff to override limits.

Library comments included-

    • Concerns about libraries’ capacity to shelve hold items and patrons’ tendencies to place many holds and then wait for all items to arrive before picking them up (multiple libraries raised these points)
    • Potential for disproportionate use by / advantage to the existing “power users” with unseen negative impacts on lower volume users. Most libraries have 3-4 people or families that are high volume hold users.
    • Concerns about a potential impact on delivery – will the vans have the capacity to keep up with the potential increased volume?
    • Some patrons do not place holds on on-order or high demand titles in advance, because it cuts into the limit, will this cause negative impacts on them?

Questions-

Q: Is it possible to exclude suspended and available holds from the maximum hold limit?

A: No – at this time, all non-fulfilled (captured and checked out) holds are counted in one sum.

Q: Is it possible to treat holds on on-order items differently, or prevent holds on on-order titles?

A: No – all holdable items/records are treated the same way.

Q:  Is it possible to notify patrons of suspended holds?

A: Maybe! Lindsay is investigating a suspended hold notification and reports

Decision-

The Committee recommends increasing the hold limit to 35.

Contract Patrons:

There are different types of “contract” or “nonresident” patrons who are eligible for WLS library services. For the purpose of tracking patrons and statistics, WLS defines “Contract” as patrons who reside in an unserved community in Westchester county, where the community pays (contracts) a library service area for library services.

  • For libraries that have these arrangements, assign patrons the CONTRACT1 or CONTRACT3 profile. Please do not use contract patron statistical categories.
  • Known “contract” patron libraries – ARD; CRO, HHF, PEK, YRK. Reports are written based on home library and profile. 
  • If your library has questions regarding coding, counting, and tracking contract patrons and library use, please contact Lindsay by email or help desk ticket.

Discussion-

    • “out of county” or non-resident users – how do libraries use these terms? Laura from GRE shared her example that they consider WCC or Westchester Medical students “out of county” or non-resident users because they are only in Westchester/using the library for as long as they are enrolled in school.
    • All people who live, work, attend school, and/or own property in Westchester county are eligible for full accounts, using regular profiles (ADULT, etc.)
    • If a resident of one town asks to get a card at a library other than their own local library, create a TEMP account, which they should update with their local library. Use the “find your library” map to find the correct local library.
    • Patrons can use any library they prefer, and set their preferred hold pickup library to any library, their local library or somewhere else.

Update-

Both CONTRACT1 and CONTRACT3 profiles expire in three years.

Patron Statistical Categories:

Patron statistical categories are intended to be used for reporting. WLS currently has no reports that use patron stat cats in any meaningful way, and patron stat cats are subject to several workflow problems and software bugs that make them unreliable for reporting. Most concerning, stat cats cannot be deleted, they can only be changed to “blank”.

  • Lindsay would like to overhaul the patron stat cats, starting with getting a better understanding of the stat cats. 
  • Please fill out this form: Patron Stat Cat Review

Summer Reading CSLP Manual Code:

Krishna Brodigan will be sending out the information. Any questions, please email him at kbrodigan@wlsmail.org.

Reminders 

Evergreen Upgrade scheduled for June 2025: 

We will be upgrading Evergreen versions in June. More information about specific changes and preview/training opportunities will be shared as we get closer to June.

  • The biggest change will be to the Reporter module. The functionality or power of the Reporter will not change, but the interface and layout will be very different.
  • There may be some changes to backend data source definitions. Lindsay will get more information out in the next month or so to start identifying old/unused reports that people can get rid of, identifying reports that are still being used, testing the updated report interface, and making sure that necessary reports are not affected by the upgrade.

Question-

Q: Can reports be made shareable between libraries again?

A: This is a permissions issue, Lindsay will review.

Non-Resident Patron Applications:

Patrons that do NOT live, work, go to school, or own property in Westchester can apply for a paid non-resident card valid for one year. ($75 for patrons 65 and younger, $35 for patrons 65 and older, or anyone living with a disability. Allison Pryor does not require “proof” and operates under an honor system.)

  • If your library has applications available, please make sure your library is using the up-to-date application form from the WLS website, and please do not accept cash payments on the patron’s behalf. 
  • Allison confirmed that she prefers that patrons fill out and mail the applications themselves when they are able to do so.

 Discussion/Q&A 

Children and access to library materials:

Allison Pryor raised the question if libraries were concerned about scenarios of children requesting older/adult material based on a concern raised by a librarian wary of groups like Moms for Liberty or others questioning children’s access to “adult” materials.

  • General consensus – interventions by groups like Moms for Liberty or others questioning children’s access to “adult” materials is rare; children’s library use/materials borrowed is up to parents.
  • Resources available for libraries/library staff that may receive questions/comments/concerns on the matter:

New/rapid loan items not being returned until they are marked lost:

Issue presented by Marge from CHA –Adult services librarians are reporting that new/rapid loan items are not being returned until they have been marked lost, is there anything WLS can do?

Discussion

    • Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done, other than possibly considering tweaks to the notices, such as adding “People are waiting!” type verbiage to notices, increase number of notices and/or formats of notices, or implement different notices for different type of materials. We currently send email only notices at 3-days pre-due, 7-day overdue, 14-day overdue, and 30 day lost. The print lost notice generates if a lost item remains overdue/lost 7 days after the email.
    • There is potential to add text notifications for overdue materials. The new service for text notifications is in the testing phase, and should be rolled out soon. It is currently planned for hold notifications only, but we will look into options for additional notices.
    • Laura from GRE asked about a second lost notice, sent 60 days after the item is marked lost for items not returned. GRE has a manual process for identifying these items. Lindsay will work with Laura to test this.

Technical Services group:

We will kick off the new library technical services/materials processing/cataloging staff meeting April 8, 9:30-10:30 am, online.

  • Please submit agenda topics! We are also open to a new name that won’t be confused with the PLDA Tech(nology) Committee.

Bad Quality Barcodes:

Lori from BRI mentioned that some libraries’ barcodes are poor quality and are not aging well, causing them to not scan. Sindy from POR also confirmed this is an issue for them. We know of a previous order where the barcodes faded and smudged quickly. WLS made efforts to reach out to affected libraries for replacement orders.

  • If items have bad barcodes, contact the owning library to alert them. If your own barcodes are bad, contact the help desk to report the issue to Wilson Arana.  
  • Adding clear, durable tape over barcodes seems to be a workaround for now.

Next Meeting:

The next Circulation Committee Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM.