MINUTES OF THE CIRCULATION COMMITTEE, MARCH 8, 2022

TEMPORARY CARDS: With Evergreen, we no longer reuse cards.

Only issue a temporary card if there is no permanent card for the patron and the patron should belong to another library. Gather the patron’s information and when you set up the record, make sure you do not use your own library information for the pickup library. If you’re unsure which library the patron should belong to, use the patron library finder on the WLS site. The temporary profile is set for one month, allows three checkouts, 3 holds and overdues. The cards are blocked at $25 fines.

  • Old Temporary Cards: the cards are supposed to last a month but there are a fair number in the system which should be purged. During the pandemic, expiration dates were extended to May, 2020, so some cards are now coming up to be purged. A library can purge the temporary cards that are no longer needed by doing a patron search, merging if they’re duplicates, or deleting them. If a temporary card contains lost items or fines, it shouldn’t be deleted.
  • Not Physical Cards: It’s not necessary to issue a physical card to a temporary patron. On the registration form, instead of a barcode, the clerk can put in a number or a sequence of characters (e.g., the library’s initials and the temp date). A library can issue a regular barcode without giving a physical card to a patron, giving the patron, for instance, the barcode on an index card as WHI does.

AGE RESTRICTIONS ON CARDS: A patron asked for a card for a newborn at one library. The restrictions are set library by library. Some have no age restrictions, some require that the child be able to write their name to get a card. Some restrict them to kindergarten and up.

MENDING/DAMAGED: When we moved to Evergreen, everyone was advised to get rid of “Repair” or “Mending” or “Damaged” cards to which damaged items were checked out. If your library still uses these cards or their equivalents, please stop. An item checked out on any card is still holdable and visible in the catalog, which is not what we want for damaged items. Check the items in from the card and mark them damaged at check-in. If you need help doing this, please send in a support ticket and you’ll be shown how to make these items damaged.

EVERGREEN 3.8 UPGRADE

The tentative date for the upgrade is overnight on May 25. The new version will be up in the morning on May 26. There will be training available through the Evanced calendar in late April and May. The new version is on the test server now, so those who wish to can “noodle around.”

New Features

  • Notes/Messages/Alerts will all be in one consolidated tab marked “Notes.” Any notes that are archived will be saved for a year. Clerks can choose whether a note or message is visible to the patron or not. If a patron’s record has too many notes, not all of them will be visible.
  • Overrides at Checkout will be easier to control. Clerks will be able to override subsequent popups at the outset, rather than having to click override on each one.
  • Triggered Event Logs are changed, will be easier to filter and read and will load faster.
  • Item Holding Editor will allow you to hide lots of the items’ attributes, to avoid problems with items.
  • Changes in Acquisitions Module as well.

HELP: Remember you can get help from the IT Wiki (it.westchesterlibraries.org), where you will also be able to find the minutes from previous Circulations Committee meetings. You can also sign in to Solar Winds support with your Google account, and can send emails to support@wlsmail.org.

ITEMS IN BINS: Reminder: please do NOT tape routing slips directly to items. Put the slip in the item and rubber band the item.

CASH PAYMENTS: Discussion of whether to send cash through the WLS delivery system. For the most part, libraries are willing to take cash from a patron who’s ready to pa for an item. Some libraries will take the cash and then issue a check to the owning library. Others will put the cash in an envelope and put it in the bin to the owning library, calling the library to let them know it’s coming and/or putting the name of the head of circulation on the envelope. If the payment is for a large amount, libraries tell patrons they can pay online with a credit card. Since libraries have no problems sending replacement items to those libraries that accept them, there shouldn’t be a problem sending money as well. Usually when a patron gets to the point of paying for a lost item, there has already been dialogue with the patron’s library, and the patron’s library can tell the patron to make the check out directly to the owning library. When an item is lost and paid, the library should remove the item from the catalog.

DATES OF BIRTH: Discussion of whether libraries should include some part of the patron’s date of birth in patron records. Considerations of patron privacy as opposed to considerations of duplicate patrons and situations where father and son have the same name and need to be differentiated. Using at least the year of the patron’s birth makes it easier for libraries to transition patrons from Juvenile to Teen or from Teen to Adult categories. Knowing the ages in general of the patrons using the library resources can also be useful in determining what resources to buy, what kind of programming to do. The Committee did not end up making a recommendation about whether best practice is to include birth dates or not. The suggestion was made that the birth year be used with a “dummy date” like February 29.

FINE FREE: Discussion of how libraries are doing after they go fine free. Lindsay provided a list of the libraries that are fine free; there may not be a public list (list is attached). Libraries which have gone fine free haven’t noticed a problem with patrons not returning items on time (more than before), though sometimes clerks need to be trained in how to discuss the fine free situation with patrons. The 30 day lost letters have made a big difference in people’s returning items.

PURGING PATRONS: If a patron has fines of less than $25 and no lost items, the card will be purged 24 months after it expires. If the patron has no fines, the card will be purged 18 months after it expires.

RENEWING OTHER LIBRARIES’ CARDS: Libraries will renew cards for other libraries’ patrons if the patron shows ID (for the most part). ID can include things on people’s smart phones, since many people don’t get mail these days. If the card is a temporary card, it shouldn’t be renewed. The patron should be directed to their home library to get a permanent card before the temporary card expires.

SPECIAL OUTREACH TO SENIOR RESIDENCES: Discussion of whether people in senior residences get library cards, what kind of ID is necessary (generally if you go to the residence and the person lives there, the library won’t require more ID). Some libraries have programs at senior residences, some have drivers from the residences coming to the library to pick up books for the residents.

PRINTER ISSUE: Several libraries have noticed that from time to time in check in, Evergreen randomly changes to .pdf rather than any of the library’s printers. At some libraries at the beginning of the day various library printers don’t even show up as options. Suggestion that when libraries are moved to Windows 10 (a dozen libraries have already) this problem might be fixed, though one library said that wasn’t a solution. Suggestion that if you’re not using PC Reservation on a particular computer, you close it, because it uses up a lot of memory when it’s running. Also suggested GPupdate/force will fix the problem.

TRAINING AVAILABLE: Check the Evanced calendar for Evergreen training, training in Windows 10 and associated software. Note about Libre Office: if you have .pub files, there’s no equivalent, so if you haven’t moved to Windows 10, save those files as .pdf so you’ll be able to use them. Make sure all your materials are backed up before you move to Windows 10.

FINE FREE LIBRARIES (As of March 8, 2022)

ARD (fines remain for media items)
BDH
BDV
EAS
GRE
HAR
HHF
MAM (juvenile and YA materials only)
MTP
NCA
NEW
OSS
PEK
PUR
SCA
WHI