Circulation Committee Meeting
Sept 14, 2017

I. VDI COMPUTER SYSTEM — Wilson Arana and Chris Hernandez of WLS did a presentation about the new virtual machines which have been and are being installed in the WLS libraries. Early adopters (mostly in the northern part of the county) have been having problems with some of the profiles, but they will be coming back to work on those issues.

In response to a question, there are NO guest identities for the new system. Everyone who uses the system MUST have an active directory account; WLS will be glad to provide such accounts to anyone who needs one. This is a matter of security.

A person can only be logged in to one computer at a time. HOWEVER, a person can move from one computer to another and pick up right where she left off with the first computer by logging in to the new computer and NOT logging off/shutting down the first computer.

Some libraries report really slow logins with the VDI; this is a problem that has to do with the individual profile of the person using the VDI, and should be reported to IT Help, so they can fix whatever is wrong with the profile.

One of the goals is to boost the network speed overall, getting everyone in the system up to 100 MB. Right now, most libraries are between 20 and 50 MB.

When the network goes down with the VDI, everything goes down; the computer can’t be used for anything, including MS Word or other programs. If wireless is up then an installed VMware (for VDI) on a laptop or tablet can be used right where the staff left off.

WLS is moving to a two network provider system, to make it much less likely for WLS to experience outages.

There is a way to install the VDI on other computers, including laptops, tablets and even phones, IF your library has VDI installed already. The directors of the libraries have been given instructions for how to do this. Additionally, you can go to https://mypc.westchesterlibraries.org/,click on the image for “Install VMware Horizon Client” and follow the directions for your particular device.

Some libraries have inadequate wiring which is slowing down the performance of the system and leading to problems.

Another issue raised was that reports such as the Clean Holds Shelf need to be reformatted every time they’re run. The response is that, while Workflows used to be set at the computer level (so whoever used a particular computer would have particular settings), now these settings are made at the user level. If the whole library wants to have a particular setting for reports or whatever, every user has to change. IT made an effort to copy the Workflows settings the libraries used before to start up.

Twenty two libraries already have VDI; the goal is to have all of the libraries in the system covered by the end of October.

Early next year, WLS will start to install VDI on the public machines. They will not have speakers or drives; patrons will have to use USB drives.

Some libraries (including PEK) have had problems accessing any USB drives with the new machines. This is a matter of making sure the computer has the proper drivers for the USB type. If a library is having trouble reading USB drives, they should go to the IT department and let them know what kind of USB drive it is, so they can install the proper driver.

At the end of the day, SHUT DOWN, don’t Log Off. Don’t turn off the computer altogether. Shut Down is the default on the button on the lower left hand side of the monitor.

One advantage of the new system is that Workflows updates can come in overnight, without any input from the staff at the various libraries, and the new version will show up automatically, with all proper upgrades. Staff can be given access to the new version before it’s released to the public, in a test pool site where they can try out the new features.

II. SIRSI UPDATE — Didn’t happen over the summer as it was supposed to. We’re waiting until all the libraries have been changed over to VDI machines. It was a small upgrade anyway, so we may wait until the next upgrade to update SIRSI.

III. STAFF CARDS — This was decided at the PLDA meeting since our last Circulation Committee meeting. The deal is that if a person works at a library other than the library where he/she lives, that person can (doesn’t have to) get a Staff card at the library at which he/she works IN ADDITION TO the card from his/her home library. It is possible, if someone works at multiple libraries and lives in the area of yet another library, that the person could have multiple cards.

When someone retires or leaves the staff, some libraries change the card to a Courtesy card from a Staff card, but that’s up to the individual library.

Concern that this is going to throw off the statistics and lead to potential abuse.

It’s up to individual libraries to keep track of staff cards for their library, to delete or change as necessary.

If you are having problems in your particular library with this Staff Card business, send an email to Angela with details, so if she brings the issue up at the next PLDA meeting, she’ll have something to back up her challenge.

IV. OTHER CARD ISSUES — Temporary cards: MTV and WHI do not mail cards to patrons when they convert temporary cards to regular cards, instead requiring that the patron come to the library and pick the cards up in person. WHI has changed its policy a bit, so that it will mail cards to patrons who register online, so there is some possibility that it will start mailing cards to people who apply in person at other libraries.

Birthdates: Some libraries refuse to take birthdates, because of concerns about putting personal information into a public database (IT assured us that it’s secure). Some libraries put everyone as “adult” because they don’t put in any birthdates. At some point, the system will be able to validate emails and phone numbers for patrons quickly. Getting accurate, valid information helps all the libraries in the system.

Email information: less than half of the active (cards used w/in last 18 months) patrons have email addresses associated with them. Some patrons are leery of giving out email addresses, concerned about whether they will be sold or otherwise passed along to outsiders. One library sends out a welcome email to every new registrant, the first paragraph of which reassures them that the email address will not be given to anyone else. If the email bounces, then the library knows the address is incorrect. When you tell people the benefits of the system’s having their emails, they usually like the idea: quicker notification of the availability of holds, and (if the directors have chosen to set it up this way), an email sent out three days before a hold is due to expire. WLS has had three phone systems over the last 18 years, and while the current one is pretty good, email is still probably going to be the better way of notifying patrons in the long run.

Library Elf: may change when SIRSI itself changes. It’s not actually connected to WLS, so if something goes wrong with Library Elf, WLS will not know about it.

The question was raised about how to email a receipt for a patron without printing the receipt. There’s a way to set it up under supervisor settings, which will create a dialogue box every time you’re about to do a receipt, asking whether you want a paper receipt.

V. NEW ITEM TYPES/CATEGORIES — For game consoles (Nintendos, Playstations, Wii’s, Nintendo Switches, X-boxes), the IType is GAMECONSOL for adults, and GAMECON-J for kids.

There is a new patron category #6 (ONLINE) in the “demographics” section, which is to be used if someone registers online.

VI. SHARING — Marie from OSS was not present at the meeting because she’s out on maternity leave — she had a boy.

KAT: Started lending out musical instruments, guitars and ukuleles. Some of them were bought by one of the staff people, some were donated. Yonkers is also lending out ukuleles. In the case of KAT, there was no advertising other than displaying the instruments in the library, and the response has been good. The instruments are loaned out for three weeks.

LAR and SOM have been lending out telescopes to patrons. SOM has also been lending out birdwatching kits for children.

The Eclipse: most libraries had a successful experience, with one library reporting 200 people attending the event. People used glasses, colanders, shoeboxes, homemade pinhole viewers, and most people shared their glasses with each other without any problems.

Question whether you can put a note on an item so that a patron (as well as a staff member) can see the note. Answer: yes, when making the note, click “public” rather than “staff.”

VII. BLUE CLOUD ANALYTICS — Demonstration by Allison of some of the ways to use the system. Start at IT.Westchesterlibraries.org, where there are detailed FAQ’s, instructions and practice programs. There was an upgrade to the system at the end of August, so there may be new templates and slight changes from the last time you used it.

Allison demonstrated how to run a missing items report, and showed some other templates for frequently used reports such as Count Users Created in the Last Month, List Duplicate Print Items, List Duplicate Media Items, etc.

When you see “Legacy charges” listed for items, that includes all checkouts before the changeover to SIRSI; the “lifetime charges” includes only those checkouts after 2011.

Allison will be coming around to do some local demonstrations and if there are a number of people from a particular library who want a demonstration, she can go to that library upon request.

You can get the log-in information for Blue Cloud from one of the classes, OR from your director, OR from the IT Help desk, OR from Allison.

NEXT MEETING : NOVEMBER 9, 2017