Circulation Committee Meeting 

September 14, 2021

Prior to the meeting, some folks had trouble connecting through Teams. Allison Midgley suggested using a browser like Firefox and Chrome. Go to teams.office.com and sign in using VDI/AD credentials, using the format firstname.lastname@westchesterlibraries.org. The important thing is logging in. If you aren’t logged in, you are attending as a guest and will not have access to all of the features.

The meeting began at 9:30 am.

Claims Returned: Allison suggested Claims Returned be used as a last resort. The problem is that these items can linger on the patron record indefinitely. If your library uses Claims Returned, it is a good idea to track any developments regarding searches or returns and ultimately, if the item isn’t found, check in the item and delete it, or mark it as lost and forgive it. Libraries should never put another library’s items into Claims Returned.  If a patron claims to have returned an item belonging to another library, it is the patron’s responsibility to contact the owning library. Libraries may wish to assist their patrons with this step.

“High Level Hold Has No Copies” error:  The new update will deliver an error message and override option.  Staff should say “no” to the override if they wish to avoid placing a hold on an item with no copies.

Pre-cats: It is very important that a barcode scan be verified before a pre-cat is created. Otherwise, the patron may be stuck with a checkout that can never be checked in. Unless you are deliberately using a pre-cat checkout workflow, cancel the pre-cat pop-up and then re-scan the barcode to check it out.  Pre-cats ultimately need to be upgraded to full records or deleted and a new, full item record created. If the pre-cat is marked for deletion, its barcode should not be reused. Instead, replace the barcode. Because of an Evergreen update, only WLS can delete some older pre-cat records. If you find a pre-cat that can’t be deleted, email support@wlsmail.org with the information and they will delete it. New pre-cats can be deleted by the owning library. A list of pre-cats for your library can be retrieved using the Evergreen Report template Pre-cat Titles.

Patron record updates when the person moves from one town to another, but still lives within the system. Existing patron records should be updated with a new barcode and home library. If the existing record is not found until later, patron records can be merged. Find steps to merge patron records in the Circulation Essentials in the Patron Registration section.

Item Stat Cats: If you see items added with an “Unknown” stat cat value, you may be missing out on important circulation statistics. The Evergreen Report template Items With No Stat Cats v2 can be used to retrieve these items and edit the records. Items added can be viewed monthly and records should be corrected on a regular basis.

Hopeless Holds: If an item is being requested for a hold and you cannot find it, you should make sure it is not the last copy before you put it into Missing. You can easily see this if you enable the Potential Items column on the Holds Pull List screen. If you are putting a last copy into missing, please contact the patron to see if they want to cancel the hold or not.

Do not delete Items while they are checked out. You do not want to delete an item while it is checked out, in transit, or on the hold shelf. You can avoid this mistake by enabling the Status column on your screen. Never override the message “The copy in question is not in an ideal status for deleting.” Instead, investigate the status of the item and adjust if necessary.

Training Recordings: Meeting and training recordings are available at stream.microsoft.com. Sign in using your VDI/AD/Evergreen credentials, using the format firstname.lastname@westchesterlibraries.org.

“Aw Snap” Browser Crashes: The new upgrade to Windows 10 along with new hardware should mitigate this problem. Hopefully we will see these upgrades by 2022.

Question from a library: What forms of ID do libraries accept for registration? Answers included NYS Drivers License or ID, or another ID and mail from a current address

A library requested that all staff let patrons know about existing fines even if they aren’t going to pay them, so they aren’t surprised by that information at another library.

Receipt Printers: Code for customized receipts is available on the Evergreen Receipts and Slips IT Wiki page. Code for Transit Slips and Hold Transit Slips With Day and Night Routing will be added soon.

Next Meeting:  Tuesday, November 9, 2021. Alix at BDH is taking minutes.

The meeting ended at 11:30. The meeting was not recorded.

Respectfully submitted by Marge Perlin at CHA.