MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS: Jerrick Harris from White Plains and Sioban Keane from Mount Kisco.

UPDATES AND DEMOS

Message Bee – We will be using Unique Library’s Message Bee service to send SMS messages.

  • We are working with Equinox, our ILS host, to implement this service. We anticipate beginning service January 2025.
  • The Evergreen process for sending SMS messages is no longer supported by cell carriers, resulting in notifications not being received by patrons even though they are generated and sent by Evergreen.
  • The Evergreen development community has decided that because of technical changes related to SMS messaging, they will not be prioritizing development. Many other Evergreen libraries and systems are moving to other services for SMS.
  • We are working with Equinox and Message Bee to add functionality to add notes to patron accounts indicating that a notification has been sent.
  • Staff, and patrons themselves, will no longer be required to add carrier information to the patron hold notification preferences. All carrier information will be managed by Message Bee. Otherwise, there should be no changes to staff or patron holds workflow.

Patron Point Verify – WLS IT has been working with PLDA and the Technology Committee on implementing automatic patron account renewal using Patron Point Verify. 

  • Verify would connect to Evergreen to collect expiring patron records, then compare the name, mailing address, email address, and phone number to industry standard identity verification and email validation services (Patron Point partners with Ekata and Zerobounce). 
  • No account information other than name, mailing address, email address, and phone number is accessed. Account information is not retained by Patron Point or transferred to partner services.
  • If the account contact information is verified, Patron Point Verify sends an email notice to the patron letting them know their account has been renewed. If the account contact information is not verified, the patrons receive an email letting them know they need to contact their library to extend their library privileges. 

Questions and comments from the group:

What about cards with no activity (or, deceased patrons)? – Expiring records will be reviewed for current activity (circulation and online logins), to prevent renewing inactive accounts in perpetuity.

Patron privacy– several staff raised concerns about patrons’ privacy and data security in regards to third party services and that address verification is a violation of patron trust.

WLS will follow up with Patron Point about an opt-out.

Patron Renewal Policies – WLS is including a form surveying libraries for their patron account renewal policies in the circ. committee follow up email.

  • NEW: does not generally accept patron renewal over the phone, except for house-bound or senior patrons. Otherwise, requires in person renewal with photo ID and proof of address.
  • WHI: is the same, although they will allow email renewal if the patron uses the registration form to provide their information. Patrons in temporary housing must renew in person.
  • BRI: recommend in-person, but will make exceptions for phone renewal, particularly if there is some kind of “hardship”. They will renew the accounts of “known patrons” over the phone. They like people to visit the library in person sometimes.
  • OSS: allow renewal by phone and email if the patron confirms that their contact info is the same. They support automatic patron renewal.

Patron Record Cleanup – To support various efforts to contact patrons, libraries are recommended to review their patron records for inconsistencies and other data entry issues, also including verifying that profiles are correct (e.g. juvenile profiles where the patrons are teens or adults, etc.), and statistical categories are correct (e.g. resident vs. non-resident, etc.)

  • WLS has reports available that libraries can use to identify problem records.

Hold Shelf Etiquette – A library reported an issue where patrons with expired, or soon to expire, holds on the library’s hold shelf are contacting other libraries to have the hold shelf date extended. 

  • This does not seem to be a widespread issue, but we remind libraries not to extend hold shelf dates for other libraries’ hold shelves. Updating holds for your own library’s patrons/hold shelves in extenuating circumstances for short periods is acceptable.
  • When in doubt, reach out to the other library involved.

Item Renewal Etiquette – Check to see if there are holds on any titles that have exceeded renewal amounts. If there are no holds, and it is owned by your library – it’s okay to force another renewal. If it belongs to another library, then please do NOT force another renewal without checking with the owning library first. 

Tech Services Group – Is there interest in a group/committee dedicated to tech services / holdings maintenance staff? WLS is including a form surveying libraries to gauge interest in the circ. committee follow up email.

Cataloging Update: Cataloging Multi-parts Sets – There has been discussion at PLDA regarding the, PLDA established, policy to catalog multi-part sets – e.g. DVD sets that are packaged with all seasons of a television series, multi-volume book sets like packaged primary readers, music series like Time Life Music of the 70s – as complete sets, as they were packaged/released/published. WLS does not break up sets to catalog the individual parts separately.

  • WLS Cataloging is soliciting feedback to determine if there is any interest in changing this policy so that TV series on DVD/Blu-ray that are packaged as the complete series are broken up in to individual seasons.

DISCUSSION and Q&A

Fine Free Policies – Jennifer Coulter (POU) – received a patron complaint about inconsistencies in fine free policies among libraries. 

  • Currently, of 39 libraries (Rye and Rye Osborn have different policies), 23 are fine free for all, or for selected material types, and Mamaroneck is fine free for juvenile collections. 15 continue to charge fines.
  • Fine free policies apply to items checked out at a fine free library, regardless of the item owning library, the patron home library, or eventual check-in library.
  • Information about specific libraries’ fine free policies can be found here – https://westls.samanage.com/solutions/1126068-fine-free-libraries.portal

Registering Temporary Cards for Patrons – What is the practice for creating library accounts for people who come to your library, but live in a different town represented by another library?

  • Create a patron record in Evergreen and fill everything out normally EXCEPT for the barcode, home library and profile.

Barcode: can be anything that indicates it is a temporary barcode. I.e., POUTEMPCARD11132024 (library code/temp card/date)

Home Library: Wherever the patron’s actual home library would be.

Profile: Temp

  • Print the registration form to fax or mail, or screenshot and email to the appropriate library.
  • OSS, PEK, and WNR all keep cards from neighbor libraries on hand to issue official cards for their neighbors as needed.

REMINDERS

Update Closed Dates Editor in Evergreen and Holiday Listings in Aspen – With the holiday season and end of year approaching – now is also a good time to review your library’s (and branch’s) closed dates in the Closed dates editor/Aspen Primary Configuration.

  • For Evergreen: 
    • Administration > Local Administration > Closed Dates Editor.
  • For Aspen: 
    • HOURS = Primary Configuration > Locations > Your Library > Scroll to the bottom of page. 
    • HOLIDAYS = Primary Configuration > Library Systems > Your Library > Scroll to the bottom of page.

Note: You need to have Aspen Administrator privileges to update the holidays/hours in Aspen. The following libraries are managed by WLS: ARD, BDH, BDV, HAS, KAT, MAM, PUR, and YPL.

Next Meeting – The next committee meeting will be on January 14, 2025. Minute taker needed!!