SRG

April 22, 2009

Meeting Minutes

Attendees: Karen Shiles (GCLS), Carol Baughman (GCLS-EAS), Kathy Capobianco (WDL), Carolyn Green (GCL/LGB), Flo Rosenberg (GCL/MHB), Bunny Jacobsen (DPL), Jean McGowan (DPL), Marge Dombrosky (GCL/SWE), Debra Rosner (HEG), Jacki Moore (NEW), Margaret Ware (MCC), Mary Ward (WVL), Carol Atkinson (GCCL), Pat Hirsekorn (GCCL), Lynn Harpool (MON), Laurie Cranston (Wod), Susan Mroz (FRA)

Review of minutes from last meeting: Marge Dombrosky made a correction to the minutes of February 11, 2009. The incorrect information read, “Margaret asked about lost, damaged, never returned items; who is responsible for the cost of these items. For example, a patron at McCowan wants to pay for a lost Woodbury book. This has been discussed by the directors: the borrowing library must reimburse the owning library for the lost or damaged item. Margaret asked about items that are never returned; when do we call the owning library about the long overdue item. This issue has not been discussed by the directors.” This paragraph was corrected to read, “The agreed policy is that the bill stays with the patron.”

Monroe Migration: Karen Shiles stated that Monroe’s migration is now complete. The Database has been loaded and they went live on Thursday, March 26, 2009. The call information for Monroe Library is Monroe and the beginning ID will be 4201.

The database indexing for Monroe is complete. Lynn Harpool stated that initially they had 30 pages of holds.

Mary Ward stated that Westville is open, but they are still busy shelving books and adding new items.

Monroe is due to close May or June for 4-6 weeks for the move to their new facility.

Blank lines in patron address fields: Karen stated that there could be a problem with User’s records having blank lines in address fields. If you accidentally put information in the extra address line and backspace the information out, instead of deleting the line with the delete icon, it will create a blank line. If you’re having trouble with the way things display, you may need to remove information using the delete icon.

How to handle missing material: Margaret Ware stated that McCowan marks the item missing the same day it is not found. If it’s missing three times in 3 consecutive monthly reports, then they delete the item.

Kathy Capobianco reminded everyone that it was important to check database to see if you were the only library with that item. If so, you would need to call the library waiting for the material, so they can inform their customer that there is no other copy. If there are other copies, do nothing, it will automatically place a hold on the next available copy. Laurie Cranston stated that if only one or two other libraries have it, make sure they are holdable copies and not lost. Pat Hirsekorn said that the Gloucester County College Library looks for the item for a week and then will mark the item missing.

Marge asked Karen about customers who call about items that say “no holds allowed” when they’re placing holds online at home. Karen said she would look into adding “no holds allowed – call library for assistance”.

Nonholdable items: Kathy reported that West Deptford now has a limited selection of two-day book express and DVD’s. These items are not holdable. Pat Hirsekorn asked where in the record does it show a non-holdable item. Karen said it may need a new item type and that would have to create a new item type, if necessary. Pat needs to look into that. Laurie suggested running a report every month to change item types – i.e., taking books out of the new item field. Woodbury runs a report every month to change their item types. Karen stated that if you want to make an item-type change, just select cataloging, go to tasks – and select Call number, then scan the item or type in the barcode. Then go to Item Type and select the change you want to make.

Questions:

Kathy had questions concerning new DVD’s and McNaughton items. West Deptford is noticing that items are showing in the catalog before the allowable distribution date. Margaret stated that McCowen puts the disc in the catalog when the disc is received from distributor, but the item show up as not available until the allowable distribution date. Kathy thought that some libraries were checking out these items before the street date. Karen stated that these items at GCLS may show up in the database, but would be checked out to tech services for processing – and are not out to customers. It was suggested that this concern should be addressed at the LOGIN Director’s Meeting.

Kathy stated that they had a problem recently when the circulation desk missed trapping a hold and put the book on the shelf. When a customer found the book on the shelf, and Kathy tried to override the hold and check it out to that customer, the system would not let her override it. She wanted to know why she wasn’t able to override the hold. No one else noticed this problem, so Karen said she would check into it and get back to Kathy. Also, the customer waiting for the hold noticed that she had lost her place in line in the hold queue, In order to correct this; Kathy cancelled the hold, checked the item out to the customer, and put it back on hold for the customer who was on hold. Karen will check to see if it’s West Deptford’s property settings. Others have not seen this happen.

Mary wanted to know the proper procedure for trapping holds. She wanted to know if there is a difference in scanning an item under discharge or Trap-a-Hold. Is there a difference between the two?

Debra noticed that Heggan Library is receiving a lot of locked DVD cases, and they do not have the hardware to unlock the cases. She wanted to remind libraries to unlock their cases before they send them out. Marge said she would remind all the GCLS library branches.

Debra wanted to know if there is a way to reuse a customer barcode. For example when you scan it into a customer’s record accidentally, can you retrieve that barcode? Karen said you just delete the old barcode and put a new barcode in. Kathy said if you reuse a customer barcode for a different customer, won’t it still show up on a customer’s record as a previous ID? Karen will check into this and get back to Debra.

Debra asked if there is a way to manipulate the holds list. Karen stated that with the current version of Work Flows, the hold can only be moved to the top of the list. So, you need to delete the hold, go into place a hold, and make a checkmark where it says make first in queue. In the next release of Work Flows, you may be able to change a person’s place in the hold queue.

Margaret asked if there is any way to find the borrowing history of an item, other than being able to view only the previous customer. Karen said no.

Karen stated that the directors are discussing having a Reports Training Class that may be held at the college.

Kathy asked if Paulsboro was still slated for migration by the end of May. She wanted to know what to use for the expiration date for the courtesy cards? Karen doesn’t think they will be ready in May. She will be meeting with the Director of Paulsboro tomorrow. Kathy stated that West Deptford will move the expiration date for courtesy cards for Paulsboro to December.

Lynn asked how much lead time Karen needed to stop holds for Monroe Library due to their moving. Karen said, “As soon as possible.” Westville closed without problems with only one week’s notice.”

The next meeting will be Wednesday, June 17^th at 9:30 a.m., at MHB.

Minutes taken by Marge Dombrosky.