SRG

February 3, 2010

Meeting Minutes

Attendees: Brenda Muhlbaier (GCLS), Flo Rosenberg (GCLS/MHB), Kathy Capobianco (WDL), Judy Ballard (GCLS/MHB), Margaret Ware (PIT), Jacki Moore (NEW), Lynn Harpool (MON), Carolyn Green (GCLS/LGB), Carol Wolf (GCLS/GLA), Carol Atkcinson (GCCL), Pat Hirsekorn (GCCL), Ann Kohn (GCIT), Jean McGowan (DPL), Bunny Jacobsen (DPL), Patricia Collins (GCSL/GRE), Marge Dombrosky (GCLS/SWE), Karen Shiles (GCLS)

The minutes were read and a few corrections were made.

In the last meeting’s minutes a note had been added that Margaret Heggan’s patron cards were blocked at $5.00. This is not what the director had set up with Karen. They are still blocked at $.01. The new director might revisit this policy, but Karen asked them not to change anything until their new director can make that decision.

In the section on OPAC Timeouts, it was mentioned to contact Karen or Ralph about this issue. Please use the email address it@gcls.org to contact them. This way, even if one of them is out, all the GCLS IT staff will see the email and can respond.

Workflows Upgrade: We are now upgraded to version 3.3.1 – the first one since we switched over to Sirsi’s server hosting. There was no downtime, as the Sirsi it person started it earlier than scheduled (3am rather than 7am). It went well; everything seems stable, although slower.

Other Library’s Policies: West Deptford has been cleaning up temporary Paulsboro cards and speaking to the patrons about their not being able to use the temporary cards anymore. Most has been going well. One patron who used their West Deptford resident only computers was accepting, if disappointed, when told she would not be able to use those 4 computers anymore. However, when she spoke to another library’s staff about it, the staff person informed her that West Deptford was not allowed to do this, that they were being discriminatory. The patron then came back to West Deptford to complain about their discrimination against non-West Deptford residents. She also called their director to complain. The patron, when complaining, did not mention speaking to Paulsboro staff, so it is unknown which library’s staff person had offered their opinion about West Deptford’s policy. PLEASE Do Not discuss other library’s policies with patrons!!! If you have a question about a particular library’s policies, please feel free to contact that library for more information; but Do Not offer your opinion to the patron about library’s policies.

Workflows Speed Problems: Sirsi has sent Karen some suggestions to improve the slowness, which she forwarded to all libraries. The suggestions help, but do not alleviate the problem. Karen suggested that we begin tracking slowness on Workflows; she will come up with a form so we are all tracking the same way. That way Karen can share the documentation with Sirsi.

Paulsboro Update: They are circulating on Workflows, but do not yet have a delivery schedule set up with SJRLC, so please do not override the holds block on Paulsboro items. They hope to have deliveries set up soon. Also, Karen is not sure if they have had cataloging training, and asked if anyone from Paulsboro has contacted any of the other LOGIN libraries present; no one had. Judy mentioned that she has been suggesting the Greenwich branch as a pickup location to Paulsboro residents, as they are the closest library to Paulsboro. Carol W. has also been making that suggestion.

Pat C. asked if they had any checkout limits; Karen replied that they limited to 5 for adults, and 3 for children. Brenda asked if this was for total checkout on the record, or at a time. Karen was not sure.

New User Name Fields: With the last upgrade, we now have multiple name fields in patron records: first name, preferred name, middle name, and last name. Right now, everything is in the last name field. Karen will run a report to move everything after the comma (ex: Smith, John) and put in the first name field. You may update these fields when renewing patron records, but it is not necessary to make a point of updating, as Karen will be running this report sometime in the spring.

Using the preferred name field: If the patron wants to use their preferred name, you must check the box ‘use preferred name’ in the User Registration or Modify User screens. This will then cause the preferred name to be the name displayed in the patron name line. Workflows name lookup will search both first or preferred name fields.

Duplicate User Records: It was recommended to use this feature to check if a patron already has a card at another library. Enter their last name and then search for duplicate records. You can then modify the existing record instead of issuing a new card.

Brenda asked about how to activate a college barcode for patron of GCLS so that they could access the college’s databases. Karen demonstrated how to add a secondary barcode to a patron’s record. In the Modify User screen, click on the ID Manager gadget; you can then add a barcode to the Active ID screen.

Pat H. then mentioned that students access their databases with a User ID and Password – not their barcodes, so it not necessary to add college barcodes to their records. However, they do need their barcodes to access the Overdrive database. If you do add the college barcode to a patron’s record, please keep in mind that the college cards expire every semester, and they should not have access to the college’s databases when they are not currently enrolled at the college.

Checkout History: Margaret Heggan staff attempted to locate the patron previous to the last patron to check out an item and were unable to do so. It was recommended that staff check items before checking them in. That way, if there is a problem with an item you can hold off checking the item in, in case the patron returning the item states the problem existed when they checked out the item. You will still have the previous patron’s barcode in the record to enable you to contact them about the problem with the item.

Charge History: No circ rules have been set up, so the only choice that works is the ALLCHARGES choice in the drop down box. If you use this option, all circulation is saved; patrons needs to ‘opt in’ for this due to the privacy issues of setting this up as a default – anything saved can be accessed. Circ Rules need to be decided upon by the library director. To set the defaults, you must do so on each PC; it cannot be done globally, as not everyone in LOGIN will want the same defaults.

It was reported that some patrons are complaining about not being informed of shortened loan periods and/or higher fines associated with items from other libraries; particularly when the item is not labeled as such. Newfield loans their DVDs for 2 days, but do not label them, as their patrons know about their loan periods. They do not have a problem with other libraries loaning their materials for longer periods.

Please make sure to review loan periods with patrons at checkout. If one or two items have shortened loan periods, identify them to the patron. The information is also listed on checkout receipts.

Pat C. also recommended using the Fine Free Discharge wizard when you are checking an item out and get the message ‘item not discharged’.

Pat H. brought an example of an item with a strange holding code. The title was ‘The help’; next to the GCCL barcode was the code DPL. It was determined that this is Sirsi’s way to identify an item being held at another library to fill a patron request.

Pat C. mentioned that when an item is sent to a patron via GCLs MailLit program, it shows up on a patron’s record as checked out, but the patron does not remember checking the item out. There is nothing in the record specifying that an item was mailed. Items mailed out have to be checked out to the patron first; they get an extended due date of 3 weeks, you can use that information to determine if an item might have been mailed.

Pat C. mentioned items being returned damaged. If there is no note on the item, she calls the patron who last had the item – or library, if the item was returned ‘in transit’.

The next meeting will be on April 7^th at 9:30 at the Greenwich Branch.