Library Card Applications Activity—Cheryl Mann, Circulation Control, facilitated an activity for the group. She handed out sheets of blank V-Circ application screenshots along with some completed application forms. Participants worked in groups of two to enter the information on the form just as they would in V-Circ. Cheryl went around the room answering questions and providing feedback. She reminded everyone that reciprocal cards are issued to customers who are eligible for a Pioneer card according to the Pioneer Library System policies. Their policy states that any individual owning property, working, attending school, or living in Cleveland, McClain, or Pottawatomie Counties is eligible for a card. If a child attends school in their service area, the whole family qualifies for a card. Cheryl said that for MLS, a Pioneer card is not required for a reciprocal card, but can be taken as proof of eligibility. Cheryl told everyone that their Circulation Policy is on their website. She provided some tips of how to handle situations in which a person’s name or address doesn’t fit in the allotted space in V-Circ. She also explained the V-Circ software adds the “th” to numbered streets and the “St” for street names to save staff the time of typing them in. She asked that on school cards to include a note on the form to indicate the school attended.
Welcome—Lisa Myers, Circulation Clerk at The Village, welcomed the group to the Forum. She briefly shared the goals of the Circulation Forum: provide a time to share issues and ideas with each other, receive information to share with coworkers, and an opportunity to share major concerns with the Administration. The guidelines to be followed by the group during the meeting were: keeping an open mind, sharing freely with others, and maintaining privacy when discussing issues.
General Library Brochure—Kim Terry from Marketing distributed a draft of the general information brochure. Kim asked the group to look through the brochure and then make suggestions for changes to her. After some discussion, Kim urged the group to email her any further questions and comments.
I.Ground Rules –Lisa Myers welcomed the group, went over the ground rules and identified 4 goals for the Circulation forum: consistency, communication, opportunities to share and receive first hand news.
II.Summer Reading -Lisa Wood, Children Coordinator from Outreach— Lisa Wood presented an overview of the Summer Reading program emphasizing the essential role the clerks played as the frontline people. Lisa, Emily and Stacy are finishing up a video for this summer’s staff training which will be available for everyone to view. Libraries should expect a visit from Lisa and Emily with Spoticus that first week. If anyone has questions or needs concerning Summer Reading, they should call her or Emily. She said. “Summer Reading is our life for the next months and we are here to help you”. In the discussion that followed, Lisa Myers said she likes exposing office personnel to the realities of summer reading by having them volunteer for an hour during the first week. She thinks it is an eye-opening experience. This has been done in the past and may be offered again this year. Julie Ballou suggested that each library might take pictures of how they have decorated their library for Summer Reading so they could be shared in Shelflife.
Julie Ballou reviewed a final decision from Circulation Forum I’s discussion.
The 6 week maximum check-out will stand. The policy stated in the AGOP 2113 “Intro to VCirc” reads:
Books, other printed materials, audiocassettes and recordings may be checked out for two weeks. They may be renewed twice to a maximum loan period of 42 days if there is no System Reserves request for items during that period.
