ILS Task Force Meeting Minutes for July 31, 2012

In attendance: Donna Morris, Anne Fischer, Karen Marriott, Lloyd Lovely, Kay Bauman

One goal of the demos is to gain information about the particular ILS to formulate a RFP (Request for Proposal). Currently, we have three (3) demos scheduled:

• August 14 8:30-noon (DN) – Polaris
• August 15 8:30-noon (DN) – SIRSI
• August 16, 8:30-noon (DN) - iii

At this time, only the ILS Task Force members will be present for the demos. Later, we will invite others to participate in further demonstrations of the products (as discussed at the July 2012 Tech Support meeting):

Kay Bauman discussed the original purpose of the Tech Support committee as a way to address staff and customer suggestions on our integrated library system (ILS). The committee was comprised to gain different perspectives of users at all levels. With upcoming changes to our technology philosophy and the process of moving to a new ILS, the committee will evolve. One impact is that no more modifications to the ILS System will be made since we will be moving to a different one.

As the ILS Task Force researches other integrated library system vendors, the Tech Support committee members will play some part in testing new ILS software and systems and provide perspectives on their use. There is no timeframe of involvement at this time.

The purpose of today’s meeting is to determine what we need to ask the vendors when they demo their products for us.

We need to determine the cost and we need to remember that BUS & HUM will not be part of the phase one transferring to a new ILS.

• The generic price estimate is $490,000 and this does not include many of the essential functions.
• BiblioTheca self check units cost $13,000 each. We are looking at self check units as we are not sure our units can be modified to work with a new ILS.

Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) has upgraded to the 2012 version of Polaris. Dallas and Maricopa County are still using the 2010 version of Polaris and that is important to remember as we are looking at the current users. Vendors determine when customers are eligible to upgrade and typically the price includes one (1) upgrade per year.

Each of the ILS Task Force members are to submit to Anne by August 10 a list of questions to ask each of the vendors.

Anne provided an incomplete listing of the "Features we now have", which is included with these minutes. We will have this listing finished by the time the vendors arrive.

Features we now have:

Customer Interactions

1. Checkout (limit number of items to 30(60))
2. Renewal
3. Online renewal
4. Reserves(limit number of items to 30)
5. Online reserves – place, change pickup location, cancel
6. Online payments
7. Credit cards
8. RFID – checkout, scanner to read shelves in real time
9. Reserve labels – both behind desk and self-pickup; behind desk still have name; self-pickup have code that is first 4 letters of last name & last four digits of library card barcode
10. Express checkouts – checkout both RFID & barcode, renewals, renew all, payments both cash and credit card
11. E-mail notification of reserves
12. Text or e-mail reminders on reserves
13. Text or e-mail reminders on coming due materials
14. Card types – Primary, reciprocal, annual fee, school Adult, student, employee, dept
15. Transaction screen – contains status, author, title, bib number, item number, location own, location
    checked out, location code, date checked out, date due, date returned, cost, fine if returned late
16. Lookup – lookup card number by name or phone number
17. Customer data collected – name, guardian if child, address, city, state, zip, phone w/ area code, business phone, gender, date of birth
18. Customer data – we also know the first date a card was issued to them, the last date a card was issued, what library issued, last time they visited the library (what counts as visit), last time they received an overdue notice, library last visited, total number of visits, total number of items loaned, what county they’re in, are they signed up for e-notify, if annual fee, date paid and amount on card that paid since all family get a card for one fee (this info also used to send renewal letters monthly)
19. Special mail (alternate mailing address)
20. Flags – lost, returned mail, Internet, form received, date form received
21. Annual fee letters monthly
22. Reserve & overdue notifications – pressure seal form that is drawn by software
23. Reserve notifications mailed daily; overdues mailed weekly; bills – use Accuzip interface to get automation rate on mailings
24. Parental option
25. Cart

Reserve functions

1. Place reserve for customer, choose pickup location, put in special message, reserve specific item (limit number of reserves to 30)
2. View customer’s list of reserves, cancel, change pickup location
3. View reserves on a particular title
4. Print reserve labels (all or by category)
5. Confirm reserves (indicates that material has been found)
6. Print list of items to pull from reserve list (been on shelf max number of days)

Inventory Control/Shelf Management

1. Item inquiry Bib number Call number Author Title Vol/Year Status (in, out, lost/paid, etc) Date Customer number Loaned to Last Circ’d from Last Cleared by Inventory date Life Circs Value Cost Branch Own Location code Class code Media type Loan period R-Rating?
2. Shelf management app on iPad Create lists themselves Custom lists either # months not circ’d or inventory Weed Missing Weed/Replace Missing/Replace
3. Other Inventory functions Code missing Withdraw Replace barcode Inventory paperbacks Temporary loan Change location code Change loan period
4. Collection Management reports

Cataloging

List not generated yet

Cat Clerks

1. Allows clerks to pull up records by order number or by Bib number
2. Information from order is filled in; clerks confirm info and produce a kit which prints the barcode labels
3. We keep track both of the List Price (value) and the Cost (what we paid for it)
4. Can assign new Bib number
5. Item maintenance can be performed including erasing an item or assigning a new item number
6. Clerks can also perform editing of marc records

Technical Processing

List not generated yet

Materials Selection

List not generated yet

Payments

1. Daily deposit
2. Special funds – gifts, lost/paid, fines, ILL fines, copy money, sales (bags, flash drives, headphones)
3. Pay lost
4. Pay damaged
5. Pay partial
6. Pay Annual Fee
7. Refund of all listed above
8. Credit Cards

Uncataloged paperbacks
Book labels for cataloged materials