Access Services Minutes - November 14, 2017

Outcomes:  To discuss topics related to the Access staff and to ensure staff and members have a consistent experience across the system. 

Welcome

Risa welcomed the group and invited attendees to stay after the meeting to explore the new Capitol Hill building.

Discussion

Missing Pieces Procedures (with Sarah Peterson)

Sarah reminded attendees to send all mismatches to her. The only work we should be doing on-site is calling the member to see if they have it, though it was mentioned that adding a note to the account would be helpful. She said it would be helpful if we could fill out the missing item form and send it with the item. She is still gathering information to determine if this is more efficient than how we had been doing it. Her goal is to establish clear processes and find out if centralization is a good thing.

Other notes:

• If a member is charged a replacement fee, we should not also charge the late fee.
• If empty cases are found on the shelf, Sarah does not need those as the disc has likely been stolen. Those empty cases will go to the Friends.
• Once withdrawn, items immediately become property of the Friends, so everything except hazardous items (mold, infestation, bodily fluids) should go to them.

In-Transit List

This list needs to be run weekly, though some locations don’t have the staffing to keep up with this. Risa has created a template which has been helpful. There isn’t currently an expectation for completion, but Risa will set one soon, so it would be best to get in the habit of running it.

• Action Item: Even if your location cannot complete the In-Transit list weekly, please handle 2-3 of the oldest items on the list each week to start whittling them down.

Communicating with other libraries

Most locations prefer to receive an email as opposed to a phone call regarding shelf checks for in-transit items.

Managing hold shelf

Several libraries use a method of marking all items left on the hold shelf after pulling expired holds on Monday. The next Monday, all previously marked items should be gone. Any remaining with the mark have been there for too long and likely did not get checked in initially.

FYI's

Workgroups

• Shelving Order – Janeal

Feature films were the biggest stumbling block in their discussion as the spine and back white label are different. Discrepancies also come from how items are cataloged vs. the best method of shelving. The workgroup is now getting feedback from libraries not represented in their team.

• Access Training – Meghan

Bridget has scheduled all of the rooms for the training. Meghan will begin scheduling trainers in the next week. Meghan, Geraldine, and Risa were able to see the changes coming to CARL.Connect at a conference they attended.

• Action item: AMs need to determine which staff are priority to be trained first because there won’t be enough slots for all access staff in this first round. Priority should be given to new staff and those who use the software more regularly. There should be enough slots for all AMs and ASIIs. Engagement and LMs are not priority currently. Training will resume in August for the remaining staff.
• Action Item: AMs need to take the recommended Excel training courses in Lynda.com (or be at an equivalent competence level) prior to the Access Manager training in January.

• Access Hiring Team – Risa

HUM has requested that job listings for ASIs and ASIIs need to be tailored to the specific location with an opening. ASIs will not need to upload a cover letter or resume. ASIIs will have the option, but it will not be required. The workgroup and HUM have agreed that having hiring managers set up the phone interviews will speed up the process. The workgroup is reviewing the interview questions, assessments, and the implications of timing the assessments. The CAR method is not useful at the ASI level. HUM has suggested that if frontline staff are to be represented in the hiring teams, we set up a six-month standard pool of people so that they could receive training. Additionally, the region’s AMIII/IV will serve on the in-person interviews whenever possible.

• Onboarding - Geraldine

Geraldine is reviewing currently used on-boarding documents submitted from library managers. Engagement will be going through this process as well, led by Ben Mead-Harvey. We will begin using these procedures in the new year.

• Access Job Descriptions – Risa

There is no update to date. Risa has met with VI, ED, and BI thus far and each have had feedback about job descriptions. The recommendation that our titles be shortened to Access Managers (AMs) from Access Service Managers (ASMs) to avoid confusion with ASI/IIs has been well-received.

• Library Accounts – Risa

The primary question with this discussion has been the definition of “reside” in the AL 200 policy as it applies to homelessness and transitional housing. The intention is that members include those who financially support the library by owning property or paying rent. This issue will go back to the procedures committee, comprised of Zach, Natalie, Risa, Mel, and Kylie) for small group discussion.

TLCU Recap

LS2PAC is being rebranded as CARL.Discovery. In future releases, we will be able to log into the public side as staff and will have more staff features available. CARL.Connect is not yet a replacement for CARL.X, and currently only supports about 80% of staff transactions. The company will be “Ferberizing” (utilizing the FRBR method) records to put more metadata in place for deeper-level catalog usage. This will allow grouping of formats within the catalog under one entry for easier browsing.

A question was asked about whether holds will live update in the future; this is not on the horizon, though we could add a second update time if desired. Other concepts discussed at the conference were integrated catalogs with local schools, STEM checkout items, and creating report templates.

Open Topic Time

Bedbug management was discussed. The Village Library has found bedbugs in various locations within their library, furniture, and materials, but it should be made clear that the issue is a statewide one, not specific to this location. All locations should be aware of what to look for in their collections. Jill shared information and videos created at VI for training staff and dealing with the issue.