Access Services Minutes - March 19, 2019

FYI:

Welcome:  Tricia called the meeting to order and welcomed Ashley McLain, AMII from NW, to the group.

Last Meeting Summary (Tricia):

• Streamline money handling goes into effect by April 1.  The process is going well at several locations that have already implemented the process.  MC is testing a coin counter to further help with processing the deposit and will report in April.
• Established Access priorities.
• The group voted to shelve fiction titles that begin with numbers in numerical order and continue to shelve DVDs based on the call number.
• Dynamic holds – the group decided to continue to pull holds one time per day. This will be reassessed after we go live with the TLC upgrade and system delivery workgroup is complete.
• We discussed custom hold cancellation reasons which will be available after we go live with the TLC upgrade.

Access SharePoint (Tricia): Tricia is trying to make it easier for Access to share information, post deadlines, and when to run reports. Currently, the AM Calendar has specific deadlines, meeting times, and implementation dates listed.

CT/WA Hotspots (Tricia): If a location has a Hotspot returned to our location, clear the item, and then give it to an Access Manager who will call the location for instructions on returning it.  It is preferred Hotspots not go through delivery. 

Books by Mail Material and Fines (Tricia): Do not withdraw Large Print Books by Mail or Outreach materials unless it has pest or other significant damage.  Often they have the last copy in system. Books by Mail customers are not charged late fees, so please waive or let Books by Mail waive fines.  Books by Mail and Outreach material should be marked missing. Do not place a trace.

Hold Labels (Tricia): Hold labels should have a corner folded down for ease in getting them off.

Meeting Room Reservations (Tricia): Any meeting room reservations between 3/15 and 3/24 will be handled at the local level due to the transition to LibraryMarket.

Shelving DVDs (Kiley): Movies and TV shows should be interfiled. 

Action Item: If a location is not currently interfiling them, they should interfile them by April 1. 

Hold Cancellations (Meghan): After discussion at the AM meeting last month, Meghan proposed four new cancellation reasons when we upgrade CARL.X/CARL.CONNECT:

• Damaged item; another copy requested
• Unable to purchase material requested
• In-library use only
• Public services internal use

The first three reasons may be used for sending automated customer notifications.  The “Public services internal use” is for processes where automatic customer notification is not required or warrants phone/email contact from staff with more detailed explanation. 

Action Item: Access Managers will educate staff on selecting the appropriate cancellation reason and making every effort to use one of the pre-set options rather than selecting “Other” and entering free text. 

Plastic Bags (Michelle): Kim Terry has asked us to encourage customers to purchase one of the MLS totes and confirmed that it is OK to charge $2.00 for the $5.00 bags.

Money Keys (Tricia): BUS has no preference where the money keys are stored, as long as the keys are secured during operation hours, either locked in the safe or in the money drawer.

Weekend Deposit Money Bag Workgroup (Michelle): Michelle shared the workgroup’s recommendations. BUS prefers we include the date in/on the bag.  A post-it note or piece of scratch paper with the date written on it that matches the POS report should be placed inside the bag with the deposit or taped to the outside of the money bag. This will begin April 1, 2019.

Discussion:

Fine Waivers (Risa): Risa presented the Fine Waivers report that describes the trends in fine waiving by staff since transitioning to CARL.X in September of 2014.  Since the Borrowing Policy and Procedures were changed in July 2017, there has been an increase in the amount of fines waived, which was expected.

Action: Access Managers will have conversations with their staff about the importance of logging in and out of CARL.X, when to cancel fines instead of waive, and having conversations with customers about fines/fees on their account.

The document will be shared at the next Public Services Manager meeting.

Delivery Tracking Instructions Workgroup (Geraldine): Geraldine presented Delivery Tracking Instructions to the group.  We will be using a spreadsheet in the Access Manager – Workgroups – 2019 Delivery Process OneDrive folder to semi-annually identify recurring problems in delivery and decrease the amount of time it takes to process on a local level for a two-week period.  The next tracking period will be April 15-27.

Access Priorities, Small Group Discussion Based on Regions (Tricia): In small groups we discussed the Access priorities we established in the last meeting to ensure they are realistic priorities and tasks could be accomplished at all locations each week. Library Managers/Managers on Duty may make a location decision to reorder priorities for the day based on the library’s needs.

Workgroup Sign Up (Tricia):

• Shelving Training Standards for All Access Staff led by Meghan at MC. Workgroup includes Brandon Johnston, Cindy Revels-Nigg, Cameron Smith, and Tricia Andrews.
• Inventory Guidelines led by Geraldine at SO. Workgroup includes Brittany Mays, Kevin Sendall, Debbie McPherson, and Taylor Horn.
• The AM Cabinet is reviewing the ASI/II Hiring Document. Send any thoughts/comments to your cabinet member by Friday.