Access Services Minutes - August 20, 2019

FYI

Last Meeting Summary (Risa):

• ILL fines/fees clarification
• Changes to print notifications
• No Internet Access with Special Stops
• POS refunds with credit cards
• Shelving training trials
• ILS records management
• Holding missing pieces for 5 days
• Local Access Manuals
• Documentation

1000 Books Before Kindergarten (Kristin): This program is for Birth through Age Five using Beanstack. MLS will soon be participating in this national program to enhance pre-literacy skills before children enter Kindergarten. The soft launch begins on September 1. Libraries will be receiving printed reading logs and starter packs. Children will earn stickers, bookmarks, a plush reading buddy, and tote bag throughout the program. If you would like to have a committee member speak to your local staff about this program, please contact Kristin Williamson in EPS to arrange a time.

Recycled Fine Waivers (Geraldine): As of August 15, we are no longer handing out fine waivers. Recycled fine waivers need to be shredded. Please do not put them in trash cans.

Action: Shred all recycled fine waivers locally or send to EPS for shredding.

Local Shelving Guide (Meghan): The system Shelving Guide provides a page for locations to add their local shelving information. All locations are asked to complete this page to assist the Floating ASII and other staff when filling in at different locations. 

Action: By October 1, add your location’s Local Shelving Guide page to the AM Sharepoint under Documents—Workgroups—Local Shelving Guide. The folder contains the template for the local guide.  

Claims Never Had Process (Michelle): Items which still have a Claims Never Had status are not being deleted as part of the ILS Records Management. These items should be caught by running the CNH list each Wednesday. When the item has been on the list for 4 weeks and not found, it needs to be checked in and coded Missing.

Action: Check your CNH report going back to the beginning. If your location has any older items still on the CNH list, please code them missing after checking the shelves.

Bounced Emails and Push Customers for Text/Emails (Risa): Risa shared information from IT on how bounced emails are handled. UPDATE from IT: bounced emails will now have the email address removed from the account and changed to the setting “No-Do not send emails.” Since we are no longer sending out 14-day overdue notices, staff are encouraged to try to obtain customer emails. New paper notices will include a “Go Paperless” statement telling customers how they can receive their statements faster by signing up for electronic notifications. 

@XXPest Cards (Risa): Some items on Pest Cards are still being routed in delivery. This could spread pests to other items in the mail. Any item on a pest card (@XXP), whether it’s on your location’s pest card or another location’s pest card, needs to be addressed immediately. This means checking it thoroughly for any signs of current or past pest activity and following procedures from the Pests in the Library document. 

Offline Circ Checkout Period (Risa): With the recent Sunday network outage, it was discovered that some workstations still had a two-week checkout period in CarlX’s offline circulation system. When in offline circulation, there is an option in the upper right-hand corner that will allow local staff to update the loan period to three weeks. Making this change will permanently update the loan period for future offline sessions.

IAO Accounts and Overdrive (Risa): The setting in Overdrive, which was mistakenly allowing customers with IAO accounts to access content, has been corrected. We can expect some IAO customers to ask why they can no longer access Overdrive.

System-Wide Delivery Study (Jennifer and Vicki): Jennifer and Vicki discussed the interdepartmental study on how we can update the delivery schedule and red bin allocation so that (1) more customers receive their items the same day and (2) the drivers’ arrival time at the Service Center will be staggered to allow use of the sorter, thereby reducing hand sorting errors. Currently, implementation is set for October or November 2019. Please contact Jennifer or Vicki with any questions or concerns about how the update may affect your location’s space, workflow, or staffing. 

What Questions would you like to answer with data (Risa): At the next AM meeting, Jennifer Livingstone will be sharing the data available to us on Tableau. Contact Risa or your AMIII with what questions you would like to be able to answer with Tableau. 

Discussion:

Adult Volunteers (Heidi Port, Guest Speaker): Heidi presented on how adult volunteers are contributing to MLS. Access Managers discussed how volunteers can assist in a variety of Access tasks. Heidi is available to help locations develop local volunteer opportunities.