The Library Accounts Policy (AL 200) was updated in the fall of 2016 and again in June 2017. Over the last year, multiple groups have worked on updating the Library Accounts Procedures. A main challenge that we faced was providing enough guidance that staff know what to do but enough versatility to allow the process to change with new technology and new ways to establish eligibility and establish accounts (online registration, in-person, with or without an application). Previous versions of the procedures included specific avenues to prove someone is eligible for an account, defining what Reciprocal cardholders were eligible for, and handling issuing library cards for school visits and residents of institutions.

The most recent workgroup for these procedures identified that most of the content of the previous procedures did not belong in the procedure document.

• Avenues to establish eligibility – The workgroup identified that frontline staff need the freedom to determine what constitutes establishing eligibility. If we attempted to list a set of criteria in a procedure document, it would need frequent updating to account for potential changes to the technology or to specific websites or documents that are available. Since Access Training was being developed when the procedures were being developed, we opted to move methods of establishing eligibility into training so that it is more flexible and adaptable to what is available at the time of training.
• Reciprocal procedures – Most of what was identified in this document was already covered by the Policy documents (AL 200 and AM 200 Interlibrary Loan) and was therefore considered unnecessary in the procedure document. Information about eligibility for this type of account would also be covered in training.
• Issuing accounts during group visits – Most of what was identified in this document was identified as customer service best practices (e.g., provide students with printouts of outstanding fines or fees). One part of this procedure did make it into the current draft: parents or guardians can submit student applications through a school or correctional institution. This allows the school or institution to be the intermediary to providing consent for a library account to be established for a minor.
• One area that has been a source of confusion is how long a School account is valid. Because it is a school account, some people were counting a year as a school year and expiring the account in either May or August. Some people were counting a year as a calendar year and expiring it 12 months from the date of creation or renewal. This was not a problem with the Annual Fee account because there was not ambiguity about the type of year referred to. The group considered expiring the School accounts on the same date as ONECard accounts (Sept. 1) for consistency. We settled on a 12-month expiration instead because School accounts are common at libraries on the edges of our service area (ED and NW) where people may live outside of the service area but attend school inside it. This could result in a rush on those already very busy libraries at the beginning of the semester to reestablish eligibility. We could see no long-term disadvantage to extending a student privileges potentially beyond the end of their school enrollment since there was a finite end to that period.

We are happy to receive any feedback about this draft of the procedures. Please post your comments below by February 28th..