Access Services Minutes - June 15, 2021

Welcome: Tricia called the meeting to order. Attendees shared a micro-win from their locations in the chat to start the meeting on a positive note.

May Meeting Summary (Meghan): Meghan reviewed the action items from May’s meeting based on the communication checklist.

Situational Awareness (Chris Basler, Security Manager, OPS): Chris spoke about situational awareness. Situational awareness is often our best and only warning system and is especially important in our line of work. Chris mentioned ways to improve our situational awareness, including making mindfulness a habit and improving your observational skills.

Pests in the Library (Tricia): Every branch should have a pest card. Potential pest items will be placed on hold on local pest cards. A question was asked about why we are using both the @pestcard and the charge/discharge notes. A vote was taken and starting July 1st we will only be using the @pestcard.

TAB and VMP (Angel): All TABs and chargers should be routed to Outreach at this point, except for the materials currently on hold. Once these TABs have an “on shelf” status, please route them to Outreach. All VMPs should be withdrawn and sent to the Friends with their chargers by the July AM meeting.

RFID Issues and Reminders (Geraldine): If items are too close to the RFID, it can cause errors since the machine can write multiple tags at a time. Staff can override a tag locally. If you notice items are consistently being re-routed to your location, please check the RFID.

Fine Free / Autorenewal / Patron Deletions Updates (Risa):

• On June 30th, overdue fines will be removed from customer accounts. Manual fines OVER $3 will remain on accounts. The night of June 30th, Anne Fisher will make the change so most of our items will be fine free. Tech (e.g., Chromebooks and Hotspots), Experience Passes, and ILLs will still accrue fines. On July 1st, items will still show as overdue when they are overdue, but they won’t owe a fine once the item is returned. There will no longer be a need to backdate returns, unless they are items that accrue fines.
• New patron accounts will be set to expire in 3 years starting July 1^st. Inactive patron accounts in good standing will be deleted mid-July.
• On Aug 2^nd, the FRBR catalog will go live, and there will be emails sent to all-staff communicating catalog changes.

Missing Pieces (Tricia): This discussion will be tabled until the August AM meeting. Until then, we will continue with the current procedure of immediately sending missing pieces to Greg after the manual fine is placed on the account and the customer is notified.

Checking for Damage (Tricia): Tricia led a modified six thinking hat discussion about when to check for damage.

• White Hat: A new sorter will be installed at the Service Center soon! This will allow us to check in the contents of an entire ERGO trolly by scanning a barcode on the trolley. Items will still need to be sorted.
• Black Hat: Tricia launched a poll inquiring about when we check for damage and opened a discussion about what prevents us from checking for damage less often.

Ultimately, it was decided to conduct a Local Delivery Study for all libraries. A study will take place before the new sorter arrives as well as after to ensure enough data.  

System updates (Risa): DN sewer repair is on schedule. PSLT is working on humidity issues in libraries. A group is coming together to evaluate Google Hotspots and Chromebooks. A report on Experience Passes is being created to share how the first six months went. PSLT is working on updated signs and flyers for the Metro Checkout app. The committee inventory process is moving along.

Review of action items / Complete Communication Checklist (Tricia):

• Pests in the Library: Starting July 1, no more charge/discharge notes for pest items.
• TAB and VMP: TAB should be sent to OR with the chargers. Keep filling TAB holds until on shelf status. VMPs to be withdrawn and sent to the Friends with the chargers.
• Fine Free/Autorenewal/Patron Deletions: Fine Free July 1, retroactive fines will be removed. Fines still on tech, ILL, passes. Don't need to backdate. New patron Accounts set to expire in 3 years July 1. Mid-July patron accounts deleted if inactive and in good status. August 2 FRBR launches.
• Situational Awareness: How to practice being more situationally aware.
• RFID Tags: Can write multiple RFID tags at the same time - be mindful of where other tags/material are in relation to the writer. Staff should investigate potential issues and can rewrite tags locally.
• Missing Pieces: Keep sending missing pieces immediately to Greg after adding manual fine and contacting the customers. Will readdress at August AM meeting.
• System Updates

Next Meeting: July 20, 2021 at 1:30pm via Zoom / Next Notetaker: Northwest