Circulation Services Subcommittee Minutes
May 11, 2021, 9:30 am
Phone/video conference
Action Items:
· The CSS recommends the “new” LINKcat library patron application form be sent to the IC for approval at the June meeting.
· The CSS recommends setting the “MessageDeliveredExpireDays” and “MessagePendingExpireDays” system preferences to 120 days in order to prune older messages from the Patron Message queues and Print Message table.
· The CSS recommends the changes proposed for the Data Entry Format guidelines to be sent to the ILS Committee for final approval.
Present: Zach Ott (BAR), Jeff Kauffeld (MAD), Ronda Evenson (VER), Margie Navarre-Saaf (MAD), Kelly Heasty (MCF), Erica Kersten (PIN), Eddie Glade (STP), Barbara Henderson (MID), Jo Clark (REE), Autumn Baumann (POR), Tanya Bolchen (FCH), Emily Noffke (MTH)
Absent: Steev Baker (SUN)
Excused: Emily Harkins (WAU)
Recorder: Michelle Karls (SCLS)
SCLS Staff Present: Heidi Oliversen
1. Call to Order at 9:34 am
a. Introduction of guests/visitors
i. None.
b. Changes/Additions to the Agenda
i. H. Oliversen asked to change the word “test” to “text’ under Discussion 4a. E. Kersten suggested we swap the order of Discussion 4e and 4f.
c. Requests to address the Committee
i. None.
2. Approval of previous meeting minutes: March 9 , 2021
a. Motion: The March meeting minutes were approved by consensus.
b. Discussion: none.
c. Vote: motion carried.
3. Action Items
a. “New” patron application – Not included as motion for last ILS Committee meeting.
i. Motion: M. Navarre Saaf moved to send the modified “LINKcat library” patron application form to the ILS Committee for approval. K. Heasty seconded.
ii. Discussion: This item was accidentally left off the last IC Agenda, so it will be presented officially at the June ILS Committee meeting.
iii.
Vote: motion carried.
4. Discussion
a. Providing Pre-overdue and Overdue notices via text. Is there a need?
i. Discussion: H. Oliversen mentioned that the enhanced Messaging Preferences options in Bibliovation have the ability to offer Pre-overdue and Overdue notices to patrons via text. Increasing the number of texts means an increase in fees to libraries. Email hold filled notices go out the same day the item was checked in. Text (and phone) hold filled notices go out the day after the item was checked in (if the item is not already checked out). Without having tested this process, we think that Pre-overdue and Overdue text notice would also go out the “next” day. Pre-overdue texts would not be very efficient as patrons would only get one day notice before the items are overdue. Overdue notices wouldn’t have that problem. Have patrons been asking staff if they can get pre-overdue and overdue notices via text? Library staff in attendance said they didn’t have many patrons asking for this, which may be because we don’t offer it yet and they don’t know to ask. The group thought it would be a good idea to survey all libraries about providing Overdue notices via text messages for more input. Text messages are typically much less informative than email notices; Heidi will check to see if there is a limit to the number of characters in a text message and look at the base template (example) of what an overdue notice text message would look like. Heidi will also develop a survey to ask libraries if they would want to provide overdue notices to their patrons via text messaging.
b. Demonstration of changes in Bibliovation 7.0.
i. Patron Groups
1. Discussion: H. Oliversen demonstrated the functionality of the Patron Groups at our last meeting. LibLime had provided an in-depth demonstration to H. Oliversen and C. Weber after they provided the 7.0 version in our Sandbox. This functionality uses and enhances the guarantor and guarantee fields. It does partly provide some of the “family relationship” functionality that we have on our development wish list. Libraries will be asked to test this in Bibliovation 7.0 prior to the upgrade later this year (August? September?). In the new Mobile app, patrons will be able to link their children’s accounts to their account so they can see the holds and checkouts on those accounts. Libraries would also like the functionality to pay all the fines owed by all patrons in a family relationship/patron group at once and this was mentioned to LibLime.
ii. Question about Patron Delete option. In version 7.0, the option to delete a patron record is no longer “hidden” in the More button, but is a link in the left screen menu. Could this potentially cause a problem with staff unfamiliar with deleting records? Heidi demonstrated the change, VER and MAD mentioned they would like to hide the Patron Delete feature because it would cause changes in workflow and has the potential to create confusion. H. Oliversen will make a blanket change for the staff logins (CIRC3 ROLE) to remove the permission to delete patron records but the permission will remain in the admin logins. Individual libraries can request this permission set change for their staff logins for their individual library workflow. H. Oliversen will document this with the 7.0 release, list the explanations on why we made this change, and mention she can add this permission to staff logins if requested.
c. Discussion of Auto-purging messages.
i. Motion: M. Navarre Saaf moved to set the system preferences “MessageDeliveredExpireDays” and “MessagePendingExpireDays” to 120 days in order to prune older messages from the Patron Message Queues and Print Message table. J. Clark seconded
ii. Discussion: H. Oliversen reviewed the document she provided describing the functions of these system preferences. This will replace the manual requests to LibLime for purging of notices and messages submitted annually in July. At the last CSS meeting, we discussed various amounts of time and the group agreed on 120 days (four months). This is for any messages that are in the patron’s Message Queue (text, phone, email) and notices sent to the Print Message table.
iii. Vote: motion carried.
d. Patron Alerts, Blocks and Notes: review changes
i. Discussion: H. Oliversen reviewed the proposed changes (they are highlighted). Thanks to everyone for submitting these changes. E. Kersten mentioned on page 9 it should say “in the checkout screen and in the Discovery Layer dashboard. B. Henderson mentioned some outstanding typos in the Fines section which H. Oliversen will review and then post Section 6 with changes.
e. Discussion about uniform entry of patron names: Is it better to have uniformity or to have names match the photo ID?
i. Motion: K. Heasty moved to recommend the changes proposed for the Data Entry Format guidelines to be sent to the ILS Committee for final approval. This is a suggested change in procedure/data entry. E. Kersten seconded.
ii. Discussion: The workgroup agreed to encourage uniform entry of patron names so it’s easier to search for patron records. E. Kersten came up with some examples of why it would be better to enter names without punctuation or strictly following the format of the name provided on the ID from the patron. PIN has not been using a period after the middle initial (because of Talking Tech) and don’t use punctuation in the name or address fields in general. The changes are highlighted on the document. Uniformity would be useful for notices, holds slips, etc. Patron records would need to be manually updated. It’s unlikely that we would be able to write a script that would efficiently remove the spaces or punctuation marks in multiple patron records at one time.
iii. Vote: motion carried.
f. Patron Record and Registration section: review changes.
i. Discussion: H. Oliversen reviewed the proposed changes to the section. Do patrons need to fill out a new application for an old/lost card? M. Navarre Saaf felt that libraries should make this call. MID, MAD, MCF agree that this should be discontinued. M. Navarre Saaf raised a possible motion of “A patron in LINKcat with a lost card may have the card replaced at any LINKcat library and the library is responsible for updating and issuing the replacement card.” However, this could cause confusion/complications with non-LINKcat libraries. We will table this issue for now to give it more thought. H. Oliversen will accept all of the changes made to this section of the manual and post it. If there are further changes recommended or approved those can be added later. H. Oliversen and M. Navarre Saaf will review the guidelines for suggested changes to submit to the AC for the August meeting.
5. Plan for Next meeting: July 13, 2021 at 9:30 am – Heidi will be on vacation. CSS can choose to reschedule the meeting or meet without Heidi in attendance.
a. Members will review Section VII Fines and Financial Transactions of the Circulation manual with a deadline of June 15. After that the members will review Section VIII Problem Items statuses and workflows.
6. Adjournment at 11:26 am
For more information about the Circulation Services Subcommittee, contact Heidi Oliversen.
SCLS staff are available to attend cluster meetings to share information and answer questions pertaining to this committee meeting and other departmental projects.
Circulation Services Subcommittee/Minutes/05-2021