Circulation Services Subcommittee Minutes
July 8, 2025 at 9:30 am
Zoom session
Action Items:
The CSS recommends amending the ILS Circulation policy “Patron data retention” to state “Library staff shall not store the patron’s PIN (Personal Identification Number), Driver’s License (full or truncated) or their Social Security number (full or truncated) in the patron’s digital record.”
Present: Zach Ott (BAR), Jeff Kauffeld (MAD), Margie Navarre-Saaf (MAD), Emily Harkins (WAU), Erica Kersten (PIN), Eddie Glade (STP), Tanya Bolchen (MID), Jennifer Foster (FCH), Robin Behringer (STO), Alyssa Diaz de Leon (REE), Alice Johnson (MOO), Andrew Branstad (MTH), Jeff Pond (MRO), Jackie Passant (SGR)
Absent: Autumn Baumann (POR), Steev Baker (SUN), Ronda Evenson (VER)
Excused: Claire Parrish (MCM), Kelly Heasty (MCF)
Recorder: Michelle Karls (SCLS)
SCLS Staff Present: Heidi Oliversen, Madeleine Pitsch, Cindy Weber, Amy Gannaway
1. Call to Order at 9:32 am
a. Introduction of guests/visitors
i. Madeleine Pitsch is the new Circulation Services Consultant and will be facilitating and chairing the CSS meetings after Heidi Oliversen retires.
b. Changes/Additions to the Agenda
i. E. Kersten asked to add Bibliovation slowness as 4c
c. Requests to address the Committee
i. None.
2. Approval of previous meeting minutes: May 13, 2025
a. Motion: M. Navarre Saaf moved approval of the May meeting minutes. J. Foster seconded.
b. Discussion: none.
c. Vote: motion carried.
3. Action Items
a. None.
4. Discussion
a. Condition Issues document: review, revision. Next steps.
i. Discussion: E. Kersten asked if we need to give lists of hard and soft cases used for different formats. E. Harkins doesn’t think their staff would need them. J. Passant stated it would be helpful in some cases. A. Diaz de Leon pointed out that they look the same and suggested that we consolidate this into “disc case.” This is more about integrity of the case. It doesn’t matter whether it has a hub or spine, but give them information to look for. M. Navaree Saaf asked if an item with a broken hub but still holds the disc in place could continue to circulate? Yes. J. Kauffeld suggested moving the bullet about the item having beverage stains out of “normal wear and tear.” Should it be moved to its own bullet points? H. Oliversen made changes to the document based on the group discussions. J. Foster indicated that rubber bands on jewel cases sometimes get stuck in their sorter. Z. Ott reported this has not been a huge issue for BAR’s sorter. J. Pond stated that a damaged hub can still be circulated, but a broken hub can’t be (disc floats around, etc.)? R. Beringer pointed out that not all libraries may have the funds to replace all of their broken cases. Not many small libraries are represented here and she said this could be a problem for some. E. Kersten reported that PIN staff will use a rubber band to hold the disc in place but didn’t realize it could cause problems with sorters. For the purposes of this document, this is for frontline staff on whether to continue to circulate an item or send it back to the owning library for mending or replacement. There is some language already in the Circulation Manual that covers this. For instance, some libraries switched to softer plastic cases for their DVDs and CDs after the original jewel cases were broken or beyond repair. Each library makes decisions for their own materials. Remember, these guidelines/cheat sheet is to be used for materials that do not already have a note or label stating that the Owning Library is aware of the condition issues. Approving these guidelines for use at all libraries as a standard will need to be reviewed and discussed at a higher level, not just with circulation staff. A. Diaz de Leon stated that REE does still circulate items if the hub is cracked. They put small stickers on the item that say “cracked hub” but continue to circulate so patrons don’t get charged. Libraries can choose to reject the item. E. Glade stated this group is not trying to change local library policies, but rather trying to be thoughtful about how things are perceived on the other end. Biohazard examples were provided to the document (mold, blood, urine, feces, vomit, bedbugs, etc.) J. Foster reported that FCH adds a note about drying a wet item out if possible before they send it in delivery in a plastic bag (unless it’s a biohazard). J. Pond suggested replacing “bedbugs” with “insects.” E. Kersten suggested that we should move the Do not circulate section above the Continue to circulate section. The group agreed and also agreed to put the NEW items section at the very top. Libraries can present this to their staff for review and discussion but remember that this has not been approved for use yet. We will have have further discussion at the next CSS meeting prior to sending to the ILS Committee for review by all Clusters and a vote. This is not going to be policy, they are guidelines. After this meeting, H. Oliversen and M. Pitsch will send out today’s revised document to all library directors and circulation staff for input and an explanation of what the CSS is trying to accomplish, as well as asking anyone to Reply to the email with comments, questions and suggestions for revision. We will review the responses at the September meeting.
b. Amend the ILS Circulation policy Patron data retention to include patron PINs in text.
i. Discussion: Discussed at last meeting. H. Oliversen reported that a library’s staff have been putting patron PINs in the contact note in patron records. This is a security risk. LibLime’s Data Specialist has removed all of them without causing the changes to appear in the Patron Edit History tabs. There were close to 12,000 notes (they did this for patrons from different libraries who came in to use MyPC at their library). We would like to amend an existing policy to include patron’s PINs to prevent this from happening again. The current Patron data retention policy states that “Library staff shall not store the patron’s Driver’s License (full or truncated) or their Social Security number (full or truncated) in the patron’s digital record.” Need a motion to recommend that the policy be amended to say “Library staff shall not store the patron’s PIN (Personal Identification Number), Driver’s License (full or truncated) or their Social Security number (full or truncated) in the patron’s digital record.” J. Kauffeld reported he has seen other notes that give hints of the password which is also a security concern. SirsiDynix software will be different. Patrons will have access to a “Forgot password” feature in the Discovery Layer. M. Navarre Saaf said she felt comfortable ignoring the hints since we will be migrating to a new system soon. We can still communicate to libraries that it’s not good to put hints in the note fields.
ii. Motion: J. Foster moved to amend the ILS Circulation policy Patron data retention to read “Library staff shall not store the patron’s PIN (Personal Identification Number), Driver’s License (full or truncated) or their Social Security number (full or truncated) in the patron’s digital record.”. J. Pond seconded.
iii. Vote: motion carried.
c. Bibliovation slowness:
i. Discussion: A. Gannaway reported that another bout of slowness in Bibliovation happened again during meeting. V. Teal Lovely is in contact with management at LibLime about this. They are working to resolve it. It has something to do with our RAM/configuration/storage in the cloud that is allocated to us. We’re the only customer having this problem. It’s been reported and escalated. We will be updating libraries as soon as we have more information. We are paying LibLime through next year and they are they still obligated to address these types of issues. Things like this have happened before. Clearing your browser cache/history is also helpful when it comes back up.
5. Plan for Next meeting: September 9, 2025 at 9:30 am via Zoom session
6. Adjournment at 10:55 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/07-2025