RSTG Circulation Meeting

December 4, 2006

Bowie State University

RSTG Highlights of the Year

• Consortial Circulation agreements finalized in fall 2005 and approved by CLD in December 2005 Subgroup consisting of: Jamie Edwards, Everly Brown, Mark DeJong
• In late 2005 RSTG was extended through December 2007, updated our charge to include new initiatives related to circulation that were an outcome of the last circ meeting, and this charge update led to the creation of a circ subgroup
• Added a new member in January 2006 - Paula Langley, to provide additional circulation focus and better balance on the group
• In spring 2006, Created Circulation Subgroup, developed charge, call for membership, planned initial meeting; Paula is the chair. Initial meeting with RSTG May 12 - first task to address parking lot issues including patron purge, patron privacy, permissions, standardized loan periods (Paula will discuss later)
• Implementation of ILLiad for the 8 libraries that did not already have it - Carol Vaeth, Robin Moskal, Jamie Bush in task force
  • Project/implementation planning in Fall 2005-Jan 2006
  • Consortial training
  • Developed processes/project mgt; email reflectors for communication; buddies system
  • ITD investigation of technical setup of consortial ILLiad system on a shared server and resolved file sharing issues
  • Installations kicked off in May with St. Mary's continued through present: St. Mary's, Salisbury, Eastern Shore, Frostburg, CES, Coppin, Morgan live in December and Bowie planned for early next year
• In March 2006 a team presented on the project at the OCLC International ILLiad Conference held at OCLC headquarters in Dublin OH in March - group consisting of Tanner Wray, Carol Vaeth, Robin Moskal, Jamie Bush, and Stephen Miller -- Presentation was well received and there was great interest in our project, methodology, and technical setup
• Consortial ILL agreements developed in early 2006; approved by CLD in April; like circ agreements, RSTG wanted to have agreed-upon consortium wide practices in order to standardize services, streamline workflows, generally make things simpler, easier and faster for patrons
• Met with User Interface Task Group representatives on FindIt usability testing in April to discuss impacts on resource sharing areas, provided input on proposed changes, reviewed issues with Findit functionality, esp. ILL links for catalog
• Shared information about ID card changes and impacts on resource sharing - CP and UC -- RSTG shares local changes that have broad consortial impacts
• Met with representatives from MARINA for demo/discussion of system in August; discussed usefulness and pros/cons for USMAI to work with/interface with MARINA- conclusions: Wait for next version of software and conceptualize an ideal conceptual model for resource sharing (work ongoing) [NISO presentation that tanner sent out provides a good model to work from]
• ITD workplan draft development in summer/fall 2006 - the RSTG discussed issues related to resource sharing and circulation
• Submitted proposals in fall 2006 to do talks about the ILLiad project at national conferences - OCLC International ILLiad Conference 2007 (follow-up to spring presentation, EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting in Baltimore in Feb.(accepted) - team of Stephen Miller, Jamie Bush, Dave Kennedy, and Uche Enwesi
• Met with CPC representatives in November on single record proposal, to get an overview of the proposal and discuss potential resource sharing impacts, implications for FindIT, and other issues at the intersection of cataloging and resource sharing
• Planned and coordinated circulation meeting for December - much planning went into it; recognize Bev for her contributions/work on the breakfast
• Web page updates, revisions to site throughout the year - want to improve the site contents to provide information to the entire USMAI to keep everyone up to date and informed about resource sharing activities within the consortium

ITD Update

1. Please submit Circulation calendar dates to the RX as soon as possible.
2. Outage procedures for ITD are available at http://usmai.umd.edu/alert.html. This page is constantly updated unless the power is out. The need for a telephone tree was mentioned.
3. Patron loader automation began for UMMC on 12/4/06.
4. The ITD workplan has been updated and is online at: http://usmai.umd.edu/workplan/. An asterisks indicates a recent update; a green check mark indicates that the project is complete.
5. Materials booking will be available with Aleph V. 18. It is similar to the request functionality. It will be used to request a specific item at a specific time in the future. It will have to be tested before it can be implemented.
6. Campus Contacts have been asked to review campus priorities to see if any can be dropped or if any need to be added. ITD wants to create a process for submitting new priorities (hopefully by February 2007).
7. Hold Available Notices are working at UMCP (McKeldin). ITD wants to implement these at all UMCP libraries (soon) before extending them to the rest of the USMAI. These notices are different in that they are created online, a letter is sent to a server and only later sent out (an overnight process). They are emailed if an email address is available, otherwise they are printed out. Patrons will receive one email per item.
8. Patron loader automation - to implement this ITD will need to have your campus develop a daily file that is transferred from your campus to ITD. The file will only include updated or new patrons. To maintain correct patron expiration dates a full load must be sent at least once a month. It is likely that we'll ITD will have to implement a schedule so that each campus runs their full load on a different day. The largest issue will be whether the overnight processes can handle files from every campus every day.
9. Aleph V. 18 - PDQ is the functionality that will replace PPH. It has not been tested yet, but it is based on our PPH. One difference is that the creation of the hold group is done differently. The balance/router queue will work better since it will keep track of where it has been before it shuffles the hold along. PDQ will also track in-house services borrowing.
10. Aleph V. 18 will not have dramatic changes, just added functionality. The schedule is: April 2007 - experts test, May 2007 - staff test, June 2007 - release and implement the live client.
11. Switch to a Multi-ADM - Our Aleph architecture has a single ADM, single global library and a single patron file. We did this to accommodate PPH. Ex Libris wants us to move to multiple ADMs where we will be separated into individual libraries. This would give us more local control.
12. RX Reports - There is a proposal to better filter routine requests. Jamie will work to allow subject tags (such as: CIRC, REPORT REQUEST, etc) to display in the email subject line. This will help staff filter out requests you don't want to see if your email client supports filtering. Additionally, ITD will develop a new form that will include drop down lists that we select from to fill in routine information. ITD requests that staff look at previous reports to see how we requested routine tasks in the past to ensure that we include all relevant information. They also request that we always use the response link to reply to RX reports. If you just reply to the email the system cannot capture your comments for posterity.
13. COI Lists - Be certain to be very clear on the subject line when you send an email to a COI list. This helps others to filter out unnecessary messages.
    
    

Circulation Sub-Group Update

1. Stephen Thorpe of UB took another position out of state and had to resign his position on the RSTG Circulation sub-group. An email requesting nominations to replace him will be sent out to the COI.
2. The purpose of the sub-group is to ensure a level playing field among the campuses and to help us to better serve our constituents. The RSTG directs the group's activities. We do not make final decisions for campuses, but strive to collaborate.
3. The sub-group will be looking at Aleph V.18 to see where we think campuses will need training.
4. Circulation Agreements document discussion -
   5a. Members will not use the "Renew All" function if this will affect other members' materials.
   • For certain staff levels, the permission to use the Renew All function does not exist. Campuses have different reasons for not wanting other campuses to renew their materials, for example, to ensure that an item has not gone missing. If you do decide to use the Renew All function remember that if you enter a due date in the field provided that you will change the due date for other campuses' materials. This must be avoided. This topic will be further discussed via the COI or the wiki.
   6a. Members will search overdue in-transits on a regular (at least monthly) basis and cooperate with the sending/receiving/owning library. If an item is long overdue in transit and has been searched for by both the lending and borrowing library, the lending library must change the item processing status to "RM - missing being searched."
   • It is difficult for McKeldin to do this search monthly since they have such heavy use of their materials. They will attempt to do it. The group agreed that it is enough to at least strive to comply.
   4a.Members will not remove blocks placed by another member unless the block note specifically indicates that it can be removed (or if it is patently logical. Example: if a block note states "get local address" and the local address is obtained, then removal of the block is permitted).
   
   4b. All blocks and notes in the global record must include the library code, author's initials and date, for example, (HS/EB 4/19/05).
   
   4c. Migrated CARL blocks and blocks with no note may be overridden by any location, but should only be removed by the patron's home library.
   • It was agreed that campuses will honor blocks placed by other campuses, but that it is okay to override if you are loaning your own materials. The topic will be further discussed on the COI or wiki.
5. Patron Privacy / Patron Purge -
   • The initial purge removed about 250,000 patron records. These were patrons with expiration dates before January 1, 2001 who had no loans, holds or outstanding cash transactions. It was recommended that this be done yearly in December or January to help keep the database clean. The Circulation sub-group is still working on parameters for a phase 2 purge. We first want to get a report from ITD broken down by campus of patron records over 5 years old that have fines under $34.99 (amount not yet decided, though) with no lost items.
   • It is known that certain tables retain the Circ history. We need to find out if this data can be purged without affecting circulation statistics.
   • We want to develop logins for Task Manager that are more campus specific. As they stand now, it is too simple to figure out how to access another campuses' files. Aleph V. 18 will have better permission options.
6. Load balancing will not be revisited until we know how PDQ will work. It may allow us to develop a better algorithm for routing hold requests.
7. Due Date Proposal - Would you be willing to participate in global due date standardization? This proposal would not affect the due dates of your local borrowers, only faculty and staff that are not from your campus. A proposal will be sent to the COI for discussion.
8. Offline Circulation - The offline circulation functionality was tested by Towson. It does work for stand-alone installations of Aleph (not for networked installations), but was not felt to be sufficient to replace a campus' current procedures. It is very easy to erase all of the transactions you've recorded and there are some transactions that error out without giving recording sufficient data to track them. Paula Langley will post the positives and negatives of her testing to the COI.

Round Robin - Tips & Tricks

1. Statistics can be exported to Excel
2. You can manually archive Task Manager reports.
3. Attachments aren't necessary for email notices. They can cause problems by getting hung up in firewalls. You can change the setting in the aleph.com.ini file to read "plain attachment = y" to remove email attachments. Jamie Bush will send out instructions to the COI.
4. Have a box at the Circulation desk with business cards for all librarians. If they are not available you can give the patron a way to contact them.
5. Try standing new books on the Circulation counter top - it can increase their circulation.
6. Use your email client to filter all RX reports to a folder. You can then go through them when you have the time.
7. Discharge all items twice to avoid missing a return.
8. If an address on a notice is insufficient (and undeliverable), write a note on it to ask Circulation staff to correct it and mail it to the patron's home library via the router shipment.
9. The balance/router formula is based on the collection size of each campus. The router moves from smaller collections to larger.
10. The hold expiration date can only be manually changed in the GUI.
11. Create bookmarks to hand out at the Circulation desk that give information on fines and renewing.
12. Use very low-level circ permissions (lower than level C1) to allow for self-checkout.
13. To notify patrons of expired holds, delete the hold, add a note and then mail the hold delete letter.
14. You can use Excel or Access to store data from Offline Circulation.
15. In-house use of periodicals is very useful.
16. Handheld scanners can be programmed to use for inventory work.
17. If you do not have hold available email notices implemented, a work-around is to create a Word file with a generic letter. You can cut and paste the patron information and email the letter through the Circ client.
18. Check to see if your copy is available before renewing other campuses' books that are being returned to you and sent in-transit.
19. Word document from UMUC explains how to redirect a hold shelf item from one location to another without deleting and replacing the hold.
    
    

Information Technology Division College Park, MD 20742-7011
Please send comments and suggestions to ITD's Webmaster.
Content questions should be directed to USMAI Web Admin.