June 2006 Directors' Meeting

ISSUES

HOLDS:

1. Scoping seems to be working on the holds. Vinny distributed spreadsheets on holds sent, holds received and items in the systems comparing the months of April and May. The spreadsheets seem to indicate that borrowing between libraries in the system is more evenly distributed since scooping has been turned on.
2. Because scoping mechanism can sometimes shift the holds queue, it was suggested at the I team meeting on 6/1/2006, and agree upon at this meeting that the holds queue will no longer be viewable in ibistro. The public will still be able to see the approximate wait time in the catalog. When patrons ask why they can no longer view the queue the best response will be we agreed to turn it off because we found that it was no longer accurate.
3. Handling holds—it appears some people are trapping hold items more than once. This is not a good idea, and staff needs to stop doing this. If there is a question about whether the item is actually on hold it would be better to use “What’s in transit.” Also it would probably be better to use only “trap holds” when dealing with items on holds list.
4. New Castle County Library—out of system ILLs
1. Vinny is creating new accounts for all New Castle Libraries. (old accounts will be deleted.)
2. These accounts will have ILL profile.
3. All holds will be sent to DE STATE LIB by default
4. DDL staff will repackage items and send to requesting libraries.
5. Vinny will email libraries when change is complete.
5. There are still problems with Holds for “WebServer.” These webserver holds are caused by user error at PACs or of site ordering. Right now there is nothing we can do except cancel the hold (there is no way to track these holds). More importantly DO NOT DELETE Webserver Account. There was much discussion about possible remedies to this problem, most of them Vinny has already tried. He is still working on the problem. Right now his focus is on making user more aware when they login incorrectly.
6. There was discussion regarding allowing holds on items on order. Dover Library has traditionally done this and is continuing to do so. It allows patrons to see what books are on order, and allows the library to see the need for additional copies as hold lists build. It was agreed that this was a good practice for all, but that we all needed to be careful to add holding to the record that has the holds already attached. Hopefully, that bib record will be a good OCLC record. In some cases this practice may result in hold expiring before library receives book. It was suggested that we extend expiration period to 6 months.

DELIVERIES: There appears to be a concern, there is too much lag time in deliveries. Most in attendance felt that this is an issue that should be observed for a while, with not further action needed now.

REPORTS:

1. DIRECTOR’S STATION: Contrary to what Vinny originally thought all libraries will have access to Director’s station once it is set up. There will only be 10 access points simultaneously—only 10 people can use it at the same time. There will be web based classes held at the division. Ben, Jane and Vinny will take administrative classes, and then there will be an overview for the end user.
2. In October, Vinny plans to do a special session on reports for all directors.

OTHER ISSUES AND DISCUSSION:

1. Deleting items with fines. As everyone has found you can not delete an item in Workflows if it is associated with fines. If you check out item to (library) discards, the item will be shadowed in ibistro. Vinny will run a report that will delete items checked out to discard on a periodic basis. This will not delete individual items unless the owning library has run a conversion report. Vinny will set up these reports at a later date.
2. Dealing with duplicate cards :
1. Public Libraries DO NOT CHANGE/ALTER/MODIFY DTCC student library cards. Be extra careful when replacing lost cards, DO NOT replace DTCC student cards.
2. Public library cards, if user has cards from different county system, check current residence and keep card from the system of current residence. Delete other card.
3. If patron owes fines make second card inactive until all fines are paid and then delete one.
3. Please if you have not been doing so, start entering choice for “notify via” in extended information field when registering patrons.
4. Cataloging: make sure you are using an OCLC record when adding holdings. If an item already has holds try to attach to record with the holds.
1. Merge records using “transfer titles..” in special cataloging.
2. Transfer only your own records.
3. You cannot transfer an item to which holds are attached.

OTHER ITEMS DISCUSSED:

1. Chrys Dudbridge, Lewes Library, asked that in the future libraries be notified the night before when server is going to be down.
2. Cheryl, Millsboro Library, requested that Jane notify directors who of their staff have signed up for various listservs.
3. Dawn Mitchell, DE Public Archives, reminded everyone of invitation to the Open House and background tour of the Archives.