NOTIFY_VIA default entry

Following a request from one of our libraries, and after receiving approval from everyone who responded to the initial request, the NOTIFY_VIA field in patron records will get a default entry of EMAIL when a new record is created.

Staff should feel free to change this if they are not entering a patron email address, (the NOTIFY_VIA field doesn't control any processes automatically) but it may help to encourage new patrons to provide one.

Another email note- please don't hesitate to remove email addresses from patron records on their request- we have been getting a handful of AOL patrons who have been reporting our notices as spam because they don't habitually check their email and are seeing a lot of messages when they do, as well as a few patrons who have personally requested that their addresses be removed for the same reason. We've been removing the addresses when we get the AOL notifications, which come via Sirsi.

When staff do remove an email address, please make sure that they also remove the text in the phone number line that says EMAIL NOTIFICATION AVAILABLE or EMAIL AVAILABLE- if this stays in without an actual email address these patrons may not get called for holds.

Item renewal shortcut

Copied from delawarelibraries.blogspot.com- this is the latest of the OPAC cleanups that were put out for comment back in March:

You wanted it! You got it!
A number of patrons have asked for a simplified access to the item renewal screen, which formerly has been buried several clicks back in the online catalog. As of this morning, you can more quickly access the item renewal screen by clicking the new "renew items" link on the front page of the catalog.

After you click on the link you'll be asked for your library card number and PIN, and will then go directly to the renewal options.

Shortened Loan Periods for High Demand Items

Additional to the discussions we have been having recently about lengthening the loan period for library materials, I would like to give a reminder about the current policies for loans of DVDs and VHS items that have large numbers of hold requests.

By default the system checks the ratio of holds to items for all items and defaults to a shortened loan period if the ratio is exceeded. In these instances, staff see the following window:



Currently, because the holds ratio for books is set at something like 25,000:1 the alternate loan period is never set, however for DVDs, the current ratio is 4:1 and a large number of the most popular DVDs and videos are circulating for one week only (all of the copies of Australia, for instance, which has 13 copies to 120 holds). We can certainly talk about further reducing the holds ratio for DVDs and VHS to turnaround more of the items within a week- maybe even as high as 2:1 would be effective? Nobody has suggested doing something similar for books, although it's perfectly feasible that if we do go to a three week checkout period, we could retain a two week alternate loan period for high-demand items and set a reasonable ratio.

Some selected 3rd Quarter Statistics

We've always pay close attention to usage and circulation figures at member libraries, and have been particularly interested in tracking the increased demand for library services that may have occurred because of the current financial crisis. The 3rd quarter figures show some interesting trends:

Registered Patrons: Growth over the 2nd Quarter

Library	Qtr 3	Diff	Growth
Kent Co	82,402	1,991	2.48%
Sussex Co	96,309	840	0.88%

In 3rd Quarter of last year, there were 68,000 and 84,000 (approx) patrons in Kent and Sussex respectively. My math suggests that this is 21% growth for Kent and 14% growth for Sussex. Your tips on best practices for "doing more with less" are always appreciated!

Circulation figures also show an impressive increase.

2008	2009	Diff	Change
1,430,981	1,542,673	111,692	7.81%

Hopefully as more and more people remember the services available at their libraries, and think about the money that they can save by getting entertainment and education for free, we'll continue to see these numbers climb!

Connectivity update

Several sites are reporting slowness and other connectivity problems this morning. Ben is working with Verizon to identify and resolve the problem/s. More when we know it.
UPDATE: Verizon swapped out fiber at their Dover office and corrected the problem. Ben hopes there's "nothing left to swap out"!