OWWLAC Meeting, May 24, 2011

Attendees

P. Baynes (PAL), S. Hylen (ONT), B. Horn (GPL/CL), E.Robinson (CAS), C. Guthrie (PLS), J. Frey (PLS), L. Stratton (PLS)

Excused

A. Grace (WADS), D. Norris (ROS)

Old Business / Updates from Previous Action Items

Previous meeting: OwwlacMeeting20110426

On hold pending version upgrade:

• Wadsworth "shortname" change
• New circ modifiers (Videogame, Computer Software)

Upgrade scheduled

PLS will upgrade the Evergreen software to v.1.6.2.3 Tuesday, May 24 around 9:30pm. The upgrade will primarily fix various bugs and will NOT entail changes to the staff client interface or circulation/holdings procedures. The staff client will also be upgraded, but this process will be managed by an installer application pushed out by PLS. If there is aproblem with the staff client upgrade, a message will display in the client, contact PLS.

OWWL2Go Checkout limit

Increased to 4 items

Charges for OOS discussion

Did libraries/PLSDAC review number of OOS patrons currently registered? Next steps?

Present to June 1 PLSDAC meeting: discussion regarding the merit of progreceding with the issue. As per previous OWWLAC discussion, Directors should review their Reports Monthly New Users "All Users" data to review their number of patrons with Out Of System patron profile and non-service area Residency/School codes. Use this information to form a baseline regarding number of potential patrons impacted by OOS charges, potential income.

PLS does not have any position regarding OOS charges, but will provide information needed to evaluation the issue. Any changes made to the Evergreen ILS to manage OOS charges will be considered depending on outcomes of PLSDAC/OWWLACfindings.

New Business

"All ages" item statistical category

"All ages" will be removed as an option from the Item Attributes > Statistics > Age Level list. Target announcement date: June 17 System Meeting.

"All ages" causes problems with generating accurate Annual and general statistical reports - "all ages" is rolled into “Adult” categories, skewing data for juvenile and teen materials.

When adding records, select this field based on the intended audience – for what group did you purchase the material? What budget line (if applicable) did you use to purchase the material?

This change will require updating records currently marked “all ages” and updating any item attribute templates that include the "All Ages" attribute.

Related

Other statistical category updates will be made at the same time:

• remove duplications
• change list items for clarity
• add new options
• remove "FixMe"

This will also involve record clean up.

Recommendations

• "All ages" will be removed as an option from the Item Attributes > Statistics > Age Level list
• Target announcement date: June 17 System Meeting
• PLS will generate reports for records requireing updates
• PLS will investigate options for batch updating records on behalf of individual libraries.

Circulation history scrubbing

Currently, ALL circulation transaction data for every item is saved to our servers – this is a potentially big problem if a library/PLS is contacted by law enforcement officials regarding item circulation history. PLS recommends that "Aged Circs" (a process by which circulation transactions are scrubbed of personally identifying information (patron barcode, name, etc.) while RETAINING statistical information) in order to protect patron privacy.

Previous circulation data is available to member library staff using the ShowItemDetails (current borrower) and ShowLastFewCirculations (three circulations, including current borrower and previous circulation transations - checkouts and renewals) functions. ALL previous circulations are available to PLS system staff via transaction logs. In Workflows, library staff could only view current and 1 previous borrower; PLS system staff could access entire transaction log.

Possible benefits to library staff of 3 previous borrowers lookup?

• locate missing parts
• bill for damage
• same user / set of users always using the item
• quick collection development snap shot - has the item been circed by three local patrons in succession, indicate additional copy purchase

None of these issues are critical to library business:

• due diligence at check out / check in should catch missing pieces / damage
• other collection development tools available

Decision: what time period do libraries feel circ records are necessary to library business purposes? I.e. – 9 weeks based on default 3W loan period with 2 renewals? 18 weeks based on longest 6W loan with 2 renewals)? Other?

Evergreen “Aged Circs” function is configured by date, not net circulations (i.e. 3 circs.)

Issues:

• How will circulations display in staff client (via Show Item Details / Show Last Few Circulations) after the circulation transaction has been scrubbed?
• How will this impact reports?
• How will this impact collection development report?
• What about low-use materials?
• What about Last Edit Date (or possibly a "last checkout date")? Will this accurately reflect the last check out for collection development purposes?
• How aggressive should the scrubbing be?
  • Suggestion - remove personally identifying information ASAP after the transaction is closed / daily

Related

Other privacy and electronic records retention (specifically public access computer use / websites visited logging) - clarify how these are handled / not handled via Cassie PC reservation, or other.

What are PLS / Library polices and procedures?

Recommendations

• Scrub personally identifying data from closed circulation transactions at 3 months
• Monitor impact on staff client display and reports
• Discuss additional electronic records retention issues at a later meeting

New Video to Video scripted update

Some libraries have complained that video items owned by other libraries but circulated from their library are checked out with a reduced "new video" loan period, even though they do not themselves use the New Video circ modifier, causing confusion. Some libraries do not update their new videos after 2 months to make them "not-new." We can ask Equinox to create a custom script to automatically update records with “New Video” circ modifier to “Video” circ modifier after 2 months (60 days). Yes or No?

New Video circ modifier ONLY impacts loan duration (typically a reduced duration) it does NOT impact holds (this is handled using Holds Age Based Hold Protection). The script would change ONLY the circ modifer - not other item attributes.

Issues:

• What about other new materials (such as new fiction)?
• What about physical processing (labels, reshelving, etc.)
• Would there be a corresponding list of updated records to use for physical processing?
• What about local library control (I change new stuff when it is relevant to me)?
• Require a system standard for "newness" (I.e. - all items should be made new after 2 months)?

Recommendations

• PLS identify libraries who doe NOT use the "New Video" circulation modifer
• Table pending further investigation

Changes to Central Library geneaology research fees?

As per GPL Library Board, starting July 1, CBA funds will no longer used to purchase Ancestry and Heritage Quest subscriptions, these will be funded from GPL local funds. Non-GPL service area patrons who request library staff to conduct geneaology research will be charged for time. All other basic ref services remain the same. Non-GPL service area patrons can use Ancestry & Heritage Quest on site.

Update to OWWLAC process

Draft agendas WILL be sent to OWWLAC members one week prior to meeting. Meetings will be cancelled at that point if insufficient topics.

OwwlacOverview

Misc other

PLS ILS / OWWLAC policies?

Q: Where / how are ILS-related policies written / stored? A: in OWWLAC minutes, primarily. Will explore better methods to track ILS policy decisions.

High Demand report

S. Hylen - suggests limiting records included in the report data to only those records with more than one hold request.

Discussion: Previous Workflows report hold threshold was 2; even one hold (particularly for Local Demand portion) can be very relevant to small libraries.

PLS must balance needs of all libraries types / needs; will not remove data from the report.

Actions

• Following the upgrade, PLS will clean up Item attribute statistical categories options
• PLS will provide guidelines/options for cleaning up records impacted by Item Attribute statistical category changes
• PLS will implement "Aged Circs" process, forclosed circ transactions older than 3 months
• PLS will investigate New Video circulation modifier issues further; pending investiagtion this topic will be shelved for a later meeting

Outcomes

• "All ages" will be removed as an option from the Item Attributes > Statistics > Age Level list. Target announcement date: June 17 System Meeting.
• Personally identifying data will be removed from closed circulation transactions older than 3 months
• High demand report will not be modified