OWWLUG Meeting, Friday, March 28, 2014

Agenda

The Great Remote Web Viewing Experiment!

Thanks to all for being such good sports for our Great Remote Web Viewing Experiment! We had 4 library representatives at Wolcott, with Kathryn (PLS) acting as facilitator, connecting to the meeting via web conference. I think it went pretty well! Here are a few take aways from the web conference experience:

• We definitely need to mic the speaker! Our remote viewers in Wolcott reported that audio was sometimes muffled, especially when I turned my head away; also background noise/talking obscured the main speaker
• Have handheld mics in the "audience" for questions; restating the question is good, but would be better to have individuals able to use a microphone
• Explore multiple screens/vidoe displays - ex: one display for the presenter's screen, and another for the video feed. It was sometimes a little difficult because the video feed obscured part of the shared screen (happens on both ends of the share!)
• Attendees seemed positive about the experience, interested in use it for other types of meetings and workshops (trustee workshops, PLSDAC, other PLS meetings)
• As the presenter, I liked having the video feed of the remote participants

Other attendee suggestions (forwarded to other PLS staff for consideration)

• Can more workshops be held locally? Several libraries' members could gather at a single location for the presentation and reduce the time and expense of travel.
• Are joint meetings/presentations for library boards possible? The trustees would gather together to attend the presentation and then have the opportunity to meet afterwards in separate locations to discuss the presentation as it pertains to their own libraries

Broadcasting the meeting from PLSHQ to Wolcott!

Clearing the hold shelf

When removing physical items from the physical shelf, also remember to clear the item records from the holds shelf list and route items back into circulation.

To complete the process of cancelling a "ready for pickup hold" - cancelled by the patron via the OPAC or because the hold was not picked up - staff MUST scan the item in Check In! Otherwise, the item will be stuck in status "On hold shelf" despite no longer being captured for a hold; the item will not be captured for new holds until the status is cleared.

Check the Browse Holds Shelf Regularly to catch "shelf expired holds" (those not pickup up after 7 days) and canceled "ready for pick up" holds. See: BrowseHoldsShelf

Reminders:

• Do NOT delete items when they have the status "on holds shelf"
• When in doubt, scan an item in Check In - the function is also called "PROCESS ITEMS"

Cancelling holds

How to cancel holds, particularly when the item is in transit or ready for pickup. Holds can be cancelled while the hold is in any status.

• If the hold is still pending (no copy, waiting for copy, or waiting for capture) the hold can be cancelled with no further actions.
• If the hold is in transit, cancel the hold, but DO NOT ABORT THE TRANSIT; when the item is received by the original destination library, it will be rerouted elsewhere (back to the owning library, or another hold pickup destination)
• If the hold is ready for pick up, cancel the hold, then scan the item in Check In to return to circulation

See: CancelHold

Abort Transit

When, why, and how to abort transits; when NOT to abort transits.

Do not abort a transit without having the item in hand. Aborting a transit will change the copy status to RESHELVING AT THE OWNING LIBRARY regardless of where the item actually is.

Before aborting a transit, scan the item in check in. The alerts that display will provide information about the transit reason/destination which will determine how to handle the item. Research problem transits from the transit list before aborting transits.

If an item is put into the "in transit" status on check in, but then a patron asks to check the item out - go directly to Check Out. An alert message will open, asking if you want to abort the transit and proceed with the check out, click Yes.

If an item is "in transit" and it is damaged, place a CatalogingRecallHold on the item for the owning library tech user, THEN scan in check in. The item should be checked in and routed to the owning library.

See: TransitList, OldTransitItems, AbortTransits

Transit List unhandled ("skull & crossbones") errors

Transit List unhandled errors generally occur when a hold has been cancelled on an in transit item. Depending on the date of the transit, the item may not have arrived at your library yet. It is difficult to figure out which items are triggering the errors. These are not usually major problems and should resolve themselves. If the transit is very old, contact PLS.

Submitted example:

FIXME: If you encounter this alert, please inform your IT/ILS helpdesk staff or your friendly Evergreen developers.
Thu Mar 27 2014 10:54:52 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Empty array returned by hold retrieve.

• TransitList
• OldTransitItems

Renewals, renewal limits, renewal limit override

Most items have a limit of 2 renewals. Exceeding the renewal limits will change the "remaining renewals" count to display in negative numbers. In special circumstances, renewal limits can be overridden. However, do NOT override renewals on other libraries' materials without their consent! Do not use renewals indefinitely if a patron cannot find an item. Do not renew if there is a hold block.

• RenewItems22

Editing due dates responsibly

Editing die dates can be used when an item checks out with an incorrect due date, or for special circumstances when a patron needs additional time (for example, the patron is going out of town, etc.) Do NOT extend due dates for an extremely long time - months, years. Do not extend due dates beyond a reasonable loan period for other libraries' materials. Do not extend loan periods on an item when there are holds on the title. Contact the owning library before extending die dates for longer periods of time (if editing a due date so that the due date matches your local policy, you do not need to contact the owning library.)

• EditDueDate

Changes to the Bad Stat Cat report

Now included in the report: records for BOOKS where the "Annual Report Category" field is set for "Not Applicable". This field must be either "Fiction" or "Nonfiction" for BOOKS.

"Uncataloged" items are brief records that do not include any library-specific information and can be deleted outright. If you cannot retrieve an uncataloged item from your report, subit a support request.

• Reports Bad Stat Cat

OWWLAC Updates

• Hold limit change (4/1) - hold limit for patrons AND staff will be 20 items
• Suspended holds do not count toward hold limit (4/1) - if a patrons suspends any holds, these will not be included in the 20-hold limit
• Expired patrons place holds (current)

New OPAC feature coming soon!

Bob has added social media "share" buttons to the test OPAC, and plans to update the live catalog soon. Title Records will now have Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest buttons, so patrons can share links to favorite books. The links will go into the OPAC. Patrons do NOT need to be logged in to do this. The catalog does not store any login credentials for the social media site. Patrons can see how many other people have shared a title to Facebook or Google+ (but not who.)

Example:

Awesome box

A simple, creative way to indicate what library materials are, according to the people who borrowed them, awesome. This was part of the keynote speech at the Evergreen Conference.

• http://awesomebox.io
• Awesome Box Pilot (Harvard)
• Harvard Library Innovation Lab presentation
• At the Brookline (MA) Public Library