Minutes of September 11, 2003 meeting

1) Recon without inventory

Ruth Bogan, Linda Turzynski, and Lori Stethers attended the beginning of the meeting to discuss new recon and inventory procedures and their impact on access services. Database Management plans to convert Alexander Library materials by working from shelf list cards and without having items in hand. Online records with system-generated barcodes will be added to IRIS. A percentage of these records will be for items that are missing. Lori is designing a post-recon inventory project that will eventually identify missing items. In the meantime, the new procedures will greatly speed the recon process and provide us with access to materials we own and that are currently not in IRIS.

Within the next month or so we will begin to see records for Alexander materials with system-generated barcodes in IRIS, OCLC, and RLIN. These materials can be requested and checked out. They might appear on Alexander Library s pull lists as RDS and PALCI requests, in Alex ILL as lending requests from libraries outside Rutgers, and at Alex s circulation desk when patrons locate them in the stacks and bring them to the desk to check out.

We agreed to the following access services procedures:

a) Alex RDS and Alex ILS staff who locate an item with an online system-generated barcode while filling an RDS, PALCI, or ILL request, will attach a 390300&& barcode to the item, update the item s barcode in Workflows, and process the request as usual.

b) Alex RDS and Alex ILS staff, who cannot locate a recon item while attempting to fill an RDS, PALCI, or ILL request, will immediately charge its system-generated barcode to MISS-ALEX, following standard missing procedures.

c) Staff and students at the Alex circulation desk who check out an unbarcoded recon book will follow standard circ-on-the-fly procedures: assign a 390300&& barcode and enter a brief circ record. Database Management staff are alerted via Unicorn reports to these items and will consolidate/revise the brief circ and recon records while the item is in circulation.

Hala Issa is the contact for Alex circulation and RDS staff, and Bonnie Spaventa is the contact for Alex ILS lending staff if we have questions or need assistance. It was noted that multi-volume sets might present some challenges. And it was suggested that we consider accelerated withdrawal of recon items on Alex s Missing Book reports in future. Ruth noted that the Itemcat2 field will be RECON for these records, and they will be easy to identify in a report.

2) PALCI

The E-ZBorrow pilot is over and Cabinet has agreed that PALCI will become a permanent service. Public Services Council recommended we participate in PALCI s onsite faculty borrowing and no fee photocopy programs. Not all PALCI libraries participate in these programs. Our participation is projected to begin Oct. 15. PALCI s onsite faculty borrowing program is similar to VALE's. Visiting PALCI faculty present a form signed by staff at their home library and we will extend guest borrowing privileges for one year. Likewise, Rutgers faculty needs to take the form to a PALCI library to borrow onsite. The Guest Borrowers chart with a PALCI user category, public services policies, and a list of participating libraries will be available on the web. A new PALCI user status is needed in Workflows. Interlibrary loan staff at participating PALCI libraries handle the no fee photocopy service. Rutgers ILL staff will meet to discuss how to implement this service.

3) RDS Web Document Delivery

A new Web Document Delivery Working Group has been formed to plan the operational and public service rollout of web delivery for RDS and Locate & Copy articles. Donna Cryan is leading the group composed of Barbara Garwood, Carolyn Foote, Yoshiko Ishii, Teri McNally, Andy Martinez, Drue Williamson, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Grau.

4) Borrowers: Primary Borrowers Chart and RUconnection update

We reviewed major updates to the latest Primary Borrowers Chart:

• employee types included in RUL s data load are spelled out,
• the status field is now data-loaded (profile name and status are the same on a user s original FACSTF, GRAD, or UGRAD RU-ONLINE record),
• law school users and NJIT cross-registered users are automatically given FACSTF, GRAD, or UGRAD statuses,
• school codes are used to identify law school users (23-LAWNEW or 24-LAWCAM) and need to be entered when registering a new law user if they are not yet filled in online,
• the RUconnection Office is issuing AFFILIATE and VISITING SCHOLAR cards now,
• t-grade students have moved from the Guest to the Primary chart since remote access is needed by students finishing incompletes,
• privileges expire dates have been revised and conform to the data-loaded dates,
• the definition of a current student, faculty, or staff based on last load date is included,
• paper ID cards are no longer issued.

The latest Primary Borrowers Chart, dated 9/15/03, is now available on the web under Staff Resources / Access Services / Procedures/ Registering New Borrowers / Primary Borrowers Chart.

Updates from RUconnection:

• Apologies for the increase in 290300000004 barcodes this year, there was a change in the data feed from the Registrar, which caused some glitches. Whenever you assign a new barcode, please email the patron s name, SSN, and new barcode to Judy who will coordinate sending this info onto RUconnection.
• The note you are seeing on new student cards this year ( Only valid with current registration ) was done in an effort to solve a problem where individuals who either graduated or left the university and felt they should still have access to facilities (gym) because their ID card had not yet expired. RUconnection has not changed validation requirements so this note should not affect us, or deter us from registering students with RUconnection cards, especially this time of year when we may not yet have an online record from the Registrar.

5) Process Review

• Holds on spring registration. Chris will run another report to bar users with 40-day overdues with due date between 12/28/02 and 4/19/03 that were missed before we began running the automatic barring reports last May. Already barred users reports, based on school codes on each campus, will then be re-run. Judy will send billing contacts their assignments; the university s deadline to place holds on spring registration is Sept. 19th at 4:00 p.m.
• Stacks checks guidelines have been posted to the Staff Resources page. The contact list was circulated for final revisions (this list is also available online now).
• Summer reserve removal. Reports have run, Judy will send results to Dana and Robeson reserve staff.
• Returned library notices. The Verifications office requested that we limit the number of library staff calling for address checks to two. We may eliminate this step from returned library notices guidelines, and only use Verifications when processing delinquent accounts.

6) Other items and information sharing

• Jane Mihalick is on extended medical leave. Please call Brian between 3-5 pm with your PALCI questions.
• NB collection management manual is complete and will be on the web soon. Shift at Kilmer is complete; shifting at LSM is ongoing. Douglass construction is on track to be completed by December.
• A survey was sent to NB access services staff for training needs. Periodicals are being shifted at LSM. New work-study students are reporting in.
• An air conditioner has been replaced in Systems. TAS staff picnic was yesterday. Sho s last day was Sept. 2nd. Systems is noticing benefits of the new server. Experiencing an influx of remote access Help questions, some taking a long time to answer. Should we give out the Systems phone number? Chris suggested we ask patrons to submit their remote access questions electronically to AAL first.
• RDS s 5-day in library use loan period is in play. Wireless equipment is installed at Math but not yet live.
• Robeson has finished shifting its book collection and has moved on to periodicals. The largest freshman class ever is at RU-Camden, and they are using the library.
• Dana is also shifting its journal collection. Has high volume of work-study students this fall. Construction on the plaza is still going on.
• Automatic barring is working extremely well, has eliminated lots of paperwork, and alerts users to deal with their overdue books.
• NB access and collection services staff are reviewing and revising guidelines for how its CS staff users records are used.
• Ana Ramirez has moved to the Annex and Marilyn Herod to SERC. Five NB branches are working on MARC holdings records. Faculty are encouraged to use e-only options for reserves (e-forms to request items be placed on reserve and submission of e-files and documents). The checked-out at closing Reserve reports are being revised to include books with LC call numbers, in addition to articles.
• A stacks shift has been completed at Music. The Mediavision schedule is now available online.
• A reminder that scanners have service contracts and if you re experiencing any problems, call Imaging Services at Alexander Library.
• Donna is retiring and her last day is Oct. 24. Jerry Timmons last day is today.

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, October 9, 2003, 9:30-11:30 a.m.