Minutes of July 8, 2004 meeting

Present:

N. Mukherjee, A.Martinez, R.Smith, B.Lipinski, J.Gardner, D.Meister, C. Sterback, J.Reinhart, J.Teichmann, Y.Ishii, C.Foote, P.Cabelli (guest)

1) Proposal for barcoding items with supplementary materials (multi-part items): Dean Meister and Paul Cabelli.

Dean and Paul presented a proposal for processing "2 or more items kept together" on behalf of the Item Standardization Focus Group, a subgroup of the Holdings Working Group. They asked for ASC reaction to the concept, with the understanding that there are details to work out and responsibilities for processing to be assigned before final signoff and implementation would take place. The following steps would be applied to both circulating & noncirculating serials and monographs, and only at those libraries where the policy is to keep multi-part items together on the shelf:

- One barcode will be assigned to the main volume or piece.

- A stamp or label will be affixed below the barcode including this text: Barcode includes ___ pieces. Count pieces on charge and discharge
___volume
___printed material
___electronic media
___microformat
___maps
___other (specify):______

- Each accompanying item will have a call number label with the main volume's call number followed by a slash and one-word description. For example: HB138.B5/map, HB138.B5/CD, HB138.B5/guide, etc.

-On the TITLE EDIT screen, the total number of items (including the main volume or piece) will be recorded in the "number of pieces:" field.

-On the TITLE EDIT screen, a STAFF note will be added describing the accompanying items. For example: "Includes 1 booklet, 2 CDS, 1 map."

-During check out and discharge, circulation staff will see the following message: "Item has associated materials" and "number of pieces: {#}" followed by the override.

-The STAFF NOTE will display following an item search and display in WorkFlows. Staff notes do not display in Webcat.

ASC's questions, reactions, suggestions:

• Does the alert appear when using Trap Hold? This still needs to be tested.
• The proposed stamp or label below the barcode is really confusing and open to interpretation when assigning and/or trying to identify the type of piece accompanying a main volume. Is the parent or main piece included in the list, and if yes, the generic "barcoded item" was suggested.
• It will be very helpful having a call number on each piece (especially since they can and do get separated).
• The group thought each piece's unique call number should be recorded below the barcode (rather than a stamp or label). This will help staff and students at circ desks accurately and more easily match items in a set.
• Questions were asked about who would enter the number of pieces and staff notes on the item record, who would create call number labels, and at what point this would take place. To ensure standard interpretation and application, it was suggested this processing occur early and in a central location.
• Changes that would be needed in circulation procedures and training issues were also discussed. At check out, where and how would staff record missing pieces so that the user is not held responsible? On discharge, if pieces are missing should the item be discharged, how will missing pieces be recorded, and how will the user be notified and billed? Our current policy is to bill for the entire item if it is returned with a piece missing.
• On the whole, the group thought the concept is sound. There was some concern that the proposal would add one more way of handling multi-part items to the variety of local practices currently in play. Dean and Paul thought some of those diverse practices would be subsumed by the proposal. It is viewed as the first step in "item standardization." They will take our comments back to the focus group.

2) U2003.1, Workflows 2004.

• Reminder that name search became keyword, not browse, in U2003.1. Truncation is not available and single letters (initials) are indexed wherever they appear in the field. The best practice for searching under Name is to enter the complete last name, no initials, and then browse the resulting list.
• Remember to select "User ID" for barcode and "Alt ID" for SSN searches. "STUDENT_ID" and "SSN" searches **do not** work; Chris will try to remove these phantom choices in the pull-down menu.
• Searching in comment and note fields by keyword is a helpful new feature. If you search by phone number remember to eliminate hyphens.
• Editing a user or item record results in a duplicate entry in the index until overnight re-indexing. We may also see duplicate entries (of the exact same record) for a while on days when the patron file is loaded
• The override for charging and renewing LOST ASSUM items has not yet been added.
• Pickup library now appears on the Hold pickup notice sent to users.
• A new recall program to keep recalls title level and not switch to call level is a possibility. Since most of our recalls are for single copies, PALCI is our users' next step, and we're trying to keep users accountable for recalls, we decided not to test this feature.
• There are new "User Duplicate Searching" Properties available for the New User Registration (create user) wizard.
• Screens may have changed slightly on some reports run July 6th.

Workflows 2004.

Plans for beta testing are proceeding and a kickoff meeting was held for the coordinators. Circ/reserve testers will send questions and comments to Dean and Katie. Systems staff will be around to load the client on testers' PCs by early next week. Only the circulation, reserve, and cataloging modules are available. Testers will have 2 simultaneous logons. Online Help for 2004 is not yet available. Testers were cautioned to use 1024x768 screen resolution.

3) Billing: begins this month, bill notice format revised.

Samples of revised bills were distributed. A few bills have gone out and item statuses changed to LOST ASSUM. Tips for identifying users with inactive LOST ASSUME charges: they will be barred, they will have bills for the inactive charges, and the number of their total checkouts will be greater than the number of their current checkouts. We can expect some bills to be returned, bounced from email, and the bad address contacts will begin seeing them along with returned notices.

4) VALE graduate student borrowing.

The VALE web pages are in the process of being revised to include graduate students. An announcement will go out to circ_sub. When someone other than the library's primary contact listed on the web pages signs a form, please call the library to verify. The Borrower's Chart will be updated.

5) Miscellaneous.

• Access Services-Systems calendar: final 2004-05 was distributed and will be posted to the Web.
• New off-campus pickup sites: Food Innovation Research and Environmental Research/Ecocomplex have been added to Request Article/Other and will be added to the ILL form soon. For RDS statistics, please write them in under "Other."
• Continuous Education student ID card: a copy of a new Continuous Education photo ID card was distributed. Continuous education students will use it for registration only, it can not be used to access special privileges offered by the university.
• New Newark-Law contact: Renee Cullmann at recullmann@kinoy.rutgers.edu , 973-353-3036. Contacts will be updated after the new web site is introduced.
• PALCI and IDS delivery: Rutgers and UWVa have joined the Interlibrary Delivery Service of PA. Additional UPS accounts have been established for Camden, Dana, LSM, and Alex, and will be used for shipments to PALCI libraries; details are still being worked out. New blue PALCI book bands with our 4 new IDS Numbers are being run off and will be distributed next week.
• Statistical summaries were distributed and discussed: the number of Missing, Lost-Paid, and Lost-Repla items in each libraries' reports last year, and turnaround times for Recalls and non-Recall holds.

6) Announcements and Information Sharing.

• The ILL Manager (supervisor) position based at Alex will be reviewed and filled.
• Please remember to send changes in email reports distributions to Chris. FY rollover is about to begin. If downtime is needed in August it will probably be 24 hours minimum.
• Media is seeking a cataloging intern to work on 1,000 spoken word LPs/cassettes at Douglass. The bookings working group is meeting at Camden the end of the month.
• Dana is starting to interview for an LA2 position,
• New keyboard express macros are in use. RDS article requests submitted by RAs are sent to the RA's email address.
• Over 250 RDS articles were posted to the web in June, the first month of web delivery. It's very important to use the new keyboard express replies. Some older replies were sent out and caused confusion during the transition.
• Melissa Johns, new RUL intern, starts in access services at Alex in August.
• Course reserves are on track, annual report will make a case for electronic copies only.
• Penny Weniger is new supervisor at Douglass, Andy is moving to Alex, Jazmine Faherty has accepted Annex position, 3 additional NBL positions about to be filled.
• Holds deadline for registration warning letters to go out from the University was successfully met in 4 days by billing staff.

NEXT Meeting: Thursday, August 12th. There's interest in traveling to Camden for a meeting, and to see their new desk, but people will be on vacation in August and we will try for a later meeting.