Minutes of November 11, 2004 meeting

Present:: J.Reinhart, N.Mukherjee, B.Lipinski, R.Smith, C.Sterback, J.Gardner, K.Anderson, Y.Ishii, A.Arencibia, D.Voorhees, M.Tokar, A.Martinez
Excused:: P.Bellanca, D.Meister, J.Teichmann, P.Weniger, E.McElroy

Agenda:

Checkout and discharge of damaged items and items with more than one piece.
Notice and Billing Schedule; other billing items.
E-reserves working group updates.
Other items and information sharing.

1) Checkout and discharge of damaged items and items with more than one piece

Staff described local procedures for dealing with damaged materials:

Damaged items brought to the circulation desk:

A supervisor is always involved. If a damaged item is brought to the circulation desk for checkout and a student is on duty, the student worker is instructed to get a supervisor. If a supervisor is not available, the student worker is instructed to set the damaged item aside and ask the patron to return when a supervisor will be available.

Supervisor's procedures:: If the damaged item can circulate, stamp "Damaged on Charge" in the back of the book. Print the date, your (supervisor's) initials, library, and nature of damage in an area of the stamp. Update the item's record in WorkFlows; change the home location to CS-ALEX or CS-LSM, TS-DANA?, or TS-CAMDN? so that upon discharge, the item will be routed to a local technical services department.

Damaged items discharged and that have no "Damaged on Charge" stamp:: Item is given to the library's billing staff.

Damaged items discharged with a "Damaged on Charge" stamp:: Item is given to the library's technical services department (CS-ALEX, CS-LSM, TS-DANA?, or TS-CAMDN?).

Damaged items discovered in the stacks while shelving or shelf reading:: Item is given to the library's technical services department.

ASC anticipate similar procedures for items with accompanying material. We will examine all items with accompanying materials before checking them out, will circulate incomplete items, and will record the pieces that are missing, initials, date, library. We will check items with accompanying material at discharge for pieces, and if some are missing and were not noted on checkout, the patron will be billed for the full replacement fee. Items with accompanying materials that are returned incomplete will be sent to local technical services departments. The group meeting to discuss items with accompanying materials will make recommendations soon, including notes and labels indicating the number of pieces.

2) Notice and Billing Schedule; other billing items

The Billing working group is working on text for recall bills. The group needs to decide if a recall bill will go out whenever a recalled item is returned and fine is assessed (ranging form $5-$50) and at 40 days overdue for $50, or only at 40 days overdue for $50.

3) E-reserves working group updates

The E-reserves WG will recommend that the Flash tutorial created at Robeson by Vib Bowman, John Gibson, and Theo Haynes be posted to the RUL website. Some technical clarification has been requested. ASC previewed the tutorial and will receive URL in email. The WG group is also updating the copyright permission letter, testing Acrobat 6.0, planning to offer ereserve readings from PDF syllabi, and planning a spring semester workshop for staff on efiles, external links, and PDF syllabi.

4) Announcements and Information Sharing

Chris reported that all but 15 of the weekend Requests that were removed have been restored. Tracey is troubleshooting the 15 problem requests. The restored requests were given a date created of 11/10; some dates in the records were not restored (date modified and date viewed, for example). Let Chris know if you have any problems with the request records.

Sections of the ceiling at Chang have been repaired. 4 new students have been hired.
Douglass student workers are attending a security workshop conducted by a campus security officer.
Transfer of RDS responsibility from Douglass too Music is going smoothly, involves training on hold pick lists, PALCI and ILL requests.
Chris is developing scripts that will automate the removal of missing book records. The process involves removing orders and invoices on some records, then removing missing book records from RLIN and OCLC, and finally, removal from Unicorn.
Acquisitions and the budget office have joined the beta testing. We will not migrate to WorkFlows 2004 until summer at the earliest when all modules will be available.
Director's Station will arrive sometime in the first quarter of 2005.
iLink will be installed on the test system within the next couple of weeks and IPAC will begin to plan for its implementation.
Ceiling tiles at LSM on 2nd floor will be replaced; 25 chairs have been sent for reupholstering.
LSM's scanner is now receiving regular preventive lube jobs from the technician.
Imaging Services is working on a scanner replacement plan for all of RUL.
The NBL circ function group is working on coordinating entering downtime checkouts and post downtime discharges, and an inventory of RUconnection cards.
The evening Library Assistant 2 position at LSM will be filled shortly. Megan Doyle has left Chemistry and Mike Mansouri is covering SERC and Chemistry.
NAXOS will be released soon on the web page, its url has been fixed.
Media services staff will rendezvous with Dana media staff in Newark tomorrow to go over UPS procedures for sending videos to NB and Camden.
Math library had a small fire when a light fixture fell onto the carpet Friday night.
There is a proposal to shift the Douglass collection; the folio project is complete.
The sale of Flash drives (memory sticks) is going well at Imaging Services with 11 sold, Kilmer just sold it's first,
The NBL billing group is revising documentation, will send a reminder to circ_sub about removing notes from patron records.
Robeson has established a rhythm and is inventorying 3,000 items per week. Staff are using a set of walkie talkies in some areas of the library.
Robeson and Dana staff can email Judy the patron's name, old barcode and new barcode, whenever they update a barcode. Until Unicorn reports automate this process, Judy is sending periodic new barcode reports to RUconnection.
A complete and up to date file of UMDNJ students in NB/Piscataway who are eligible for borrowing at RUL has been shared with LSM and Alex staff. A formal announcement of the updated agreement between RUL and UMDNJ is forthcoming.