Minutes of June 28, 2006 meeting

Present:

Shirley Lewis, Melanie Robinson, Will Torres, May Chin, Rebecca Luo, Nita Mukherjee, Maggie Harris, and Barry Lipinski (recorder).

Absent:

Georgina Alonzo, Sandy Marsh, and Antoinette Peteet (all excused)

Agenda

• Goals for 2005-2006
• Activities of 2005-2006
• Goals for 2006-2007
• Moldy Items Revisited
• Damaged ILL/PALCI Items
• Billing Statistics Template

The group welcomed Will Torres as a new member.

1. Goals for 2005-2006

The group reviewed its goals for the past year and the progress made on each one.

• Continue to train staff in the units on billing procedures and policies. Done.

• Create service standards for access services desk staff and students who are presented with billing questions. Not done. Work has begun through the Access Services Committee on developing service desk standards. Using these standards, more specific expectations will be developed by the group to identify what staff members and student workers need to know about billing.

• Work successfully with Delinquent Accounts on the collections process for billed users. Not done. The group has reviewed proposals made by Judy Gardner and the Billing Working Group and has offered suggestions. It will be expected to train staff in interpreting notes placed in the records of users who have long overdue material that has made them subject to the Delinquent Accounts collections process.

• Automate the claims returned process. Not done. The group has discussed what it believes would be helpful improvements in handling claims returned cases. The Billing Group and the Circulation Group will now work together to offer a proposal to Systems for automating an alert to billing staff, e.g., through a report, delivered to billing staff by email, that would identify users with items that have reached the 30-day search process end point and remain outstanding.

• Generate warning letters to upcoming graduates regarding diploma holds. Done.

• Offer users an online credit card payment option. In progress. The libraries have purchased an e-commerce product from SIRSI. RUL is now awaiting a questionnaire that needs to be completed prior to installation.

• Produce a "Need to Pay a Fine or Bill?" handout for users that would outline their payment options. In progress. Drafts have been done. But this work will be set aside until the online credit card payment option arrives.

2. Activities of 2005-2006

The group looked at the scope of its work during the past year and cited the following: 1) Training session on "New Billing Features in Unicorn" delivered; 2) Academic holds placed and removed; 3) Courtesy notice for graduating barred users created; 4) Diploma holds placed and removed; 5) New group name chosen and purpose statement revised; and 6) Work begun on developing billing procedures for media items.

3. Goals for 2006-2007

The group discussed a list of goals solicited by Barry. Nita had provided an extensive list of suggestions for goals, shared with the group prior to the meeting, which helped the discussion. The following goals were identified for the upcoming year:

• Introduce delinquent accounts and collections processes with University Delinquent Accounts.

• Offer users an online credit card payment option.

• Do a systematic inventory of the Delinquent Accounts 029 Report, adding it to the Access Services and Systems Academic Calendar.

• Automate the claims returned process.

• Establish procedures for handling LONGOVDUE items and update training documentation.

4. Moldy Items Revisited

Andy Martinez's document "How to Deal with RUL Moldy Items" was reexamined by the group. Included in this revised, explanation of procedures is a detailed flow chart. The group had provided Andy suggestions that included language about book drops and the specifics of what billing staff needs to do. The document does a nice job clarifying the roles of billing staff and Collection Management staff and will be helpful. (Andy presented this document to the Access Services Committee at its July meeting.)

5. Damaged ILL/PALCI Items

Attendant to the discussion of handling mold items, the group examined how damaged ILL/PALCI items should be dealt with. Drawing upon Rebecca's experience in ILS, the group affirmed that all ILL/PALCI material returned damaged to a circulation desk or book drop needs to be handled in the following manner: 1) Item should not be discharged; 2) PUB-NOTE should be added by access services staff indicating the specifics of the return, when, where, whether the user was present to engage in discussion regarding the damage; 3) Printout of user and item information should be made and inserted in the damaged book; 4) Damaged book should then be mailed to ILS Alex. At that point, ILS staff will contact the owning institution regarding the damage and will follow up with the Rutgers user concerning the damaged bill.

6. Billing Statistics Template

The group reviewed a billings statistics template that Andy had created as a tool for keeping monthly records. The group concluded that the template may be used in lieu of what each unit's billing coordinator/branch manager is currently using. However, the group recognized that the template requires that staff key in user and item information that is already contained in WorkFlows and receipt books. Representatives of the units with the heavier billing activity, citing this duplication of information, did not see an advantage in using this template.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, August 23, 2006, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. at Kilmer Media Classroom.