Minutes of January 19, 2012 Meeting

Present:

Zohreh Bonianian, Eric Fizur, Kristen Ko, Barry Lipinski (coordinator, recorder), Jill Locascio, Mike Mansouri, Eugene McElroy, Nita Mukherjee, Gillian Newton, Joyce Watson

Excused:

Marc Forster, Shirley Lewis, Dean Meister, Brian Stubbs

Absent:

Maggie Harris-Clark, Ramon Negron, Jan Reinhart

Agenda

• Circulation and Public Services Group Web Page is Up
• Access Services Committee Notes
• Review of Activities
• Netbook Lending—Progress Report
• Incident Reports

1) Circulation and Public Services Group Web Page is Up

With special thanks to Zohreh Bonianian and Jill Locascio for their work on the project and to Sam McDonald for making it appear, the new Circulation and Public Services Group Web Page made its debut on January 13th. The page has a clean look. Sections include Quick Links, How to, Policies, Forms, and Supplies. Additionally, the former groups' (Circulation, Billing, Security and Facilities) minutes are accessible.

2) Access Services Committee Notes

1. Symphony 3.4 Upgrade—the upgrade went smoothly. Tracey Meyer asked for feedback on the new right click feature. We can right click no matter where we are and get taken to another wizard, e.g., discharge, bill item, report item missing, display holds.
2. Status of Evolving Services—Jill Locascio, who serves as the Reserves Group Coordinator, reported on the e-book option for reserves which is being introduced this semester.
3. Media Clipping for Faculty—VHS capability is being phased out by Classroom Support and the Media Center. Titles that are heavily used are being replaced with DVDs when available; if not, copies are being made by the Media Center. At the professor's request, a DVD of clips from VHS/DVD items may be created specifically for course use. Personal DVDs belonging to the professor may also be copied for class room use only.
4. Streaming Audio and Visual Reserves—Media staff is working with IIS staff to process short video clips to be placed on reserve. Access will be password protected, with the password being issued only to members of the class.
5. Eliminating User-Initiated Recalls—A group (Krista Haviland, Glenn Sandberg, and Jeff Teichman) will investigate what is being recalled and provide some recommendations. An idea discussed at ASC was could we redirect recalls to E-ZBorrow or JerseyCat requests instead? Under this scenario, a recall would be placed only if it could not be obtained elsewhere.

3) Review of Activities

1. Old Bills—Judy Gardner, Barry Lipinski, Nita Mukherjee, and Gillian Newton agreed to form a group focused on how best to handle old bills on the Delinquent Accounts Report. A goal is to bring a clean user database to a future open access software system.
2. Text Messaging—Sirsi/Dynex has announced that it will now support text messaging. The group reviewed the announcement and will investigate the usefulness of producing notices with content limited to 160 characters. The Mobile Devices Task Force examined this area in 2010. It pointed out then that SMS texting would help users who have mobile devices that are limited in capabilities i.e., cell phones. But, users would need to opt in for the service. Otherwise, they may incur charges from their carrier. Will shorter formats to notices—providing less information—have the potential to cause confusion? Is the ongoing development of mobile devices and the increase in users who have devices that include email signaling that the texting option may not be as useful today as once perceived?

4) Netbook Lending—Progress Report

Netbook lending at Kilmer Library and Alexander Library has been a successful service enhancement. At the end of the Fall semester, Alexander had checked out 280 netbooks over its first 66 days of offering the service, an average of 4.2 netbooks per day. Kilmer, through its first 46 days of netbook lending, had checked out 245 netbooks, an average of 5.3 netbooks per day.

5) Incident Reports

Alexander

• Two clogged toilets during the evening in the first floor men's restroom near the circulation desk. (Sun, 11/20/11)
• Clogged sink during the evening in women's basement restroom. (Tue, 11/29/11)
• User reported that his Kindle was missing from his back pack. He had left his back pack unattended for an hour when he left the library to eat. (Sun, 12/4/11)
• Bike stolen from front of the building bike rack when security cables are cut from it by a person whose description is given to RUPD. (Wed, 12/7/11)
• Non-Rutgers user is loud, disruptive, and verbally abusive to students and staff in the library; RUPD responds to call and arrests him for disorderly conduct. (Fri, 12/9/11)
• Animal breaking into a substation causes a power outage in the library. Power is not restored and the library closes at 3 p.m. (Fri, 12/30/11)
• Six users, approximately 40 to 60 years of age, caused a disturbance with loud behavior and beer drinking while seated near the Reference Room back windows facing George Street. RUPD was called and they arrived and spoke with the users who then left the library. (Fri, 1/13/12)
• Library staff member slips on ice coating the new plaza area in front of the library and falls. (Tue, 1/17/12)
• Flooding in the men's room near basement staff lounge; Facilities staff work on containing the leak overnight. (Wed, 1/18/12)

Chang

• On a cold day, fire alarm goes off within the library and Foran Hall. Users and staff vacate the building and are not permitted to re-enter by New Brunswick fire fighters for 55 minutes. Cause of the alarm is not known. (Wed, 1/4/12)

Douglass

• Bike stolen from rack in front of the library. (Wed, 11/30/11)
• Water leak coming from floor drainage system in 1st level men's restroom. (Tue, 12/6/11)
• Water leak coming from the drainage system in the 2nd level women's restroom. (Wed, 12/7/11)
• Leaking toilet in the 3rd floor men's restroom. (Sat, 12/17/11)

Kilmer

• When student reports that someone outside on the library portico said they were having a heart attack, staff immediately calls 911 from circulation desk phone. The dispatcher who answers the phone is in Newark and says “Oh, so you are not in Newark.” He can't find the correct number to connect staff to New Brunswick, and then tells staff to hang up and try again. When this does not work again—staff get the same dispatcher in Newark—staff phone RUPD on the nonemergency number. Emergency services arrive promptly. Supervisor follows up with RUPD the following morning. IIS also is asked to investigate why the phone system directed the 911 call to Newark. (Tue, 12/6/11)
• Student reports that his $300 headphones were stolen from a workstation table that he had placed them on in the lower level instructional alcove. (Thurs, 12/8/11)

LSM

• Security camera outside the library is detected by staff to be out of position. RUPD called to investigate and realign it. (Fri, 12/16/11)