The Circulation Working Group works alongside SWAN staff to create recommendations for better circulation practices. Members also serve as mentors for new Circulation Managers.
Agenda
- Welcome
- Damaged & Unusable -Group
- Patron Point Presentation- Scott
- Patron Point activity- Scott
- Patron record review project- Vickie
Notes
There was a lengthy discussion about the topic of Damaged and Unusable items. The issues are as follows.
- Each library has a different standard of what is unusable
- The documentation is not widely known
- There is a fear of being billed for an item that your patron may not have damaged (e.g. my patron will get billed for a dog-eared page)
- Lack of communication between Circulation Managers appears to be the biggest obstacle. It was noted that the L2 directory isn't always up to date, which makes communication difficult.
There was a general conversation about how this is more of a training issue, and the group discussed possible solutions.
- A table at the SWAN Expo showcasing some items that were sent back unusable
- Creating an open dialogue through the forums on how other managers are making their staff aware of the unusable and damaged documentation
- Moving the documentation out from behind a login, so that part-time employees have access without having to remember their login
- The Circulation Working Group can create a workshop for all Circulation staff to attend, showing examples of how the damaged and unusable user should be handled
Scott walked the group through the email correspondence that patrons will get when they apply for a library card through Patron Point. It was noted that the list of libraries is something that the group appreciated being added to emails. It is highly used within libraries.
Vickie Totton spoke on a future project on creating best practices for user categories within patron records.