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January 16th Meeting held at East Greenbush

Attendees: Lorraine Smi (VOOR); Barbara Kendall (BRUN); Ann Close, Debbie LaRose, Joe Nash (COLN); Gillian Leonard, Jean Marie Cole, Donna Kelly (GUIL); Dawn Geurds, Joyce Jack (EGRN); Betty Albright, Geoff Kirkpatrick (BETH); Mena Will (POES); Amy Brozio-Andrews, John Cirrin (APLM); Amy Williams (TROY); Jo-Ann Benedetti, Karen Nuckolls [notes], Rawdon Cheng (UHLS).

Advisory Council transition: Rachel opened the meeting by explaining the name change that has now united the Circulation Work Team with the Interlibrary Loan Working Group. The Resource Sharing Advisory Council can make recommendations to the Directors Association for input, but the DA has the final decision in these matters.

Epixtech migration update: Karen brought the Council up-to-date on the migration from DRA to epixtech. She has been inundated with manuals (right and wrong) and is awaiting additional copies. Libraries will have their own copies of: Circulation; Cataloging; iPac & StaffPac; Reference Tools; Acquisitions; and Serials Checkin. There is also a large Implementation Manual which functions as the equivalent of the DRA circulation policy file. Members of the Implementation Team will be setting up meetings so that libraries can work through this manual, much like they did with their policy file.

UHLS libraries will be coming up on the new system during fall 2002, with training taking place during September and October. The actual dates depend on the release of the 7.3 upgrade of the Horizon system, which is critical because it credits (for the first time) overdues to the owning library rather than the lending library, which is the way it works now in DRA.

Lost receipt parameters: The Directors Association has stated that “The replacement cost for lost materials is to be remitted to the owning library.” The Council will ask the DA for clarification of this statement. Is cash OK? Can it be sent through the courier? Should there be a receipt? Jean Marie will draft procedures that will then (with DA approval) be on the back of the receipt, in an attempt to eliminate staff problems with this process.

Agency cards: Libraries issue agency cards in various ways. Some require usage only at that library; some keep the cards with names at the circulation desk. Some libraries were unaware that they should only be used at that particular library.

Recommendation: that agency cards should be valid in the home library only. It is up to the individual library to waive any fines that might accrue.

Online renewals: GUIL brought up this problem with renewals that were not happening consistently with items. Rawdon replied that this has been logged with DRA and UHLS is waiting for a resolution.

Patron email addresses: Rawdon asked libraries to please remove incorrect email addresses whenever they add notes about a patron’s home address change. Otherwise, messages sent to these names end up bouncing back into the system. He does send messages to libraries asking them to delete, but one in particular has not been done after eight months.

Recommendation: Libraries need to remove email addresses of patrons if they are incorrect. Use the Notes field to remind staff to ask patron for a new email address.

NOTE: If a member library employee wishes email from another username to be sent to them, then they should log into that username and type at the prompt:

     >>SET FORWARD [username] with ‘username’ being their own personal username.

Send item list via email: Rawdon asked libraries to let him know if they did not wish to receive this via email. The reason for sending it this way is to allow libraries to print the list in one continuous listing, rather than using Print Screen.

Damaged items: Books that are falling apart are still being sent in the courier bags. Libraries that receive them should mark the item “Damaged” so that patron is not charged.

Next meeting: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 at 9:00 AM at APLM.