Sirsi Procedures Update

I’ve got lots of procedural updates today so please read this email carefully and if you do not understand something, let me know.

On Shelf Holds (Paging) list:  Fred is working with IT to develop a report that you can download from the staff Intranet on a daily basis.  He hopes to have it in place by the end of the month.  In the meantime, if you are comfortable using the On Shelf Items wizard to retrieve your paging list, please feel free to do so.  However, Fred can email you a report on a daily basis with this same information.  Since we do not have email accounts for each Neighborhood Library, he needs an email address (or two) for each location to send the reports to.  If you would like to get these reports emailed to your location, please identify one or two individuals that these reports will go to.  Send that information in an email to Fred Schumacher with the Subject Line:  [your NL name] send holds report.

Clean Holds Shelf:  Items on the hold shelf have been extended through July 25 so these reports will not run until that date.  These reports will also be downloaded from the staff Intranet on a daily basis but until that solution is active, Fred will email them to the same person/s he sends the On Shelf Holds list to.

Felicia Brisco will be sending out detailed instructions on procedures using Workflows to discard items or put items on the “repair” shelf.  Look for that email Tuesday.

We have discovered that the set of barcodes sent to each location to use with the Google Docs spreadsheet to handle periodical check-ins while offline (and which you should continue to use until notified differently) did not migrate into Symphony properly.  We are working on a temporary solution and should have it out to you shortly.  In the interim, you can circulate them as an Item on the Fly.

I’d like to remind you that when you are checking in an item and you are notified that there is a hold on that item, if that item needs to another location for pick up, select “PLACE IN TRANSIT”.  Do not select “make hold available.”  If you select “make hold available,” the system automatically generates a message to the customer that their hold is ready for pick-up when it is actually still in transit to their pick up location.  This procedure is the same as we had in III Millennium; it’s only the way the screen looks and some of the words that have changed.

Lastly, please do not give out PINs to customers over the phone.  This is a security issue.  Provided we have their correct email address in their account, it is quite easy for them to go online and select “Forgot PIN?” which is visible when they click on “My Account.”  They will be asked to enter their library card number.  An email will then be sent to them with a link to re-set their PIN.  I’d suggest you try it yourself so you can better explain it to our customers.

We continue to work on finding a solution for the holds wrapper issue. 

It has been suggested that we create a blog where staff can share their experiences (good and bad) and maybe find solutions from other staff members.  Let me know what you think of that.  I believe we could set that up fairly quickly if there is interest.

Please continue to notify us of problems you find.  And thanks again for all you do.

This email has been approved by Meller Langford, Deputy Director of Customer Experience

Thanks,

Syma

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Services

Houston Public Library

832-393-1484

Pedro