Minutes Circulation Committee March 21, 2005

Present: Melissa Feiden, Joe Hankins (minutes), Irene Mazor, Georgiana McReynolds (chair), Denise O’Malley, Pat Page, Dan Pribble, Kevin Sheehan, Ginny Such

Agenda:

1. Updates
2. Notice Production and Network Outages
3. Restore Default Privileges
4. ALEPH Testing
5. Group Mission
6. Your Account

Agenda:

1. Updates
   The next meeting will take place in DIRC to look at ALEPH version 16.
   
   Pat Page suggested looking at loan policies and including courtesy notices. Library Administration encourages patron self-sufficiency but courtesy notices conflict with patron self-sufficiency standards because of the availability of Your Account. Loan periods and fine policies should be determined by the research needs of our patrons here at MIT. At an upcoming meeting we will review loan and general circulation policies. It was suggested that we might look at shorter term loan dates.
   
   
2. Notice Production and Network Outages
   Irene Mazor indicated a possible recurring problem of notices not being sent for term loan. The group discussed the following:
   
   There is no way to tell if the Aleph-generated notices reach a mail server, so should we wait to problem solve after the upgrade to version 16 where better tracking is available?
   Should notices be sent from another location?
   Should we consider batching term loan notices to prevent possible overloads?
   Update: The same problem occurred on March 31st unrelated to term loans.
   Should we waive all February 28 overdues or waive fines on a case-by-case basis?
   
   
3. Restore Default Privileges
   Joe Hankins asked us to remind staff including student staff to restore default privileges after overriding privileges.
   
   
4. ALEPH Testing
   Georgiana McReynolds presented a brief review of ALEPH version 16. We will compare version 16 default settings to our current defaults and consult with Christine Moulen to configure the new version as needed. Georgiana suggested that the group first become acquainted with version 16 by reading “Getting Around the ALEPH Desktop” and “Items in Circulation”. Testing in ALEPH will occur through April and possibly until June. Georgiana will send the URL for access to the web (OPAC). Georgiana created some testing scenarios/data checking procedures. These were passed out so that the group would have examples for testing. Georgiana is meeting with Tracy Gabridge on Friday and will test Your Account. The new version has a different method of handling password problems and should offer relief from current intensive monitoring.
   
   We will review testing at our next meeting.
   
   
5. Group Mission
   Georgiana asked us to look at our mission and find ways to identify how the Circulation Committee could be a proactive part of the Libraries’ Mission. Currently circulation units and the Circulation Committee tend to be reactive. We discussed which Circulation services could be featured in Spotlight. Bookpage received the most votes.
   
   
6. Your Account
   The Committee discussed the pros and cons of allowing recalls as the default patron-initiated request through the WEB. We will recommend to make recalls the default.
   UPDATE: BMG agreed with the Committee’s recommendation.