FALCONS Meeting Minutes
Date: November 15, 2012
Minutes: Motion to accept August’s minutes: Homer made a motion to accept the minutes, seconded by McGraw and approved.
Present: Apalachin, Auburn, Aurora, Berkshire, Candor, Cato, Cortland, Dryden, Homer, Groton, Interlaken, McGraw, Newark Valley, Newfield, Ovid, Poplar Ridge, Seneca Falls, TCPL, Trumansburg, Union Springs, Waverly, Weedsport and Rex, Eric, Robert, Amanda, Kim and Jan from FLLS.
Absent: Alternatives, Cincinnatus, Fair Haven, Lansing, Lodi, Marathon, Moravia, Nichols, Owego, Port Byron, Spencer and Waterloo.
Announcements:
Kim announced that we are waiting on the last 10% of state aid, which hopefully will be released soon.
Kim and Annette Birdsall attended a pre-conference workshop at NYLA titled Policy Handbook Boot Camp presented by Ellen Bach and Robert Schofield of the law firm White, Osterman & Hanna, LLP. The workshop provided an overview of the critical importance of policies in libraries and a framework to create effective policies.
She has been in contact with Robert Schofield to provide the workshop for our member libraries and trustees. Ellen Bach and Robert Schofield have done similar presentations at other library systems in the state. The state has not released the annual report data yet so we do not know if there have been any changes to the annual report. Once these changes are released we will schedule an Annual Report workshop for those who need a refresher or those directors new to the system.
A question was raised as to whether FLLS has hired an Outreach/Advocacy position yet. Kim responded no, not yet but hope to have someone in place by the first of the new year.
Old Business:
- An update on the common card was discussed. Cayuga County has met twice, clarifying some parameters and finding that they are on common ground with many others. Tioga County is doing well, some issues with merging patrons but overall the patrons are very pleased with this new level of service. Tompkins County is going strong as is Cortland County, reporting no problems with the common card.
- Linda gave an update on ILL and the databases. She wanted to thank member libraries for their input on the databases. We have decided to keep home improvement and the car repair databases and are eliminating the Arts & Crafts database. The Arts & Craft database is still accessible at this time but could end at any time. Our short term subscription with the Job Match database is ending in the Spring (April 13). The database training offered this year was not well attended and some workshops were cancelled. Linda reminded everyone that she has promotional bookmarks and posters for Novelist and Ebsco available. Linda said it’s about $25 to process each out of system ILL request and if a patron cancels their request, it is not cancelled in OCLC, in fact most have already been shipped so please avoid cancelling as much as possible. Linda recommended that staff be sure and notify the patron that their out of system request may take a while to fill (2-3 weeks)and if they are not willing to wait for it, they should not place the hold. This time of year they may take even longer to fill. When she can’t fill a request, an email is sent to the patron with a copy to the library. If no email address is found, just the library is notified and they should notify the patron.
- Rex gave a credit card update. We are still setting up to be PCI compliant. We need a new firewall. There is still some setup to do, in PAC, in the server, we anticipate being done by the end of the year. Donating to the library will also be added.
New Business:
- Please turn in your calendars of closed dates for 2013 by December 1st.
- Jan discussed the new feature in Polaris 4.1 that allows the library to incorporate content carousels on their portal page. A form was handed out explaining the process. These carousels are generated using Bibliographic record sets with a maximum of 50 titles. The name of the record set will be the name displayed over the carousel on the portal page. If you would like your portal page to be your home page, please let CNS know. A question was asked how Quick Bibs and eBooks display on the content carousel. We will look into this. When a Quick Bib is merged with a full Bib record what happens?
- Jan discussed the new feature in Polaris 4.1 that allows you to group material types and attaches limits to the group. So instead of 5 dvds and 5 dvd new you can group those two material types together and assign a limit of 5. A handout was given explaining the process and suggestions for groups. Each county will determine those groups and limits.
- The topic of handling lost and claimed returned items started on the list serve was continued. Linda produced an analysis of lost ILL items and the discussion from the list serve. Currently the way the Polaris Fine and Loan settings and notifications work is that the Overdue Notice and Bill are generated by the Loaning Library. The loaning library dictates the loan period. Material type limits are based on the Checkout and/or Pickup Library. The library that lends the item determines the fine amount. Lost item recovery is based on the library that checked the item out. They determine whether the replacement cost, Processing fee and/or Overdue Fine are charged or waived. In 2011, .69% of all items loaned became lost, in 2012 it is .89%. There was quite a bit of discussion on this topic. What is a good faith effort? Can you forgive the lost charges of a library that has lost the item if they really try to get the item back? Is the last library who touched the item responsible or the patron’s registered library? If a patron claims they returned an item why should the loaning library still charge the replacement cost? The discussion was tabled due to lack of time but will continue on the list serve and during the next Falcons meeting in February.
Open Discussion:
A question was asked about contacting FLLS if the library unexpectedly closes. You can call Linda Beins, Robert or Jan, post it in the List serve or leave a message with the auto attendant at FLLS.
A question was raised regarding telephony. If the patron’s cell phone has a ring back tone, telephony can’t identify that as a ring back and thinks it’s been answered by the patron so it starts to leave a message. Texting is always an option.
Auburn has started to investigate and setup Acquisitions.
Meeting adjourned:
Motion to adjourn by Auburn, seconded by Cortland, meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.
Next Meeting:
Thursday February 21st from 9:30 to 11:30.