FALCONS Meeting Minutes – May 2014
Date: May 15, 2014
Minutes: Motion to accept November minutes: Libbie Messina, Cato made a motion to accept the minutes, LuAnn Whirl of Berkshire seconded. Motion approved.
Present: Apalachin, Auburn, Berkshire, Candor, Cato, Cortland, Dryden, FLLS, Groton, Homer, Lansing, McGraw, Newark Valley, Newfield, Nichols, Ovid, Owego, Poplar Ridge, Seneca Falls, TCPL, Trumansburg, Union Springs, Weedsport
Absent: Alternatives, Aurora, Cincinnatus, Fair Haven, Interlaken, Lodi, Marathon, Moravia, Port Byron, Spencer, Waterloo, Waverly
Old Business
Credit Card Distribution:
The new yet to be received report has been reviewed and should work correctly, except that when an ILL book is returned damaged. In this case, the book should be returned to the owning library to access the damage and decide whether to charge. If the loaning library assesses damage and charges, the report will have the money go to the loaning library, not the owning library. Loaning libraries should be sure to return damaged items to the owning library to assess and charge for damage. Also, if a patron pays for a lost item with a credit card and then returns the item, it will show as a refund, but not actually create one on the patron’s credit card. There is a report at Polaris>Public Services>Patron Financial>Refunds To Credit Card Payments that you can run to identify those “Refunds” so the credit can be created on their account. The report should be working in a couple of weeks. Directors should be running the donor report to see who donated money by credit card. Check the weekly bulletin for the instructions on how to do so.
Polaris Leap:
FLLS purchased Polaris Leap at the pre-development discount and it should be installed with Polaris 5.0 in the fall.
Polaris Community Profiles Module:
Community Profiles Module allows the listing of community organizations and events within Pac. The module can still be considered for purchase, but there will be no additional help from Polaris with setting it up. FLLS can help libraries get started, but can’t maintain it for member libraries. Rex will look for information on upcoming webinars and training opportunities. Community Profiles has great potential for knitting the library into its local community. It also shifts the responsibility for maintaining a profile to the community organization. For it to work effectively the information needs to be updated. Rex will see what libraries have adopted it and put out links so directors can see the module in use.
Windows XP:
Be sure to do one more round of updates on Windows XP computers, as Microsoft put out one last patch. Google Chrome can be loaded on XP computers as the browsing system rather than Internet Explorer. Libraries should continue to do Symantec updates on all XP computers.
New Business
Polaris Upgrade:
The upgrade is scheduled for Wednesday June 11th from 8 am – noon. User IDs will be disabled so libraries will not be able to log in to the system. This 4.1 upgrade includes Overdrive integration. All Overdrive items will be shown in PAC, including holds and can be checked out from PAC. The integration won’t happen on the day of the upgrade though. There are a few other things that need to be done before it will be complete.
Polaris bought by Innovation:
Polaris has been acquired by Innovation, a large ILS company that specializes in academic libraries. Innovation wanted an ILS system that was good for public libraries, as well as to acquire Polaris Leap technology. Rex and other members of the Polaris User Group have met with the Innovation/Polaris User group and expressed their concern that customer service and the Polaris product not suffer in the process of Polaris being absorbed by Innovation. The advantages of Polaris becoming part of Innovation include: Money for development The assurance that local support will still come from the Syracuse office A Polaris head quarters being added on the West Coast The organization will be more international There may be a combined PUG-IUG conference. There will still be a PUG conference in Syracuse this fall (Oct. 8, 9, 10). Preconference classes will be on Tuesday, 10/7.
Bulk Computer Purchases:
The NYS contract has not yet been awarded for computer purchases, so Eric doesn’t yet know the prices. They are waiting to find out whether Dell gets the contract or not. Currently, there are all-in-one systems under contract for $730. There is also a shell replacement to make Windows 8.1 looks like a Windows 7 desktop for $5.00, which can be added if staff have difficulty learning Windows 8.1 Touch screen monitors would mostly likely be $200 extra. All computers ordered, when the bulk purchase occurs, will have a 5 year warranty. So, even monitors would be covered for 5 years.
Training Opportunity:
E-reader trainings are currently going on. Andrea is looking for suggestions for future trainings. Please email her with suggestions. Overdrive help has videos for using Overdrive with any device, if you have patrons that need help with Overdrive.
Open discussion:
Zinio:
Auburn uses Zinio and was wondering if anyone else used this online magazine subscription service. Linda said the cost was prohibitive for the whole system to acquire, but that EBSCO is coming out with a Zinio-like product that won’t have a platform fee. Linda will send out information when she receives it. EBSCO may also be offering fiction e-books in the future. Linda will put in a future bulletin training videos and sessions for databases with new interfaces, including Kid’s Info bytes, Novelist, and Learning Express 3.0. Patrons with Learning Express accounts will have to re-signup.
Counting Wireless Users:
Rex is still getting pricing for software to count wireless users. LibData has a product that costs $1200 plus a $100 yearly maintenance. It only works with LibData. It gives wireless users the same restrictions as wired users and generates reports in the control center. Polaris Wireless costs $2000 for the software and $700 for each control unit. TCPL is currently using it. Aerohive is a cloud based service which authenticates with Polaris. It has a $60/year maintenance fee and $650/access point. The annual report started having a question this year regarding the number of wireless users. These systems seem like a large cost for one question on the annual report. Amy and other system directors have discussed this issue with DLD. Whether this question will be on future reports, or be an optional question isn’t known at this point. Libraries can use a sample method to track, if they want to.
New cards:
Best practice for giving new cards is to check the person’s name to be sure they don’t already have a card in the system before issuing a new card. Also, be sure to have everyone’s date of birth. Dates of birth will be crucial when moving to a common card to be sure we aren’t creating duplicate cards.
Food for Fines:
Trumansburg is doing a food for fines week. One full size, unopened, unexpired, non-perishable item can be donated for a $5.00 fine.
Meeting adjourned: Motion to adjourn by Jacalyn Spooner, Cortland seconded by Fran Howe of Candor. Meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.
Next Meeting: Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014.