+1 from Germantown. My staff would see Kathy's suggestion as a
substantial improvement.
Thanks.
Joe
Joseph Knueven
Director
Germantown Public Library
51 N. Plum St.
Germantown, OH 45327
937-855-4001
knuev...@oplin.org
On 11/7/2013 10:38 AM, jbry...@clarendoncountylibrary.com wrote:
Something along this line would be a welcome addition in Clarendon.
On 2013-11-06 22:41, Kathy Lussier wrote:
Hi all,
One big issue for our libraries has been the workflow in checking
out items when the patron sends a family member or another person to
pick up a hold on their behalf. We've been exploring different
possibilities for development to improve this workflow.
There are various ways our libraries handle this situation, but the
following is a likely workflow:
- A patron goes to the library and picks up their spouse's hold.
They might pick it up from a self-service holds shelf or, if the holds
shelf is behind the desk, they will ask staff for the item.
- We have some libraries that use notes to verify who is allowed to
pick up holds. In other libraries, particularly the smaller ones,
staff may know by sight who is allowed to pick up a patron's holds.
Libraries also have different policies on whether the hold should be
checked out to the person who has picked up the hold or the person who
originally placed the hold.
- For those libraries that check out the item to the person who is
picking up the hold, when they perform the checkout, they receive the
message saying that the item is on hold for somebody else. Staff who
have permission can then override that message and continue with the
checkout.
- The hold for the original patron remains, and there is no easy way
to cancel that hold from this screen. Instead, staff need to retrieve
the record for the original patron to cancel the hold. If they don't
follow this last step, the hold remains on the patron's account and
gets filled again.
Circ staff who have the right permissions have the ability to
perform the checkout and cancel the original hold so that the
transaction can be completed. However, it takes several steps,
particularly when it comes to the hold cancellation.
MassLNC is considering a development project that would leverage a
friends infrastructure already built into Evergreen that would allow
us to easily manage who can pick up whose holds and automate the
process a bit. If we decide to move forward with this project, I know
I'll be sharing more information on this list as we work through some
of the implementation details.
However, we also recognize that, even if we provide a means for
patrons to identify who can pick up their holds, there will continue
to be situations where friends/family who have not yet been linked to
a patron's account will be sent to the library to pick up someone's
holds. In those situations, we still would like an easier way to
handle the checkout.
Here are our thoughts for improving the workflow:
- If an item from the hold shelf is checked out to another patron,
staff receive a prompt saying that the item is on hold for somebody
else. This alert should display the name of the person for whom the
item is on hold.
- This prompt should provide three options: an option to cancel the
checkout; to proceed with the checkout and remove the original patron
from the holds queue; or to proceed with the checkout but leave the
original patron in the holds queue.
- The system should continue to use the same permissions it does
today to determine if staff is authorized to proceed with the checkout
by overriding the alert or authorized to cancel the hold.
We aren't looking to give staff the ability to do anything they
can't already do. We're basically trying to remove some of the steps
required to complete the transaction.
Before moving further on this project, I wanted to throw the idea
out to the community to see if others would view this additional
option on the prompt as an acceptable workflow improvement.
Thanks!
Kathy
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Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
kluss...@masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier [1]
Links:
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[1] http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
