Falcon Meeting

 

Date:     05/19/05

 

Minutes:

Approval of February minutes, motion to accept by Waverly, seconded by Moravia, passed.

 

Present:

Alternatives, Apalachin, Auburn, Aurora, Berkshire, Candor, Cincinnatus, Cortland, Dryden, Groton,  Homer, Marathon, McGraw, Moravia, Newfield, Owego, Poplar Ridge, Spencer, TCPL, Trumansburg, Union Springs, Waverly, Weedsport, Rex,  Kathy, Eric, Jan, Karen, and Robert from FLLS.

 

Absent:

Cato, Fair Haven, Interlaken, Lodi, Newark Valley Nichols, Ovid, Port Byron, Seneca Falls, and Waterloo.

 

Announcements:

  • Congratulations to the Powers Library in Moravia for receiving the 2005 Historic Preservation Award for New York State.
  • Congratulations also to Poplar Ridge and Aurora for the passing of the funding proposal that was presented to the school district.
  • There is a new Director at the Homer Library, her name is Lois Papp, there is also a new Director at the Coburn Library in Owego, and her name is Karen Bernardo.

 

New Business:

1)      The 3.2 version of Polaris which we are scheduled to go on is still in beta testing. If we have to start with an earlier version of Polaris, there are four system-wide settings that need to be discussed. The first one is the number of days before an item is declared lost. The Circulation committee met and decided on 30 days. Currently all Tompkins County libraries have items go lost at 30 days, while all others have it set at 60 days. The exception is Auburn whose items never go lost. The second system-wide setting is the replacement fee. If a price does not exist in the item record, the system will use a system-wide replacement fee of $20.00. The third setting is whether or not to charge a fee for holds. Presently only TCPL charges for holds when the hold is picked up. The committee’s decision was NOT to charge a hold fee system-wide and TCPL will assess the fee manually. The fourth setting was the amount of a processing fee in addition to the replacement cost. This fee will be set at $10.00 which the libraries will have the option to waive. In regards to the amount of days before an item is declared lost, there is some flexibility in 3.2 and it can be determined on a library by library level. However, the maximum number is 100 days. Auburn would like to change the time period from 30 to 60 days. Mr. Erskine feels they would lose revenue when overdue items are returned. They currently assess the fine amount up to the point the item was returned. Problems were addressed when an item never goes lost. You are still able to place holds on these items even though the item is not available. Also, the owning library is unable to delete the item because the status is still checked out. For items owned by other libraries and overdue to Auburn patrons, the owning library never knows the item is in fact lost so they have to periodically run a manual report to list long overdue items to Auburn patrons and determine if there are in fact, lost. Trumansburg pointed out that due to their transient population, they would not like to wait 60 days. Auburn then made a motion to change the system-wide setting for the amount of days an item is overdue and declared lost from 30 to 60 days. Berkshire seconded the motion and a vote was taken. The motion passed with 41 to 10 in favor of the 60 day change using the weighted voting method.

 

 

2)      Rex announced that Polaris has added to the 3.2 release the ability to have a stats only checkout. What this means is, that you can scan a barcode at checkout and the system will prompt you for the number of items the patron is taking. No due date and no overdues will be generated; it is just for statistical purposes only. This function is available in Dynix and some libraries are using it for their magazines or paperbacks.

 

3)      Also discussed was the fact that all patrons are displayed during a search in Polaris. The system will prompt you if a duplicate patron is found even if they are registered at another library. This leads to the possibility of a system wide card and will be discussed at a later date. The rule will be that even if a patron record exists in another library, you should go ahead and register them at your library.

 

4)      Setting up the Polaris work stations in your library was discussed. Each library will have the ability to practice with Polaris using the training server. We will start establishing security settings in June and every work station will have a unique name, login, and password. Rex pointed out that if you do NOT know your email password and use Outlook or any other email program other than Outlook Express, you must find out what that password is.

 

5)      Jan discussed the Basic Polaris training schedule. The first session is scheduled for June 1st in Weedsport. Few openings are left so contact her if you need to reserve a spot.

 

6)      Rex discussed the migration timeline. Wednesday July 6th will be the last day on Dynix. On July 7th and through Sunday July 10th the data will be pulled from Dynix and will be migrated into Polaris. On Monday July 11th, the data will be loaded on the production server and if you have been using Polaris offline, each library will be contacted to upload those transaction files. iPac will be available for searching only, no holds, or renewals will be allowed. All libraries have the choice to close during that time period, use the offline Polaris system or use a manual system. A survey will be sent out to each library asking which of the three choices they prefer to do. After the files are uploaded and processed, you will need to check in materials. It might be a few days before notices are printed again. All library calendars have been set up to be closed during this transition period so no items will be due during the down time. Keep in mind that if any iPac searches have been saved to MY List, they will need to be printed or emailed to the patron. They will be gone after July 11th.

 

Open Discussion:

1)      Auburn would like information on the Patriot Act.

2)      A Press release will be made available on the FLLS website.

 

Meeting adjourned:

                 11:50 am

 

Next Meeting:

                August 18th. All meetings are now 9:30 – 11:30 am