FALCONS Meeting Minutes – November 2019

FALCONS Meeting Minutes November 21, 2019

Date: November 22, 2019

Present: Lisa Carr (AUB), Sandy Groth (AURO), Diane Pamel (DRY), Sara Knobel (GRO), Sue Chaffee (NEW), Lisa Semenza (POP), Marty Toombs (SENF), Jen Schlossberg (TCPL), Teresa Vadakin (TCPL), Cheryl Austin (WEED), Deb Geier (FLLS), Rex Helwig (FLLS), Eric Franks (FLLS), Sarah Glogowski (FLLS)

Remote via ZOOM: Fran Miller (BERK), Marcia Enright (CAN, Gayle James (CATO), Aimee Dorward (CORT),
Allen Tompkins (FAIR), Jenny Shonk (FLLS), Priscilla Berggren-Thomas (HOM), Chelsea Hastings (INT),
Susie Gutenberger (LAN), Heather Cobb (MCGR), Carol Forde (NEVA), Heather Dungy (OVID),
Anna Chappell (PORT), Liz Helmetsie (SPE), Ksana Broadwell (TRU), Carla Jones (UNS), Brandi Rozelle (WAT), Chris Brewster (WAV)

Meeting was called to order at 9:30am.

Introduction & Announcements:

  • Rex introduced Sue Chaffee, the new director at Newfield.
  • Lisa (AUB) announced extensions at AUB have changed. They now start with “4” instead of “*“.
  • Jen (TCPL) introduced her coworker, Teresa Vadakin.   She’s the Head of Information & Learning Services (formerly Adult Services).
  • Sarah (FLLS) announced that the Trustee Education regulations proposed over the last year have been withdrawn.  More information will follow after a meeting on 12/10.  She also announced the 2020 advocacy day will be 2/25.
  • Eric (FLLS) responded to a question about “Domain Registry” email some libraries are getting.  If FLLS takes care of your domain name, then they will renew.  If your library takes care of domain names on your own, you should ignore this email and go through something cheaper like GoDaddy.  You should also consider transferring the domains to FLLS to manage.

Approval of minutes: Motion to approve minutes made by Lisa Semenza (POP); Second by Sara (GRO).   Carried.

Old Business

One Card

    • Rex (FLLS) continues to work through duplicate patrons. About 1700 records left.  Reminder:  patron records with a Collection Agency block cannot be merged.
    • Jen (TCPL) announced TCPL will eliminate use of the collection agency as of January 2020.  Charges will remain on patron record but collection agency block will be removed.
    • Sarah (TCPL) said the next thing to tackle with One Card should be some kind of standardization with billing between member libraries.  This will be discussed at upcoming Director’s Advisory Council (DAC) meetings.
      • Jen (TCPL) asked to be included when this issue is discussed.
      • Deb/Sarah (FLLS) asked that out of system ILL charges be included in the discussion
      • Rex (FLLS) explained that the AA-Collected Fees (detail and summary) reports have been updated.  This report is found in the custom/public services/patron financial folder.  The report looks at what has been collected (not what has been billed).
        • Jenny will email a Polaris Canned Report Site Map to everyone.
      • There was discussion about standardization of library cards by age.  TCPL (through Rex) updates cards based on age (Baby to Child, Child to YA, YA to Adult, Adult to Senior) which provides more accurate reporting of circulation by Patron Code.
    • There was extensive discussion about having a Preferred Name field on patron registration.  The accelerated development request is very pricey so what can we do in the meantime?  TCPL proposes completing first name field (searchable) like this:   Preferred name is entered first and then birth name in brackets. For example:  Jared [Jennifer].

Authority/Catalog Clean UP Project update

    • FLLS is reviewing vendors.  A contract will be signed soon, probably January.  Deb (FLLS) will continue to clean up and dedupe catalog records.  Once a vendor is signed, Deb (and Rex) will set up a profile with that vendor.  The vendor will clean up records and move the catalog away from AACR2 to RDA.  FLLS will get full authority records with quarterly updates.  There will be blocks of time when we cannot edit bib/item records.
    • Rex is looking at Chilifresh for book jackets and reviews rather than Content Café.

Bring Your Own Device Printing:  The cost is about $300/library/year.

New Business

eContent:  Nora reviewed information about FLLS discontinuing Hoopla.

Census 2020

From Jenny – FLLS:

    • The Census 2020 blog post/webpage is now live! Visit https://www.flls.org/census-2020/ for helpful links!
    • Here are the FLLS Census 2020 Needs Assessment results…
      • We had 27 responses – thank you!
      • Everyone who responded plans to promote the Census.
      • Plans for promotion include having a dedicated workstation, staff training, and general promotion.
      • Converting public workstations will be the greatest technology need.
      • I am working with Kate Dillon of the Census Bureau to provide member libraries with free paper marketing materials.
      • I plan on facilitating a Q&A-type webinar with Census Bureau staff in February.
    • Here are some answers to your questions:
      • The Census can now be completed online but an unknown number of people will still receive paper forms. Essentially, no one is able to accurately predict what the actual need will be but it is always better to be prepared.
      • There is not funding for devices, but FLLS is working on providing iPads to some libraries and will assistance with converting your public computer stations as needed.
      • The webinar will be live and recorded, a handout with FLLS specific info and general Census info will be distributed as well.
      • Regarding the threat to immigrants: There is NOT a question about citizenship on the census. Title 13 prevents the Census Bureau from giving out private information, by law. The Census Bureau director swears to uphold the law.
    • Please contact me with your questions and concerns! I plan to be back in the office on December 2nd.

Polaris Closed Dates:  Rex reminded member libraries to update this table with closed dates for 2020.

Windows 10 Feature Update: 

Eric (FLLS) reviewed a problem with some libraries not keeping desktops updated.  It’s important for all computers to be at least up to “1903”.    He gave information on how libraries can manually run this update if it didn’t run automatically.  More information is available on the Computer Network Services portion of the FLLS website.

Polaris Hold Requests & Maintenance (Rex – FLLS)

    • Member libraries should review the expired and not supplied hold status (from Request Manger) on a daily basis.  When an item is on the report, you can reactivate the hold or you can convert it to an ILL.
    • Member libraries should also review the “shipped” status and sort by date.  Look at older dates and owning libraries should set the item records to missing.
    • Unclaimed holds should be taken care of as part of your daily or every other day process.  Someone else may be in hold queue waiting for it.

Patron Registration/Personal Information

    • Rex reported he has found EBT numbers, credit card numbers, passport numbers, etc. stored in local use and PSTAT3 fields.  Member libraries should not be collecting this information or storing it in Polaris.
    • There was some discussion about whether member libraries keep driver’s license numbers on a paper application.  If any personal information (examples above) is written on the paper applications, then member libraries must keep applications locked securely.
    • Sarah (FLLS) checked with legal counsel, and while keeping driver’s license number is not illegal, FLLS was advised not to keep the number.
    • Bottom line from FLLS:  don’t store personal information of patrons

Patron Purge: Rex will run the patron purge in January.   If you waive fines due to a change in policy, then the Last Activity Date changes so the Patron Purge will not remove those patrons.

Open Discussion

  • Jen (TCPL) – TCPL has started a limited Books by Mail program.  If you see a patron record with First Name [mail], this means the patron is part of this program.
  • Diane Pamel (DRY) announced they will have an author talk on 2/11 with Lissa Marie Richmond.  If other libraries are interested in having Lissa speak while she’s in the area, contact Diane.

Next meeting: February 20, 2020

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Carr, Secretary

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