Just thought I would share our holiday Scary Stories with all of you. The display was loved by the children. It would be a good theme to create a display with. I have saved the theme in H Drive/ library/Niagara Park/ Themes if any one is interested.
Chris G
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Housekeeping
Hi all
Please sign your posts when you leave a message on the BL Blog. If you don't sign it we don't know who wrote it
Also, when I set it up I just had everyone sign in as the administrator - Unshelved - but now I realise that you can have your own gmail account/blog and watch and contribute to the BL blog as yourself
If you did any of the Library 2.0 training you will have a gmail account and a blog spot to use, otherwise it's very simple to set one up
Please call me if you want to do this and I will give you a hand (time and customers willing)
Cheers
Kristen
Please sign your posts when you leave a message on the BL Blog. If you don't sign it we don't know who wrote it
Also, when I set it up I just had everyone sign in as the administrator - Unshelved - but now I realise that you can have your own gmail account/blog and watch and contribute to the BL blog as yourself
If you did any of the Library 2.0 training you will have a gmail account and a blog spot to use, otherwise it's very simple to set one up
Please call me if you want to do this and I will give you a hand (time and customers willing)
Cheers
Kristen
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Lost items
Speaking of lost items (see damaged items for more info), I've been doing a few quick calculations today on the lost item issue.
Over the past year there has been 3000-3500 items lost at any one time. Feb this year the number has topped 4000. 2000 of these items are from 2008 alone.
This means that every month in 2008 167 items were borrowed and never returned.
At an average of $20 each that means we are losing $3340 worth of stock each month.
What happens if these rates continue?
Over the past six months we have spent approx $30 000 on between 2000-2500 items each month. If the trend continues, 10% of our spending will be gone by the end of next month. The equivalent of 6% of our incoming stock will be lost.
I just wanted to bring this to your attention to think about for the next meeting. Perhaps we can come up with a plan for decreasing these numbers.
Heather
Over the past year there has been 3000-3500 items lost at any one time. Feb this year the number has topped 4000. 2000 of these items are from 2008 alone.
This means that every month in 2008 167 items were borrowed and never returned.
At an average of $20 each that means we are losing $3340 worth of stock each month.
What happens if these rates continue?
Over the past six months we have spent approx $30 000 on between 2000-2500 items each month. If the trend continues, 10% of our spending will be gone by the end of next month. The equivalent of 6% of our incoming stock will be lost.
I just wanted to bring this to your attention to think about for the next meeting. Perhaps we can come up with a plan for decreasing these numbers.
Heather
Monday, March 2, 2009
Damaged items
Hi everyone,
I really want to get this ball rolling on the damaged issue. I have had two callers this week about damaged items and it's only 9.30am Tuesday!
I've written up a draft procedure for your viewing. There are some comments I have already recieved from support services staff at the bottom:
Damaged items procedure
Circulation staff
1. Check in and hit F9 (item maintenance) change status to damaged through exception pull down list
2. Check blue area of bottom of the screen for last borrower- note name and borrower number
3. Double click name to get to Member Maintenance screen, collect borrower's phone number if possible. If not, collect address.
4. Record all details including your name and the date on a 'Problem item' slip to be kept with the item
5. Refer to branch librarian or supervisor
Branch librarian/supervisor
1. Bring damage to borrower's attention
• At circulation desk if they are still in the library
• Over the phone on the day of return or
• By mail
2. Inform borrower of damage fee ($10 plus processing??) and that an invoice for fines payment will be forwarded to them (if posting letter include invoice?)
Note: if supervisor or BL deems that the circumstances warrant special consideration they may use discretion in either waiving any charge or arranging for part payments to be made until the account has been paid in full.
In such cases clear documentation is to be recorded- BL or supervisors must insert a clear note on the borrower's record indicating decision made and initial it.
3. Send details to Megan in Support Services for invoice to be generated.
Details must include
• Borrowers number
• Item D number
• Description of damage
• Recommended fee?? - this would have to be explained to staff or Megan can work it out
• Branch item is being held
OR
Branch lib/supervisor generate their own invoice based on the template Megan currently uses.
4. Retain item in designated place for further analysis/backup or until fines are paid
5. Upon payment of fines delete item from the collection and mark invoice as paid- retain on file for 6 months??
Responses to common enquiries:
Fines incurred are for the damage to library materials plus associated processing cost.
Damaged items remain property of the library and do not become property of the borrower upon payment of fines incurred.
N.B. Same or similar items offered as replacement will not be accepted.
COMMENTS:
Fine tuning will need to be sorted as to who prints and posts the letters. Megan says she is fine to do this- perhaps the info could be emailed to her. Otherwise, could it be worked out that BL or supervisor could do it... The fees would have to be recorded on the borrowers card too.
The price I have in here is just a space filler, we can work that out properly. Someone up here mentioned that if it were say $10 with $5 processing and $1.50 GST, then the borrower would only need to pay off $6.50 before being able to borrow again. We need to decide if the fee will be a deterrant or a punishment.
That's it for now,
I look forward to hearing from you.
Heather
I really want to get this ball rolling on the damaged issue. I have had two callers this week about damaged items and it's only 9.30am Tuesday!
I've written up a draft procedure for your viewing. There are some comments I have already recieved from support services staff at the bottom:
Damaged items procedure
Circulation staff
1. Check in and hit F9 (item maintenance) change status to damaged through exception pull down list
2. Check blue area of bottom of the screen for last borrower- note name and borrower number
3. Double click name to get to Member Maintenance screen, collect borrower's phone number if possible. If not, collect address.
4. Record all details including your name and the date on a 'Problem item' slip to be kept with the item
5. Refer to branch librarian or supervisor
Branch librarian/supervisor
1. Bring damage to borrower's attention
• At circulation desk if they are still in the library
• Over the phone on the day of return or
• By mail
2. Inform borrower of damage fee ($10 plus processing??) and that an invoice for fines payment will be forwarded to them (if posting letter include invoice?)
Note: if supervisor or BL deems that the circumstances warrant special consideration they may use discretion in either waiving any charge or arranging for part payments to be made until the account has been paid in full.
In such cases clear documentation is to be recorded- BL or supervisors must insert a clear note on the borrower's record indicating decision made and initial it.
3. Send details to Megan in Support Services for invoice to be generated.
Details must include
• Borrowers number
• Item D number
• Description of damage
• Recommended fee?? - this would have to be explained to staff or Megan can work it out
• Branch item is being held
OR
Branch lib/supervisor generate their own invoice based on the template Megan currently uses.
4. Retain item in designated place for further analysis/backup or until fines are paid
5. Upon payment of fines delete item from the collection and mark invoice as paid- retain on file for 6 months??
Responses to common enquiries:
Fines incurred are for the damage to library materials plus associated processing cost.
Damaged items remain property of the library and do not become property of the borrower upon payment of fines incurred.
N.B. Same or similar items offered as replacement will not be accepted.
COMMENTS:
Fine tuning will need to be sorted as to who prints and posts the letters. Megan says she is fine to do this- perhaps the info could be emailed to her. Otherwise, could it be worked out that BL or supervisor could do it... The fees would have to be recorded on the borrowers card too.
The price I have in here is just a space filler, we can work that out properly. Someone up here mentioned that if it were say $10 with $5 processing and $1.50 GST, then the borrower would only need to pay off $6.50 before being able to borrow again. We need to decide if the fee will be a deterrant or a punishment.
That's it for now,
I look forward to hearing from you.
Heather
Friday, February 20, 2009
Semi-serious suggestion
Hi
after cleaning up the mess that is the weekend papers - again - I'd like to suggest a $5 deposit for everyone borrowing our newspaper with the money going to a nominated charity if the paper isn't returned in proper order
that's my vent for the day :D
enjoy your weekend
Cheers
Kristen
after cleaning up the mess that is the weekend papers - again - I'd like to suggest a $5 deposit for everyone borrowing our newspaper with the money going to a nominated charity if the paper isn't returned in proper order
that's my vent for the day :D
enjoy your weekend
Cheers
Kristen
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Book Club boxes
For your information:
Book club box procedures
1. On receipt of box:
• Check contents of box against label
• Issue box to Branch book club card so its location is identifiable – manually make due date 1 week after meeting for that title.
• Check-in all items in the box so they show available at your branch - see Note below.
That is, the box is checked out to the branch; the items are checked in to the branch
Note:
o The exception code for the Book club will come up for each item so will have to be OKed correctly to proceed with each check-in. (exception code = BKCLUB)
o The box has normal status (exception code). Only items within the box has BKCLUB status
o The exception code for book club should stay on the item and will only come off if manually changed (for example, if put to mending, CR, etc)
o If am item doesn’t have a BKCLUB exception code, reset (same as setting to mending etc)
• Display or promote items as appropriate for your book club.
2. Loans:
• Issue items to patrons as required. No renewals allowed?? Loan period? What do you think- 3 weeks as per usual or extended to a month to fit with meetings or even 6 weeks for extra reading and thinking time????
3. Returns (or check-ins)
• Book club exception will come up. If not, set status as BKCLUB.
• Put book in book club box. (or send to current branch if returned at another branch – check catalogue for box location if necessary.)
4. On completion of Book club meeting
• Check-in (return) individual items in box.
• When all copies of items are accounted for, check-in (return) box. Do not check-in box in until all copies are accounted for
• If box is reserved, send to that branch, if not, send to Support Services Caddy Club (Admin)
5. Reservation of box for future meeting
• Titles can be found in catalogue by keyword search : BOOK + CLUB + BOX
• Check whether already on reserve for another branch, and if so reserve for future meeting if desired but meanwhile consider another box for next meeting
• Reserve as normal – but it must be under a supervisor’s login. AND be sure to reserve the specific D-number for the box.
Note: Be sure to reserve the specific D-number for the BOX!!!
• If the box/title you want is at Support Services, perhaps let someone in SS know you are reserving it so they know to look for it for you.
Support Services
• Check-in all items within box
• Check- in box
• Attend to physical maintenance of items and box if necessary
• Regularly watch pull list for reserve of boxes
• If on pull list, wand in box barcode only.
Book club box procedures
1. On receipt of box:
• Check contents of box against label
• Issue box to Branch book club card so its location is identifiable – manually make due date 1 week after meeting for that title.
• Check-in all items in the box so they show available at your branch - see Note below.
That is, the box is checked out to the branch; the items are checked in to the branch
Note:
o The exception code for the Book club will come up for each item so will have to be OKed correctly to proceed with each check-in. (exception code = BKCLUB)
o The box has normal status (exception code). Only items within the box has BKCLUB status
o The exception code for book club should stay on the item and will only come off if manually changed (for example, if put to mending, CR, etc)
o If am item doesn’t have a BKCLUB exception code, reset (same as setting to mending etc)
• Display or promote items as appropriate for your book club.
2. Loans:
• Issue items to patrons as required. No renewals allowed?? Loan period? What do you think- 3 weeks as per usual or extended to a month to fit with meetings or even 6 weeks for extra reading and thinking time????
3. Returns (or check-ins)
• Book club exception will come up. If not, set status as BKCLUB.
• Put book in book club box. (or send to current branch if returned at another branch – check catalogue for box location if necessary.)
4. On completion of Book club meeting
• Check-in (return) individual items in box.
• When all copies of items are accounted for, check-in (return) box. Do not check-in box in until all copies are accounted for
• If box is reserved, send to that branch, if not, send to Support Services Caddy Club (Admin)
5. Reservation of box for future meeting
• Titles can be found in catalogue by keyword search : BOOK + CLUB + BOX
• Check whether already on reserve for another branch, and if so reserve for future meeting if desired but meanwhile consider another box for next meeting
• Reserve as normal – but it must be under a supervisor’s login. AND be sure to reserve the specific D-number for the box.
Note: Be sure to reserve the specific D-number for the BOX!!!
• If the box/title you want is at Support Services, perhaps let someone in SS know you are reserving it so they know to look for it for you.
Support Services
• Check-in all items within box
• Check- in box
• Attend to physical maintenance of items and box if necessary
• Regularly watch pull list for reserve of boxes
• If on pull list, wand in box barcode only.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
damaged books procedures
Charging for damaged books: a Support Services perspective
Introduction:
Pretty much the only customer interaction Support Services gets is dealing with angry and defensive customers. After all the work we put in to delivering a quality product, this often makes us feel very sad.
Current procedure:
The current procedure is that items returned and put to damaged are sent up to Megan who analyses the books for damage and suggests a damage fee based on the age of the books.
They are then sent to me for approval where I assess whether the damage fee is warranted. I check dates to get an idea if an item may have deteriorated further since return (ie in cases of mould)
Once I have approved damaged analysis, Megan prints out the damaged letters, enters the finance on each borrowers record, files the letters and keeps the books in a crate for instances where the borrower rings up to challenge. Megan has measured the time it took her to deal with problem items over the week and for 8 books it ended up taking over an hour and a half of her time.
If a customer rings up and complains about the fee, I grab a copy of the letter sent out and go and find the item in question. I then bring up their record to see if they often receive fines or have had previous disputes with the library. This helps in my judgement of whether the fine is warranted. This is also disruptive to my day and is a very frustrating experience because borrowers making the effort to ring up have pretty much already made up their minds that the library is useless, they are not paying the fines, the book was like it when they borrowed it etc.
Stats:
o I would estimate at least a third of the customers that I send letters to I hear back from.
o Average 2 hours per week dealing with all aspects of the issues between at least 2 people.
o We have 4 crates up here in the compactus divided into half yearly sections. There is still half a crate of items from Jan-Jun 08 that are waiting to either be paid or hear back from the customer. Megan recently cleaned out the Jul-Dec 07 crate and deleted the items. The fines are still on those borrowers cards, after this amount of time we will probably never hear from them again.
Issues:
At the end of the day, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Whatever the customer tells me to get out of the fine, no matter how much I think they are telling fibs, I have no way to prove it. All I have is a damaged item sent to me- usually I don't know the circumstances of its return or even its state at the time of return.
Mould: items that are returned damp or with a little bit of mould seem to be easily missed- see dvd cover. What has a spot of mould on it (which is not noticed) at time of borrowing could grow enormously over borrowing period and even more still by the time it reaches my desk.
Staff members are not consistent in identifying damage. Many customers claim they often find damaged items on the shelves and I believe them because I have found them myself. Some may be damaged in the library- eg children's books. Some may just be missed coming through.
Comments:
Even our current procedure seems a little off. We charge people based on the age of the book and if the book is old and unpopular we may not even bother, especially if they question it. The charge is actually a fine, not a replacement fee. If we are going to punish our customers, shouldn't we do it fairly and based upon the act of damaging, rather than what kind of books they borrow?
I can understand why people get upset- for just about every customer who says they won't be using the library again after paying the fee, I believe we really have falsely accused them.
Suggestions:
Regardless of the decision, a new procedure needs to be written. It will include that no item can be charged for if it was pulled from the shelf or from a trolley or found in the library. Only those pulled from the returns chute.
If we do continue charging, could it be a flat rate damage fee?
I realise that it is often difficult to check every item upon return esp in high volume branches. But perhaps introducing a culture of having a brief glance at the books before loaning them out could also save a lot of hassle. I did this on Saturday and saved two separate customers the danger of being blamed for damage that was already there. The items had been returned that day and the day before.
Introduction:
Pretty much the only customer interaction Support Services gets is dealing with angry and defensive customers. After all the work we put in to delivering a quality product, this often makes us feel very sad.
Current procedure:
The current procedure is that items returned and put to damaged are sent up to Megan who analyses the books for damage and suggests a damage fee based on the age of the books.
They are then sent to me for approval where I assess whether the damage fee is warranted. I check dates to get an idea if an item may have deteriorated further since return (ie in cases of mould)
Once I have approved damaged analysis, Megan prints out the damaged letters, enters the finance on each borrowers record, files the letters and keeps the books in a crate for instances where the borrower rings up to challenge. Megan has measured the time it took her to deal with problem items over the week and for 8 books it ended up taking over an hour and a half of her time.
If a customer rings up and complains about the fee, I grab a copy of the letter sent out and go and find the item in question. I then bring up their record to see if they often receive fines or have had previous disputes with the library. This helps in my judgement of whether the fine is warranted. This is also disruptive to my day and is a very frustrating experience because borrowers making the effort to ring up have pretty much already made up their minds that the library is useless, they are not paying the fines, the book was like it when they borrowed it etc.
Stats:
o I would estimate at least a third of the customers that I send letters to I hear back from.
o Average 2 hours per week dealing with all aspects of the issues between at least 2 people.
o We have 4 crates up here in the compactus divided into half yearly sections. There is still half a crate of items from Jan-Jun 08 that are waiting to either be paid or hear back from the customer. Megan recently cleaned out the Jul-Dec 07 crate and deleted the items. The fines are still on those borrowers cards, after this amount of time we will probably never hear from them again.
Issues:
At the end of the day, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Whatever the customer tells me to get out of the fine, no matter how much I think they are telling fibs, I have no way to prove it. All I have is a damaged item sent to me- usually I don't know the circumstances of its return or even its state at the time of return.
Mould: items that are returned damp or with a little bit of mould seem to be easily missed- see dvd cover. What has a spot of mould on it (which is not noticed) at time of borrowing could grow enormously over borrowing period and even more still by the time it reaches my desk.
Staff members are not consistent in identifying damage. Many customers claim they often find damaged items on the shelves and I believe them because I have found them myself. Some may be damaged in the library- eg children's books. Some may just be missed coming through.
Comments:
Even our current procedure seems a little off. We charge people based on the age of the book and if the book is old and unpopular we may not even bother, especially if they question it. The charge is actually a fine, not a replacement fee. If we are going to punish our customers, shouldn't we do it fairly and based upon the act of damaging, rather than what kind of books they borrow?
I can understand why people get upset- for just about every customer who says they won't be using the library again after paying the fee, I believe we really have falsely accused them.
Suggestions:
Regardless of the decision, a new procedure needs to be written. It will include that no item can be charged for if it was pulled from the shelf or from a trolley or found in the library. Only those pulled from the returns chute.
If we do continue charging, could it be a flat rate damage fee?
I realise that it is often difficult to check every item upon return esp in high volume branches. But perhaps introducing a culture of having a brief glance at the books before loaning them out could also save a lot of hassle. I did this on Saturday and saved two separate customers the danger of being blamed for damage that was already there. The items had been returned that day and the day before.
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