CIRCULATION COORDINATING COMMITTEE

NOTES FROM JULY 12, 1999 MEETING

Prepared by Barbara List

AGENDA: BorrowDirect issues for local circulation operations

Present: Joyce McDonough, Kathy Davis, Mary Giunta, Ken Harlin, Cathy Thomas, Elizabeth Davis, Mary Beth Kendrick, Curtis Kendrick, Trevor Dawes, Breck Witte, Ree DeDonato, Alena Ptak-Danchak, Kitty Chibnik, Gary Bertchume, Barbara List (Chair)

Joyce McDonough provided an update on BorrowDirect planning and led the discussion of issues pertinent to circulation desk operations.

Update:

• we continue to expect a Fall '99 implementation - CCC advises against a Sept start-up as circulation staff are necessarily focused on setting up course reserve materials most of the month
• the June stress test showed problems, with servers experiencing unpredictable slow downs. Data analysis indicates our server is not the problem.

Patron login (Libraries staff can use this URL to search BorrowDirect the same as our users will): https://thalia.cc.columbia.edu/sec-cgi-bin/ursa/bin/patron_login.sh

Login with your UNI and regular CUNIX password.

Staff login (use this URL to see staff-side; ask Joyce for a temporary ID & password): http://endeavor.rlg.org/

Issues Discussion:

1. CLIO OPAC display will be the same as it is whenever an item is checked out (patrons will not be aware an item is out to a BorrowDirect user)
2. Borrowing: Columbia users of BorrowDirect will pick up items from the ILL Office in Butler. As the pilot proceeds, delivery direct to faculty offices will be phased in, on an experimental basis. Circulation staff need to be ready to answer users' general questions about the service, and to know to refer users to the ILL Office for regular ILL service when BorrowDirect can't deliver.
3. Lending:
   1. Retrieving material - all retrieval will be done by BorrowDirect staff who will make one pass-through to find materials (ie., they will not make exhaustive searches) supplied with pick-lists giving locations of requested items,. (Departmental staff will need to give provide initial orientation to their sites for BorrowDirect staff.) Pick lists will be sorted by copy holding location in CLIO and BorrowDirect staff will search other libraries if the item isn't readily available in the first listed location.

      BorrowDirect staff will be expected to make some assesssment of an item's physical condition, with brittle items not eligible for loan.

   2. Check-out - there are at least four options for organizing the work once an item has been retrieved:
      • departmental staff check the item out in CLIO, with BorrowDirect staff discharging from CLIO and then checking it out in CoPY back in the ILL Office
      • BorrowDirect staff check the item out in CoPY using a Netscape workstation on site in the local library
      • departmental staff check the item out in CoPY using a Netscape workstation on site in the local library
      • BorrowDirect staff take the item to Butler and check it out on CoPY - this last option is the least desirable for sites outside of Butler as it provides no way to track items at the time they leave the local site. This is the structure for items held in Butler; staff will retrieve from Butler stacks, take them to the ILL Office, and from there, check them out on CoPY.

      All of the these options are under discussion at this time. (All options assume item will be desensitized as it leaves the library.)

      The presence or absence of workstations with Netscape at or near circulation desks has to be considered, as the CoPY check-out function requires Netscape sessions. If option 2 or 3 is chosen, Joyce will work with Stephen Davis on equipping circulation units with workstations near their circulation desks. In addition, CCC members will look at their own situation - do they have equipment in a location from which their circulation staff can check-out items for BorrowDirect? If ILL staff perform the check-out from the local site, what workstation(s) will they use? Still to be resolved.

   3. Returns - A borrowed item is expected to come back to the ILL Office where it will be discharged from CLIO, and then returned to its owning location. NOTE: The next step should be that the item is charged to "in transit" - however, when NOTIS was implemented, ILL's circulation functions were established in a way that makes the use of the "in transit" pseudopatron impossible. CCC recommends that this be addressed prior to BorrowDirect startup. If ILL finds that a returning item has a recall or hold placed on it, the item will be hand-delivered, with CLIO note inserted, to the owning library. If an item is sent back directly to the owning location, circulation staff will discharge it in CLIO, and that step will automatically discharge it from the CoPY system.
   4. Overdues - BorrowDirect users will receive courtesy notices, via email, 3 days before the due date. Joyce will be copied on notices going to Columbia users, and will keep track of items or users with "too long overdue" items. Departmental circulation staff are not expected to get involved with overdue fines, etc.
   5. Recalls - Columbia patrons can request that recalls be placed on items out on BorrowDirect. The recall notice will arrive in ILL email the next day; ILL staff then put a recall in to the CoPY system. Cc: Circulation Coordinating Committee CoPY Coordinating Committee Public Service Directors