Hi there, Everyone.

  Sort-to-light delivery has been underway for a while now and one thing is for sure: mutli-piece items are checked for completeness and correctness less than before. If an item is opened at check-out some staff have looked very silly on several recent occasions when there’s nothing inside.

Please don’t assume that the contents were checked previously. Always check again. Don’t just note that there’s a disc inside, but the correct disc(s).

Just take a peek at, say, the last 2 digits of the barcode and flip thru the discs verifying that those 2 digits are on each disc.

Check at check in.

Check at check out.

Check when items come in delivery.

Check when processing holds.

Even if the item came from another library and we can’t call the last patron to fix it, the problem needs to be discovered so that it doesn’t get passed on to another patron who may get blamed for it.

Even if it seems that very few mistakes are discovered, check anyway. Mistakes do happen here and in other libraries sending items here. It takes a lot of staff time to sort out missing discs or swapped discs and it takes mere seconds to verify the contents. Please, at every opportunity: check, check, check, check.

Stay Vigilant, My Friends!

Deb

reminders/GOOD PRACTICES IN CIRC

1)  Materials that are going to other libraries:
        Good practice:  check in and place on the designated truck  OR
                                 check in and place in the grey bin

Barcode not on the front left?
                                   print that slip!


DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOU WILL REMEMBER TO PUT THE ITEM IN THE GREY BIN.  DO NOT LEAVE THE ITEM ON THE COUNTER OR PILE IT UP WITH OTHER IN HOUSE MATERIALS.  I PROMISE YOU THAT THIS WILL LEAD TO ERRORS.


2)  Checking in materials from anywhere

            Good practice:  look at the item.  If it has, say, grape juice stains on its edges and looks like this book above, we should not check the book in.  This happens to be a rental book and it was checked in yesterday at 3:51PM looking like this.

DO NOT CHECK IN ITEMS THAT ARE STAINED.  GIVE THEM TO ME SO THAT I CAN CONTACT THE LIBRARY USER. 

When you trigger a hold that needs to be called:

            Telephone holds.  Good practice:  CALL THE LIBRARY USER.

DO NOT PLACE THE ITEM ON THE HOLD SHELF IF THERE IS NO INDICATION THAT THE HOLD HAS BEEN CALLED!!!!

      
 

French Library Books

 Many of you have asked me about the French Library Books.  Why, you ask, have we not put the Waltham Public Library labels on the front of the book?

The answer is:  it looks terrible.   It is much nicer for our readers  to see the pretty cover of the book.  Therefore, when Marcia processes these for us, I have instructed her to put the label on the back cover. 



These books are fine for checking out!  Simply go to the back cover and you will see our barcode.  Scan the patron card, scan the barcode and voila!  You have a check out.

Once they are checked in, they get shelved in the French collection.  These books can be placed on the displayer stands with their attractive covers face out.  Questions?  Concerns?  See Louise (s'il vous plait).

More on Confidentiality

More on confidentiality from the Winchester Public Library

Click here

Confidentiality

Hi there,

Sometimes we are concerned about the "what" when it comes to materials being checked out at our circulation desks.  However, we are required by law to protect our library user's privacy.  Please review the documents below.  This is useful for all of us to review from time to time. Our role as librarians is to be impartial and provide open access to information.  Parents and teachers have the role of monitoring what the youth are reading.

 http://www.newtonfreelibrary.net/?sec=about&doc=privacy

I like the Newton Public Library document about privacy.  Very nicely stated.


Mass General Laws
Section 7. A town may establish and maintain public libraries for its inhabitants under regulations prescribed by the city council or by the town, and may receive, hold and manage any gift, bequest or devise therefor. The city council of a city or the selectmen of a town may place in such library the books, reports and laws which may be received from the commonwealth. That part of the records of a public library which reveals the identity and intellectual pursuits of a person using such library shall not be a public record as defined by clause Twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four. Library authorities may disclose or exchange information relating to library users for the purposes of inter-library cooperation and coordination, including but not limited to, the purposes of facilitating the sharing of resources among library jurisdictions as authorized by clause (1) of section nineteen E or enforcing the provisions of sections ninety-nine and one hundred of chapter two hundred and sixty-six.



 ALA Freedom to Read Statement

1. There is no place in our society for efforts to coerce the taste of others, to confine adults to the reading matter deemed suitable for adolescents, or to inhibit the efforts of writers to achieve artistic expression. To some, much of modern expression is shocking. But is not much of life itself shocking? We cut off literature at the source if we prevent writers from dealing with the stuff of life. Parents and teachers have a responsibility to prepare the young to meet the diversity of experiences in life to which they will be exposed, as they have a responsibility to help them learn to think critically for themselves. These are affirmative responsibilities, not to be discharged simply by preventing them from reading works for which they are not yet prepared. In these matters values differ, and values cannot be legislated; nor can machinery be devised that will suit the demands of one group without limiting the freedom of others.
   
   For the full ALA Freedom to Read Statement, click here.
   
   Thank you for taking the time to review these statements.  Let me know what you think!  More to come.  

Louise

Point to light/holds and returns are separated

It looks like the point to light system has moved to a new level.  For the most part, we are getting deliveries with the slip on the outside of the grey bins indicating "returns" vs. "holds".

The slips will read like this:  "Waltham Returns"  OR  "Waltham Holds".

This is truly marvelous because it means that the bins saying "holds" are really filled with "holds, holds, and nothing but the holds".

Slips labeled "returns" denote bins filled with returns.

Now, should you see a "slip up", i.e. a bin that should have been sent to Watertown or some such, let me know.  I will let the Mass Library System know.

Sort to light info for the Minuteman Network

Wow!  The word is that the Minuteman Network has reached 90% barcode on the front left of our materials.  This has been determined based on the materials that are being sorted by Optima.

• On Tuesday, October 11th, the "sort to light" system will go live with two libraries.  These will be smaller volume libraries.
• On Monday, October 17th, the system will go live with five additional libraries.
• On Monday, October 24th, "sort to light" will go live with five more libraries.
• Finally, On Monday, October 31st, the "sort to light" will go live with all of the remaining libraries.  This means the Waltham Public Library!

What is sort to light, you ask?      

Click here to find out!

What will be different for us?

• When deliveries arrive, returns and holds will already be separated!  All we have to do is route them in! 
• We will no longer be printing in transit slips!  This will save paper!  When you get the prompt asking if you should print a slip, "Just say no!".  Of course, if it is a hold, print that slip! 
• We will be setting up "carts" of some type at the circulation desk with grey bins right there.  This will enable us to put the "in transit" items directly into a grey bin.  Since there is no longer an identifying slip, this will prevent error.

• Beginning now, be sure to get in the habit of placing materials in the bins with the barcode "up".  This will enable the sort to light system to work more effectively.
• We will still be printing hold slips
• We will still have one Newton dedicated bin at Rear Circ.
• Virtual catalog materials, magazines in packaging, or damaged materials in packaging will require a slip as they can not be read by sort to light

Questions?  Comments?  Thoughts?  Let me know!