The August 2024 meeting was in person and there is no recording.
Summary/Agenda:
Discussion of lending/receiving items in rough shape (what do you do)
Depends on how severe the damage is – if it’s in a shape that they don’t want to give it to the patron then they send it back.
Put notes in the request (pre-existing conditions when sending them out, time stamp the notes). Can note on the bookstrap so that the patron receiving it knows that the damage was there already and doesn’t think they caused it.
Mend it before sending it out as a loan.
Water damage just make a note. If something has damage and is going to be replaced, offer for the patron to keep it.
Tracking number changes at USPS (stickers we use now going away – only commercial vendors can provide tracking numbers or the post office)
Burnham – Goes to the post office – has seen different post offices and each has different information at each one. Some have been providing dummy charges so that they can get a tracking number. Once a week she goes to a post office to have them track it. Have a stamps.com account and possibly has their scale registering the wrong amount (keeps paying $5.11 instead of $4.something). No town credit card so they can’t pay at the post office.
Stamps.com you cannot get a tracking number at the library rate – it tries to send it standard commercial.
At the bookstore in Fairlee they use Pirate Ship – which gives a tracking number but ships commercial.
Sending items out and hoping for the best.
Barre and South Burlington have Pitney Bowes machine and get a tracking number. S. Burlington doesn’t use tracking numbers at all.
Hoping USPS changes their mind and brings back the labels.
RUSA changes to US ILL Code
-The code is available here: https://www.ala.org/rusa/interlibrary-loan-code-united-states-explanatory-text
-Summary of changes is here: https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/rusa/content/2023%20ILL%20Code%20SummaryOfChanges.pdf
Tracking numbers – if lender requires tracking, where do we put those notes for out of state requests? Linda can add to the notes fields, borrowers can add it to the notes. Put any information possible right in the request so that it’s accessible by everyone. We can transfer any needed information to the out of state lender (check with Vance as he marks items as returned so he would need to add the number in).
Any other topics?
How much do you process in a month?
S. Burlington 150 in a month for in-state, 5-10 out of state (Logan’s full time job)
Colchester ~100 in state each month (have three book groups going and that impacts it a lot)
Fairlee – closed Sunday and Monday. Pickup is Tuesday morning. Gets a large request volume on Sunday and Monday. Have adjusted the Days requests are processed to see if that helps. **Ask Jeff if they can move the stop to later for Fairlee.
Springfield – Pending status, the drop down menu is blank. Having them uncheck and check and I will open a ticket if that doesn’t fix it (Chris was out on vacation for a couple of weeks and came back and it was like that).
Burnham – trying to minimize paper use. Likes the bookstrap as a visual cue.
Fairlee uses elastic bookmarks to replace paper. Has an index card for a temp record.
Borrowing libraries use the barcode on the bookstrap as something to track it.
Libraries still love return labels.
Training in CLOVER – Meg says more training would be helpful.
Requesting a series. Best way to submit a request for the next three in a series. Tips and tricks for making CLOVER do what you want to do.
Lost status – How do you use.
If you have been talking about it and someone just changes it to lost. What to do?
Make sure to contact lender directly – and not just change it. Have some conversation around it.