Let's Talk about Fulfillment (I mean Alma, not life's purpose) 11/16/2021

During this session held on Tuesday, November 16 from 10:30am-noon central, topics of discussion included:

• Announcements
  • MMC and RMC IZ cleanup:
    • In November/December, CARLI staff will begin the process to "amnesty" materials on loan to patrons from MMC and RMC (closed/merged former I-Share institutions), and MMC/RMC materials on loan to other I-Share libraries' patrons.
    • Your library's I-Share Liaison and Circulation/Fulfillment contact will be notified if your library/patrons are affected by the amnesty process.
    • Similar workflows were completed as other libraries left I-Share back when we were on Voyager. Examples you may remember include Chicago School of Professional Psychology (for-profit so no longer eligible for I-Share) and Harrington College of Design (closed).
  • AFN during the holidays:
    • Debbie will discuss how to handle AFN this year with the CARLI Resource Sharing Committee; aka this year, should we turn off AFN (prevent patrons from placing requests during break) or pause it (allow patrons to continue to place requests, but prevent those requests from expiring from the pick from shelf lists so that staff have the chance to process them when they return after break).
    • Historically in Voyager, institutions made the configuration changes themselves for the holiday closures.
      • But in Voyager, CARLI Office staff could run reports on configuration to double-check which libraries had made the changes, and make sure libraries reset the policies after break.
      • It is not possible to run reports on Alma Configuration, so, it would be easier for CARLI Office staff to make the changes for everyone.
      • Reporting on Alma Configuration is an Idea Exchange enhancement. Please vote and comment on this enhancement.
• Lost Item Procedures
  • If my patron keeps an item from another I-Share library overdue until it is lost, why are they unable to renew?
    • Alma considers "Lost" to be a terminal status, so the item's library needs to be involved to allow the patron further permissions with that item.
      • When Alma sets an item to lost, the item is updated to have the lost status, the patron is assessed the lost replacement cost for the item, and sent a letter alerting them of the status change and fine.
    • In order for the patron to have future use of that now lost item:
      • The item's home library must either 1) set the item's status back to Found in Alma, or 2) must return/recharge the item to the patron's account.
      • How does a library decide which of those two options to do? Depends on when the item was originally checked out to the patron and how much additional time the item's library wants to allow the patron to use the material for.
        • The maximum renewal period in the TOU that governs the transaction determines how long after the charge date a patron is eligible to continue to renew the item up until.
        • Marking an item as Found in Alma does not change the original due date for the patron.
        • If the item was checked out to the patron farther in the past than the maximum renewal period would allow, staff can mark the item found and then modify the due date to give the patron a "one time" due date in the future. The patron will be unable to renew on their own, as the maximum renewal period has already been surpassed, and Alma will not calculate a due date beyond the maximum renewal period without a staff override.
        • If the library would like to restart the loan period for the patron so that they can continue to renew the item on their own up until the maximum renweal period is reached, the library can return and reloan the item to the patron.
  • What is your library's workflow for when you send your local patron's lost item fines to your campus billing office?
    • CARLI Resource Sharing Committee presentation from 10/29/2021: Two Libraries’ Different Approaches to Lost and Billed Materials Processes
    • Resonses from attendees:
      • For local patrons, we have been sending a monthly update to the Business Office with the replacement cost for lost items. We check whether they have been reimbursed. We don't want fines in two different places so we waive the fines in Alma. We contact the Business Office if items are returned.
        • If "lost and paid" configuration is enabled, waiving it will remove the loaned item from the account and update the item's status to "Lost and Paid".
        • If "lost and paid" configuration is not enabled, the loaned item will remain checked out to the patron when the fine is waived.
  • What is your library's workflow for trying to get lost materials back from I-Share patrons?
    • Responses from attendees:
      • Many attendees contact the patrons' home library for assistance in contacting the patron.
      • We take the Lost report that we get weekly and first check shelves, then send the Borrowing Activities Letter to the patron. If we don't get any response or return after about a week, we then email patron's home library and ask that they assist us in getting book back.
  • How do you decide when to withdraw/replace a lost item that was not returned?
    • Responses from attendees:
      • We wait a year and decide whether to replace the item or just withdraw it.
      • It kind of depends on the situation but typically we leave the Lost items on accounts in perpetuity for both local and I-Share patrons.
      • Our Subject Librarians decide if we want to replace the book or if we want the cost of the book. Sometimes it depends on the book's age also.
      • We usually do a review of lost items during the slower summer months.
• Renewal of items with a current hold
  • Are patron supposed to be able to renew an item if it has a hold (aka, local request) on it?
    • Unfortunately, no. If we wanted to enable the ability to prevent renewals on materials with a hold placed, it would mean enabling the ability for patrons to recall material from another patron, and this is not a can of worms we want to open.
    • Library staff, however, can place a recall on an item i you would like to have the item returned for the "on hold" user more quickly.
    • Another option for I-Share/ILL eligible patrons would be to request a copy from another library.
• My library's items are expired on the hold shelf at another library
  • Some of my library's items show in the "Monitor Requests & Item Processes" report as "On hold shelf" with an expiration date that is in the past. What do we do?
    1. Do a shelf-check at your own institution.
    2. Contact the pick-up library to see if the item is on the hold shelf, or, found during a shelf check.
    3. Send an email to the ILDS-IG asking for a shelf check. Include your institution, the title, author, call number, and barcode.
  • Three Known Issues may be at play:
    • Items get trapped on the hold shelf. Do the workaround to get the item to transit.
    • Item expects a requested item to be checked out at the pick-up location in the request. Sometimes item was not scanned in for hold at the pickup location, or, the item was checked out to the patron at a different location than the pickup Alma was expecting.
    • Either of these two known issues abovecan cause "ghost holds" in Alma.
    • If there is a barcode mis-scan, sometimes Alma will check out a Moody-Michigan or a Spertus item to the patron instead of the item in hand (they have shorter, unprefixed barcodes), but the patron is handed the item that was on hold for them.
      • Always double-check that the title that is charged to the patron is the same as the title in hand.
  • Responses from attendees:
    • Occasionally, we have items on the hold shelf that expire but when we go to put them in transit the item is not on our hold shelf. In those cases, I contact the patron who placed the hold to see if they have the item as our student workers sometimes forget to check out the item. Then if the patron says they have the item, I will check it out to them.
• Adjust "Not in Place" status display in Alma
  • Is there a way to adjust how Alma displays "not in place" for an item, when it has an item-level request pending? Sometimes staff see "not in place" and assume the item is unavailable on the shelf, when in reality, it is on the shelf but the request is causing the base status change.
    • Reminder: If the request is a title-level request in Alma, that request is not connected to a specific item record. When looking at the item records that are for the title, you won't see the pending request.
    • The answer to this is uncertain and the asking library will send in an email to CARLI Support.
      • It might be easier to fix with local workflow changes (aka, check the shelf even if Alma says "not in place") rather than changing Alma configuration (if this behavior is possible to change).
• Waiting period for "on hold" letter sent to patrons
  • Regarding the waiting time period setting that is used when an email is sent out to the patron after an I-Share item is ready on the hold shelf: Is the waiting period before the on hold letter is sent from the pickup library's setting or the item's home library's setting?
    • When item in scanned in for hold, the item's home library sends the letter to the patron. This is different from Voyager where the pick-up location sent the letter to the patron.
    • The waiting period (between when item is scanned in for hold and letter is sent to the patron) is set in Alma Configuration at the library level> Fulfillment> Library Management> Circulation Desks> General Information Tab> "Delay for hold notification (minutes)".
    • The item's home library should use the delay for hold in teh patron's pick-up library before sending the letter to the user. Please let CARLI know if this does not seem to be the case.
  • Side note: This letter will only be recorded in the attachment tab of the user record in the item's library; pickup library cannot see the letter in the user record's attachments tab.
• Converting local requests to I-Share requests
  • If a patron requests a local item, but the library cannot fill the request, can it be converted to resource sharing automatically?
    • No, not at this time; the conversion must be done manually by library staff.
• Borrowing Activity Letter
  • To clarify, to whom and when are libraries sending patrons the "Borrowing Activity" letter?
    • The Borrowing Activity Letter is turned off in each I-Share library's Alma Configuration by default. You will need to enable and customize the letter before using this letter.
    • At this time, I-Share libraries are only permitted to send this letter manually to specifically identified patrons.
      • To do so (after the letter is enabled and customized), look up the user record through Fulfillment> Manage Patron Services. The Send Activity Report link will be in the upper right of the user record view.
        • Although Alma Configuration notes that the letter can be scheduled to be sent via Fulfillment Job, I-Share libraries should not enable this job as it is not currently possible to only send the letter to local patrons (and not I-Share). This is an issue in that, if a patron was active in I-Share and I-Share libraries had the job enabled, the patron could potentially receive ~89 emails all at the same time in the same night, one from each institution. This is too many emails to be helpful.
    • The Borrowing Activity letter sends the patrons a list of items that they have checked out from the institution.
    • Some institutions are sending this letter as a second reminder after the item is in lost status, before they send the local patron's transaction to their campus bursar office, or contact the I-Share patron's home library for assistance in retrieving their lost item.
      • Typically, the letter does not need to be sent before the item is lost, as the patron should receive overdue notices as reminders.
• Digitization requests- electronic digitization vs "regular"
  • I've noticed that digitization requests can be changed to electronic digitization. What is the difference there?
    • Uncertain, please feel free to review and test, and send any questions to CARLI Support.