Tag Archives: NExpress

Carts and Bins – Coming and Going!

Take care to ensure that the contents of bins and carts go where they are supposed to go.
Before you do anything with a cart or bin – inspect and sort the contents VERY carefully. Look at each and every item to determine next steps.
Determine if items are going to Main, Mills, Music, Armstrong or Davison BEFORE you scan and process.
If you do not know where something is supposed to go, ASK!
Or if you are not sure where the cart or bin came from or where it is going – ASK!
When in doubt – check the status and item details of the item in the system.
Supervisors, please sort all arriving/departing bins/carts prior to assigning specific processing tasks to student employees.
Look carefully for items going off campus to the Davison and Mills Libraries.
Recent problems:
Several Nexpress books never made it to Davison – they were sent back to the lending library before the requester had a chance to use them.
Quite a few ILL’s were requested for pick-up at Davison, but were shelved at Main
Many thanks for your help.
๐Ÿ™‚

Points to Remember from Circ Training, 6/29/09

Todd asked me to take notes during the training and post them here. I’ll summarize what the presenters talked about and if you have any questions, ask me or comment below.

Maura:
Scheduling – use and refer to the Outlook calendar. If you need a sub, please post to the summer distribution list for one and alert the supervisor who normally works during that shift.
Blog – students should check the blog at the start of every shift – link located on desktops at each Circ desk
Wiki – great for finding procedures and workflows

Kellam:
Equipment – heavily used by Language Schools and sometimes also Bread Loaf during the summer.
–equipment is located at all 3 branches, and items circulate for 4 hours, 1 day, 7 days, or 14 days depending on what they are. Renewals are possible for all items (except faculty/staff laptops) as long as there is still ample supply of the item in question available for other borrowers. However, under no circumstances are loans allowed to be extended for the duration of the summer. In other years we’ve been able to do this, but due to shrinking inventory and budget cuts, we’re sorry but we can’t accommodate summer-long equipment requests anymore.
–don’t turn borrowers away if you don’t have what they need on hand. Check the other two branches to see if their equipment is available. Bring in supervisors to book equipment. Supervisors can also contact Media Services to see if their equipment inventory has what the borrower is looking for.
–when people ask about how to use equipment: direct them to go/equipment (“the greatest thing ever”–Maura) which has instruction manuals in pdf format which can be read online or printed
–remember to check all pieces of equipment at check-in and check-out (ie. read and follow the pop-up messages in every equipment record)
–equipment must be returned to the branch it came from; equipment cannot be transported in the courier bins like books, CDs, and DVDs can.
–new equipment for this summer: flip cams, Hebrew keyboards, portable P.A. systems

Rachel (with input from Kellam on BLSE)
ILL – green or pink bands; green can be taken out of the library, pink must stay in the library. In fact, when a patron returns a pink-band ILL to the desk and leaves without saying anything, it’s best to assume they’re NOT done with the item and it should go back on the hold shelf (assuming it’s due date has not passed).
–ILL can only be renewed by ILL staff intervention
–when checking one out, remember to change the due date in Millennium to what the ILL band says
–ILL can be shipped from Main to Armstrong, but between no other branches
NExpress – blue bands, usually a faster option than a recall or using ILL.
–NExpress can be renewed by a patron through My MidCat twice
–when checking one out, remember to use the due date generated by Millennium, and write it on the blue band
–NExpress can be shipped from Main to Davison (ie. Bread Loaf) and back, but between no other branches

Dan
Guests/Visitors – guests who have borrowing privileges may borrow books & government documents
Guests have access to computers (through the daily “pclab” password).
–they do NOT have privileges to borrow: equipment, movies, lockers & carrels, ILL & NExpress
–guest printing: through print card bought at Wilson Cafe, college Bookstore, or MiddXPress in McCullough. Each branch has 1-2 “guest printing computers” where guests can send print jobs. Guests then use the print release stations like students & faculty do.

Desktop Stats – to be clicked after every patron interaction which does not involve the actual circulating of materials (ie. check-ins, check-outs). Used by staff to document staff and student staff use during all hours we’re open.

Todd (with input from Kellam on BLSE)
Printing for students & faculty – all branches using print release stations – Middlebury username and password (same one used for Webmail, Banner, etc.) NOT the same one used by Bread Loaf students & faculty – they will need to activate their Midd accounts for this. Direct them to go/activate and look them up in Millennium to give them their ID #.
–copying is $.10 for b/w, $.50 for color. Color available in Main and Armstrong.
–Equitrac copy cards bought at “black box” in print rooms. Use $1 to get a card; then more money can be added onto that card.
–Faculty can use a department code (2) and their ID number to charge copies directly to their department.
–please report printer problems to supervisors/Helpdesk in a timely manner

Joseph
Emergency Procedures – please use part of your next shift to read over the Emergency Manual (there’s a copy in each branch). Ask your supervisor if you have questions about what’s in it.
–first aid kits are also available at each branch at the Circ Desk. Additional kits are available in Main at the Info Desk and in the Staff Room.

Steve
Mozio – new texting reference service, implemented at the end of spring semester. Text to # 66746 from any cell phone. Start your message with “midd” and then type your reference question. Reference librarians (or perhaps Circ or Helpdesk staff) will respond via text to your phone.

Is that it? Whew!

Processing of NExpress returns at the Circ Desk

Seems this week we’ve had a lot of ILL carts floating in and out of Circ. I like the idea of Circ checking in NExpress returns, it seems to fit well with what we do at Circ. If we continue this process, it would be great to have clear signage on the carts, as we handle a lot of books and the books need to end up in the right place!

Summer Vacations

Summer at Circ is both a busy time and a time that most of us squeeze in some well deserved vacation time.
Thanks for covering for each other and for jumping in where and when needed.
We all take great care to make sure that desk coverage and work responsibilities are covered in our absences, but if you notice any critical gaps please let me know.
Please double check that your schedules are up to date on Outlook, that out of office directs email correspondence to others for urgent issues, and as a courtesy to those of us at work – press the divert button on your phone as you head out. ๐Ÿ™‚
Currently Rich is out – please be available to help the Stacks student employee with any questions that may arise in his absence and keep an eye on the back book drop at Main, film/fiche problems (Helpdesk can provide tech support), courier runs, re-shelving areas, need for book sweeps etc.
In addition, ILL staff absences may mean that we take on a larger share of NExpress processing – see previous post below.

NExpress Returns

A reminder about workflow for Middlebury materials that have been out on loan to our partner NExpress Libraries.

Main ILL staff:
Unpack and sort (boxes come from libraries with mix of ILL and Nexpress materials; incoming loans for Midd and returns to Midd)

NExpress returns:
Check in by ILL Lending staff
OR
Deliver to Circ on “Nexpress Returns” cart for check-in by Circ staff

Circ Students, check in process:
Remove Blue NExpress bands (and recycle)
In Mill Circ – check-in mode
Scan barcode – message will sayโ€ Item has status OFF CAMPUS and has been clearedโ€
Click on OK
Items for transit to branches โ€“ no need to print transit slip, unless to be held for another borrower
Sort to re-shelving areas and branch hold/transit shelves
Return cart to ILL work area

Retrievals – Paging Library Materials

PAGING
Retrieving library materials to fill requests for NExpress, ILL, MiddCampus, Davison (Breadloaf), Mills (California) etc.

Main Stacks:
In the absence of Stacks, ILL will retrieve; if ILL unable to pick up by 2 pm, Circ will retrieve

Pick up Midd (including Mills and BL/Davison), ILLiad and NExpress paging slips X2/daily from red NExpress cart early morning and early afternoon
Books, etc. – retrieve materials from shelves
Browsing DVD’s – retrieve case; pull DVD from sleeve; visually inspect for damage; clean/scan only if needed; insert in case; deliver to ILL Lending Office
Fold NEXPRESS notice lengthwise (name of patron face out) and place inside book or item
Deliver all paged items to Lending Table in the ILL Lending Office for sorting to appropriate carts by an ILL supervisor
ILL – processed by ILL
NExpress – processed by ILL (with CIrc as back-up)
MiddRequests (including Mills, Davsion, Music, Armstrong) – to Circ
MiddRequest and NExpress – if not found on shelf, write โ€œNOSโ€ on paging slip and give directly to Circ supervisor to cancel request (in Mill Circ โ€“ Search/Hold Mode)
ILL – if not found – write NOS on slip – deliver slip to ILL Lending Office
Fri afternnoon, evening and weekends โ€“ retrieve NExpress, ILL and Midd requests as staffing and activity levels allow
Circ – check cart for paging slips after 2 pm daily

Recalls – Changes to Web Requesting

In order to improve customer and requesting services, we have recently made a change to web requesting parameters. This change will only affect requests on items that are checked out. If an item is currently checked out and a Midd user places a hold request – the system will not recall the item from the current borrower. A hold request will prevent a renewal, and the item will be held for the requester when it is returned, but the original due date is retained.
If an item is needed sooner, we recommend NExpress. If the item is not available on NExpress, we recommend ILL. If an item is not available via ILL, Circ staff can place a recall through the Mill Circ client – after ascertaining that the item is not available through NExpress or ILL.

ILL/NExpress Renewals?

Just a quick note about renewals ๐Ÿ™‚

NExpress (blue bands) loans can be renewed up to 3 times.
ILL’s (green and pink bands) can be renewed by request to the ILL Office – ask borrowers to email (or simply forward their “about to be overdue” courtesy library notice) to MDYILL@middlebury.edu to request a renewal.

Overdue materials will require a supervisor override.
As always, please refer requests for extensions beyond these rules to a supervisor.

Thanks!
Elin

NExpress and ILL Due Dates

NExpress – blue bands – write due date on blue band at time of check-out
ILL – green and pink bands – adjust date in borrower record to match due date on band at time of check-out
ILL – pink bands – Lib-use-only – must be used in the library and kept on Circ hold shelf; check out to borrower when requested; when checked in, shelve on hold shelf until due date on band expires.