[Wactclc-alma] [External] RE: Checking out items over break

Fri Feb 22 08:15:56 PST 2019

Thanks Wade. We did try starting loading students a day or two before the end of the current quarter. However, when those students check out short loan items (eg. 3-day or 7-day), the due dates do not fall on the last day of the quarter but the next open day unless we set the fulfillment policy for “Closed Library Due Date Management” to “Move Due Time to Upcoming Closing Time” for all short loans (and switch back afterwards) or change the due date for each item. For us it seems to be more work than manually editing a few expiration dates.

Xinhang Hu
Circulation Manager
Bellevue College Library
xhu at bellevuecollege.edu|425<mailto:xhu at bellevuecollege.edu|425> 564-6186
3000 Landerholm Circle, SE, Mail Stop D260, Bellevue, WA 98007

From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Guidry, Wade
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2019 4:02 PM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] [External] RE: Checking out items over break

One way to handle this (and I believe a few of you do this) is to start loading students from the upcoming quarter a day or two before the end of the current quarter.

That way, at least for students already enrolled in the next term, no manual editing of the expiration date would be necessary.

Wade Guidry
Library Consortium Services Manager, WACTCLC
wadeg at bigbend.edu<mailto:wadeg at bigbend.edu>
(509) 760-4474
http://www.wactclc.org<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wactclc.org&data=01%7C01%7Cxhu%40bellevuecollege.edu%7C49f2cc99b90645a46ab808d69858fc83%7Cf94c251c1347422eb3ea8ac56befd6cb%7C1&sdata=qxt%2Fr3WfW2nDSY%2BSwmO%2BvHl9Mow40k2dG18%2B7AAzfd4%3D&reserved=0>

From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> On Behalf Of Xinhang Hu
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2019 12:16 PM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] [External] RE: Checking out items over break

The only items we check out over the break are books which are checked out for 3 weeks. To avoid dealing with the TOUs of other types of items (magazines, equipment, reserves) at the end of the quarter, we manually change the expiration date of those who want to check out books over the break after verifying their registration. There are not usually too many so it is quite manageable. If the break is longer than 3 weeks, we change the due date so that it falls on the first day of the next quarter.

We expire our students on the last day of each quarter and start the new load the day after. Unlike Voyager, the expiration date kicks in at the end of the day in Alma. On that day, when a patron record is brought up, the message ”Patron expires in 0 days” pops up. Just click OK to check out items. When the item barcode is scanned, the same message appears. Click OVERRIDE to proceed. Again, it is usually super slow on the last day of the quarter and the extra clicks are not a big deal.

Xinhang Hu
Circulation Manager
Bellevue College Library
xhu at bellevuecollege.edu|425<mailto:xhu at bellevuecollege.edu|425> 564-6186
3000 Landerholm Circle, SE, Mail Stop D260, Bellevue, WA 98007

From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> On Behalf Of Herman, Amy
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2019 11:38 AM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] [External] RE: Checking out items over break

I think it may depend on when you expire students.  We expire students on the day after each quarter ends, so that all materials have a hard due date of the last day of the quarter, every quarter.  Then we start the new patron load for the following quarter sometime during the break.

We do occasionally check something out over the break if the student shows a copy of their registration for the next quarter.  In that case we have to manually change the student’s expiration date first, and then manually change the due date of the item.

Amy Herman
Library Faculty | Olympic College
1600 Chester Avenue | Bremerton, WA 98337
aherman at olympic.edu<mailto:aherman at olympic.edu> | 360-475-7256

[alma signature]

From: Wactclc-alma <wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> On Behalf Of Thomas, Kirsti
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2019 11:29 AM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: [External] RE: [Wactclc-alma] Checking out items over break

Shamelessly copying an email I sent to Greg Bem when he asked a similar question on another list…

Trying to make Alma *not* let things circulate over breaks when the libraries are open is an exercise in madness. Alma operates under the assumption that if you’re open, you *want* people to be able to use your materials. Go figure.

We now operate with the understanding that if we’re open during breaks, then due dates can and do fall on those open dates.

To help patrons remember to return materials, I run the Borrowing Activity Report Job (Alma config >> Fulfillment >> Fulfillment Jobs Configuration >> Borrowing Activity Report Job -- Run Now) at the start of the last week of classes and again at the start of finals week.  This sends out an email to all users who have items checked out that lists what they have checked out, overdue and/or lost, as well as listing any fines and fees on their library account.

Most of our rules are set up to push the due date put to the next open date if the due date would normally fall on a day the library is closed.  This really weirded out library staff last summer when Central and all its branches were closed to the public over the long break between Summer and Fall and books from those branches were checking out for a month. But I explained that if we wanted to have due dates fall on the next open day during the regular year, they had to fall on the next open day during summer break too.

We do have some circulating equipment that we absolutely *don’t* want going out over break.  Central has a collection of high-demand Chromebooks that circulate for 7 days, but not over breaks. The way we deal with this is to have 2 rules in the Fulfillment Unit Rules table—1 rule for the normal loan period, another set up as End of Term. During the regular quarter, the End of Term rule is toggled to Inactive. During the last week in the quarter, we toggle the regular rule to Inactive and toggle the End of Term rule to Active. At the start of the quarter, we switch them back.  At the North Student Media Center, use of the collection is low enough, that the person in charge just manually changes due dates whenever she checks anything out during the last 2 weeks of the quarter to prevent the due date from falling during break.

Hope this helps.

It will be ok!

Kirsti S. Thomas
Library Technical Services Manager
Seattle Colleges
kirsti.thomas at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:kirsti.thomas at seattlecolleges.edu>
206-934-4106

From: Wactclc-alma [mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Charly Eaton
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:59 AM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: [Wactclc-alma] Checking out items over break

Hi everyone,

We are thinking about allowing students enrolled in the upcoming quarter to keep items over break which we currently do not allow. It's very rare that we get this request so I think the best way to handle it would be on an individual basis whereby we extend the patron's expiration date and manually set the item due date. Does anyone else allow checkouts over the break? How have you handled it?

Thanks,
Charly

--
Charly Eaton
Circulation Services Manager
Learning Resources/Library
425.640.1447
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:00 - 4:00
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