We have come across a couple of cases (8/3/10, 13/3/10) where a borrower with a valid cell phone number has received an etxt for a recalled item when it was overdue, but was not sent one to warn that the item had been recalled. Both examples have been verified by Library IT (logs were checked) but it was too late to see why the etxt was not sent.
If a borrower says that they did not receive an etxt it is easy to check the facts. Open the Borrower record and go to History Blocks. Find the ‘Item recalled before due date’ block and open the ‘Detail’ screen. If an etxt was sent it will look like this:
e-txt message sent [date]
recall now due [date] to [cell phone number] on [date] at [time]
No message means that no etxt was sent.
Please send EXAMPLES to Library IT of borrowers (with valid cell phone numbers and recent recalls) where there is no evidence of an etxt being sent to see if there is any pattern here. Please also ask the borrower if a recall email notice was received (as this can be connected) and include this information in report to Library IT.
Helen

The Card Office advise that they are moving back to Room 109 Science Lecture Block starting tomorrow 5/3/10. They are short staffed due to bereavement leave, so cannot promise that card making will be available to external borrowers at all times on Friday 3rd or Monday 8th, but will do their best. Ring x8158 to check availability of external borrower cards at specific times.
Helen

The expected increase in recalls and reduction of the recall period this year has created a problem for borrowers renewing books online as a result of the way Horizon Circulation is set up.
A Maximum Block appears on a borrower’s account in Horizon when they reach a limit of some sort; most commonly when their fines are too high or old, or if they have too many books checked out already. For Library staff, Maximum Blocks serve as a visual warning that one of these limits has been reached and that new checkouts should be suspended until the problem has been resolved.
Unfortunately, Horizon treats renewals the same as new checkouts. Whenever a Maximum block appears on a borrower’s record, HIP blocks all circulation – that borrower becomes unable to renew items using their Library account, even those items that haven’t been requested or reached max renewals.
We want borrowers to use their Library accounts to keep track of due dates and make appropriate renewals. To ensure that students will be able to renew books online as they would at the Lending desk, BLT has agreed to amending the parameters of Horizon circulation. The maximum number of days that a recall can be overdue has now been extended to 28 days (from 3 days) in order to delay the appearance of the Maximum Block that was preventing online renewals of other items. The maximum amount of fines that a borrower can owe is already extended from $10 to $50 for the same reason.

However, library policy HAS NOT been changed so it is circulation staffs’ responsibility to visually check the block date for “Recalled and Overdue Still Out” blocks (as well as the level of fines) on borrower records as staff will no longer see an automatic warning. Check that any fines are under $10 and that recalled items are less than 3 days overdue. No new checkout until the recall is returned or fines paid.
Your vigilance is appreciated
Helen

A new page on resetting a Library PIN has been added to Lending in Wiki ‘How To’. It covers the difference between a reset PIN where the initial barcode is 8 characters or less, or more than 8 characters and which kinds of borrowers might need their PIN reset.
This information in various forms can also been found in Counterculture archives.
Helen

Since UCLive was launched last week, students have a new address format of [username]@uclive.ac.nz.
You may have noticed that these addresses are not on Horizon borrower records yet. The reason for this is that the old address format of [username]@student.canterbury.ac.nz is still on UCStudent – the database we get our student records from. We have not been told when/if this is going to be updated.
Library IT tests show that Library notices sent to the new address are getting through to the new UCLive Outlook accounts. However, If students complain that they didn’t get their emailed library notice, then they probably need to be told to check their email at UC live, rather than through the old student webmail system. Also worth noting is that if students complain that they can’t login off-campus (using a laptop on campus counts as offcampus), then they may not know that they have to type “UOCNT\username” when logging in (only for off-campus). If in doubt, redirect them to the ICT Service desk for login assistance.
Helen (with advice from Library IT)

As already discussed in Anne’s earlier posting, a problem can occur when trying to take a fines or lost book payment from a borrower who is a UC employee. It may not be obvious that they are a UC employee as many fixed term staff have student Canterbury cards. This error occurs where CSGold (working in the background behind Payment Plus) cannot identify the account of the employee and has to abort the payment process.

ICTS have been made aware of the problem but there is no easy fix. In the short term, we have no choice but to work around this difficulty by treating the employee as if they were an external borrower i.e. using funds loaded onto a casual card.

For more detailed instructions on how to handle this situation, please open the Wiki page (Team Portals/Lending/Payment Plus) and look at the information under CS Gold does not recognise an Employee account

Please let Library IT know of any related problems or variations on this theme.
Thanks
Helen

ICT Service Desk in Central Library request that all IT related calls to Library phones should be transferred to the extension 6060 as advertised on their cards, posters etc.
There is an IT phone on the Central Library Help Desk, but in order to concentrate on face to face interactions, they ask that this extension (3533) be limited to calls from Library or ICTS colleagues.

Helen