Greetings all.
Some of our customers have become accustomed to processing
both renewals at the time of initial check out in order to borrow items
for six weeks. The Symphony system, however, processes renewals
differently than our previous system, and due dates are calculated from the
date the renewal is requested, rather than the current due date of the item
being renewed. Staff are no longer able to simply process the available
renewals to extend due dates to the full six weeks allowed.
Customers have left a number of comments on our blog
indicating that this change causes some concern. As with anything, there
are work-arounds that can be implemented to force the new system to behave like
our previous system did, but we do not recommend that staff pursue adding any
of these to their procedures. The Library has responded to customer
concerns left on the blog in the following way:
Thank you for contacting us with your concerns. We
share your concerns and we have requested that the vendor develop the
capability of renewing material based on the due date. This is a major
programming change since this is the standard way most library circulation
software functions (our current system is the exception). We anticipate it will
be at least a year before this could become a reality. In the meantime, we hope
that the 3-week check-out period with e-mail reminders when it is time to renew
will mitigate the inconvenience for most of our customers.
~Houston Public Library
At one time, the Library’s Policy was to offer a special
6-week check-out for teachers or as an extended vacation loan. Our current
policy does not offer that option. If a customer requests a six week
check out, you should politely advise the customer that the new system renews
from the date of the request and suggest that s/he may wish to wait until a
time closer to the actual due date to renew the items.
0 comments:
Post a Comment