Processing Patron Requests: Meyer Delivery (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays)

 

Meyer delivers requested items from the Library Annex ("Remote Storage") to Snell Library 3 times a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Each delivery has one or more boxes of books, all of which need to be scanned in and processed for the hold shelf. One of the boxes in the shipment will contain a packing slip with a detailed list of all of the books in that day's shipment. For each daily shipment, use the following guidelines to process the incoming books.

 

Step One: Reconcile Physical Books with Packing Slip

Remove the books from the Meyer boxes and place them on a book cart for further processing; as you remove each item from the box, find the accompanying barcode and book title on the printed packing slip and cross it off with a pen or marker. Sometimes the packing slip only lists the barcode of a book, not the title -- in those cases, you will need to check the barcode on the back of the book to match it to the entry on the packing slip.

When you're finished matching the books in the shipment to the packing slip, save the packing slip for your supervisor to retain for their records. If there are any book titles listed on the packing slip that you cannot locate, or if there is a book in one of the boxes that isn't listed on the packing slip, note the discrepancy on the packing slip and notify a supervisor.

 

Step Two: Scan in Books

Use the Alma "Scan in Items" function to scan in each book from the shipment. When scanned in, each item should indicate on screen that it is destined for the hold shelf and display the name of the patron it is on hold for (the name under "Requester"):

For each item, write the patron's name (Last Name, First Name) at the top of a paper hold slip, and add an expiration date (10 days from the current day). Put the hold slip inside the book's front cover sticking out so that the name on the slip is visible and set the book aside. Organize the books on the book cart alphabetically by patron last name so that they are ready for hold shelf placement.

 

Step Three: Place books on Hold Shelf

Place each book on the Hold Shelf alphabetically according to the patron's last name as listed on the hold slip. If there are multiple books for the same patron, you may want to add a rubber band around the books to group them together.

 

Exceptions

Occasionally when you scan in a book from the Meyer shipment it might say something on-screen other than a patron's name and a hold shelf notification. One example might be a pop-up that says "Re-shelve to Reserve Stacks"; this means that the book was requested to be used on Course Reserves and still needs to be processed. Instead of putting the book on the hold shelf, place the book on the shelf in the workroom that is labeled "Reserves for Processing."

If you see an error message, or any other kind of pop-up or destination other than the hold shelf or Reserves processing, set the book aside and let your supervisor know.

Expired Hold Shelf

When items are not picked up by patrons within the allotted 10-day time frame, they move to the "Expired Hold Shelf Items" page in Alma. Hold shelf processing requires removing the expired items from the hold shelf and placing them in the appropriate location to be put in transit or re-shelved.

Alma's Expired Hold Shelf has different tabs that require different types of processing. Generally, we only use three of them: Send to Circulation Desk, Activate Next, and Reshelve.

 

Send to Circulation Desk

The most common expired holds are those that were requested by a patron from the Remote Annex and never picked up. These just need to be put in transit back to the Annex. Items with this status will appear under the tab called Send to Circulation Desk; in this case, the "circulation desk" we are sending them back to is the Remote Storage desk at the Annex:

  

  • Step 1: Locate the item on the hold shelf by patron last name ("held for") and remove the item from the hold shelf.
  • Step 2: Click the button that says "Transit" to the right of the item display. Clicking transit will cancel the patron's hold, notify them of the cancelation, and set the book's Alma status as back in transit to the Remote Storage desk at the Annex.
  • Step 3: Place the book on the Annex Returns book truck behind the circulation desk.

 

Activate Next

When a book expires on the hold shelf and there is another patron on the wait list for it, you will need to remove it from one patron's name and place it on hold for the next patron. These books will appear under the tab called Activate Next:

  • Step 1: Locate the item on the hold shelf by patron last name ("held for") and remove the item from the hold shelf.
  • Step 2: Click the button that says "Activate Next" to the right of the item display. This will cancel the current patron's hold, notify them of the cancelation, and send a new hold shelf notification to the next patron in the wait list.
  • Step 3: Use the "Scan in Items" function in Alma to scan the item in and make note of the new patron's name:
  • Step 4: Get a new paper hold slip and write the patron's name at the top [Last name, First name]. In the expiration date area, write the date that corresponds to 10 days after the current date. For example, if you are putting it on hold December 1, December 11 will be the expiration date.
  • Step 5: Put the hold slip in the book and replace it on the hold shelf under the new patron's name alphabetically [Last name, First name].

 

Reshelve

Expired holds will occasionally have an onsite library location rather than the Annex (some common examples: Media, Reference). These items will appear under the tab called Reshelve:

  • Step 1: Locate the item on the hold shelf by patron last name ("held for") and remove the item from the hold shelf.
  • Step 2: Make note of the item's location (e.g. in the screenshot above, the item is Media). Place the item on the appropriate return truck behind the circulation desk according to its collection location.
  • Step 3: Click the button that says "Reshelve" to the right of the item display. Clicking Reshelve will cancel the patron's hold, notify them of the cancelation, and mark the item as "in place" at its permanent location.

 

Missing Items

If you cannot find an item from the expired hold shelf list on the actual hold shelf, leave the item on the list as is, move to the next item, and notify a supervisor so we can follow up.