Voyager Access Services Committee:
Patron file subcommittee meeting minutes, November 12

The Patron file subcommittee met to continue to evaluate the current state of the NOTIS patron file and to outline migrtion issues. We identified the following patron groups to have in Voyager at the time of migration:

Carrel
Faculty
Graduate
Undergraduate
Staff
SUNY
Other (Library Card)
ILL
Authorization (Proxy borrower in Voyager)
NOTE: We might not need to establish proxy borrowers as separate groups depending on the exact process for setting up proxy borrowers and linking records. We know we'll have to migrate records and then relink the proxy borrower record to the faculty record afterwards.
We need to find out from Endeavor if we can use these groups for the records that are transferred from the Registrar and Human Resources for ALL types of these records, including the ones we create. For example, will the HR and RE records that we get through the interface programs be labeled so that we know they are HR and PE records as opposed to CU records? Right now, RE, PE and CU are the labels that tell us if the record came from Human Resources, the University Registrar or if we made them. We need to keep these distinctions in Voyager. Peter volunteered to ask Endeavor how the origin of patron records is noted in the records.

We discussed the current pseudo-patron categories of DEPT, RESV and PROC. These have been used in NOTIS to track the locations of materials not on tradiitional reserve (charged to a location rather than on reserve) or to track materials going to technical services for additional work or to a special location. The reserve pseudo-patrons have also been used to recall charged materials needed for reserve but since Voyager has an administrative recall function, these special cards are not needed. If we can create item statuses (similar to item conditions in NOTIS) for technical services staff to use to mark the status of materials going from cataloging to bindery,etc., then hopefully we won't need to create the patron groups for dept and proc. Other pseudo-patron categories such as missing, lost and bind become item statuses in Voyager.

Peter agreed to run reports on Bind, Miss, Lost, Dept, Proc, Resv so that we can see what is checked out to these cards and who is still using them. Then we will work with those units to transfer records to item conditions in NOTIS.

We also discussed patron accounting records. We need to spend a bit more time evaluating what is in the patron accounting file. Peter suggested he run a few reports on patrons with really long accounting records. Again, we can work with individual units to get records cleaned up. We will need to give some guidelines to CUL circulation billing staff for closing as many patron accounting records as possible in the spring semester to help with data migration. We agreed to find out what the minimum amount for CU Collections to accept--this will be the amount for which all units should close any open bills for anyone not a student. Since CUL has a 2 year withdrawal policy, we may want to request a SAS report to list all replacement bills. Then, we could close bills for those 2 years and older. This would reduce the amount of bill and fine migration considerably much like the process we followed when going to NOTIS 6.2.

We also agreed that Joel Zumoff needs to attend patron file meetings since he is our Registrar & HR interface expert. Joel will join us for our next meeting which is Monday, November 29 at 2 PM in Olin 403.

Note: Since this last meeting, I attened Voyager functional training. It was clear that adding/creating/updating patron records in Voyager is easy, flexible and much, much better than in NOTIS. However, how the HR & Registrar interfaces work was not something that could be covered in that training. Making sure we test the interfaces for getting and updating patron records as well as for patron accounting interfaces for the Bursar will be very important prior to going live. Below is a list of important notes for Voyager patron records:

1. When searching for a patron, the last name will automatically right truncate. For example, typeing a "w" and pressing return will retrieve all last names beginning with a "w". Placing a question mark after the 'w" is not necessary.

2. Either SSN or Institution ID must exist for a patron. The number must be unique. This ensures the patron update program will update the correct record.

3. In Voyager, the term used is patron barcode--this is hardcoded into the system (according to our trainer) so we'll have to train our patrons to put in what we've been calling a charge ID. This will be a training issue for staff and the public.

4. Only 1 active charge ID (barcode) is allowed per patron group.

5. The same barcode may be used in multiple patron groups (e.g. if a student becomes staff, the same charge ID/barcode can be used)

6. The order of addresses for notices is: e-mail, temporary, permanent. For each address, the system checks the HOLD MAIL box. If that box is marked, the system will not use that address. If the box is not marked, the system checks effective date range for that address. Only an address that is not marked "hold mail" and is within the effective date range will be used for notices. If no address is valid, an error report is produced.