Voyager Circulation/Reserve Task Force
Minutes, Meeting, May 16, 2000

Present: Deb Muscato, Jon Driscoll, Janet Gillespie, Sharon Parsons, Susan Artgetsinger, Paul Soper, Teresa Whitaker, Kornelia Tancheva, Rice Majors, Bethany Silfer, Marie Powers, Tony Joachim, Lee Ringland, Joanne Leary, Carmen Blankinship, Pat Schafer, Howard Raskin, Susan Currie

Circulation Migration:
The test of migrating circulation data was largely successful and we learned some new things. For example, once a recalled book has been billed for replacement, the system notifies any other patrons in the recall queue that the item is no longer available for the recall and the recall queue is dropped. While the notice to patrons is good, it means the recall queue is dropped and the patron will have to place the recall again if needed.

Also, items which had an item status of NOTIS NRTN migrated properly to Lost-System Supplied in Voyager. However, even though it is clear that a replacement bill was generated in NOTIS, the Voyager system is applying an "overdue" status once the batch jobs have been run and once the records are loaded into Voyager, they must go through the intervals set in the system. This means CUL will get overdues and bills for old NRTN bills from NOTIS. We will need to carefully screen the first several sets of bills before sending them out.

Due to the 16 bit application for Voyager circulation in 99.1 there is an "internal" limit of 500 items that can be charged to ANY patron. Cornell should be okay since most patrons can only have 400 items charged. Any special (old NOTIS pseudo-patrons) that have more than 500 items checked out to one card have to be changed before June 22. In Voyager 2000, circulation is a 32 bit application and should be okay.

Related to billing for replacement is the "patron counters" in the patron record. This is a section which keeps count of various kinds of circulation transactions for patrons. ( One is the count of how many "lost" (billed) items a patron has (See the Voyager Circulation Manual, p55.3). In Voyager, once the book has been returned and we have forgiven the bill on the patron accounting screen, billing supervisors will have to manually go into the patron counter section and reset the "lost items" count to unblock the patron. The system DOES NOT automatically subtract the increment in the counter if the item is returned.

The Bursar Transfer testing also went well. Once again, everyone was reminded that the term "lost book fine" will be "overdue" in Voyager when a replacement bill is sent.Also, bills will be sent to the Bursar 10 days after the bill is created. This means students have 10 days to pay overdue fines at circulation desks before the bill goes to the Bursar. Students will have 10 days to return books billed for replacement and this is about a week and a half less time for returning books billed. We will most likely be sending more credits to the Bursar.

Also, everyone was reminded that instead of having the fine for recalled books split at the point of replacement ($25.00 lost book fine and $35.00 overdue recall fine), the recall fine will be consolidated into one overdue recall fine of $60.00 when a recalled book is billed for replacement.

Circulation during the Transition to Voyager:
We reviewed the dates for and discussed various functions as we go from Notis to Voyager. Everyone is encouraged to look at the IMT website to see the item condition migration chart as well as the CTS Voyager Interim Procedures. The handout distributed at this meeting, Circulation/Reserve Workflow May 17 – June 26, 2000 is also be available on the website. http://www.library.cornell.edu/voyager/Circ/CircWorkflow.html

On June 21, we will get the last set of reports from NOTIS. This will include the item condition reports and billing reports. Units can also print lists from the item conditions in NOTIS. We will be getting error logs for circulation transactions that do not migrate.

There was a question about access to NOTIS once we are up in Voyager. Specifically, if new terminals are installed for circulation desks and staff, will NOTIS still be available? Having access to NOTIS will be important for circulation transactions that do not migrate properly. Susan will refer the question to Lynne Personius.

Carmen Blankinship and Howard Raskin gave an update on training. Deb Lamb-Deans, Howard and Carmen are giving the first basic training session for Voyager Circulation on Monday, May 22nd. The advanced training sessions will be held after Memorial Day. Additionally, special sessions will be scheduled for proxy patrons (authorization cards in NOTIS), billing, reserve/technical services and offline circulation. Another Billing Task Force will be appointed to update the Billing manual.