RSIG MINUTES 3/15/00

PRESENT: Susan Bell, Nancy Boggess-Korekach, Zora Breeding, Sue Davis, Peg Earheart, Sylvia Martin, Mary Ellen Wilson

PROMPTCAT RECORDS: Zora remarked upon complaints on Autocat about records input into OCLC by book vendors. These records are poorly constructed, and seem to be ones that PromptCat chooses, causing problems for their customers. Why are these records being selected over OCLC records that are often available also? We need to pursue this if we decide to expand our PC profile. ACTION: Table until we move closer to including member copy in our profile with PC.

PATRON REQUEST FLAGS: Sue reported that there have been no more complaints from Central Circulation about the use of these flags. Staff should remember that a patron request flag means priority treatment, not necessarily rush. (Rush treatment would be given if the book were actually requested as rush, and flagged as such.)

ACORN LOCATIONS/CATALOGING: Zora noted some confusion between the locations CATALOGING and CAT-WKTL. CATALOGING as a location is misleading, and should not be used. However, since it has been set up as a location, it cannot be deleted from the pull-down menu. ACTION: Appropriate staff should be reminded that this is not a valid location and should use the location CAT-WKTL instead.

ILL REQUESTS/OFFLINE RETURN: Peg reported that the Annex received 3 requests from ILL for inventory items, recently updated by Offline Return. One request was for a book that has been in the inventory since 8/6/90, but went unused because ILL users did not know it was available from us. Peg is keeping track of requests for uncataloged material requested by ILL.

PSEUDO-PATRONS: Sylvia noted that she and Nancy had made suggested changes to the RS Pseudo-Patron list. ACTION: Sylvia and Nancy will make a few additional necessary changes.

OFFLINE RETURN: A report from the subcommittee (Zora, Mary Ellen, Nancy, and Monica), set up to determine a routine for batch loading of holdings for new material, was reviewed. The subcommittee did an excellent job in defining a routine, but noted that PromptCat records were of some concern. Mary Ellen said that PC would be able to stop adding holdings to our records, but was unsure as to whether or not we would still be charged for them. ( By sending them back to OCLC for offline return of holdings, we would be paying for them twice.) ACTION: Sylvia and Mary Ellen will inquire of PC and Solinet as to whether or not there would be a price adjustment if our holdings were not added to PC records. Mary Ellen will notify OCLC to stop updating our records as of Apr. 3. Nancy will arrange for the first batch load of records to be sent to OCLC for updating on Apr. 10. [Since the meeting, this routine and time schedule has been put on hold in order to better determine costs associated with it. Sylvia is also inquiring of LTT whether or not it is possible to exclude PC records from the routine.]

NEXT MEETING: Wed., Mar. 29, 1:30, Baker