REPORT CIRCTRAK SHELF MANAGER NEVER DO INVENTORY AGAIN! BY GRETCHEN FREEMAN, TECH LOGIC PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN/STRATEGIST

Transcription

1 REPORT CIRCTRAK SHELF MANAGER HARNESS THE WIZARDRY OF RFID. The Tech Logic supports shelf management in four areas: Dynamic status checks of materials on the shelves or on shelving carts Finding lists of item identifiers (barcode numbers) downloaded from another source to the tablet Gathering item identifiers from RFID tags to upload to the ILS for such tasks as traditional inventory; Scanning RFID tags for the status of the security bits and automatically resetting the tags to security ON if found with security OFF NEVER DO INVENTORY AGAIN! With a wave of our lightweight, Wi-Fi enabled wand, scan shelves to find exception materials, weeds, materials missed at check-in and more. BY GRETCHEN FREEMAN, TECH LOGIC PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN/STRATEGIST

2 NEVER DO INVENTORY AGAIN! REPORT CIRCT SHELF M Overview HARNESS THE WIZARDRY OF RFID. The Tech Logic supports shelf management in four areas: Dynamic status checks of materials on the shelves or on shelving carts Finding lists of item identifiers (barcode numbers) downloaded from another source to the tablet Gathering item identifiers from RFID tags to upload to the ILS for such tasks as traditional inventory; Scanning RFID tags for the status of the security bits and automatically resetting the tags to security ON if found with security OFF With

3 1. Dynamic Status Check: Circulation Every integrated library system (ILS) supports circulation by tracking and recording status changes throughout the life of each item in the collection. For example, materials checked out are noted in the database with a status of Checked Out and a due date for return. Other statuses indicate when items might not be available on the shelves. Other circulation statuses may include: In Transit or Transit Hold Lost Missing or Trace On Hold Claim Returned Materials are moving to other locations for checkout Materials long overdue may be set to a Lost status Set when materials are searched and not found on the shelves Items bring held and waiting for pick-up by the patron Patrons claims to have returned a checked out item Every ILS works somewhat differently to set and define circulation statuses and every ILS is set up with different status codes and even the ability to define special local status codes. In the normal course of business, these statuses come and go as materials are checked in, moved to other locations, or searched on the library s shelves. Library staff pulls hold requests every day and may not locate each requested item on the shelves. Patrons call to report an item as claim returned. Materials that should have been returned to another location are shelved in error at the receiving location. Over time, the catalog can become cluttered with statuses that are not resolved despite the best efforts of library staff. Typically, a library or branch tasks the circulation staff with creating reports to search for items in exception statuses that may still be on the shelves. And unfortunately staff spends hours of time searching for items in the same location on the shelves where they were not found to begin with. Here is the typical (simplified) workflow of dealing with exceptions on the shelves:

4 Unfortunately the current process results in hours of wasted staff time and funds spent on replacing materials that may, in fact, still be sitting on the shelves. But they are lost to the library s patrons. How are materials lost on library shelves? There are many and varied reasons that materials are lost on library shelves: Materials are re-shelved incorrectly by patrons trying to be helpful; Materials are labeled with a spine label that doesn t match the call number in the catalog; Materials are inadvertently mis-shelved by library staff; Materials are pulled to shelve by category, such as Fairy Tales, but the catalog isn t updated; Materials assigned to a special collection or display are re-shelved elsewhere. Thankfully there is a solution that harnesses the hidden power of RFID a dynamic status check of materials on the shelf. This dynamic status check happens in real time and the ILS sends the current status of items back to the Circ TRAK Shelf Manager. The wand alerts for any status other than Available (on the shelf). Here is the basic concept of using CircTRAK s dynamic status check: TM TM Instead of paper reports to search manually, the library now has a tool that can assist in locating ALL exception statuses on the shelves at the same time with a single scan. Note that Wi-Fi signal must reach all shelving areas of the library in order for CircTRAK to connect to the ILS.

5 Workflow With the CircTRAK Shelf Manager The will replace almost all printed reports used to search manually for materials on the shelves. There is one notable exception the holds pick list (discussed below). Instead of printing reports, staff will use dynamic status check to scan the shelves regularly to locate all exceptions in one pass. Here is a suggested workflow: F i N It s feasible to scan an entire collection of 80,000 items in a few hours by assigning a section to each page, shelver or Circulation staff member. Because the scan is used to discover exceptions rather than capture item identifiers, it is not critical to read each individual tag. If an item isn t detected in this shelf scan, it will be re-scanned in subsequent months. And even if an item s record is deleted entirely from the catalog but remains on the shelf, CircTRAK will still find the item with its active RFID tag.

6 One printed report cannot be replaced with CircTRAK and that is the holds pick list typically printed one or more times a day in each library to retrieve requested holds from the shelves. There are two reasons for continuing to print holds pick lists: 1. Hold requests typically range throughout the library collection a mixture of fiction, A/V, non-fiction, juvenile and all other materials. Downloading the list to CircTRAK and scanning an entire collection to find each wide-ranging single hold request will not be an efficient use of staff time. 2. Hold requests typically involve a specific edition of a title even though patrons don t necessarily intend to exclude other editions of the title found on other catalog records. When staff pulls hold requests, they often find other editions shelved in place of a missing requested edition and use their judgement about filling the hold with another edition. The holds pick list usually lists one edition and that is the only edition any handheld scanner would detect. For these reasons, Tech Logic does not recommend using CircTRAK to replace printed holds pick lists although there is no reason a holds pick list couldn t be downloaded to CircTRAK for a trial at any library. What happens to materials that remain in an exception status after repeated scans? Library policies usually govern when and how materials can be deleted from the ILS. If CircTRAK is used regularly, libraries can be reasonably certain that the materials in exception statuses are no longer on the shelves and take whatever action is appropriate for the library. Thanks to CircTRAK, even materials deleted but still present on the shelves are not lost to the library. Because the items still contain active RFID tags, they will be found by CircTRAK. The dynamic status check process will query the ILS with the deleted item identifier and return a message of Title Not Found since the item identifier is no longer in the database. The library can remove the found item from the shelf and make a decision about restoring it to the catalog and to the library shelves.

7 1. Dynamic Status Check: Collection Development Public libraries are typically engaged in active shelf management activities to weed outdated, overused or low circulation materials from the collection. Using reports generated from the ILS or from a data discovery tool such as Collection HQ, library staff pulls materials to discard them. For example, staff pulls old editions of travel guides when new guides arrive or pulls materials that haven t circulated in a library-determined interval of time. Instead of using a printed report to remove materials from the shelves, CircTRAK Shelf Manager can also assist in identifying these materials through the dynamic status check described above. Process for identifying weeding candidate materials TM The process to pull weeding candidate materials does not need to occur in isolation from regular dynamic status checks of the shelves. Once these materials are in an exception status, they will be detected along with all other exceptions and can be pulled for processing as discards. As staff perform dynamic status check scans, they simply separate exceptions from weed candidates on the shelving cart and handle each appropriately behind the scenes.

8 2. Offline Mode: Finding Lists of Materials There may be circumstances where CircTRAK cannot be connected via WiFi to the library s ILS for dynamic status checks. In which case, downloading lists of materials to CircTRAK provides the capability to find specific items by scanning in an offline mode. Another use for loading lists is to check for grossly mis-shelved materials. Because RFID scanners will scan multiple items at once, there isn t enough specificity to identify mis-shelving in exact call number order. Out-of-order items are identified by comparing them to a list in shelf list order to find materials that are outside that collection or call number area. The library should test this check to determine whether or not it is specific enough to identify mis-shelved materials given the read range of CircTRAK. 3. Offline Mode: Gathering Item Identifiers from RFID tags If the library s ILS provides the capability for a traditional inventory of the collection, CircTRAK can be used in an offline mode to gather item identifiers from tagged materials on the shelves. Scanning shelves or bins to gather item identifiers requires careful attention to scanning speed in areas where materials are thin and tightly packed, or with A/V materials in bins. Missing item identifiers in a scan will result in materials inadvertently declared Missing and deleted from the collection. The good news is that the CircTRAK Shelf Manager can still find any materials deleted in error with the dynamic status check described above. Before embarking on an inventory carefully consider using dynamic status check as an alternative since it can produce the desired result of cleaning up the online catalog on a more regular basis. The library could instead focus its efforts on 1) diligent ongoing item status updates in the catalog and 2) regular collection weeding and maintenance using CircTRAK. Through these processes, exception statuses can be found by regular dynamic status checks in place of labor-intensive inventories.

9 4. Offline Mode: Checking Security Bits The can be used to check for materials which may have RFID tags with the security bit turned OFF. As CircTRAK scans the shelves, any tags with security turned off are alerted to a list and CircTRAK will attempt to automatically turn security ON. In this mode, a library may do spot checks of the collection following initial RFID tagging or may check random shelving carts for check-in errors. An unusual use case for CircTRAK occurred in a library trying to diagnose a problem with random alarms from their RFID security gates. The was used to scan in proximity to the gates and detected an RFID tag on a DVD hidden inside an adjacent floor vent problem solved. Your library will undoubtedly discover many other creative uses of CircTRAK as an indispensable tool. Welcome to the world of RFID shelf management! For more information about CircTRAK Shelf Manager, or to schedule a presentation, please call us at (800) Hale Avenue, N. Oakdale, MN