This chapter is dealing with circulation tasks that usually only require 30 minutes to accomplish. For this reason, they are almost always scheduled at 10am preceding the 10:30 circ break. They will appear on the schedule like this:
“Clear labeling shelves”
“Return shelves/check-in”
“Page ILLs”
“Shelve backlogs from Tech Services”
“Shelve P&D/Textiles materials”
Clear Labeling Shelves
Every morning, we pick up the newly cataloged books from the labeling shelves in Technical Services. These shelves are located just inside the more westward door to Tech Services in the labeler’s work area.
There are many types of books that may be on the labeling shelves for any number of reasons but for our purposes, there are three main types of books to pick up: 1) books to be shelved 2) books to be checked in and then shelved, and 3) books to be circulated
1 ) Books to be shelved
This will be most of the books. These simply need to be put on a cart and brought up to the pre-shelving area of circulation to be put in their proper pre-shelving sub shelves.
2) Books to be checked in and then shelved
There will sometimes be books that have been checked out to a person or other patron record in tech services as part of their processing. Once they have been processed and labeled, they need to be checked in before anything else happens. Please accomplish this as soon as you arrive back in circulation using the computer at the check-in counter. These books will be flagged in a way that lets you know that you should do this.
3) Books to be circulated (sometimes called “Notifies”)
There are usually books that specific people in the library or museum have requested to be cataloged. They will be on a specially labeled shelf in the labeling shelves area. These should be made the top priority whenever there are more books than can be cleared in 30 minutes. Each book will have a notify or other type of flag with the name of the person who requested it written on it. Hand these over to the person at the circ desk when you arrive in circulation. They will check the items out to the appropriate people and add them to the delivery shelf.
Return Shelves/check-in
There is a cart in each stack area that we call the “Return Shelf.” It is for a very specific purpose. When a staff member with stack access is browsing the stacks, they may not decide to check out every book they browse. The return shelf is where we ask them to put the items that should be returned to the shelf (by us later).
We don’t re-shelve these items right away because we like to have a record that these items have at least been browsed; it helps us know which books are of most interest to library users. So every day, we go around and gather the books from the return shelves and bring them to the computer at the check in counter in the circulation area to register that they have been used “in-house” Here is how to do that in ALMA:
1. Select “Scan In Items” from the Fulfillment drop down menu
2. Check the box that says “Register in-house use”
3. Scan the items’ barcode in the “Scan item barcode” field
4. Place the books into pre-shelving
Page ILLs
Each day, we lend several library books to institutions around the country and world (see section on ILLs). The first step in this process happens at 10am when we pull the books that have been requested that day. By 10, the ILL slips should have been placed on the counter beneath the bulletin board in circulation. Like paging slips, these will have the call number and stack area of each book needed to be pulled. Article request slips are oriented horizontally and may include specific volume and issue information along with the main call number.
When you have pulled the books and periodicals, please tip each slip in its respective book or magazine and deliver to the Circulation Manager who will process and ship them.
Shelve backlogs from Tech Services
Backlogs are books that have been accessioned by the library but have not been given a full catalog record and call number. Instead they are given a 6-digit accession number and kept locked in Stack B until they are either a) eventually cataloged, or b) requested by a staff member as a Rush Catalog Request (see section on Rush Catalog Requests)
3 times a week (MWF), we add whatever books have recently been accessioned to this backlog. The carts holding these books will be found just to the left as you enter the westmost door to Tech services. They will be flagged with their accession numbers clearly visible. The format of the accession number will be a letter b (for “backlog), followed by the last two digits of the current year, followed by a period, followed by a sequential 4 digit number (ex. b19.4325). Please take care to shelve the items in precise sequential order as misplaced backlogs are very hard to locate due to their lack of call number.
The storage of the backlogs is an ever-shifting reality that requires strict attention and updating to range signage and other extenuating circumstances. If you have doubts about where any new backlogs are to be shelved, don’t hesitate to ask the Circulation Manager.
Check Temp Reserve Shelf for Overdue/Replenish flags
On Monday mornings, we go through the items on Temporary Reserve and check in anything that is past its 2 week loan period. The most effective way to do this is to open the Temporary Reserve patron record in ALMA, switch Loan Display to “All Loans,” and sort the list by Due Date. Any items that are overdue will rise to the top. You can then go find them and check them in - either from the Temporary Reserve shelf above the current auction catalogs or the circ cabinet (for oversize and archival items on temp reserve).
When you are finished, all the items in the Temporary Reserve patron record should have due date before or the same as the current date.
Then, the rest of the hour can be dedicated to using the stamp underneath the returns counter to create more green temporary reserve flags to use during the week.
