LINKcat News

REMINDER: (how to) Use the Direct Charge slip

The Direct Charge slip is the routing slip library staff should be using when they are sending materials to the seven (7) SCLS libraries that are not part of the LINKcat shared database.  Those libraries are: 

Albertson Memorial Library - Albany [ALB]

Lettie W. Jensen Library -  Amherst (AMH)

Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library - Marshfield [MFD]

Monticello Public Library [MNT]

Pittsville Public Library [PIT]

Rio Community Library [RIO]

Lester Public Library of Vesper [VES]

As these libraries are not part of the shared LINKcat catalog, they must place holds on behalf of their patrons.  The patron records for these libraries are set up with MAD as their Home Library/default pickup location.

When library staff are checking in items pulled for your library's Holds Queue report, they may see the name of one of these libraries as the name of the patron for which the hold is being trapped.  

There are two options for processing these hold requests:

1. Send the item to Madison. 
   1. Check in the item. 
   2. In the Hold Found pop-up, click the Confirm Holds and Transfer button. 
   3. Create a routing slip using a Post-it note, write the delivery location code on the slip.
   4. Place the item in a delivery bin.
2. Send the item directly to the library. 
   1. Check in the item. 
   2. In the Hold Found pop-up, click the Confirm Holds and Transfer button.
   3. Go to the library's patron record and check out the item to their account.
   4. USE THE DIRECT CHARGE SLIP, circle the name of the library, put a rubber band around the item and tape the Direct Charge slip to the rubber band.  DO NOT USE A POST-IT NOTE.
   5. Place the item in a delivery bin.

This information is also listed in the Circulation Manual, Section II Checkout, Part E. Direct Check Out to SCLS non-LINKcat libraries.

Here is the information provided by Delivery which includes a link to the form:

Direct Charge (yellow) routing labels contain a list of libraries and are used for non-LINK library holds.  To use these labels, check the box in front of the destination library, then tape the label to a rubber band placed around the item

 

Retiring old LINKcat launchers

Starting at the end of the month, anyone using the old launcher scripts (http://linkcat.scls.lib.wi.us/catalog/launcher.cgi, http://www.linkcat.info/launcher.cgi or http://www.linkcat.info/ipac20/ipac.jsp) link will get an “outdated link” page to let them know they’re using an old link and, if it’s their own bookmark, to update it to the current version, which is http://launcher.linkcat.info/go.cgi. It’s been years since the last time the launcher script link was changed but up to this point we’ve just done an automatic redirect to the current version for anyone using a link to one of the old versions.

We have updated all of old links that had been used since the beginning of the year for any pages that SCLS hosts, including the SCLS-hosted library websites. We’ve also communicated the upcoming change to the library sites SCLS does not host and a number of non-library sites that had outdated links that were still in use. So this should minimize the number of outdated links. You may want to check your website for any LINKcat links that don’t start with http://launcher.linkcat.info/go.cgi, especially links to older bookclub titles or other promotional links to material in the catalog on older pages.

If someone uses an outdated link for a specific item, the “outdated link” page is going to be sending them to the main LINKcat page, not the specific item. So you may receive questions from patrons who are trying to use an old link to get to a specific item.

The “outdated link” page will be available until the end of the year.

Full Cataloging Moratorium April 14 and 15

We are continuing our work on the authority control project to update existing OCLC bibliographic records in our database with up-to-date author, subject, genre, and uniform title (series) headings.

On April 14 and 15 (this weekend), LibLime will be loading new and updated authority records, as well as updated bibliographic records. This means that there needs to be a full cataloging moratorium this weekend with no work done on bib records (including BSEs).

On Saturday, April 14 and Sunday, April 15 staff cannot:

1. Create new BSE records.
2. Use "Send to Catalog" from GetIt to create bib records.
3. Create new LOCAL or PERM records.

On Saturday, April 14 and Sunday, April 15 staff can continue to:

1. Create, edit, withdraw, and delete item records for items owned by your library.
2. Use "Send to Catalog" from GetIt to create item records.
3. Work with Purchase orders in GetIt (as long as you don't send bibs to the catalog).
4. Work with Receiving and Invoicing in GetIt.
5. Update and create GEN records.
6. Do serials checkin in Koha Periodicals.

On Monday, April 16, cataloging and acquisitions staff will receive an email (should be in the morning) when it is ok to resume creating new BSE records and sending to catalog from GetIt.

Bilingual Picture Books and Board Books Collection Codes added to Koha

Collection Codes for Bilingual Picture Books and Board Books are now available in Koha. There are three new codes:

• PBJFIBI (PICTURE BOOKS JU FIC BILINGUAL)
• PBJNFBI (PICTURE BOOKS JU NFIC BILINGUAL)
• PBJBBBI (PICTURE BOOKS JU BOARD BOOKS BILINGUAL)

These new Collection Codes were approved by the ILS Committee at its April meeting. The Collection Codes can be used by any LINKcat library. 

For a full list of Collection Codes (as well as other codes), see the ILS Support Codes page at http://www.scls.info/ils/codes.

If you would like SCLS staff to batch change a group of items from an existing Collection Code to one of the new codes, please fill out the Batch Change Collection Code/Shelving Location/Item Type Request form, available from the ILS Forms page.

Moratorium on changes to existing bib records April 2 through mid-April

SCLS and the Madison catalogers are currently doing an authority control update project that will update all of the existing OCLC bibliographic records in our database with up-to-date author, subject, genre, and uniform title (series) headings. During this time, Madison cataloging staff cannot overlay or edit existing OCLC bibliographic records. 

 

What this means for you right now

Starting today, Monday, April 2, if you submit changes to Madison on the following ILS Work Request forms:

 

Request to Add ISBNs or UPCs to Bibs

Report Problems with Bib Records

Report Duplicate Bib Records

 

those changes will be held by Madison until mid-April. The changes will be done after the project is completed in mid-April. Unfortunately, we don't have an exact end date at this time, but it should be the week of April 16.

 

During this time, you can continue to:

1. Create BSEs and link items

2. "Send to catalog" from GetIt for both bib records and item records

3. Create, edit, withdraw, and delete item records for items owned by your library

4. Create LOCAL, PERM, or GEN records

 

What this means for you in mid-April

Around April 16, there may be a day (or possibly two days) where we will ask you to refrain from creating BSEs and using "Send to Catalog" from GetIt to create new bib records while the updated bibliographic records are loaded into Koha by LibLime. We will send an email out about this as soon as we have solid information. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly how long it will take for all of the updates to be made to the bib records and how long it will take LibLime to load the changed bibs back into Koha.

 

Monthly batch delete of Withdrawn Items

Normally we do a batch delete of Withdrawn items every month. However, there will be no batch delete of Withdrawn items for March. We will resume the batch delete of Withdrawn items at the end of April. Items that are currently Withdrawn will remain in Koha with the Withdrawn status until the end of April.