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Configure your library's Out of State preferences in WISCAT now!

Monday, June 18, 2018

As many WISCAT libraries are aware, the staff at Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning (GZRB) have the option to try out-of-state lenders if a request isn’t able to be filled by another WISCAT participant. Out-of-state lenders are not on the delivery route, and as such, borrowers need to pay return shipping if receiving items from out of state.

Several WISCAT updates ago we shared that Auto-Graphics, the vendor of the WISCAT platform, was working on a way to allow libraries to indicate their preference for receiving items from out-of-state in their participant record, without having to write a borrower’s note on every request if your library doesn’t borrow from libraries outside of Wisconsin.

On June 22nd this feature will go live. If you DO want to borrow items from out of state, you don’t need to take any action -- this feature will be in effect automatically starting June 22nd. If you do NOT want to borrow items from out of state, please take the following action prior to 1pm on June 22:

  • Log into your WISCAT staff account and click on Maintain Participant Record under the ILL Admin heading.
  • From there, locate the option titled “Customer field 6 on Request Form checked as default.” Select NO to indicate that you do not want your requests to go out of state.
  • Please continue to indicate “no OS” in your borrower’s notes until this change goes live.

Note that this option on the participant record results in a “Try out of state?” option to be default selected or not on every request form. Staff will still have the option to change the selection on individual requests if desired by unchecking or checking the box on the loan form, but patrons will not see this option, and their requests will indicate the default selection chosen in the participant record.

Screenshot of participant record showing Customer Field 6 option

Your selection in the participant record (above) is reflected in your library’s loan form (below):

Loan form showing "Try out of state?" option

If you change your mind about the selection you made prior to the feature going live on June 22nd, you can always change your default again in your participant record.

This change will save borrowers time when submitting requests, as those who don’t borrow from out-of-state lenders will no longer have to type their preference in the borrower’s notes of every request they submit. Removing the “no OS” from the borrower’s notes field will save lenders time as well, since the push pin will be eliminated from these types of requests, eliminating the need for lenders to check these borrower’s notes to review notes that only apply to GZRB staff.

This change does not affect access to MINITEX resources – since they are searchable in WISCAT and on the delivery route, we lump them in as part of WISCAT when discussing WISCAT lenders vs. out-of-state lenders.

This change was initially suggested by a WISCAT library during a user group meeting. If you have other ideas for how to streamline the WISCAT workflow, please let us know.  Please Contact Us if you have any questions!

 

Written by Gail Murray, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning

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BadgerLink is hiring - deadline to apply June 13!

Thursday, June 7, 2018

The Department of Public Instruction has an opening for a full-time BadgerLink Technical Support and Training Specialist.

The BadgerLink Technical Support and Training Specialist will provide system administration and technical support for BadgerLink, implement new BadgerLink resources, manages the statewide authentication system for BadgerLink and other resources managed by the DPI, and develop innovative strategies and tools to raise public awareness of programs and services provided to libraries and residents statewide.

See the job announcement on wisc.jobs for full details and how to apply: BadgerLink Technical Support & Training Specialist announcement

Written by: Elizabeth Neuman, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning

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Preparing for Holidays and Closures Using WISCAT's Holiday List Feature

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Over the summer, many libraries using WISCAT for interlibrary loan may need to suspend service briefly -- if your academic library will be closed for renovations, if your school library closes over the summer, if your ILL staff will be on vacation, etc.  Make sure to use your Holiday List in your library's Participant Record to indicate your library's temporary inability to lend.  This way, requests won't go to your library when you're unable to fill them, and they can move on to the next possible lender without intervention from you.  If on an extended holiday, for example, a school library closing over the summer, be sure to stop lending early enough to allow loaned materials to be returned while staff is available to update the returned materials.

To update your Participant Record with a “Holiday,” log in to WISCAT and do the following:

• Click Staff Dashboard to access the administrative modules
• Under the ILL Admin menu choose Maintain Participant Record
• Click the Holiday List link at the top of the page or scroll down to that section in the record
• Enter the Start and End dates using the format MM/DD/YYYY
• Click the Submit button at the top right or bottom right of the record

Holiday List feature in WISCAT

The suspension of lending will automatically be removed when the End Date you entered in the Holiday List has passed. Note that the Holiday List does not affect borrowing, only lending. If you have patron-initiated borrowing set up,  patrons may still submit requests during your "holiday" that will remain in Awaiting Approval until your return.

If you have questions, please contact WISCAT staff at dpirllill@dpi.wi.gov

Written by Gail Murray, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning

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ILL and the Genealogist

Thursday, May 24, 2018

The majority of genealogical materials do not circulate. If a family surname appears in the title and/or the word “genealogy” is present in the title, subject or publisher of the material, it’s a good bet that material is non-circulating.

But avid genealogists know there is no reason to throw in the towel on a search. Some print materials can now be found online:

A photocopy may also be requested for the Index or Table of Contents of a non-circulating book. Copies of specific pages can then be requested.

Microfilm, especially newspaper microfilm, is also an excellent source of information. Many locations, including the Wisconsin Historical Society will lend microfilm.

Tips on creating microfilm requests:

  • In WISCAT, please use a blank request form.
  • OCLC libraries class microfilm as “book”. Be sure to choose “book” as the Material Bibliographic Level and “microform” as the Material Format Option.
  • Include the OCLC number in the correct field.
  • For Wisconsin titles search the UW-Madison catalog 
    • Confirm that the title matches the publication dates needed. Newspapers change titles over time.
    • Include the city and state in which the newspaper was published in parentheses after the title. For example, “The times” (Madison, Wis.)
  • If possible, copy and paste the reel number in the borrower’s notes field.
  • The Wisconsin Historical Society will loan a maximum of 6 reels per patron, per title.

Happy searching!

Written by:  Christine Barth, Resources for Libraries and Lifelong Learning

 

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Playing and Making in May

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Recently, I have had a number of opportunities to expand my knowledge base in using library spaces for exploration, innovation, and creation. These are not new concepts to school librarians, but they have been recently showcased differently under the term makerspace. Rather than focus on this term, which may be ephemeral, I shall take a moment to illustrate how these ideas are a foundation of library programming and hopefully provide some inspiration to take some time with students and teachers, in this month when testing is concluding but the school year is not, to try out ideas and start planning for next year.

We can find justification for why exploration, innovation, and creation should be part of library programming in the AASL National School Library Standards and the Future Ready Librarian Framework. Although infused throughout AASL, the Shared Foundation called Explore exemplifies these themes in its Learner and School Library Standards. For example, “Learners construct new knowledge by persisting through self-directed pursuits by tinkering and making,” and, “The school library facilitates construction of new knowledge by establishing and maintaining a learning environment conducive to independent and collaborative exploration and problem solving,” are, respectively, a competency and alignment found in the Create domain. The Future Ready Librarian principle of Use of Space and Time is defined by, “Provides flexible spaces that promote inquiry, creativity, collaboration, and community.” Both of these national level resources message that our libraries are no longer places to merely find information, but places where synthesis happens with new knowledge as a product.

In order to figure out what this synthesis looks like in your library space, find out what your school community needs and desires. Maybe that is a selection of robots and drones and coding tools. Possibly it is materials to build circuits or architectural wonders. There may be a need for yarn, fabric, and a sewing machine. Even coloring patterns, folding paper, and markers may make your list. The important thing is to find out what fits your space best, and that happens through exploring options. Set up a station or two each week for students, teachers, and other visitors to try. Take a seat at the table yourself and truly experience the design process, including the frustrations and the successes.

While you are exploring, be creative with finding resources. If you don’t have any robots or drones, see if you can borrow one from your public library or a neighboring district. This is a fabulous way to make connections for future collaborations. Try reaching out to parents and community members to see if they would be interested in showcasing a craft or skill. Maybe you can even find vendors willing to let you take a test-drive with a new item.

As your library vibrates with new experiences and learning, make sure to document the activities. Look at each station and ask why it is valuable, how much it costs, and what time and space requirements it needs. Survey user experiences and gather feedback through photos and videos, too. All these things will be valuable data points as you plan for future library purchases and programming. Have fun exploring!

 

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Updates to the EBSCO Personalization Features

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

In an effort to protect the security and privacy of users, EBSCO is actively implementing a program to ensure full compliance with the enhanced European Union data protection legislation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  Upgrades include:

  • Implementing tools to enforce the use of strong passwords
  • Transitioning all platforms to HTTPS for secure data transfer
  • Providing privacy controls for end users

This last bullet will begin on or after May 15, 2018.  Users of MyEBSCOhost folders will be asked to review and accept EBSCO's Privacy Policy in order to continue using the service.  Once the Privacy Policy has been accepted, users will have the ability to view the data associated with their account and the option to remove the account at any time.  

For additional information on these changes, see EBSCO's Upcoming Privacy and Security Enhancements and don't hesitate to Contact BadgerLink!

Written by: Elizabeth Neuman, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning

 

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Keep WISCAT Working Smoothly by Updating Connections to your Catalogs

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Have you ever received a WISCAT request for an item in a collection you don't lend out via ILL -- genealogy, new materials, etc.? Have you ever seen a title from your library display in WISCAT as not lendable, but you know it's available and you'd be willing to lend it? It may be time to update the Z39.50 connection to your catalog!

Z39.50 is a protocol for connecting ILL software to catalogs and transmitting live shelf status of materials. WISCAT relies mainly on these live Z39.50 connections to function, while a much smaller portion of records are in the Union Catalog and don't display live shelf status. Not sure whether there is a live connection between your library or system catalog and WISCAT? Click on the stacked canister icon to the left of the search bar (see image below) and see a list of all live connections. 

WISCAT search screenshot with stacked canister highlighted to indicate reviewing/selecting search resources.

In order for these connections to function properly, the WISCAT team needs up-to-date location and status information from your catalog so that when a WISCAT search returns  one of your bibliographic records, WISCAT is able to identify which collection of materials that item comes from in your library, whether or not that collection is lendable, and whether or not a particular item is available on the shelf. If these locations or statuses are incorrect, out of date, or incomplete, you may be getting requests for items you don't lend, or you may not be getting requests for items that borrowers in Wisconsin are looking for. 

Spreadsheet showing a portion of a Z39.50 configuration update.
A Z39.50 configuration update sent to the WISCAT team by Molly Lawlor at OWLS

Codes and locations vary widely based on local cataloging methods and the ILS platform in use at your library or system. If you have questions about your catalog's current Z39.50 configuration, please contact us


Written by Gail Murray, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning

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To tape or not to tape

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Note: We are receiving complaints again about  tape being used on borrowed ILL items. This article was originally posted in December of 2016, but it appears that it’s time for a refresher!

Guest Post written by Charles Clemence

 I like to think that nothing much surprises me anymore including election results and the Packers' curious inability to win consistently with one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. But I am constantly surprised at how much passion the issue of tape arouses in the ILL community. To use or not use, removable or non-removable, everyone seems to have an opinion. Myself included. Over 25 years ago I wrote a (supposedly) humorous article for the Winding Rivers Library System newsletter, suggesting (jokingly) that perhaps librarians were getting kickbacks from the Scotch tape people, judging by the amount of tape I saw used on ILL items. I thought that was funny, although I'm not sure anyone else did.

As to tape, a couple of comments:Office Scotch Tape

1. The prohibition on tape in the new ILL guidelines refers to items owned by other libraries. If you want to send your own items out covered in tape - go for it. But when returning items you borrowed, my experience is that it's best to follow the guidelines, however arbitrary they seem. ILL is based on having cooperative lenders. In fact, it couldn't exist without them. If some don't like tape, then the prudent course is to not use it for any.

2. The ILL guidelines are just that - guidelines. If you don't follow them the library police aren't going to show up at your door. At least I don't think they will. However, if you don't follow the guidelines a lender would be free to refuse your loan requests for that reason. For myself, I've always tried to avoid using tape. If necessary, I tape the label to a rubber band and put that combination around the item. Some don't like this solution, but if you use removable tape on the rubber band it isn't too obnoxious to dismantle.

As to labels, most of the problems described in the earlier comments sound like human error or a combination of software issues and human error. If anyone has come up with a way to keep people from making mistakes they're doing a good job of keeping it a secret. And the perfect software package continues to elude us as well.

Moreover, going back to exclusive use of pink routing labels would only make these problems worse. I remember when we had that system and there were a lot more errors than there are now. Also, unless you print the information on the pink labels - something that isn't always possible - the problem of reading the labels arises. No one wants to read my handwriting, I know that.

That's my 2 cents. Or maybe more like a nickel.

Written by:

Charles Clemence, Winding Rivers Library System

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Learn More About Your Library's WISCAT Usage with Activity & Request Reports

Tuesday, April 10, 2018


Have you ever wondered what percentage of your WISCAT requests end up being filled? Or how many requests are initiated by patrons vs. staff? Would you like to see the titles that your patrons are most frequently requesting? You can find all these statistics and more in the Activity & Request Reports section of the Statistics module when logged into your WISCAT staff account.

 Activity and Request Reports screen with options

There are 5 report types available in this section:

  • Borrowing Activity - Provides activity statistics for your library as a borrower.
  • Lending Activity - Provides activity statistics for your library as a lender.
  • Net Activity - Provides a summary comparison of borrowing versus lending activity.
  • Request Records (Excel only) - Provides a list of records for all requests submitted by your library as a borrower.
  • Lender Response Records (Excel only) - Provides a list of records for all responses to requests received by your library as a lender.

The reports generated are best viewed in Excel-- this way you can change how the data is arranged to suit your needs, or add formulas to give you more information about the data provided -- for example, fill rate is not a column provided automatically in the Borrowing Activity report, but you can figure this out easily by dividing the number present in the Filled field by the number present in the Unique Requests Sent field, then multiplying that number by 100. Note that requests appear as Filled once all activity on the request has ceased and it's marked as Complete, so fill rate calculations work best on data that's not from recent months.

Please contact us with any WISCAT statistics questions!

 

Written by Gail Murray, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning

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Top ten most ILL'd titles of 2017

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

At the end of March, OCLC released the top 10 most shared titles in 2017. This list mirrors what we have seen in WISCAT ILL requestsHillbilly elegy jacket art.

For the second year in a row, the most requested title was Hillbilly Elegy. It was published in June 2016 and has been on the New York Times bestseller list ever since. Here are the top 10 in order of popularity:

  1. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
  2. Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow,Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville
  3. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
  4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
  5. Iris & Lily: Book One by by Angela and Julie Scipioni
  6. Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor by Seth Klarman
  7. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
  8. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
  9. Cracking the Coding Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell
  10. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi


Written by:  Christine Barth, Resources for Libraries and Lifelong Learning

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