CHECK OUT ITEMS TO FLOAT HUB - Floating Procedures Update 11/10/16

Effective 11/10/2016, NL staff that send in materials to the LMS Float Team to be floated must check out the items to their unit's FLOAT User account before shipping.  Instructions for this step are as follows.  This is also being incorporated into an updated edition of the entire "Floating FAQ" document.

Sara Karow / Coordinator of Centralized Floating
x31480  Sara.Karow@houstontx.gov


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CHECK OUT ITEMS TO FLOAT HUB (*new procedure 11/2016)

Checking out all items appropriate for floating to the unit’s Float user account in WorkFlows will ensure that their whereabouts can be tracked and they will not appear in the catalog as being on the shelf available to customers. The checkouts will change each item’s current location to FLOATHUB while retaining the name of the library that is sending it in.

Before sending items to the LMS Float Hub, be sure to check each of the following:

1.      Items that are candidates for withdrawal according to HPL’s weeding criteria, such as damaged and dated material, should not be floated.  Instead, set them aside and follow the weeding guidelines established by Collection Development.

2.  If the item is On-The-Fly or No-Record-Found, do not send it with float material.  Place a completed LMS Processing Flag in the item and send it to LMS via the regular delivery bins.
3.       If an item is In Transit to another location, whether for a hold or reshelving, do not send it to the LMS Float Hub.  Print the transit slip or hold wrapper, and place it in the regular delivery bin to be sent to the proper location.

For items to be floated via the LMS Float Hub that do not meet any of the conditions above, follow the procedure below.

Check out the items to your unit’s FLOAT User:

1.       Look up your unit’s Float account in Workflows > Circulation > Check Out.

a.      User ID matches the user profile name, per the standard pattern for agency accounts:     agency acronym, dash (-), FLOAT.  (So, for example, Alief’s Float User is ALI-FLOAT.)

2.      Scan each item to be checked out.

a.      The current location will become FLOATHUB, which will “shadow” the item in the OPAC.

b.      Handle exceptions noted above and any others that arise according to HPL policies and procedures.

3.      Pack the items that check out successfully for shipping to the LMS Float Hub.

Weeding Workshop - Hands on Training

This is a re-post of an e-mail sent out on October 18th by Sally Bates. Please forward this post to any staff who might be interested. As always, please get permission from your supervisor before signing-up. This workshop is approved for training credit:

The Collection Development librarians will be presenting a hands-on weeding workshop on Thursday, November 10, at the Johnson Neighborhood Library.  It will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will last 2.5 hours.

This workshop is for those with collection management responsibilities who may be new to the system or need a refresher.

Material covered includes:

Why weeding is important

Houston Public Library weeding policy

Tools to weed dated materials

Tools to decide whether to weed or float materials that are not circulating, including Collection HQ

How to weed materials in poor condition

How to process out materials for float or discard

How to schedule weeding/floating into daily workflow

Thanks to the Johnson NL who will host us!  The workshop will include hands-on weeding in the Johnson collection, which is scheduled to be RFID-tagged in the near future.

You can sign up by going to the calendar located on the Training Portal on the Intranet.  If you have any questions, contact CD at 3-1469.

Texas Medical Center Library - Training Available

Here is another training opportunity. The TMC offers free classes on searching PubMed, using the library's mobile apps and on utilizing the TMC archive. Registration is done online via their webpage. These classes are held at the TMC Library, which is located in the medical center downtown, off of Fannin Street. Please obtain your supervisor's approval before signing-up to attend a class.