The meeting at North Providence Library was called to order at 9:35 am.

Present were: Joanne Sepe (AUB), Robert Oliveira (BAR), Kathy McGovern (BRI), Claudette Gaffney (CFA), Annette Nestor (COV), Barbara Angelone & George Curtis (CRA), Doris Hemond (CUM), Bethany Mott (ESM), Rebecca Tremblay (GVL), Linda Stachelhaus (HAR), Corinne Pelletier (HPE), Deborah Homer (JAM), Rae Robertson (LIN), Ann Marie Chase (MID), Gina Marciano & VIriginia Silvestri (NPR), Shirley Tyler (NPT), Kathy Hawes (NSM), Lisa Davis (OSL), Chris Jeffers & Kacey Richards (PAW), Bev Klyberg (PRO), Donna Fogarty (SKI), Cathy Fagan (SKK), Kathy Berrigan (WAR), Susan Rotella (WGR), and Andrea Plaziak (WWA).

Minutes of the September meeting were accepted.

Offline Circulation:
        Lisa Davis from OSL office was present to demonstrate how to use the offline circulation for checkout while III is down on Nov 15th.  Handouts with instructions for downloading and using the system were distributed to the group.

OSL Policies:
        Members reviewed the circulation policies, adding and editing to update the information.  Kacey will put together a presentation for the Steering Committee's approval.  If changes are accepted, copies will be distributed at our next meeting.

New Phone Number for OSL:
        OSL's new office is located in Warwick.  The phone number has changed to (401) 736-0965.  Please update your records.

New ILL Delivery Slip:
        The Steering Committee informed Kacey that any changes to the delivery slips must go through OLIS.  She will let us know if and when we can use the new format which will be on the Circulation Website
(http://circulation.riclan.org).

Processing Fee:
        Discussion has been tabled to the February meeting when Kacey will have stats for everyone.

Bills Notices:
        Kacey informed the group that Peter is working to create new loan types in order to shorten the length of time in which an item moves from overdue to billed on the patron records.  When his work is completed, bills will generate at 30 days instead of 90 days.  We hope that a shorter lag time will help libraries to recover overdue materials faster.

Guardian Fields:
         Kacey asked if any locations were experiencing problems with the Guardian Field on notices.  Some notices at PAW showed license numbers because they had entered them in the guardian field on patrons' records.   WAR found when searching for patrons by last name, the guardian name came up.  It was determined that staff needs to input guardian info on records with First name, Last name order.  
        Jane Anderson as opposed to Anderson, Jane.

Good News:
        Harmony Library is having their silent auction November 17th through December 1st with great items for bidders.
        Andrea Plaziak has announced her retirement from West Warwick Library.  She has accepted a position with OSL.  We wish her well and will miss her valuable input and great sense of humor.
Policy Reminders:
        Staff should abide by the OSL policies.  We are not allowed to renew other libraries materials more than once.  It is unacceptable to override the block or to manually change the due date.
        Staff cannot place holds on an item that is not available for System Wide Holds.  These requests will be cancelled by the owning library and a message placed on the patron's record explaining that the library does not allow holds on these items.
        Some libraries are choosing not to send New Books or DVDs on loan to other libraries' patrons.  These same libraries are receiving new items through ILL for their own patrons.  Many of those present felt that this is unfair and would like to have this resolved in some manner.  Some stated that they simply would not fill requests from any library refusing to participate in the state wide holds system.
        WAR has decided to charge $3.00 for a replacement library card.  It was brought up that this is a violation of OSL policy which states that the charge for a lost card is $1.00.
        OSL Policy#2 states that patrons must present a valid OSL card before borrowing privileges will be extended.  Some libraries allow patrons to check out without a card by searching them out by name.  With a statewide data base containing many like and similar names, problems have occurred when staff choose the wrong patron and check items out on the record.

New Business:
Lisa Davis explained how we can assist with the cleanup of old patron requests that are sitting on patron records and going nowhere.  Use the View Holds feature on the III Circulation Desk sidebar to access a list of outstanding holds (use your library's pickup location).  If you change the date to pull out those holds placed before Nov 2006, you will get a list to check.  The holds need to be cancelled and some replaced if a patron still wants the item.  Many are on "missing" items.  Lisa asked if each library would take clear up their own list.  You may call her if you need assistance at the OLS office.

CRA talked about items being returned through ILL with missing parts.  Barbara would like libraries to hold the item for only a week after contacting the patron, and then return it to the owning library.  A note should be enclosed with name and phone number of the last patron, and any information regarding whether patron was contacted.  Sometimes the missing piece is returned to the owning library before the rest of set.

At one location, a patron complained that receipt printers sometimes show the patron's name on the slip with checked out items.  Lisa will check into whether this info can be removed.

Someone asked about the "food for fines" program that we ran in the past.  Most felt it was not effective.  Bob O. suggested that perhaps as a group, we could plan something different for next year's holiday season.  A suggestion was to have patrons donate through the library to a local charity.  Anyone with suggestions, please email Kacey Richards.

A reminder to all libraries that we need to run all 6 notices daily.  Instructions were posted in May regarding this and can be found on the Circulation Website (http://circulation.riclan.org).  If you need further help with this, Lisa Davis is available to work with us.

Meeting was adjourned at 12:00 Noon.

The next Circulation Heads Meeting will be held at Lincoln Library on February 21, 2008.

Respectfully submitted,
Ann Marie Chase, Secretary