Floating Q & A part 2

1. Hello! I had a question about what to do with media snags on floating media items that come to our branch that used to belong to another library. Should we handle them at our own branch or should we send it to the original library? Thanks!
Please handle the media snags at your own branch--they now belong to you. Notes on a customer's account should have the branch name where an incomplete item was returned. If you check out snags to a media snags shelf your media snags shelf should have your branch name (e.g. CLARKSBURG MEDIA SNAGS).

2. Why should we write the barcodes on CD discs and DVDs? How many numbers should we write?
Writing 10 digits (3+ nine digits) of the barcode on discs is the most time and money saving way to help identify discs that get separated from their sets. [I realized this in a flash yesterday after I'd (mistakenly, sorry) mentioned that it's efficient to write just the last 4 digits of the barcode]. It really is most efficient to have an entire barcode number, because that takes you directly to the item in question. When we had just one or two copies of an audio book in our branches, we could easily match up separated parts. Now we are looking at dozens of copies in the system, and our collection is well-served by this local processing practice.

3. We are seeing items that we expected to float not floating (and vice versa). What gives—and what should we do about it?
Since items float by their item type, this is an indication that we’ve got erroneous, old or mixed item types in the database.
Possible ways of dealing with these items include:
1. sending items back to their original owner with a note
2. changing the item type: from KIT to CD-BOOK or CD-BOOK-J, for instance

4. Why are we seeing 3-week loan, entertainment VHS videos that don’t float?
When MCPL converted the loan period from one week express to 3 weeks for all VHS titles, the item type did not change from EXPRESS VIDEO to VIDEO.

5. We are seeing items without (labels, barcodes, call numbers) float to us. What should we do?
Please follow the processing guidelines below, and add the appropriate label, barcode, call number, just as if the item in question were yours. Because it is yours, now.

6. Can we still weed the parts of the collection that are now floating?
Yes, yes, yes.

7. Why do we get this message: “Item discharged; needs to be transferred to current library?” What is the current library?
This message appears when a floating item type that has incurred a fine has been checked in—it’s meant to reassure you that the fine did not prevent the item from floating, and the current location is now, in fact, your branch.