Dynix: Outbound TeleCirc

Last updated: September 26, 2002






Index

  1. General Information
  2. Overdue Notices
  3. The Overdue Notice Process
  4. Hold Notices
  5. The Hold Notice Process
  6. TeleCirc Calling Schedule
  7. Valid Phone Numbers
  8. Preventing TeleCirc from calling a patron
  9. Wrong Numbers
  10. TeleCirc & Dynix PURF records
  11. Why does TeleCirc repeat messages?
  12. Why does TeleCirc consider a hangup a complete call?
  13. TeleCirc pronunces the patron's name wrong.
  14. Why does TeleCirc keep calling a patron over and over?
  15. Privacy Issues
  16. Known Issues & bugs

In General:

TeleCirc "notices" take the place of printed notices. That is, once TeleCirc completes a call, no printed notice is sent. Billing (pre-collection) notices however, are ALWAYS sent in printed form. Our two primary reasons for implementing outbound TeleCirc are:

  1. To speed up the notification process for holds and overdues.
  2. To reduce the amount of time and money spent handling printed notices. This includes the cost of blank notice forms, postage costs and staff time spent handling printed notices.

Overdue Notices:

TeleCirc begins calling patrons 4 days before the overdue item generates a printed notice. Once patrons (and staff) get used to TeleCirc this setting may be changed to call sooner. Items fall into one of three categories:

1) 7-day checkout items
These items generate printed notices at 7 & 14 days overdue, which means TeleCirc will begin calling at 3 & 10 days overdue. Items in this category include:
2) 3-week checkout items
These items generate printed notices at 10 & 20 days overdue, which means TeleCirc will begin calling at 6 & 16 days overdue. Items in this category include:
3) Items with odd checkout periods or that don't generate notices
These items have odd checkout periods and/or don't generate notices. TeleCirc will (obviously) not call for items of this type. Items in this category include:

The Overdue Notice Process:

Once an item has reached the overdue threshold (see above), TeleCirc will begin calling the patron on its next cycle. TeleCirc will attempt to contact a patron up to 3 times a day for 2 days. If TeleCirc is successful, no paper notice will be sent. If TeleCirc is unsuccessful, a paper notice will be generated on the next printed notice cycle. TeleCirc considers a call complete if it leaves a message on an answering machine or reaches a live person.

If the patron doesn't return the item, the process is repeated for the second notice.

If the patron still doesn't return the item, eventually the item will be declared lost by Dynix and in most cases a billing (pre-collection) notice will be sent. Remember that billing notices are ALWAYS printed, TeleCirc never calls for them.


Hold Notices:

TeleCirc overrides the hold notification method selected by the patron when placing a hold. This means that TeleCirc will always call patrons to notify them of items being held. (See Instructing TeleCirc not to call, below.) Currently the only notification method a patron may choose is "mail", this may change once TeleCirc begins calling.


The Hold Notice Process:

TeleCirc hold notices work very much like a first overdue notice. When an item is put on hold for a patron, TeleCirc will begin calling on its next cycle. TeleCirc will attempt to contact a patron up to 3 times a day for 2 days. If TeleCirc is successful, no paper notice will be sent, even if the patron doesn't pickup the item. If TeleCirc is unsuccessful, a paper notice will be generated on the next printed notice cycle. TeleCirc considers a call complete if it leaves a message on an answering machine or reaches a live person.

Part of the previous paragraph bears repeating: If TeleCirc is successful, no paper notice will be sent, even if the patron doesn't pickup the item. Expect some complaints about this from patrons who "didn't get the message" from a family member or the answering machine, especially until patrons get used to TeleCirc. One solution is to put the patron back at the top of the hold queue, but Circulation should establish a policy on this matter.

As with printed notices, transit holds aren't considered filled until the item reaches its destination. Therefore TeleCirc won't begin calling until the item is checked in at its pickup location.


TeleCirc's calling schedule:

TeleCirc calls patrons during the following hours:


Valid Phone Numbers:

TeleCirc uses the phone number listed in the patron's "Home Phone" field only. It will only call numbers that meet the following criteria:

For staff with City extensions, TeleCirc will be unable to call these numbers for now. For staff with College extensions, remember you must enter the full 10 digit number if you wish to be called at work. (Remember to put it in the "home phone" field of your patron record.)


Preventing TeleCirc from calling a patron:

If a patron doesn't wish to be called for holds or overdues, putting an asterisk (*) in front of the phone number will prevent TeleCirc from calling them. Please use this option sparingly, since the main reasons for using TeleCirc in the first place are to speed up the notification process and to reduce spending on notice blanks, postage and staff time.

For patrons with privacy screens that are having difficulty receiving TeleCirc calls, please put "*ID" in from of their home phone number. This will prevent TeleCirc from calling them and allow us to easily identify them when TeleCirc technology improves and we want to try calling them again. This also separates them from patrons who just don't wish to be called by TeleCirc and just have "*" in front of their number.

Field 32 (MAIL HOLD NOTICES) of a patron's record can be used to control how a patron receives hold notices:

IMPORTANT: The help screen for this field is wrong. The "P" and "B" options should not be used and 0 (zero) and blank behave as described as above.

Field 34 (MAIL ODUE NOTICES) of a patron's record can be used to control how a patron receives overdue notices.

IMPORTANT: The help screen for this field is wrong. The "P" and "B" options should not be used and 0 (zero) and blank behave as described as above. This field has no effect on billing notices, which are always sent by mail.


Wrong numbers:

Expect an influx of wrong phone numbers at first. If a patron calls and complains that TeleCirc is calling the wrong number, ask the patron for their name and phone number. Lookup the phone number using RPPH (see RPPH in the next section), remove the number from the patron record and put a message in PURF to get the patron's correct phone number.


TeleCirc and patron PURF records

Similar to printed notices, TeleCirc will put the date and time in a patron's PURF record. In addition to the usual Hold, Reminder or Second notice you'll see a message from TeleCirc:

RPPH:
More detail about TeleCirc's calls can be found by using the unlisted menu item "RPPH" (Report - Patron Phone History) from any Dynix circulation "ENTER SELECTION:" menu. This command will bring up a screen allowing you to search by patron ID, name or phone number. Information shown includes date, time, St (Status), Fail reason, #Ovd (overdue), #Hld (holds), Fines and Call #. All fields execpt St and Fail reason should be self explanatory.

Why does TeleCirc repeat the message three times?

TeleCirc repeats messages 3 times - which may seem like a lot, especially when TeleCirc reaches a patron instead of an answering machine. These repeats are necessary to insure that at least one complete iteration of the message is recorded by an answering machine. TeleCirc has no way to "wait for the beep," so it begins talking as soon as it hears anything, be it a person or answering machine greeting. Three repeats has proven optimal for long greetings or patrons who have some type of privacy screen. Most patrons have been hanging up after hearing the message 1 & 1/2 times and you won't hurt TeleCirc's feelings by hanging up on it!


Why does TeleCirc consider a hangup complete?

TeleCirc considers a call complete even if a patron (or answering machine) hangs up before even one repeat has been completed. Although this may seem like the wrong setting, having TeleCirc consider a hang up incomplete would cause TeleCirc to call the patron again and again until they listened to (or recorded) the entire message.


TeleCirc is pronouncing the patron's name wrong.

Unfortunately TeleCirc seems to do better with titles than patron names. Patrons have the option of recording their own name by calling inbound TeleCirc at 303-404-5710 and choosing option 6, "record your name". TeleCirc will then use this recording when calling a patron.


Why does TeleCirc keep calling a patron when they've already picked up items on hold or returned overdue items?

Once TeleCirc considers a call for a group of holds or overdue items complete, it will not call the patron again for those items. It will add existing items to the list if it needs to call for new hold or overdue items. For patrons with many items on hold or overdue, it will call them once for each group of items, often within days of the first call. For example:

The important thing to remember is that TeleCirc does not call more than once for an item unless it is calling about additional items, so multiple calls means the patron has more items on hold or overdue.

Conversley, TeleCirc will not call for holds that have already been picked up or overdues that have already been returned. TeleCirc checks the patron's PURF record just prior to calling and if there's nothing to call about, TeleCirc goes on to the next call.


Privacy issues

Although TeleCirc will speak the patron's name and number of items on hold or overdue, it does not speak any title information. Patrons have several options to find out the titles of items on hold or overdue: calling the staff directly, calling inbound TeleCirc or over the Internet via WebPAC or telnet.


Known issues / bugs

Patrons with anonymous caller rejection and/or privacy screen:
Although calls coming from TeleCirc now display on caller ID systems, some patrons using privacy screens may still experience problems receiving messages. These problems generally fall into one of three categories:

Naturally there are other variations of the above scenarios, but these are the most common. The only solution to patrons experiencing problems with TeleCirc & privacy screens is to prevent TeleCirc from calling the patron.

Disconnected phone numbers:
So far TeleCirc has encounted two types of disconnect messages. One it can handle, the other it can't: