During the conversion process to Polaris, many of the phone numbers associated with customer accounts were lost and we’ve recently had several instances where staff has been unable to contact customers about damage, missing, interlibrary loan or other issues with their account. Please help us “clean up” the database.
As you ‘check out’ items for customers, take a quick moment and scan the patron detail displayed in the upper right corner of the screen. If no phone number is displayed, ask for a current phone number and take a couple of minutes to add that number to their record.
As you are checking a printed hold slip to determine the kind of notification (email, text, phone or mailing), see if a phone number is present. That slip will always display a phone number regardless of the method of holds notification. If no phone number is printed, take a minute to put a blocking note on the customer’s account to update a phone number.
If you are placing a hold for a customer, verify how he/she will be contacted about the hold. If no phone number is present, ask if you can update that information. It is very helpful for us to have a phone number in addition to an email address.
Thanks!
Maurine