Hi all,

There are questions coming through the VR Ask Us about due date changes for items.

Here is the backstory:

-HathiTrust physical items were supposed to be recalled for September. There was an issue with the bulk due date change tool. It wasn’t changing any of the HT items for me. I put in a high priority case in August with Ex Libris.

-Last Thursday I was informed that the Bulk Due Date tool will only change the due dates of items loaned out in that library. None of the items currently in the “electronic resources” library were loaned from that location, so, I had no way of bulk updating the due dates.

-Yesterday, 14 volunteers started manually recalling (changing the due date) for HathiTrust items. These items MUST be returned. The due dates put on them should be Monday Nov. 16th.

-Regarding this change, the following information was sent out back in August when the initial recall should have happened: “We have enacted recalls of items that are in Hathi trust and the patrons should be returning the physical book and then they can access it electronically using the link that is in the recall notice. If they are unable/having a hard time returning their items then you can pass them onto a supervisor, we will work out those on a case by case basis. Any other questions just throw me an email.” (Candice Lewis, August 25th)

I modified the letter that should have been sent to patrons regarding the items in HathiTrust. It was supposed to have a link in it, telling them how to find the electronic version of the title. But again, even though I tested it, the letter uses the library the item was LOANED from, not the library it is currently in. The only way for the letter to format a search link is for the information to pass on the hathitrust location from Alma.

What this means is that the link is not coming through.

If patrons ask why they need to return the items, please let them know that we have to have the items returned at this time, and that it is available online if they search the title. If they are having an issue, IE they are not in this country right now, they are in another province, their building on campus is currently under construction ….

What to tell patrons when they ask why they have to bring those items back:

“The item you have on loan currently can be found online using the “full text available at HathiTrust” link in Library Search on our homepage. Search the items’ title to find the link. More information can be found here: https://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/getitforyou. Look under “Get it Digitally”.”

If they have reasons why they cannot return those items by Nov. 16th, please refer them to a supervisor, or to myself.

If you have any questions about this process, please let me know! Thanks!!!!!

Allison Erhardt Library Systems Specialist University of Manitoba Libraries University of Manitoba 306 Elizabeth Dafoe Library 25 Chancellor’s Circle, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3T 2N2 PH: 204.474.7153 | email: Allison.Erhardt@umanitoba.camailto:Allison.Erhardt@umanitoba.ca

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