Phone types and SMS messaging

SMS Text / Notices Reference Guide 

Which boxes should be checked for patrons to get which messages??

The box you check in the Notices By part of the address section of registration works together with the code type you assign to the phone number.  The right choices have to be made for the correct notice to be sent...or not sent.

If the patron wants SMS notices, your only phone options are the 2 mobile types.  To get SMS notices, the type of SMS notices boxes have to be checked.

But the above SMS in yellow has some issues. Please read the IMPORTANT NOTE at the end of this reference sheet.

Here is an explanation of what the different phone code types will produce:

h             Will get phone notice. If phone notice fails, they will get either email or print notice, depending on what is selected in the patron record. SMS is not an option (even if home number is a cell-mobile options MUST be used if SMS is desired)

h-no      Will get either email or print notice, depending on which option is selected in the address section. SMS is not an option (even if home number is a cell-mobile options MUST be used if SMS is desired)

m            Will get phone notice, unless SMS is selected. In that case only SMS notices will be sent. If phone notice fails, they will get either email or print notice, depending on what is selected in  the address section.  If patron wants text messages, choose this and make sure the types of SMS message boxes are checked. 

m-no     Will get either email or print notice, depending on what is selected in the address section, unless SMS is selected; in that case, only SMS notices will be sent. If patron ONLY wants text message with no other type of message if the text message is unsuccessfully sent, choose this and make sure the types of SMS message boxes are checked.

 

o             Will get phone notice. If phone notice fails, they will get either email or print notice, depending on what is selected in the patron record. SMS is not an option. 

o-no      Will get either email or print notice, depending on what is selected in the address section. SMS is not an option.

IF they only want email, then choose email, not standard.  Choose the appropriate “-no” phone, and do NOT check any of the SMS boxes.

If any SMS box is checked (they want a text message), a mobile phone has to be used. No other message type will be used as a backup if the SMS message fails.

3/1/22 -dh

IMPORTANT NOTE:

SJVLS notes a glitch in programming with SMS notices:

“In the case of SMS Hold Notices, if in the patron record “SMS Holds” is checked, then that is the only message they will get. Because of the current SMS settings by the vendor, SMS Overdue Notices will not count as a notice sent, so they will also receive a phone/email/print notice, depending on their settings for these.”

I interpret this as: if both hold and overdue boxes are checked, only the hold notice will be sent SMS.  The overdue will be sent by the other setting (email or standard).

If just OVERDUE is selected for SMS, then it will only go by text.

The glitch happens when both hold and overdue boxes are checked.

What is the easiest way to handle this discrepancy?

A straightforward way to not confuse customers is to simply ask the patron, “Would you like a text message when your hold is here?,”  and just let the standard selected notice handle the overdue issue. 

Other tips / Options:

• Encourage the customer to choose email notifications to lessen calls.
• Directly discuss which text a customer desires to have be priority, if they ask to have both.
• Let them know the limitations, if they ask.
• If we just select Overdue in SMS, that is the text they will get.
• For the sake of easier training, if a customer has an email address and doesn’t want calls or texts,  I usually just select m-no without checking any SMS boxes.
• If the customer absolutely loves calls, doesn't want texts and refuses to provide an email, “h” is the best bet.
• Note: SMS General has nothing to do with holds or overdues.  We don’t currently use this option.

3/1/22 – MH

SMS (text) messaging

SJVLS libraries now offer SMS text messaging notification of holds, overdues, and general messages.  This is an opt in service, it will not be automatically applied.

There are 2 ways this can be set up:  either by staff in Horizon (the choices are under the phone number), or by the customer in the My Account section of Enterprise.

or

Some things to know:

• When an SMS HOLD message is sent there will be no phone, email or print message sent.
• When an SMS OVERDUE message is sent, customers will get *both* the SMS and their standard way of notification.
• "General” message examples are “Game of Thrones Season 5 was returned without disc 4” or “Your claimed return item, Game of Thrones Season 5 has been located on the shelf and checked in.”  The ability to add these messages will be added to some staff accounts soon (more on this to come).
•   In Horizon, only check SMS options for mobile phones (“m” or “m-no”), even though the options appear for “home” or “other”.  Checking SMS for home or other phones will do nothing.
• If a customer wants both email and SMS, set up the phone type as ‘m-no’.  If SMS and a phone message to their home phone is wanted, set mobile phone as ‘m-no’ and add a home phone number with the ‘h’ designation.
• Holds for eBook or eAudio items may be placed via Enterprise, but customers will not get a text message; they will get their usual email notification.
• The phone number the text messages are sent from is 8559132458.

  

 1/2020

Phone Codes in Borrower Registration

Horizon offers the following options for coding the patron's phone number in their record.

h.................. Home
h-no............ Home, No Telephone notices
m.................Mobile, with Telephone notices SMS
m-no............Mobile, No telephone notices SMS
o..................Other, with telephone notices
o-no............Other, No telephone notices


Here's a few tips on when to use what code:

> If the option doesn't say "No Telephone notices", then that option uses Telecirc to notify patrons about holds/overdues. (h, m, and o all provide the patron with Telecirc notice service.)  If SMS text messaging is enabled these notifications are via SMS (see entry "SMS text messaging" for indepth information)

> No land line, but the patron wants to receive their notices by phone? Use m - Mobile with TeleCirc allowed, do not enable SMS

> A business phone, message phone or other phone contact should use one of the o options.


rev. 1/2020

Telemessaging Won't Call Numbers With 999 Prefix

Prefixes (not area codes) beginning with 999 are not dialed by Telemessaging.
The Telemessaging software is written to block calls with the prefix “999” (e.g. 559-999-1234). This is related to the fact that the company that developed the Telemessaging software has headquarters in New Zealand and associated offices in Australia and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom and some other countries, “999” is commonly used as an emergency number, like “911” in the United States.

This affects over 1,770 borrowers at this time. Telemessaging will not work for these phone numbers. These customer should use an alternate phone number of select an alternate notification method. 

Also see "Area Codes and TeleMessaging"

Data Entry Standard for Borrower's with No Phone#

If the borrower does not have a phone number, enter 000-000-0000 in the phone field of the borrower's record. Set the phone type to h-no (Home-No Telephone Notices). This is part of the Borrower Registration Data Entry Standards set by the San Joaquin Valley Library System.

Telemessaging & Cell Phones

Your customer has notices set to be delivered via Telemessaging (TM3) to their cell phone. However they report that if TM3 calls and they don't answer the call, no message is left by TM3 on their voice mail. Why not?

TM3 isn’t seeing the call as being picked up by voice mail, but rather it registers as a 'no answer'. TM3 can have a harder time recognizing that an unanswered call to a cell phone is transferring to a message system. It's probably a timing thing – basically the phone's 'leave a message' message doesn't kick in fast enough from TM3.

There's nothing we can do to change TM3. The customer has the option of changing to a different phone number or receiving email or print notices.

Phone Numbers with Extensions

Some borrowers have a phone number with an extension. Here's the data entry rules for that situation:

• Enter the phone number as 000-000-0000 x000  (Example: 559-123-4568 x910)

• Because telemessaging cannot call a phone number that has an extension, set the Phone Type to one of the "no telemessaging" types

Area Codes & TeleMessaging

Telemessaging (TM3) is the automatic phone notification system that calls customers about overdue items and holds. In the past, Telemessaging was set up to only call phone numbers that had area codes in CA, AZ, OR and NV. 

But with the rise of cell phone use, many people keep their out-of-state phone number regardless of where they live. So we removed the area code restriction since it only costs a few cents for the Telemessaging call even if it's long distance. 

Telemessaging will call any area code, except for out-of-country area codes (i.e. 441=Bermuda). For obvious reasons, it won't call numbers with 911 as the area code or the prefix. It will not call numbers with a 999 prefix. See Telemessaging and 999.








rev. 8/2018