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 Notice Customer Is Mailed a Notice

Scenario: your customer's account is set to receive their notices by phone. So why did receive a notice in the mail?

Reason 1: The automated telephone messaging service (TM3) calls the customer to deliver the hold or overdue notice. If it is unsuccessful after 3 tries (no answer, line disconnected, fax machine, not ringing, etc.), that notice will be printed and mailed via USPS the next business day. Look at the notification block on the customer's account to see whether it was complete or incomplete.

What can you do? Verify the customer's phone number. Do they have an answering machine? There are a few types of answering machines that do not work with TM3.  TM3 only recognizes these area codes. Do they have an alternate number? Would they like to try email notification instead?

Complete - the notice was delivered by phone

Phone Notice Incomplete - TM3 could not deliver the notice so it will be mailed the next business day.

Reason 2: Final overdue notices (we've told you before, but you'll be charged if you don't return the item) and lost notices (the item is now lost and you owe this much) are always printed and mailed - regardless of what notice type the customer has selected. Click here to see how much time elapses between the first overdue and lost notice.

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.

Troubleshooting Problems w/ Email Notices for Gmail Accounts

If a customer with a gmail account is set up for email notices, but is not receiving them even though their email address is correct, here's some troubleshooting steps you can take:

1. Have the customer create a filter in their Gmail account. Go to Settings > Filters > create a new filter with Subject “Library Notice” with the following options check marked. 
2. Working with your customer, place a test/fake hold on their account
3. Check it into the hold shelf.
4. Did they receive an email notice for the test hold the following day after 11 a.m.?
5. If they still don't receive the email, contact Tech Support for more troubleshooting tips. 

Interlibrary Loan Hold Notification via Horizon

Effective April 12, 2010, all interlibrary loans (ILL) that are filled will utilize Horizon’s patron request and notification system to make the process easier for patrons and staff.

New ILL Notification Procedure

• As soon as ILL staff finds a library willing to fill the ILL, the title is entered into Horizon and a hold is placed on the customer’s account.
• All ILL titles begin with “I L L/” followed by the title as one long word(i.e. I L L/10MinuteToughness).
• The requested item is given a barcode beginning with FILL followed by the OCLC request number (i.e. FILL61289480). This tells you it has been requested and we are waiting for the item to arrive.
• When the item is received at Central Circ, the FILL barcode will be replaced with a standard barcode. The item will be checked in through Horizon and the normal routing procedure for holds will begin. All ILLs are processed using the same wrapper format as before.
• When the ILL arrives at the branch, check it in via Horizon. A hold shelf slip is printed and a hold notification is sent to the customer using the method specified in their account. Store the ILL behind the behind the desk for pickup. Note: It is recommended that ILL customers have their notification set to email or phone so they are notified in a timely manner.
• When the customer picks up the ILL, check it out to them with the stated due date. Self check will block check out of these items. They cannot be renewed.
• When the item is returned, check it in. A return routing slip to FRSN is printed. If someone else has placed a hold on the item, ignore the request and return the ILL to FRSN.
• When Central Circ receives the returned ILL, they will delete the item record. The bib record will disappear automatically within one month.

Other Things to Remember

• If we cannot fill the ILL (not available at all or no library will lend it), ILL staff will put a “message to the borrower” on the customer’s account that includes the title of the ILL and the reason it cannot be filled.
• An ILL request will now count towards the maximum of 30 requests allowed per borrower in Horizon. They are limited to maximum of 5 ILL requests per month.
• The FIL Itype will allow holds. No renewals are allowed.
• Never place a hold on an ILL title via Horizon or ValleyCat. If another patron wants that item, a completely new ILL request should be initiated.
• It will be difficult for customers to discover ILL titles in ValleyCat, however it's not impossible. They could place a request on an ILL title. Just remember, the ILL should always be routed to FRSN when it is returned by the original customer. It should never be placed in the shipment to fill another hold at another location.
• If the ILL appears on the expired holds list, ignore it. It will be easy to spot since the title will begin with “I L L”. Follow your usual procedure for holding these items.
• ILLs will still have the white wrapper and should still be placed on the top of crates in the shipment so they are easy to spot for check in.

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

Hold Notification Block Won't Go Away

There are times when Horizon does not automatically remove the Hold Notification Block even after the borrower checks out the item or the hold expires and the item is returned to the owning branch. You can try to delete the block manually. However, if that still does not clear the block, report the borrower’s name and barcode, and the item’s title and barcode to the Jurisdiction System Administrator so it can be removed by a system-level process.

rev. 2/2018