re: accessing the OPAC Staff View at the reference desk

[hammett <hammett at sonoma dot edu>]

<<< Our desk staff has expressed privacy concerns about having to log- 
in to their own personal library information at a public desk, when  
working with a patron, in order to obtain the Staff View. Could  
anybody enlighten me as to how you handle this situation at your  
institution? We have discussed creating generic fake library employee  
patron records for the desks, but there are objections to doing this  
- on the theory that we don't want to get in the habit of creating  
fake patron records (sort of a slippery slope issue) as fix-its.>>>
------------
Luke,

We've been using My Millennium for 5 years now. I personally use the  
staff mode a lot and love it.

We have created a couple of test accounts (i.e. dummy records) for  
specific purposes that can be quite useful.

For example, if we want to demonstrate in a class or workshop how to  
use My Library Record, we have a dummy student account to access  
which shows overdue items, fines, etc.  We can use this account  
instead of displaying our own records (with fines, overdues, etc.).

We also have a dummy faculty account (and should probably have one  
for community borrowers) which allows us to test the features of the  
webopac by major patron types.  This is especially useful when we're  
redesigning the catalog,  implementing a new version of III, testing  
the proxy, or doing beta testing. We have in the past discovered  
problems isolated to specific patron types, so the dummy record can  
help us troubleshoot just where the problems lie.

--Paula
---------------------
Paula Hammett
Collection Development Coordinator & Web Coordinator
University Library, Sonoma State University
1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, CA 94928
707-664-3912, 707-664-2090 (fax)
hammett at sonoma dot edu










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