Home → About NC Cardinal → Annual Reports and Surveys → 2022-2023 Annual Survey Responses

4.3. 2022-2023 Annual Survey Responses

Last Updated 08/11/2023

Annual Survey Comments and Responses

Thank you for taking time to respond to our Annual Staff Survey. We’ve compiled your responses to the following questions in the Annual Survey:

• What are the top three improvements, changes or additions you'd like to see the NC Cardinal team focus on? 
• Please share any other feedback you have.

We appreciate the thoughtful and detailed comments you’ve offered. We want to be accountable to your input and transparent in our responses, so we've have tried to respond to everything as best we can.

Some comments we can provide answers to now, some are things the Cardinal team can work on in the months ahead and others relate to the design and functionality of the Evergreen software as a whole. The community of people building and maintaining Evergreen use a tool called Launchpad (https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen) to report problems, make suggestions for improvements to the software and monitor the progress of fixes. If your suggestion was a problem or improvement to the Evergreen software that we couldn’t find on Launchpad, we’ve added it and shared a link to the request. If we found an existing request that aligned with what you said, we’ve shared the link to it so that you can follow the progress of addressing the issue. 

In some instances, we may have questions about the issue you mention. In general, if you want to submit further details or follow up on a suggestion the best way is to email us at help@nccardinalsupport.org Sometimes screenshots or more detail can help us understand what you mean. 

Thank you for your feedback and helping us to improve Evergreen and the support that we offer to you and your patrons.

Benjamin Murphy, NC Cardinal Program Manager

 

Technical Issues

GENERAL

The following comments asked for more direct involvement in Evergreen development:

• Any ways that you can influence Evergreen development to improve the software would be great
• We need a dev so we can tweak Evergreen and more fully participate in Evergreen development.

Our response:

This feedback from the annual survey is really helpful. The majority of the suggestions relate to the way Evergreen is designed. We can contribute suggestions and have a Developer on the Cardinal team, but there’s a large community of Developers working on Evergreen and the decision-making process for features and changes involves a lot of other people and opinions.  

Fix integration with the NCLive resource "NoveList Plus" - it should be linked to our catalog records, but is not, which means we're reliant on the Evergreen search interface which is not great.

We’ve recently fixed an issue with NoveList integration this spring. If your library is still having issues, please submit a ticket so that we can investigate.

Connecting NC Cardinal to a point of sale system so we can track other expenses besides late or lost fees for materials.

Stripe was added recently and SmartPAY is being added in 3.11. The larger Evergreen community also seems to be interested in making Evergreen work with more payment providers.  

When something is in transit from one of our branches to another, even if it is not on hold, it has to go there and then come back before I can do anything with it (or am I missing something?).

If you’re a cataloger, and the item is not headed to the hold shelf at that branch, you can change your workstation so that Evergreen thinks you’re operating at the branch it is trying to go to. When you’re done making changes though, you’ll need to change it back to the location you're actually working at. 

UPDATES/UPGRADES

The following comments asked for more communication about the upgrade process:

• Better communication on how to use new features.
• Once updates occur, a smoother transition into new updates needs more attention.

Our response:

Our typical process is to ask for involvement from member libraries in summer and fall to scrutinize the changes of upcoming versions ahead of time and then we summarize what we believe to be the biggest impacts of upcoming upgrades. We have webinars and documentation going over the new features and make those available for staff if they’re not able to attend. Most of this communication happens in Basecamp and in the Knowledge Books (https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=10). We welcome any other suggestions on how we can help spread the message ahead of time. 

Others had comments about the process of developing the upgrades:

• Avoid change for change sake
• Keep things as simple as possible
• Consulting a range of library staff for updates vs. looking at Evergreen from a tech perspective (the vision doesn't always match up with the functionality that library staff needs)
• Sometimes it seems like "upgrades" are made by those who no longer use the system on a daily basis and are out of touch with the day to day operations of the library.

Our response:

Most of the changes made to the Evergreen software are made by the larger Evergreen development community, rather than the Cardinal team. The best way to make your voice heard on what’s useful or unnecessary is to be a part of those discussions and groups as the decisions are being made. A great place to start is to join the Evergreen mailing lists, like the General Discussion that are available here: https://evergreen-ils.org/communicate/mailing-lists/ 

The following comments requested specific timing for upgrades:

• do updates after hours
• Pick better times for updates, not during open hours.

Our response:

We do our annual upgrades over the weekend as much as possible in an attempt to avoid disrupting staff functionality. The process can take time, so we try to find an opportunity that has the least impact on the Cardinal community. 

The following comment spoke to upgrades for the catalog interface:

• Make Evergreen more user-friendly. Every so-called upgrade makes using the catalog more time-consuming and less efficient. For example, when you want to see how many people have holds on a book, you have to go to "Patron View" -- we used to be able to see that info (as well as the ISBNs and genres, etc.) from the staff search. And then when you go to "Patron View", you can't see barcode numbers and there's no link to "Item Status".

Our response:

For the holds, have you tried the View Holds tab in the staff title record? Does that suit your purposes? You should be able to see the ISBN in the search results of the staff search, if the information is present in the bib record, but you’re correct that genre only shows up once you click into the title record from the search results. I’m not sure I understand what you’re experiencing with the Patron View. The records should show both barcode and status. We may not be understanding what you’re seeing, so feel free to reach out to us at help@nccardinalsupport.org if we’re misunderstanding. 

Performance

The following bullet points all reflect the same concept: Improve performance.

• Bigger server before new libraries
• Improve servers before adding more libraries
• Improved servers - As more libraries join the consortium, please make sure the consortium has enough server expansion with Mobius to continue to bring new libraries on board; It feels a little too frequent that Basecamp lights up with libraries across the state saying NC Cardinal\Evergreen is running slow, their patrons are not getting their notices, or reports have failed to run.
• Database optimization to reduce latency
• Glitches and freezes in Evergreen
• Issues dealing with slowness and performance
• Less freezes
• Less glitches
• Less service disruption (seem to be a lot of days that reports and/or notifications for patrons are held up or just don't happen). even if this means bigger servers and a higher cost per library, I think a lot of us would be willing to pay more for more consistency.
• Maintaining system integrity
• No freezes
• Only one -- Better server performance -- more speed and reliability.
• Speed in which Evergreen/Cardinal works (searching opac, checking in/out, etc).
• Speed of application
• Speed of use.
• Speed
• System lags.
• We shouldn't have lag issues
• Work out the bugs, server space, speed
• Would love to have the database speed to increase (quicker clicks etc)
• Loading the catalog and patron accounts can be slow because of the servers.
• Stabilize Evergreen performance, when it was it's own app and not browser based it ran much better. 

Our Response:

This is a topic we’re always working to improve. We’ve worked with Mobius over the years to monitor the performance and automatically restart servers that are getting bogged down, and to dynamically add additional servers when we’re seeing heavy traffic. It is always a moving target. We’ve recently reconfigured some of our “utility” servers that run processes in the background due to issues we were having with patron notices and reports. We appreciate the tickets and posts on the Basecamp Incidents list to let us know when you're seeing issues so we can address them promptly.  

OPAC

CIRCULATION HISTORY

Several comments requested the ability for staff to see patron circulation history, or to have circulation history automatically turned on in patron accounts. Individual comments are listed below:

• Ability to let patrons know what books they have previously checked out.
• available patron circ history
• being able to see a list of books previously checked out
• check out history of a patron
• I would like for the improvement to be made if patrons ask library staff if they have read a certain book, for the staff to be able to look in their account without having to ask the patrons to log into their accounts to check.
• It would be helpful if there was an option to save patron history. This is something that is asked often and not available.
• patron book history
• Patron's have asked often if we could have a history list of books they have checked out. So they don't repeat a book or series.
• Providing a way for patrons to look up their reading history,
• following patron's records throughout transactions in Evergreen
• Able to access patron history on staff side

Our Response:

We can understand how this would be useful. Evergreen developers made an intentional design decision to let patrons choose to opt-in to history tracking via the My Account section of the OPAC, so that patrons know about and manage the information available about their activity.

SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY & CATALOG

Several respondents asked for specific customizations to the search interface:

• Improvements to OPAC for patrons still get complaints about search results daily. The OPAC should be helpful for patrons when using, not confusing. NO ONE uses the OPAC to search for electronic resources including them by default in search results is counter productive and requires significant scrolling for patrons simply looking to see if a print title is owned by the library and available. I'd exclude them by default.
• Changing the way searching looks to patrons in the OPAC, the Basic search is useless to most patrons who walk up to that screen; some form of the Advanced search is much more user friendly, even to the non-techy patron.
• Exclude online resources should be a sticky key
• Alphabetize the search results

Our Response:

With the variety of suggestions about how staff members would like their search functionality to work, in general, more ability to configure and customize your preferences for search results and display is needed. So, for instance, choosing how to sort or group the results, what they exclude by default, etc. We’ve added a LaunchPad wishlist request for the ability to customize search results.

Additional comments focused specifically on how electronic materials are included in search results:

• For catalog results: put electronic materials at the bottom of the search, not the top.
• Place electronic resources last
• Make the default results list sort with the regular print book first, the LP print book second, the BCD version third and the electronic versions at the very bottom of the results. This would make it much easier for casual users to see the most popular format first and would eliminate the need for the "Exclude electronic resources" check box. Users of electronic resources are using their app, not the PAC to search. Alternatively, make the check box “Show electronic resources” and exclude them from searching by default. ONLY if patrons want to see electronic resources, they could then check that box.

We’ve added a LaunchPad wishlist request for sorting results by format type.

There were a variety of suggestions involving how item information is displayed in search results:

• If an item is located on a library's Bookmobile, maybe Bookmobile could be highlighted, bolded or italicized since the eye is scanning only for the first word in the "Library" column within the "Library/Shelving location/ Call number/Status information block. Same goes for the word New under Shelving location where it is very easy to miss!
• Eliminate the "Show more details" option from the menu/filter bar. This would eliminate confusion for users who don't know a call number from an ISBN and allow for a more compact and coherent display (which I will address in entry #. And besides, this "more details" information is available when the title record is selected and very rarely relevant in a results list.
• By eliminating the space where "more details" would display and slightly decreasing the size of the Library/Shelving location/Call number/Status block, this information block could be nestled to the right of the format icon and directly below the Title/Author/Copies/Call information so that everything relevant is grouped closely together and is all clearly related to the same item. This is especially important on smaller screens where the Library/Shelving location/Call number/Status block cannot be seen without scrolling down which the novice user does not know to do.

We’ve made this change and will be rolling it out soon. 

• Please add book series name/number (490) to book information that displays in staff view and patron view when performing a book search.
• Wouldn't it be lovely if locating series and readers advisory information did not require clicking on the title link and then scrolling down, down, down to the bottom of the page but could instead be accessed from links on the results list directly below and identical to the "Place Hold" box, one for "Similar Titles" and one for "Series Info." And what if the "Series Info" link only showed up for fiction?

We’ve added series information to the quick summary display and are rolling it out soon. By reader advisory information, you mean Novelist content that’s currently in the “Awards, Reviews, & Suggested Reads” section? That content varies according to what various Cardinal libraries subscribe to. What if we have a link up high on the record that expands that section and jumps the view down to that area?

It is impossible to view the entire line in the catalog filters (look at the filter "Adult Foreign Language"--you cannot see which languages and therefore cannot select a filter)

We’re looking into how to fix this issue. It looks like after about 25 characters the shelving location names are hidden. 

In the patron search screen (F4), we often have to switch back and forth from searching our local library to searching Cardinal. The highlighting to type over text function works half of the time when switching from Cardinal to Transylvania. It would be nice if it worked more smoothly, assuming that is something you can control. Thanks!

We will investigate whether we can highlight the entire text in the field when you click on it, rather than having to use your mouse to select the text.

In addition to the specific issues listed above, several comments requested improved accuracy and a more user-friendly experience in the catalog interface:

• Better search engines
• Better searching
• Catalog search sometimes lacks
• Make improvements to search algorithms!!!
• Overall tweak of search for the better
• Accuracy of search results in catalog
• Please make the catalog easier to navigate.
• Searching for titles is still not consistent
• The catalog is so faulty for subject or keyword searches that it is functionally useless, and becomes more so when any kind of filter is applied. Ex. A search for children's non-fiction will bring up adult fiction titles and exclude relevant JNF titles. It is difficult for staff to find items for patrons and nearly impossible for patrons to use successfully on their own.
• Continue streamlining our services to match what patrons are using outside the library with search engines.
• I would also like to see a more streamlined OPAC.
• Improve OPAC usability for patrons.
• Make the catalog easier to search. The catalog needs to be more user friendly.
• The patron catalog interface could be more user-friendly in general.
• Make Patron Catalog more user friendly
• Easier and more effective searches on the Patron side
• More catalog search criteria
• I would like to see a more specific search. If I enter an author or title, I would like to just see that information.
• Making Catalog searching more user friendly for staff (the layout of the search query fields is just all wrong).
• Improving the staff catalog client. The UI for the staff catalog client is significantly less usable than the OPAC, and I very often find myself just using the public-facing version when helping patrons.

Our Response:

We agree! Search and the discoverability of content in the catalog is the heart of what we need Evergreen to do well. The community continues to try to improve the tools we have now as well as looking at entirely new tools like Elasticsearch (https://www.elastic.co/what-is/elasticsearch) We will continue to advocate for improvements.  

 Many respondents commented on their preference for the traditional catalog interface:

• I really hate the new catalog interface -- so I'm grateful you still have the traditional catalog search available. Please, please, please don't take that away!
• Bring back the traditional look up for items
• I like the traditional method for searching the catalog way better than the new method. I find the new method for searching the catalog to be super confusing.
• Get rid of the patron view feature in the catalog and take it back to the way it was before.
• I also miss the NC Cardinal/local system toggle feature in search results.

Our response:

Given the nature of ever-changing development and change of software, the traditional catalog isn’t likely to be with us for a whole lot longer. We’d welcome your suggestions on how we can continue to improve the catalog and fix things that aren’t working to your satisfaction.

Comment:

• Put the search results features of the old staff catalog into the new staff catalog - it's missing so many things that were useful in the search results.

Our response:

Are there specific things we can put in wishlist requests for?

SMART SEARCH

A number of survey respondents expressed interest in developing a "smart search" feature that can autocomplete or understand mis-spellings and typos. These comments are listed below:

• Autocomplete predictions
• Compensate for misspelling/mistakes in searching (even a misplaced punctuation mark will negate a search).
• I honestly find the "traditional" catalog searching to be more helpful in actually finding items, if we can't get "Amazon" quality searching that offers options for spelling errors, I would like to have the traditional way of searching be the regular way.
• I would like to see NC Cardinal become more intuitive in terms of searches. For instance, if someone searches for a title but misspells a word, a "did you mean ...?" would be helpful.
• Implement smart searching (or better smart searching) to account for typos
• Less picky search engine: more intuitive - like Google search (search: norah raberts > "did you mean Nora Roberts?") and ignore articles ("a", "an", and "the"), and with matching materials outside the search locale listed at the bottom - like craigslist ("more from nearby areas" instead of just saying "No matching items found").
• More forgiveness in search terms when using the catalog - the ability to bring up items which are similar
• More forgiving catalog not to have to get the title perfect for it to pull up the item.
• Perhaps a little more forgiveness in search with spelling
• Search could be improved so that punctuation like dashes or apostrophes don't influence results
• Searching the catalog (doesn't have to have perfect spelling, spacing, etc. to pull up results),
• Searching with age preferences for juvenile books
• The search feature for both patrons and circulation material could be improved to include items/patron names that may have been misspelled, much like a suggestion feature you see on a browser search engine.
• I wish the system was less sensitive when it comes to looking up titles and authors.
• A google-type approach when searching for items in the catalog. Sometimes I don't realize I accidentally misspelled something until after I've told the patron we don't have that title in the system.
• I wish the exact spelling was not an issue when catalog searching
• In searching catalog not having to have an exact spelling to produce needed results
• When looking up a title or author, the system does not recognize if you have misspelled or shorten the title or name. It would help if we had a better search option.

Our response:

A more efficient Smart search functionality that offers suggested search terms is expected in our upcoming upgrade and we hope to test this out. Previous versions slowed down the system, so we decided to not turn them on because they negatively impacted the search times. 

STAFF SIDE CATALOG

Several comments were specific to the catalog and search interface in the staff client:

• Fix card catalog so that ALL available copies show on one screen
• Easier access to "Available Copy" info on the staff side

Our Response:

Do you mean for instance when you’re looking at the Item Table tab, being able to filter out items of specific statuses so you can see only things that are available?

Comment

• Fix potential error with "Group Formats / Editions" when I check this box and search for a specific title, the results have often NOT included the book I searched for at all, but will include completely different titles that only contain similar words like "the".

Our response:

We need to investigate this more. We found a variety of bug reports related to "Group Formats / Editions" but not sure that any related to this specifically. We would appreciate it if you could send us screenshots to help@nccardinalsupport.org of any instances like this you find so that we can investigate exactly what is going on behind the scenes. 

Comment:

• It would also be helpful in finding available items if the series/season/volume number of DVDs were listed alongside the title of an item.

Our response:

Do you mean in the initial list of search results? Is this something you’d like in the staff search or the public search?

Comment:

• When searching the catalog, I frequently have to switch to the patron view to get the summary, subject headings, and other record details. Can this be seen on the staff side, too.

Our response:

Are you referring to the content in the “Awards, Reviews, & Suggested Reads” section of the public record? There’s some information in the “Record details” section of the public display. Are there other fields from the MARC content we should add?

Comment:

• Items from other libraries that are age protected should be more clearly marked on the search page.

Our response:

We’ve talked recently with Mobius about removing the Age Hold Protection label after the six months has passed so that it doesn’t confuse users and draws more attention to the status when it is relevant.

Comment:

• It would be nice for shelf browse to have an option to look at just call number, author, title all in a line instead of having the big picture and so much blank space

Our response:

We found a current Launchpad wishlist item for this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1424690.

Many respondents commented on an issue with how the search interface excludes electronic resources:

• Improving the search parameters when selecting "No Electronic Resources" (it still shows a ton of electronic resources)
• In Catalog Search when excluding electronic is designated that it actually does that
• Include a way to filter out electronic items from http://digital.ncdcr.gov. Checking "Exclude Electronic Resources" does *not* exclude these items from searches, nor does searching by "All Books" as the format.
• When you click "exclude electronic resources" it would remove all electronic resources from the list
• After selecting "Exclude Electronic Resources", electronic resources are not excluded.

Our response:

We’ve discovered that there are some things we can do to improve the "exclude electronic resources" and are working with the Cataloging Committee to update the criteria of what is excluded.  

The following comments are about the way the search interface scopes by library:

• Sometimes it will not put branches within our system first when searching all of Cardinal.
• I would like a way for each branch to be able to search within the system, but with the local branch at the top. As a librarian at the Swannanoa branch, often the system will not show that we have a copy of something on the original search and sometimes people won't go into the record to discover it. Each branch should be able to find their own collection on the top, even when searching beyond.

Our response:

To help us troubleshoot this, it would be helpful to know what you have listed in your “Default Search Library” and “Preferred Library” fields when you go to the Administration and then Workstation menu in Evergreen. We suggest setting your library system as your “Preferred Library” If you’re a cataloger, we usually suggest Cardinal as your “Default Search Library” but you also can use your library system.

Comment:

• Often I search for a specific title or author, but will see results that don't include the words in said title / author I entered in, leading me to believe "keywords" may be used despite filtering by title and/or author.

Response:

It could be that there are other matches in the authority records of those results for the search term you entered. We’d welcome screenshots of such instances so we can investigate what’s going on.  

Comment:

• Increase ease of filtering during searches e.g. non-fiction, fiction, juvenile, adult, etc.

Response:

Do you mean for instance having a search facet on the left hand side of the search results that lists audience or literary form (the 008 LitF field) options so that you could limit your results by those values, rather than having to select it in the Advanced Search fields? The content in 650 subfield v might be a place we could build these kinds of selections from in addition to the 008 LitF.

Comment:

• When performing a search, allow for multiple audiences and shelving locations to be selected.

Response:

If you click on one shelving location or audience in the list, and then hold down the Ctrl key and click on another shelving location or audience in the list, you’re able to select more than one at a time.

Comment:

• Title would be best as the first option on catalog search.

Response:

Title is a more efficient search for the database and more precise, but when we suggested changing that over to the default the majority of the feedback we heard is that it may cause confusion for users who benefit from the fuzziness of the keyword search.

Staff Interface

GENERAL

Several survey respondents expressed streamlining the interface:

• General simplification
• Making the site more user friendly and making access to information easier to find.
• Streamlining Evergreen and improving performance.
• Easier to see patron view
• UI - feels bland
• Ease of usability for library staff and patrons
• Streamline the entire system so it is less cumbersome to use.
• Easier way to maneuver/use Cardinal
• For us to have easier to use and not so many steps to do one thing and even down to having to print a receipt for the patrons too many steps to do in all aspects of Cardinal.
• Reduce the number of "clicks" to perform a task (i.e. to get to the details of on item in the catalog, you must click to the patron view, click the "Show details" button...; to change anything in Item Status you must click twice to bring up the drop down list, then click "Apply" then click "Save"

Our response:

This is something we’re always advocating for in the development of the Evergreen software. As daily users, we welcome suggestions you have as you use the software on how it can be improved.

List all column managements preferences in Alpha order.

We’ve added a Launchpad wishlist request for alphabetizing the column management preferences.

BASKETS & LISTS

There were several requests for changes to the way baskets are displayed:

• Ability to change visible fields in item baskets so that we can print the list and have call numbers show.
• This one is huge for me...The basket is a useful tool when working with patrons but we have to go back to the records to get the shelving information. The current printout from the Basket does not provide what we need. We need: Title, Author, Shelving Location, Call # but instead it gives bib ID, ISBN, publisher and language info. It is the same scenario for the baskets in the OPAC.
• When printing information that's been added to a basket, please add call number to the information that prints.
• Please create better resources for creating item lists within Evergreen. The public Lists function does not offer a lot of options for the way data is displayed, which makes it only *almost* useful for reader's advisory.

Our response:

These suggestions seem to be echoed by the larger Evergreen community. There are a few open requests relevant to baskets, such as  https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1833565 https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1749475 and https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1899408 

The following requests are related to placing holds from baskets or buckets:

• To be able to place multiple copies of a book on hold at the same time (with one click), like for a book club.
• Improvements to the basket function in the Cardinal catalog (ability to place holds for patrons using the basket function)

Our Response:

We’re not sure if you mean 1.) Having a bucket of items and placing a hold for multiple patrons for those items or 2) Having a bucket of items and placing a hold for all of those items for a single patron in one process. #1 is possible using a feature called Hold Groups which may be useful for book clubs or popular authors: https://docs.evergreen-ils.org/eg/docs/latest/circulation/basic_holds.html#hold_groups #2 is possible by selecting the checkboxes next to the items in the search results, which adds them to the basket, and then going to the Basket Actions dropdown and choosing Place Hold 

BOOKING MODULE

The following comments requested improvements to the Booking Module:

• Better room reservation tool that will not allow you to double book and is less clunky
• Improvements to the booking module so it can be better used for room reservations
• Reservation system reboot

Our Response:

The bookings Module has seen a variety of improvements in the last few years, but is still actively in development. Click here for a list of the current open bugs and wishlist items.

CATALOGING INTERFACE

Comment:

• For cataloging, the latest "upgrade" (for adding holdings) has made the work very tedious. As a cataloger, I apparently don't have permission to do some things (deleting some items) without tying myself into knots (like marking them missing before being able to delete them).

Our response:

I’m not sure if this is the limitation you’re hitting, but Evergreen has some protected statuses where items are in an open transaction status (like checked out or in transit) that are prevented from being deleted before that transaction is resolved. Details on this can be found here: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=80

Some comments focused on the number of clicks needed to perform cataloging tasks:

• Simpler design (ie, the last catalog update created additional clicks on the staff side that slowed down the flow of quickly checking an item's status)
• Make it easier (less clicks) to get to an items status to edit it

Our response:

We typically recommend hitting the F5 button to get the Item Status screen and then scanning the barcode. From there the Action Menu allows you to choose Edit Items if that’s your goal. You may also find that displaying additional columns on your Item Status screen helps to show you the information you need? It may be helpful to see a screenshot or description of your process to understand what you mean.

Comment:

• Find a better way to add book covers.

Our response:

Has the recent ability to upload covers helped, rather than relying on Open Library? Are there parts of it that are challenging or need redesign?

Comment:

• Cataloging works well so please don't change the interface or functions unless its absolutely necessary :)

Our response:

Its challenging because the Evergreen software is always changing and sometimes the changes don’t work great at first or take time to adjust to. 

Comment:

• Simpler way to make spine labels

Our response:

We’d be interested to hear more about the aspects of printing spine labels that are challenging. 

Comment:

• The weakest area: the serials modules.

Our response:

We’d agree that it hasn’t seen the same level of development as for instance the Acquisitions Module is currently getting but we've heard from the Evergreen community that once the Acquisitions Module gets some attention upgrading the Serials Module is on the horizon.

CIRCULATION INTERFACE

Several comments requested keyboard shortcuts for circ functions:

• Add keyboard shortcuts into the circulation functions
• An F-key to end a session and prompt the receipt or email.
• Don't know if this can be done without the larger Evergreen community, but it would be nice to have an "F-Key" option to end a check-out session and send/print their receipt.

Our response:

We’ve added a Launchpad wishlist request for this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/2027721.

Comment:

• Getting everyone set up with uniform labels so our check-in pads can be used for all check-in

Response:

Do you mean the barcode formatting (Codabar vs. Code39) or RFIDs?

Comment:

• In the items status of a book it would be helpful to have how many times a book has checked out for weeding purposes.

Response:

In the Detail View of Item Status this is visible in the field Total Circs. We added a LaunchPad wishlist request to make this an option to display in the List View: https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/2027805 It looks like this will be available in our next upgrade.

Comment:

• Please add publication date to check-in.

Response:

We’ve added a Launchpad wishlist request for this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/2027806.

Comment:

• Making offline circulation easier to navigate

Response:

We’d welcome more details on suggestions you have for making it easier to work with.

Comment:

• On the Circulation check-in screen under actions. There is no action for Mark Item in Repair. There is an option for mark Item as Damaged. We use Repair a lot more. It would be helpful to have that option instead of having to change TABS to make some extra selections on each item such as Edit Item---- then mark Item in repair.

Response:

We found a LaunchPad request for this same functionality: https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1862982.

Comment:

• It would be great if there were a notification pop-up for holds for your location.

Response:

Do you mean receiving some kind of notification at the circ desk when an item at your location is placed on hold instead of having to check the Holds Pull List?

HOLD FUNCTIONALITY AND INTERFACE

The following comments addressed age-hold protection:

• Ability to place hold on age-protected materials that can hang out until the 6 months has elapsed and then be automatically moved to the Pulls list.
• The way that holds are filled on new items

Our Response:

I asked the Evergreen community about this and was told that even when you see the ITEM_AGE_PROTECTED message, the hold will be recorded but just won’t be able to be filled until one of the potential items rolls off of age hold protection. If you see ITEM_AGE_PROTECTED as a staff member, you should be able to override that error message.

Several comments asked for changes to the way hold queues are managed:

• Clarify queue status especially on 6 month hold items.
• Make it easier to show what place in line a hold is without having to go in individually and click a box each time you want to know.
• Checking reserve queques is sometimes confusing (meaning parton can be listed as #3 but then suddenly #4 will get it instead).

Our Response:

The way Evergreen handles holds, there is not a strict queue. The order that users place their holds is generally the order the holds targeter tries to fill them but there is a process called opportunistic holds whereby if a user returns an item to a branch, Evergreen checks to see if there are any holds for that title at that branch before sending the copy down to road to fill another hold. Also, if a copy is targeted at a branch and that library doesn’t pull their holds in timely manner, Evergreen will look for another copy to target, shuffling that user’s place in line. 

The following comments address the process of cancelling holds:

• I would like an easier way to cancel holds. There seem to be a lot of steps.
• Make canceling holds easier 

Our response:

We’re open to suggestions on how to make it more efficient. Do you find the process from the bib record or the patron account more cumbersome?

Comment:

• Easier to go from seeing if one branch has an item to all systems when placing a hold.

Response:

In the staff search? Have you tried rerunning your search with the “Results from All Libraries” checkbox checked? We’d be interested to learn more about what you mean. A screenshot might be helpful.

Comment:

• Make it possible to place holds from the item status screen.

Response:

Have you tried the Request Items from the Action Menu in the Item Status screen? Any suggestions on how it can be improved?

Several respondents had comments about eh hold pull list:

• Also the Holds Pull List function is unreliable at best.
• Better sorting of hold lists.
• The pull holds list does not sort in any helpful fashion. It mixes juvenile and adult book types, e.g.
• The format for pulling the holds list varies based on which circ desk computer we are using. I would like to have that standardized with larger font and consistent format.

Our response:

We now have the ability to create a custom Print Template for your Holds List. https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=823 If you reach out at help@nccardinalsupport.org, we can set one up for your branch or your system.

Comment:

• I have one patron that reads A LOT, and wish there was a way to increase the number of holds, (like 30) that I can place for her at once.

Response:

Libraries can have varying policies for their users to be able to request more items from their collections, but thus far we’ve settled on a limit of 25 concurrent holds for resource sharing items in an effort to balance demand on outside libraries.

Comment:

• I would like it if there was an option to use the traditional method to place holds for patrons. I don't like it at all that the only way you can place holds is by using the new method. Everything else about Evergreen I like.

Response:

We expect the Traditional Catalog to eventually go away, so we’d welcome suggestions on specific aspects of the traditional hold process that you like, or ways the current hold placing interface could be improved.

Comment:

• I wish there was a way to filter out long overdue/missing/claims returned items out of the staff client side on the record summary page. It's difficult to quickly determine which locations have valid items from some of the more "high rate of non-return items" titles.

Response:

When you check the Limit To Available at the top of the staff search interface, what kinds of materials is it showing that you’d like to exclude? We’re happy to submit a Launchpad wishlist request if we can pin down the specifics of what we need to ask.

Comment:

• Make the Holds process more intuitive.

Response:

We’re open to suggestions on ways that we can improve the process.

Comment:

• Remove audiobooks from Group Item Formats. Most people who READ don't mind paperback, LP, or regular print, but will outright refuse an audiobook. Those who LISTEN to audiobooks will outright refuse any print material. Often these requests are a needs-based request, ie: They are unable to read (either due to eyesight, inability, disability, or activity - like driving) or don't have a readily available disc player or it's dangerous (fall asleep while listening) and any other format is a ridiculous request (from the patron's POV). Perhaps form 2 Group Item Formats: One for print materials: paperback, LP, regular print; and one for auditory: Audio, MP3, playaway.

Response:

So, something like “group print” versus “group electronic” or “group audio”? The Group Item Formats seems to be a developing idea for placing holds on a broad range of potential candidates and as I understand it the ability to distinguish which formats are acceptable on the hold screen is where the developers give you the option to exclude formats from your hold.

PATRON ACCOUNTS

Several respondents commented on difficulties saving patron information when creating new accounts:

• Be able to edit/update an expired patron account and have that information save. (You have to input things in a certain order or it doesn't save any information edited.)
• Editing patron accounts (sometimes SAVE doesn't save, and requires staff to re-enter information).
• Updating library card accounts: when updating cards I often don't have the ability to save the new data when I get to the bottom of the page. At this point I get a message at the top of the page and have to hit okay, in which case I lose all of the newly entered information and have to start over. I have learned to scroll to the bottom of the page to see if the non-save indication is there, but sometimes I forget as this is a hit or miss situation. I wish this issue could be rectified or explained.

Our response:

We’d like to learn more about this. We’d appreciate any screenshots you can send us to help@nccardinalsupport.org so we can investigate.

The following comments address difficulties using the patron registration form:

• Making library cards easier
• Have a way to collapse all but the required fields for patron registration. A simpler, more minimal UI would make this process quicker and more efficient. Thanks.

Our response:

It looks like this is what the “Required Fields” link was intended to be, but when you click on that it doesn’t remove all the fields that aren’t required. We’re looking into whether this is something we can fix locally, or if this is a bug in Evergreen we can request a fix for. 

Comment:

• Deletions of out of date (deceased) patrons

Our response:

We’re happy to assist you with accomplishing this if you reach out at help@nccardinalsupport.org. On a smaller scale it is possible through patron buckets, but if you’re wanting to do it at a larger scale we can assist. 

Comment:

• Easier to see family groups

Our response:

Is there a place on the patron record that would be better to have it displayed? Somewhere over on the left side?

Comment:

• Make the active or inactive check box MORE PROMINENT

Our response:

We’ve added a LaunchPad wishslist request for this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/2027821.

Comment:

• Pending Patron timeframe extended (2 weeks instead of 1 week).

Our response:

Our current policy was based on not wanting patron information to linger around too long. This is configurable per library system, so send us a message at help@nccardinalsupport.org and we can update it for your system. 

Comment:

• Adding Photos To Accounts.

Our response:

We were unable to find such a request in LaunchPad. We’ve asked the Evergreen community whether this was an intentional design decision for patron privacy concerns, or just never considered yet.

Comment:

• Enhancements to the Notes screen. Would like to see the entire note by clicking on the field and bringing up the whole text rather than hover over the note in order to see the text.

Our response:

We’ve found that there is a current wishlist request for this https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1979086.

Comment:

• Billing on patron accounts could be improved.

Our response:

We’d be interested to hear more details on ideas to make it better.

Training

AUDIENCE

The following comments requested more training for everyone:

• Better user training
• More training, outreach, and resource information for part-time staff.
• I would love for there to be an easier way for newer members to find training information that's more on demand, rather than having to wait for trainings to come around.

Our Response:

We will continue to expand our training in the coming year, including live trainings as well as increasing the amount of material in the Niche Academy and video content on our YouTube channel.

Comment:

• Training administrative staff on running reports and scheduling regular reports.

Response:

We will continue to expand our online training sessions in the coming year and will work on including a session specific to reports.

CONTENT

The following comments requested more frequent training:

• More training.
• Offering regular training opportunities on community interest.
• Offering regular training opportunities on problem issues.
• Offer in-person trainings for circulation, cataloging (too many are not following best practices as outlined in the Knowledge Book - This becomes frustrating for those of us who are), acquisitions, and local system administration.

Our Response:

We will be providing regional in-person training in the upcoming year. Keep an eye out for scheduling information for your region. You will also have the opportunity to share requests for training content.

Several respondents requested training in offline mode:

• I would like to know more about using the system in offline mode when needed.
• Training on off-line use.
• Work on more training for staff people on things like offline system.

Our response:

We will continue to expand our online training sessions in the coming year, and will work on including sessions on offline mode.

Several respondents requested training in reports:

• More in depth training on how to create the reports.
• Further education on using Simple Reports (hands-on or video are best for me).
• I would appreciate in-person training geared toward reports and cataloging.
• More training opportunities, particularly with reports.
• I'd like to see some training on using the reports features. 

Our response:

We will continue to expand our online training sessions in the coming year, and will work on including report-specific sessions. For Simple Reports, a good place to start is with the Simple Reporter training exercises: https://my.nicheacademy.com/nccardinal/course/57109 

The following comments are requests for training in search the catalog:

• More online catalog training.
• Training on catalog searching

Our response:

We will work on developing new training materials on effective catalog searching.

The following comments requested more training on the process of cataloging:

• Updated/more comprehensive Cataloging Training.
• More specialized training about best practices cataloging regarding tricky topics like race and gender especially with our subject headings being officially limited to LOC.

Our response:

We will work on providing some catalog training sessions in the coming year and will begin the process of developing a cataloging boot camp with expert catalogers.

Comment:

• More resource sharing training and accountability to easily activate that for them would be nice. Not really a "top three," just throwing it out there :)

Response:

We can work on developing training materials for resource sharing in the upcoming year.

DELIVERY METHODS

Several respondents wanted more online training, both live and pre-corded or self-paced:

• Also, maybe offering more online training sessions which are easier for folks to attend and let folks ask questions.
• More videos or self-paced trainings.
• Tutorials.
• Updated webinars as well.

Our response:

We will continue to expand our online, live training sessions in the coming year, as well as add new materials to our Niche Academy and new videos to our YouTube channel. If you have a specific training need, please contact Samantha O'Connor at samantha.oconnor@dncr.nc.gov

Comment:

• Fewer training videos and more documentation. But that's probably just me and my personal learning style. I'll never watch a YouTube video to fix my lawnmower; always prefer written instructions/documentation. With videos, it is much more difficult to extract the needed information than it is with written instructions/documentation because you have to waste so much time watching or cuing through a video attempting to find the information you need.

Response:

Documentation is available in our Knowledge Books, at https://nccardinalsupport.org/ If there is a specific topic or process not covered in the Knowledge Books, please contact Samantha O'Connor at samantha.oconnor@dncr.nc.gov about having it added.

The following comments requested in-person training:

• More in-person training.
• Provide face to face training every 12 to 18 months
• Hands on training as opposed to video training. 

Our response:

We will be providing regional in-person trainings in the upcoming year. Keep an eye out for scheduling information for your region. You will also have the opportunity to share requests for training content. 

Communications

CARDINAL

The following comments are related to committees:

• Better communication between volunteer groups and interested volunteers.
• More communication coming out of the committees to keep us all up-to-date on their projects. I'll note that I'm not a cataloger, so I can't speak to how well the Cataloging Committee gets their work communicated, which I suspect they probably do pretty well. Very rarely do I hear of what the UX or Governance Committee is doing.

Our response:

Discussions are underway within the committees and on the Cardinal team to determine how to better broadcast committee updates with the wider Cardinal audience

The following comments all relate to communication from the Cardinal team to library staff, or communication between staff at different member libraries:

• Clearer communication on known bugs
• Communication
• Communication
• Keeping libraries up to date in regards to changes such as new libraries or upgrade info.
• There needs to be more communication between the NC Cardinal team and the branches as to which projects are going on and what is
• Communication, We have none!
• More in-person or zoom meetings instead of mostly listserv conversations.
• Community forum instead of email threads, that staff can access if interested in participating/responding on the topic.
• More meetings for people who catalog, manage resource sharing, and the circulation managers.
• Communication between libraries

Our response:

We rely heavily on Basecamp to get the word out, so if you’re not on the General Discussion list there, that’s the first place to start. Other than that, communication is something we need to keep working on. I like the idea of having regularly scheduled meetings for specific interest groups like cataloging, circulation or resource sharing.  

BASECAMP

The following respondents commented on the volume of communication on Basecamp:

• Reduce irrelevant conversation on Basecamp. The number of emails I receive from Basecamp can be too much sometimes.
• Streamline Basecamp communication (not respond to all all the time)
• Sometimes notifications can be overwhelming in Basecamp because of the amount of responses

Our Response:

This past year, everyone on the Cardinal team added (NCC) to our names, so that if you’d like to be able to filter the messages from other users from the messages posted by the Cardinal team, you have a way to tell the difference. You’d need to set up filters in your mail client though to treat these messages differently or put them in a different mailbox.  

Another comment about content on Basecamp:

• Better communication and not just on Basecamp where it seems to be a place for people to complain about issues. Those issues could be dealt with by contacting the library with the issues and working on a solution instead of a steady stream of complaints on Basecamp that never solves the issues. It is helpful to know what other libraries have encountered as far as resource sharing goes. However, if that issue is with another library then there should be communication with the individuals involved.

Our response:

Yes, we try to keep it positive, informative and supportive. Often times we’ll reach out on the side and encourage direct communication or act as a diplomat when issues arise. But it's true, we are a community of users and there are frustrations at times if people are working cross-purpose or make mistakes. We try to encourage folks to communicate directly and in good faith when issues come up.   

Documentation

The following comments all refer to the Knowledge Books:

• A more navigable help site.
• Continue improving information in the Knowledge Book to keep all staff current on best practices but not so much information that feel overwhelmed. There is so much "meat" to digest.
• Fuller knowledge book that incorporates links to best practices documents (many children's and YA materials cataloging processes seem to be guessing and trial and error);
• I also would like a comprehensive list of shortcuts added to the knowledge books; this would be very helpful for both current staff and for training new staff.
• Make evergreen knowledge book little more understandable
• Make the Knowledge Book easier to navigate when looking for something specific.
• Make the Knowledge Book easier to search
• separate instructional site for patrons who need help using the OPAC. Our patrons are not able to understand all the jargon and also don't need access to things library staff do (e.g. acquisitions)
• The KB is still pretty clunky and not very intuitive when you're trying to find something.
• Training Resources/Documentation - needs to be upgraded more frequently
• Better organization in Knowledge Books, easier to find information
• The Knowledge Books are helpful so far as the up-to-date portions of it go, but they don't always demonstrate the full usage of certain modules.
• Improve Knowledge books by adding clear directions and digital content to go along with documents. 

Our response:

We have begun a project to re-format the knowledge books to ensure consistent navigation and formatting, as well as a re-assessment of the current content to identify areas for improved organization and the need for new content.

Comment:

• I would like to see an easy to access list (regularly updated) of member libraries, that's easy to access both on the staff side and client side of Cardinal. This would be helpful for both patrons and staff.

Response:

Generally the Resource Sharing lists in the Knowledge Books are the best place to go for this. We also have a list on the NC Cardinal website.

Cataloging

CATALOG CLEANUP

Comment:

• Remove e-books, that can not be accessed.

Response:

The electronic resource management process we implemented in 2020 allows us to remove electronic resources in batch by providing a file of the resources we’ve lost access to. If you come across something that you don’t have access to, let us know via  ticket so that we can make sure we’re up to date on the deletions or work with you to get a list from your vendor of the materials you no longer have access to.

The following comments all requested work to clean-up and maintain the catalog:

• More focus on pinpointing bibliographic catalog issues as the catalog is starting to get messy again.
• Accountability for poor cataloging and not following consortium cataloging rules. 30% of our time cataloging is spent de-duping and fixing things that other catalogers have done incorrectly. It is frustrating to have a new on-order book, and there are two large print records, and two or three regular print records. If we don't hold people accountable this will continue.
• Hire professional catalogers to go through the catalog and clean it up. Marcive obviously doesn't do it's job nearly as well as a human cataloger and there are a lot of duplicate/incomplete records out there. And not just merging records, but adding summaries, series, audience to the records so they show up better and more complete in a search. It feels like you're adding more libraries than you can handle and the catalog is suffering.

Our response:

I like the idea, though its difficult to increase the size of the Cardinal team. Our model has been a shared catalog with shared responsibilities. One of the things we’re focusing on as a team is how can we find ways to efficiently highlight issues and inconsistencies in the catalog and make it easy for catalogers to review and fix them. We’ve sent out some reports to member libraries like Orphaned Bibs. There’s also the Cataloging Reports that we need to continue promoting and developing: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=870 

The following are all related to the deduplication process:

• Deduplication needs to happen more frequently.
• Deduping as much as practical
• Encouraging merging records when possible
• De-duplication of records.
• Clean up records so there are not so many records for the exact same item.
• Consolidating records for items in the catalog - it's frustrating to find multiple records for the exact item.

Our response:

We did another round of our annual deduplication process this spring and are now trying to find ways to improve the process. Part of this may be identifying records that need attention so that we can ask catalogers to improve them in ways that will make them easier to dedup (like if they’re missing an ISBN or don’t have a format icon.)  

CATALOGING STANDARDS

Many respondents requested updates to cataloging standards, as well as improved oversight of those standards:

• Consistency in cataloging,
• Catalog search is often frustrating and time consuming due to inconsistencies in the way titles and series are listed. Please decide and use one way!
• It is probably time to update the entire cataloging document and it needs to be approved by all catalogers, not just the committee.
• Making sure that all libraries are following the Cardinal guidelines
• Clear guidance from the Cataloging Committee regarding best practices for catalogers.
• There needs to be a very straightforward message sent out restating the do's and don'ts for cataloging in Evergreen. Right now it's the wild west, people are doing whatever they want and it's disheartening to watch people override your hard work with something that isn't correct/proper.
• The Cataloging Committee needs to make a decision and help set a precedent when it comes to issues brought up on Basecamp.
• Greater Consistency in cataloging series; e.g.; some say series 1, some season 1, for same item
• I would like to see cataloging more codified so that any book that is listed in WorldCat as "mystery" (or other major genre) would have that in the descriptors. Sometimes books cataloged by Baker & Taylor do not follow that rule, just choosing the top 4 or 5 in an alphabetized list.
• I would like to see more training for catalogers so that hopefully the records could be more consistent.
• If everyone uses the same template, the results should be uniform and easily compared throughout the Cardinal system.
• More forward thinking by all cataloging members, such as if #h of the 245 has been obsolete for a while, the consortium needs to change with the times.
• There used to be youth age range choices when searching for appropriate materials. I understand that libraries don't care to catalog that way anymore, but it was really helpful when a patron would come in asking for Level 1 easy readers for their kid who loves animals. I would love to be able to more accurately target searches like that (maybe I'm missing some way that exists?)
• Cataloging categories
• Cataloging and subject tags. It is extremely difficult to search for items in Evergreen by subject since subject tags are wildly inconsistent.
• Increase discoverability of specialized member library services (for example, Wilson (not a Cardinal library to my knowledge, but a useful example) has 3d printing available in their maker space) so patrons can find and make use of non-local services if they need them, add to the collection of less recently published ebooks, organize cross-library promotions/events
• It would also be helpful to identify between hardcover and paperback.
• Patrons sometimes specify that they want a hardback edition of an item and it is difficult to find that information. It arrives from another library and is PBK but was not cataloged as such. Being able to check if an item is a trade paperback in Cardinal would be helpful.

Our response:

Best Practices and consistency are also really important to us. The experience of using the catalog and the effectiveness of search results are all based on the quality and consistency of the data we have in the catalog. We are approaching this a few different ways, through an emphasis on training and documentation as well as trying to identify issues that we can highlight for catalogers to fix. Much of our training in the past has been targeted to new systems, but we’re planning on offering more regular courses in the upcoming year on cataloging and circulation tasks for new and existing users.   

Request:

• Access to RDA toolkit and Bidex

Our response:

We subscribed tor access to the RDA toolkit for a few years but stopped the subscription due to low usage.

Reports

We had many comments about the reports interface in general:

• Accuracy of Reports.
• The reports module
• Better report function
• Better tracking of statics
• Easier reports
• More user friendly in the reports area.
• Report functionality
• Reporting instruction and more simplicity
• Reports - The ability to pull reports is an incredibly chaotic chore
• Reports should be made easier
• Reports should be simpler to use.
• Reports! They are very complicated.
• User friendly upgrades to the reports side of evergreen
• Reports More User Friendly
• Easy to use reporting tool(s)
• Improve the statistical reports so we don't have to organize and calculate.
• Easier templates
• Reports that are more easily created, shared

Our response:

This is probably our most frequently suggested training topic. We agree that the traditional reporter is not intuitive and has a steep learning curve. We’ve been pleased to see the development and release of Simple Reports and will continue to provide training on that as well as the traditional Reporter. 

Some responses singled out the availability of templates:

• Increase variety of templates
• I feel it would be helpful if Cardinal created a standard set of templates that meet the needs of the state reports.

Our response:

We generally create templates based on tickets we receive and then share them if we think they’ll be of interest to a broader audience. We’re open to suggestions! A list of currently available templates can be found in the Knowledge Books. 

And one request for a specific template:

• And I would LOVE to see this feature: a mechanism that would email me weekly/monthly with a list of frequently requested titles by my patrons that had to be shipped in from other library systems, so that I could buy those items for my system and reduce the burden on Cardinal resource sharing

Our response:

That sounds like a report we can make! Once we have finalized the template, we will reach out directly with information about setting up your recurrence schedule.

Notices

All comments about notices are below:

• Patron hold notifications need to be more reliable.
• Notification
• Ability to set auto-notifications for staff that are based on action triggers (available local hold request, items "timing out" on hold shelf, etc)

Our response:

We’ve been keeping a close eye on the utility server and making changes to the ways our notices are run to try to address the delays we’ve seen. We realize that notices are time sensitive and an important channel of communication with your patrons. 

Resource Sharing

HOLD TARGETING

All comments regarding the hold targeter functionality are below:

• Assigning holds to libraries within our County/Region FIRST (if the book is simply at another branch within our county more often than not the book is tagged to come from another Cardinal library across the state);
• Optimize hold targeting system,
• Producing an algorithm that will allow a requested item to come from a patron's home library before coming from Timbuktu.
• Pulling books from other libraries with the closest library and libraries who ship more often listed first
• Targeting request from resource sharing closer to the targeted library
• Holds targeted to local area
• To maximize efficiency, holds should be pulled from the locations closest to the branch requesting material, not the branch currently open at the time of the request.
• When placing holds, sometimes the zip code field appears so that the closest library can be chosen, which is VERY convenient, but other times it does not.

Our response:

We are on the cusp of rolling out changes that will begin altering Evergreen’s default mechanism for choosing which copy at another library is chosen to fill a hold. This should speed things up a bit, hopefully reduce costs and make the logic a bit more reasonable to a human. 

POLICIES

Some comments expressed concerns about damaged items:

• Better communication on how to handle damaged books from out of county libraries.
• Changes in loaning libraries accountability to lending library in regards to damaged/lost items.

To provide a response, we need a little more context:

Do you mean the libraries themselves being held accountable when their patrons lose items rather than just the patrons themselves?

Some comments requested shipping policies:

• Provide more concrete guidance on shipping. To save on shipping costs we tend to hold items when there are four or fewer going to a location. Once they have been on the shipping shelf for a week we send them regardless of how many items there are.
• Having Libraries send out items at least once a week.

Our response:

We currently recommend that libraries ship out at least once a week if they don’t have much going to a specific library. Perhaps it is time to review and update our recommendations in the Knowledge Books and publicize them a bit more.

Comment:

• I would like to be able to request from specific libraries for holds as before and not from every library listed

Response:

Do you mean from within your county or regional system, or to be able to pick from a list of potential libraries?

Requests for more frequent status checks:

• Some kind of system to keep items from languishing in "In transit" limbo for weeks at a time - alerts for shipping staff?
• Making sure that all Cardinal libraries know the importance of checking their hold shelf, transit list, etc.

Response:

We’re happy to emphasize this more.

Suggestions for best practices:

• Sometimes other systems keep books beyond their patron's check out period and give it to other patrons they have when our branch's hold should be priority.
• Everyone placing slips in books so slip is visible to read destination without having to open item
• Improving shipping by shippers putting correct shipping labels on packages and excess tape removed before packing boxes
• There are boxes that come in where there is not enough packing to keep the books, DVDs and audios safe during shipping. Other boxes come in that do not have anything over the top of books and those books are in danger of getting cut with the boxcutter when trying to open a package. DVDs and audios are not wrapped with anything extra and are just placed inside the box to rattle around during shipping. There should be some sort of training videos that may keep these matters from happening in the future.

Response:

I think in general we need to do some work this year to emphasize our resource sharing best practices and make sure everyone is operating from the same expectations.

Comment:

• Indicate distance from our library to library in which we are requesting,

Response:

Generally the way holds work is the system is constantly fishing around for available copies and adapting if an item isn’t pulled. So, it can be hard to know how far away something will be coming from at the time of placing the hold. 

Comment:

• I know the answer is no, but it would be WONDERFUL if Cardinal could look at our County's (Moore) holdings first before pulling from the other 4 counties in our Region (SRLS) to satisfy patron holds.

Response:

That’s completely logical. We’ve made a small tweak that should make this happen. We’d be interested to know if you see any change.  

DELIVERY SERVICE

Several respondents wanted to return to UPS:

• It would be great if we could switch to UPS again. FedEx is unreliable and they are not careful with our materials.
• It would be wonderful to have UPS back.
• Return to UPS
• SWITCH BACK TO UPS

Our response:

We’re investigating the possibility of returning to UPS. We’ll let you know more when we know more! 

A couple of comments were related to delivery windows:

• I would like to see Resource Sharing come in before noon so we have time to get the items checked in before 5:00 p.m. or before we close on a Friday at 6:00 p.m.
• Working on FedEx delivering on the same time each day

Our response:

We have some ability to adjust delivery and pickup windows, but it is a range of time rather than a scheduled time. If you reach out to help@nccardinasupport.org we can tell you what your current window is and adjust it if needed.  

TRANSITS

Several respondents requested more detailed transit information:

• In addition, it would be very helpful to know where in the transit process an item may be when it says "in transit". If more information could be provided we would then be able to provide better answers to our patrons. For example, has FedEx picked up the books or have they been received at the branch that does processing for that county.
• It would also be neat if we could somehow get a tracking number when books are shipped so we could give patrons a better idea of how long it would take for their books to arrive.
• Status of Items that are in transit from another library.

Our response:

I like this idea! Some systems keep more detailed tracking by scanning the items in their packages and associating them with a FedEx tracking number. Implementing this broadly might be daunting because of the amount of additional item level scanning needed. There are templates for using Excel or Google Sheets to track more robustly, which you can find on this page: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=357

Policies and Administration

GENERAL

Comment:

• Promoting involvement with the Evergreen community at large

Our response:

This is a favorite topic of Benjamin’s. Its a great way to know what’s happening and to be a part of the design decisions while they’re happening, rather than just when we upgrade. A great place to start is the Evergreen community mailing lists: https://evergreen-ils.org/communicate/mailing-lists/

Comment:

• Adding an Easy Graphic Novel in the catalog

Response:

Do you mean a new shelving location or format icon?

Some comments about growing the consortium:

• It's always nice to add new libraries for patrons' access to more items. I can't really think of anything else.
• Convincing the NC library systems holding out on joining Cardinal to join the "Nest."

Our response:

We’re happy to welcome anyone that is interested.

Comment:

• Removal of legacy fines

Our response:

We’re happy to do this for any library that requests it. Contact us at help@nccardinalsupport.org

Comment:

• It would be great if "home school" was a permission group.

Our response:

If it were to functionally behave differently than a typical Juvenile or Young Adult account, and was broadly supported across the consortium we’d consider it.

Comment:

• Accountability

Our response:

Its a privilege to support your library. We want to be responsive to your needs and accountable for the things we’re responsible for. One of the reasons we started publicly responding to the staff survey is that we wanted to be accountable for the responses that you share with us.  

MULTI-CARD POLICY

There were a few comments specifically about the multi-card policy:

• Consortium-wide decision about multiple cards - yay or nay.
• More streamlined card policies,
• A cohesive system on how to deal with fines/fees for other libraries.

Our response:

This is a topic we’re discussing in the User Experience Committee now. We’d like to make sure we have a clear, consistent and functional policy across Cardinal. 

PERMISSIONS

Comments related to permissions are below:

• Staff permissions for circulation transits, purges, etc.
• More empowerment and training as well as higher permissions and expectations for local system admins. This will require training, communication, and some community building. In my experience, the only time there has been any sense of community among the local system admins was during the Staff Permissions Project which, ironically, stripped away many permissions admins used to have. I realize this is easier said than done and would require a lot of planning, training, etc. But I would certainly be willing to work on such a project. We are an untapped resource, in my opinion. But I recognize that my perspective is limited in comparison with that of the NC Cardinal staff.

Our response:

We’ve begun offering training to administrators and have been bringing SLAMs more into local administration. In general, if library administrators are more empowered, it can ease the workload of the Cardinal team. It does however require training, documentation and shared up to date knowledge so that we’re all working well together. Some things like circ and hold policies function as an integrated system and so we need to administer those centrally with an eye towards making them consistent and cooperative.  

Support

Comment:

• More support for troubleshooting in lower contact positions

Response:

We’re open to ideas on how we can help. We’re planning on having regional in-person training and networking sessions this year, and hope that it will be an opportunity to learn more about ways we can support your needs.  

Praise

• Overall Cardinal is functional and the Tech Team are phenomenal!
• Overall, I think the NC Cardinal team is amazing, very helpful, well-informed, and supportive.
• Cardinal is an incredible resource with a great team leading it!
• Cardinal is fantastic, it is a wonderful resource for our patrons. If someway library staff could see a patron's reading list.
• Every interaction I've had with the NC Cardinal team has been very nice. You all are very competent and fair. Whenever the answer is not prompt, it is very well thought out and answers all questions. Dealing with this many libraries and personalities of people running these libraries can make mediating difficult, but I think you do splendidly.
• "Happy the Marcive update only lasts a few days, instead of 2 weeks.
• Love the map showing member systems. We display this for patrons to get a better understanding of where their materials are coming from."
• I appreciated the email sent out about overlaying records. I find this happens quite often that good records are overlaid. 
• I enjoy being a member of the Cardinal system! It gives a lot more options to our patrons! 
• I have enjoyed working with Cardinal
• I have only been a part of this system for a month, but it has been a smooth process.
• I love our linked libraries project, and want to know more about how we can support member systems in the Consortium who are facing unsupportive administrations - particularly throughout western NC.
• I think the most recent upgrade actually made the system more user friendly for staff and patrons. We are working hard to get our patrons more independent in searches and placing holds. Thanks for the many hours you put in to development. 
• I thoroughly enjoy using Cardinal; it's easy to use, easy to navigate, and it makes my job so much easier.
• Thank you for all you do!
• Thank you for all your hard work! We love NC Cardinal and the ability to give our patrons access to more items. Herding squirrels is always hard, but your team keeps us all going in the same direction year after year!
• Thank you for allowing us to provide annual feedback.
• Thank you for providing the opportunity to respond. 
• Thank you to the Cardinal Team for all you do.
• Thanks for all the work the NC Cardinal team does for our libraries! I appreciate the effort and energy from all of you.
• Thanks for all you do! I know I gripe about the communication thing a lot but overall you guys are fantastic and you all make this a great organization to be a part of. Thank you for that!
• Thanks for all you do! It is greatly appreciated by staff and patrons.
• Thanks for continuing to make things better!
• The Cardinal team is wonderful. They are so very helpful, always!
• The Help Desk assistance is top-notch!
• Very happy
• "You should have asked what NC Cardinal is doing well! I think you've asked that in the past, so maybe you all didn't get as much value from it as I think you might have. But I'll tell you anyway:
• To me, NC Cardinal staff are pretty engaged in Basecamp discussions. This is very helpful to those of us who put questions out to the community because your input usually carries more weight and authority. This is especially true when performance issues are occurring. It gives comfort to staff at member libraries when NC Cardinal staff and sometimes even MOBIUS staff confirm that reported issues are being heard and dealt with. Further, I've always been particularly impressed with Benjamin's hands-on approach to supporting our use and understanding of Evergreen. He regularly chimes in on Basecamp discussions with valuable input. Given the demands he must face as Program Director, I don't know where he finds the time or the bandwidth. 
• Additionally, I've always appreciated your approach to the ticketing system. You all are responsive and helpful. I know that it takes time to explain things to us, but please know that any time you take the time to do that, I'm taking the time to listen and learn so I don't have to ask you again. These explanations serve to further my understanding of the issue I'm writing to you about or the help I'm requesting. Getting explanations in context (that is, learning more about the problem at hand and providing me with the ""why"") is one of the best ways to learn. I do understand that you all are working with folks of all levels of understanding and proficiency with Evergreen, so this is a pretty significant achievement in my opinion. 
• Thanks for all you do. 

Thank you everyone for your kind words, helpful suggestions and thoughtful critique. We strive to provide excellent customer service and a professional service to meet the needs of your library and your patrons.