In order to preserve the integrity of records, and to facilitate the movement of materials across the network, no member may edit or otherwise alter item or patron records belonging to another member. Members are prohibited from overriding or otherwise working around ‘blocks’ and/or limitations imposed by the system (such as circulation periods, renewal eligibility, collecting replacement charges, etc.)
The ONLY exceptions to this policy are as follows:
- Library A sends an electronic or postal notification to a patron registered with Library B and receives notification that the email or postal address is incorrect.
In these instances, Library A may alter Library B’s patron record in the following manner to reflect that the address is incorrect. Library A may (and should) access the patron record and add either “a” for “verify address” or “z” for “verify email” to the PMESSAGE field. In instances where a postal address is found to be undeliverable, the library should add the text “(UND)” to the beginning of the first address line within the patron account in order to flag the address as undeliverable the next time a notice is generated for the account.
Note: (UND) stands for ‘undeliverable’ and must include the parenthesis. Libraries should take care to remove the (UND) from the address field when updating an account with current information.
- An owning library receives payment for a billed Minerva inter-library loan item.
In these instances, the owning library must access the billed patron’s account, select the SYSTEM GENERATED replacement charge for their item on the account (not the manual charge) and collected the amount. The borrowing patron’s library should NEVER change the status of another library’s item.
- In special circumstances concessions to these rules may be made if the borrowing library receives permission from the owning library.
NOTE: This policy does not apply to, nor is it meant to in any way limit, the work done by catalogers across the network in maintaining the integrity of bibliographic records.
