• For items returned on time, these transactions will be purged from the patron record within two weeks.
  
• For items not returned when due, the patron information (including item loan history) is retained until the item is returned and all outstanding charges are paid in full.
  

• External (faculty/staff and student) patron accounts are created and maintained by an automated patron load from PeopleSoft SIS, the VCCS system of record.
  
• Upon creation, external accounts are set to expire after 120 135 days. These account expiration dates are extended daily for individuals that remain enrolled/employed at a VCCS institution.
  
• Student External patron accounts are deleted from Alma one year after they expire, unless pending items are attached to their record, such as overdue items or bills.
  

• If any expired external or internal Alma account has Alma roles other than Patron assigned, the Alma staff roles are to be removed from such an account immediately.
  
• To ensure compliance, Faculty and Staff Alma accounts are reviewed at the end of each spring and fall term, and staff roles deleted if the employee is no longer with the college. 
  

(11-06-2018, 05:58 PM)jcarrell Wrote: I ran into a problem with the external accounts expiring at 120 days this semester.  We have a semester-loan laptop program, and the due date for that is always the last day of finals.  I typically check out those laptops before school starts to the students who've been approved into the program.  So, on August 13 or so, I needed the due date to be December 17.  In the spring, I will check them out around January 7 or so with a due date of May 13.  That's over 120 days.  Alma truncates the due date if the expiration date is earlier, so I had to click the "open for update" button on each patron and manually modify their expiration date a few days in advance to allow the end of semester due date.  Can we get a little bit more of a buffer to cover semester-loan policies?  Maybe 130-140 days?

(11-07-2018, 03:31 PM)jdessino Wrote: I see a conflict ...

(11-07-2018, 03:31 PM)jdessino Wrote: how are you planning to determine 'no longer employed?'

• All of the city library staff that work in the Joint Use Library have to be internal patrons in order to be given staff roles in Alma. The Alma record is not updated until they update their VBPL library card. We've already had quite a few staff that couldn't log into Alma because they hadn't yet updated their VBPL card. In that case, we can manually change the expiration date in Alma so they have immediate staff access. If the record were immediately removed, the staff member would have not Alma access until the next day, since the VBPL updates are done overnight.
  
• While not a huge issue, we do have community patrons who update their accounts several months after the card has expired as that is the next time they want to use the library. If their record is gone, we will have to recreate them. That is not only extra work for staff, but it also means that, for community patrons who are former students, we will no longer have the EmplID in the patron record. With Alma we just deactivate the EmplID, but leave it in the record. If the person re-enrolls, the SIS load should match and automatically convert the record back to Student. Deleting them immediately, increases the chance of duplicate records.  
  

• Am I correct that 'regular' faculty and staff (those whose only role is Patron), just follow the same rules as students.  They get deleted one year after expiration as long as they don't have anything attached to their record?
  
• I'm still not clear exactly what the plan is for Faculty and Staff records that have Alma staff roles. Once someone is no longer employed, the record doesn't get updated, but it is still an active record until 135 days after the last time it is loaded. Since, presumably, people with staff roles work in the library, the library staff should know when someone has left. I think the policy should say that the first level of activity is at the college level.  The library should be responsible for immediately deactivating all roles except patron. Should the library also be expected to put in a ticket to have those roles removed?? Then the review is just to catch whoever was missed.
  
• I'm still not sure how the spring and fall review of faculty and staff accounts is going to take place, but I assume that will be Emily's responsibility.  If you are using expiration date combined with patron category, have you considered that many of our library staff become community users once they are no longer employed? They would no longer be listed as faculty or staff and would have a valid future expiration date, but would still have the staff roles if they haven't been removed or deactivated?