MeLCat Policies

Holdings for these categories of material should not be added to MeLCat:

  1. Materials that are not part of a library's permanent collections, e.g., rental items, interlibrary loan items, and course packs and instructors' personal copies on course reserve.
  2. Materials that are on order, including approval items that have not yet been accepted into the local collection.
  3. Materials being circulated using temporary brief bibliographic records that will be replaced or deleted, e.g., uncataloged items or items being sent to the bindery.
  4. Individual issues of periodicals to which a library subscribes, unless they are special monographic issues.
  5. Community information files.
  6. Equipment, e.g., keys, laptops, projectors.

3.4 Maintenance of bibliographic and holdings information

  1. Bibliographic, holdings and circulation status information
    1. Participating libraries will be responsible for adding their holdings to the MeLCat statewide union catalog before they begin participating in resource sharing.
    2. Circulation status information should be included, if at all possible.
    3. Libraries are also expected to keep their holdings up-to-date.
  2. Updating requirements
    1. Participating libraries are expected to update their holdings in MeLCat regularly and to fix problems with their records that are reported through MeLCat's problem reporting system.
    2. Libraries able to provide circulation status are expected to provide regular updates.
    3. Frequency of updates
      • Libraries with Innovative Interfaces local systems will update in real time.
      • Daily updates of new and changed information are recommended for libraries with local systems that can provide circulation status information.
      • Participating libraries that cannot provide circulation status should do regular updates no less frequently than monthly.
  3. Holdings deletions
    1. Deletions from MeLCat of a participating library's withdrawn holdings should be done as part of the daily update process, if possible.
    2. If daily updates are not possible, participating libraries that can provide a separate file of deleted holdings should do so regularly, but no less frequently than monthly.
    3. Participating libraries that cannot provide a separate file of deleted holdings should work with MeLCat staff to determine the best way to delete withdrawn holdings.
  4. Authority control

Local authority control is highly recommended to provide consistent name, series and subject headings for contributed bibliographic records.

  1. MeLCat-compliant libraries

Libraries that meet these standards will be certified as MeLCat-compliant libraries.

 

 

·  Minimum bibliographic record requirements Records that fall below these requirements will not be loaded into MeLCat. More complete records are always encouraged.

  1. All bibliographic records loaded into MeLCat must have a title field (245 subfield a).
  2. If they have a title field and an ISBN or ISSN, they will be loaded into MeLCat.
  3. If they have no ISBN or ISSN, in addition to the title, the records must have one of the following to be loaded:
    • Author (1xx/7xx) and year of publication (260 subfield c); or
    • Publisher (260 subfield b), year of publication (260 subfield c) and pagination (300 subfield a).
  4. An exception can be made for records representing a special collection. Libraries will follow an application process to waive the minimum record requirements for a special collection. Criteria used to review these requests will include:
    • the value of the collection to patrons,
    • availability of materials for use either on site or via MeLCat request,
    • potential for creation of duplicate records in MeLCat, and
    • the cataloging plans of the library.

·  Bibliographic record loading requirements

  1. For libraries with machine-readable bibliographic and holdings records, seventy-five percent (75%) of a library's cataloged holdings must load successfully for a library to participate in MeLCat.
  2. Until 75% of such a library's cataloged holdings can be loaded, none of its holdings will be displayed in MeLCat.

2.4 NCIP

The NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP) standard (Z39.83) intended to facilitate communication between diverse circulation and interlibrary loan systems. The standard defines the messages corresponding to circulation transactions such as authenticating patrons, checking-out, renewing or checking-in items between disparate remote systems.

Groups of libraries will be regularly scheduled for MeLCat implementation. Libraries implementing MeLCat resource sharing will be required to complete their system profiling, data loading, training and testing before they "go live". This includes deciding which of their patron types are authorized to borrow materials through MeLCat and which of their collections are requestable. If a library cannot complete these steps within the scheduled time, it will be re-scheduled to a future group of MeLCat libraries to be implemented.

6.1 Loan Periods

MeLCat’s standard loan period between libraries allows 31 days for delivery, pickup and use of the item, and its return. The length of loan to patrons is three weeks with one renewal.

MeLCat’s optional loan period between libraries allows 17 days for delivery, pickup and use of the item, and its return. The length of loan to patrons is 7 days with no renewal. Only music audio formats, videos (VHS) and DVDs may use this optional loan rule.

6.2 Renewals

MeLCat items on standard loan may be renewed once for three weeks from the date renewed. Renewals will not be granted until seven days before the due date. Renewals will not be allowed for materials on which holds have been placed by the supplying libraries, for materials using the optional loan period, or for patrons no longer in good standing with their home libraries. Library staff are authorized to renew overdue MeLCat items, at their discretion.

6.3 Overdue Materials and Fines

The borrowing library is responsible for retrieving overdue items from its patrons. Overdue fines are the local decision of the borrowing library. Loans between the supplying library and the borrowing library will be considered overdue when they are 30 days past the due date.

6.4 Claims Returned

The borrowing library is responsible for items its patrons claim to have returned. No updates will be made in MeLCat until the supplying library has been contacted to determine if the item has been received. Claims returned items will be treated as overdue or lost in MeLCat, if the items cannot be located.

7.0 Visiting Patron Reciprocal Borrowing

Visiting patron reciprocal borrowing is a service provided by MeLCat to give patrons of participating libraries the option to get immediate access to the materials they need. Patrons are able to check materials out in person at the supplying libraries instead of waiting for the materials to be delivered to their home libraries for pickup. Their home libraries are still responsible for the borrowed materials until they are returned. This service builds on reciprocal borrowing arrangements already in use among Michigan libraries.

8.1 Borrowing Library Responsibility

The borrowing library is responsible for borrowed material from the time it leaves the supplying library until it has been returned to and received by the supplying library. This includes all material checked out directly to visiting patrons by the supplying libraries.

The borrowing library will be responsible for compensation or replacement of lost or damaged items, in accordance with the preference of the supplying library. The supplying library can bill the borrowing library a replacement amount determined by their local policies.  The supplying library refers patrons who contact them about replacement to their home libraries.  The MeLCat replacement default amount will be $100.01. There will be an explanation on the MeLCat billing notice stating that the actual replacement amount may be higher or lower depending on the supplying library's policies.

If the borrowing libraries are unable to recover the cost of lost items from their patrons, they may submit requests for reimbursement to the Library of Michigan.  Click on this link for the reimbursement  procedure. The State Librarian or his/her designee will determine the amount of reimbursement that can be made on an annual, or more frequent, basis.