Library PatronBorrower File Quality Control

1
Library Patron/Borrower File Quality Control

• A Presentation by
• Jerry Kuntz, Electronic Resources Consultant
• Ramapo Catskill Library System
• for
• New York Library Association Annual Conference
• Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005

2
Borrower Files vs. Bibliographic Files

• Decades of committee work and standards
  development for bibliographic record format and
  authority control
• Little standardization of borrower file elements
• Borrower records have not been shared between
  libraries/library systems
• Borrower record elements reflect different user
  communities with different needs public, school,
  academic, corporate
• Concern over confidentiality a professional
  value and often state law

3
Whats Changing

• Automated exchange of borrower records to support
  easier resource sharing NCIP-not yet adopted
• http//www.niso.org/committees/committee_at.html
  
• Libraries more concerned with accurate contact
  information using collection agencies and legal
  actions to recover fines, fees, and overdue
  materials
• Libraries more interested in statistical analysis
  of community and usage patterns

4
Benefits of Quality Control for Patron/Borrower
records

• Accurate name index searching
• Better report, notice, label sorting
• USPS addressing standardsfaster and cheaper mail
  costs?
• Facilitates extract of data for GIS mapping,
  other applications
• Avoids duplication
• Provides accurate counts of active users
• Provides easier migration of data to next
  automation system
• Demonstrates respect for cultural and personal
  identity

5
Accurate Name Index Searching

• Strict ASCII sort (Upper case letters files
  before lower case)?
• Spaces in last names ignored? (Does Du Pont file
  before Duarte?)
• Hyphens ignored, or treated as space?
• Apostrophes ignored, or treated as space?
• Nicknames, initials vs. legal names?
• See Also references?
• Support and sorting of diacritics?

6
Strict ASCII Sort

• BARZILAY
• BEAL
• BUTTERFIELD
• Baruc
• Benet

7
Spaces in Names

• De Freeze
• De Groat
• De La Cruz
• Deboer
• DeFranco
• Degan

8
Hyphen in Names

• Potenza, Leana
• Potenza-Newman, Judith
• Potenza, Teresa
• OR
• Potenza, Yolanda
• Potenza-Newman, Judith

9
Apostrophes in Names

• DAlessio
• Dabou
• Damroth
• OR
• Dabou
• DAlessio
• Damroth

10
Nicknames, Initials vs. Legal Name

• KC, JP, AJ, etc.
• Bill, Dick, Peg, Maggie, Kate, Jack, Jim, Liz,
  Beth, etc.
• Junior, Scooter, Missie, Skip, Boomer, Buzz
• Use of these can cause name filing to appear far
  from where their legal name would be entered.

11
Diacritical Support

• Is following a borrowers preference for use of
  spaces, capitalization, and diacritics in their
  name just political correctness?
• Whats correct is to demonstrate
• Respect for the person
• Respect for their heritage
• Respect for preservation of traditionsa core
  value for librarianship

12
Why Use Diacritics in Catalog but not in Borrower
File?

• François
• Honoré
• Zoë
• René
• Le Carré
• Kübler-Ross
• André
• Böhme
• Böll
• Brontë

13
Borrower File Authority Control

• See Also references in Borrower name index
• Du Pont
• see also
• DuPont
• OR, if spaces are ignored
• Du Pont
• see
• DuPont

14
Report, Notice, Label sorting

• Canned reports and/or command queries may not
  sort names using the same sorting filter as the
  automation systems name index
• Name-flip routinesrequire commas and spaces to
  be in correct place
• Courtesy titles Mr. Mrs. Ms. Miss Dr.
• Last name suffixes Jr. Sr. II III IV PhD
• Export to CSV (comma/space delimited format),
  Excel, etc. Parsing names in Excel
• http//www.cpearson.com/excel/FirstLast.htm

15
USPS Addressing

• USPS Publication 28 Postal Addressing Standards
• http//pe.usps.gov/text/pub28/welcome.htm
• Lowercase letters in various type styles are
  acceptable provided they meet postal guidelines
  for OCR readability.
• Are mailing rates cheaper if addressing standards
  are strictly followed? Doubtful, if bulk mail
  (500 pieces at a time) is not used if items are
  locally sorted (no OCR) if certified Zip
  matching software is not used. Check with local
  postmaster.
• Faster? Yes, if Zip is accurate, standard
  abbreviations are used and street names are
  accurate.
• Address Correction Required? Returns
  undeliverable mail to you. Rates recently raised.

16
USPS Abbreviations

• http//www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/usps_abbreviation
  s.html
• Do not use USPS abbreviations when the word is
  part of a proper name.
• Examples
• South Gate Rd
• Street Rd
• West Clarkstown Rd
• West Lake Rd
• Arizona Hwy

17
Extracts for GIS Applications

• Normative Data Project for Libraries
• The goal of the Normative Data Project for
  Libraries (NDP) is to compile transaction-level
  data from libraries throughout North America to
  link library data with geographic, demographic,
  and other key types of data and, thereby, to
  empower library decision-makers to compare and
  contrast their institutions with real-world
  industry norms on circulation, collections,
  finances, and other parameters.
• http//www.librarynormativedata.info/
• Currently, using Zip Code as most granular
  geographic identifier
• Census tracts, political voting districts subject
  to changing boundaries

18
Future of GIS in Libraries

• To take advantage of census information, library
  registrations and transactions will need to be
  mapped to census tracts and blocks.
• County GIS departments are likely to have
  datasets that map street names and numbers to
  census blocks.
• ILS system needs to support statistical
  categories for census blocks need to design
  project to identify and batch edit existing
  records to census blocks using street address
  information in library records

19
Phone Number Format

• Need to be able to extract area code data in
  order to make area code split changes (character
  string search and replace)
• Need to make numbers readable

20
Parsing Phone Numbers

• 5551212 Local telephone number with no area code,
  and no delimiters
• 555-1212 Local telephone number with no area
  code, and dash delimiter
• 9135551212 Full telephone number without
  delimiters
• 913-555-1212 Full telephone number with two
  dash delimiters
• 913-5551212 Full telephone number with one dash
  delimiter
• (913)5551212 Full telephone number with area
  code parentheses, and no dashes
• [phone] Full telephone number with area
  code parentheses and dash delimiter.
• [phone] X2412 Full telephone number with
  area code parentheses and dash delimiter, and
  extension indicator (X)
• Using Excel to parse phone numbers
• http//www.cpearson.com/excel/PhoneNum.htm

21
Clean-Up Reports

• Purge Inactive Patrons
• Records With no Name
• Records with names in incorrect format
• Records with no upper case letters
• Records with any lower case letters
• Records with no statistical codes
• Records with no circ type codes
• Records with no City and/or no State
• Records with no Zip
• Records with City/Zip mismatch
• Records with no library card number
• Records with phone in incorrect format
• Records with likely incorrect birthdates (100
  years)
• Records with birth date/circ type mismatch (Juv.
  Vs. adult)
• Records needing SS deleted
• Possible Duplicate Patrons

22
Sample SQL Query Borrowers with no ZIP Code

• Select borrower, name
• from borrower
• where borrower in ( select borrower from
  borrower_address where postal_code is null )

23
Sample SQL Query Borrowers with Birthdate 01/01/1900

• declare _at_theDate smallint
• select _at_theDate datediff( day, '1 Jan 1970',
  '01/01/1900' )
• select borrower, name
• from borrower
• where birth_date

24
Pressure Vendors for

• City/Zip database prompting
• Unicode support for non-English diacritics in
  names
• Browse and keyword searching of names, addresses
• See Also/See in name lookup indexes
• Age-related Circ Type/Stat code automatic
  progression by birthdate
• Name format prompting if in error
• Required fields
• Patron purge looks at both last activity and date
  added to system
• Birthdate range check for entering age-related
  Circ types, stats
• Photo? Bio ID? (fingerprints, etc)
• Section in record for noting required address
  verification utility bill, Drivers license, tax
  bill, etc.

25
March 2005 PUBLIB Online Survey

• Online survey announced on PUBLIB discussion
  group
• 33 responses
• 6 Dynix
• 6 Horizon
• 10 Sirsi
• 5 III
• 2 TLC
• 1 MultiLis
• 1 Follett
• 1 Winnebago
• 1 Athena

26
Do you use USPS Abbreviations?

• Yes 13
• Not consistently 19
• Never - 1

27
Take street address in addition to PO Box?

• Yes, and list both in same address field 11
• Yes, but list each in separate data fields 10
• Yes, but just note street address in a general
  note field 4
• No, dont require street address - 8

28
If both PO Box and Street are put in the same
address field, which goes first?

• Street on first line, PO BOX on 2nd 4
• PO Box on 1st line, Street on 2nd 6
• Fit both on one line - 1

29
Does your staff have a list of street names in
your community?

• Yes 6
• No - 27

30
If a last name is written with a space, do you
enter it without the space?

• Yes 7
• No - 25

31
If a last name begins with a lower case letter,
do you change it to upper case?

• Yes 10
• No - 23

32
If a last name has an apostrophe, do you omit it?

• Yes 6
• No - 27

33
Do you ask for full legal names?

• Yes 14
• No - 19

34
Phone number format?

• (AAA)NNN-NNNN 3
• AAA-NNN-NNNN 17
• NNN-NNNN 2
• Not consistent - 11