We have a couple of branches with hold pickup lockers located in their 24x7 lobbies, but this summer are adding lockers at an unmanned “outpost” location for the first time. This new location isn’t associated with any particular branch, so I’m wondering how other libraries have configured your Locations Served and Float Determiner tables for this purpose.
I have the Locations Served groups of the existing branch lobby lockers configured to include the location code of the locker plus every location code of the associated physical branch, and those are working very well. I’m not quite sure how to configure these standalone lockers.
We have set up our Hold Lockers as their own standalone branch locations, and have not associated them with their nearest branch. I don’t know if that’s the correct way to do it or not, but it has (mostly) worked for us. The address is associated with the nearest branch, however, for mailed bills and such.
Could you create a whole new branch, address, etc…?
We are using LEID hold lockers which do not connect to Sierra directly through API or SIP2.
Attached is a snip of our Locations Served Table showing a few of our Hold Pickup Lockers. There is only one associated location under each of the main hold locker locations.
Thanks for the reply, Lisa. Can you also share a screenshot of the location code detail page you’d see if you drill into any of 111 - 114? Thanks in advance.
Sure thing - here’s the Hayden Heights 24hr locker as an example. The others are the same just the associated location code instead
(rc24, rd24, sr24).
No integration fees with III because there is no direct integration between the system and Sierra
Rated for outdoor use in cold climates (***though you really should have an overhang and ensure it’s not going to get lots of wind/snow/water on it)
Fully ADA compliant - lockers only in the center space with nothing really high or too low to the ground (the others are ADA compliant, but then your staff has to know which lockers are best for each patron with a note in the patron account or something)
Has anyone been able to set up lockers if you don’t have the pickup anywhere option enabled, especially in the consortia version of Sierra?
We have a library who has lockers both at their physical location and at remote locations. They are currently manually managing this but are interested in a change.
Currently, our patrons can only pick up holds at their home library location. I was thinking about making the locker locations their own “branches” and having the patrons’ home library be set to that branch for locker pickup, but this workaround isn’t ideal if the patron would like to both pick up holds at the remote library and at the physical library, too.
We’ve already discussed this previously Ann, but I just checked and we have only one patron whose Home Library field is set to a lockers location (well, two patrons but the other one is me and that was just for testing). When I went into her record in the SDA just now and started to place a hold, it behaved exactly as one would expect; that lockers location was the default pickup location.
My director and I are getting an education in library locker systems. Would the LEID lockers your library uses be from Smart Guard Smart Axess : Secure Access Control: https://www.secureassetcontrol.com/? Thank you, Amy
Hi Amy -
Yes, that’s correct. The business naming is a little strange. I usually see them list themselves as LEID, but their insurance certificate has them listed as Patti Engineering Inc. (DBA LEID Products). My contact is Peter Kujawski.
Let me know if you have any other questions, and I’d be happy to jump on a call.
Thank you for the information. I am meeting with my director tomorrow to share more details: what she wants and what is available.
Personally I like the sounds of the LEID because we do not have to connect it with Sierra. Let you know if we need to call and have
you share your knowledge base on them.
You offered to speak with us about the LEID system. If you prefer you can email me dates and times that would work for you to discuss this system. My email is: ablake1919@gmail.com
Four months after I posted this question here, we have just gone live with these new standalone lockers. Thanks to all who responded and I will be happy to provide details of our solution to anyone interested in doing something similar.
To the right of the lockers in this bus stop-style enclosure is a book drop and an informational poster about the Wi-Fi available at this 24/7 Library.
All colored surfaces are adhesive wraps applied to the lockers, book drop and plexiglass. The purple and dark blue panels to the left were added to block sun glare, which made it difficult to read and operate the touchscreen display of the lockers. There are also wraps applied to the outside panels of the enclosure with our library logo for aesthetic purposes and to further block sun glare.
Hello @apayne. The lockers which are the subject of this discussion thread are not located at a branch. This installation is in a remote area of the county which is serviced by our Bookmobiles. The building behind the enclosure is a township maintenance building and it supplies power for the lockers, Wi-Fi. and illumination. Hence the very attractive dumpster visible at far left.
Because of the distance from the Main Library to these new lockers, the Time to Holdshelf table in Sierra is configured with a significant delay before patrons are notified their holds are available. This notification delay is manifested in our BiblioCore discovery layer, where a patron checking their account will see “En route to Pike lockers” during this interim period. Likewise no hold pickup notice will be generated until the delay period has expired and the next scheduled run of Autonotices comes along. Unfortunately there is no indication of this delay in the SDA, so a patron who contacts the library to inquire if their hold is ready for pickup can receive misleading information from a staff member who refers to the holds display in the SDA. A very unfortunate shortcoming, but you can help fix it by upvoting my Idea Exchange entry on the subject!
The lockers vendor is d-tech International. We do have larger d-tech locker units installed in the lobbies of two of our branches which have 24/7 access. Also in those lobbies are Redbox-style DVD/Blu-ray media boxes for borrowing movies and video games.
I don’t know if we have a notification delay. Not that I’ve ever heard of, but there is a lot about the admin and circ side of Polaris that I don’t know.
