Pick slips
I hear from some of you from time to time about the wrong item being sent with a request. You ask, what can we do to eliminate these errors.
The Pick slips generally have all of the information that we should need to identify a specific item that is being requested. The information that is on the Pick slip comes from the bibliographic record chosen by the end user. This can be found by looking at the Database/# line on the Pick slip. The Title line should display the title and the subtitle and series information. The rest of the information on the Pick slips is fairly self explanatory. Remember to look at the Request notes to see what special instructions have been provided to assist in filling the request with the correct item. Occasionally with compact discs your catalog will have more than one title match for classical music and other CDs. Look at the Publisher Info to make sure that you have the correct item. Look at the Description to make sure the item has the correct number of discs. The Database/# line will also have a publisher number for the requested item. All of these together will help you supply the correct item.
Sometimes there just isn't enough information on the Pick slip to identify what is needed. This would be a good time to use Conditional and ask for more specific information. As important as it is to use Conditional to ask for more information, it is equally important to respond in a timely manner to Conditional questions as a Borrower. For more information about using Conditional check out my June 20, 2006 posting. http://blogs.minitex.umn.edu/mnlink/conditional_requests/