RA- SMS notices sub-group
Group: Susan Kimball, Tanja Blixt, Heather Dolson, Joseph Molloy, Olga K., Jacob Dudley
PO: Steph Buck
Meeting Apr 1, 2026
Recording
Notes
First meeting to gather desired workflows and ideas
Joseph: Spokane sending notices since 2020. Don’t use mod notices. Custom script to query eligible loans or requests. Build CVS sheets, send to Patron point. Send all email and SMS notices. Notices are transactional. Each has call to action - “click to view on catalog” - tracking opens, clicks, follow-throughs, renewals. Mod notices builds table of notice to send, but then 3rd party API could hook in to build and send notices.
Example: Patron point wants to build value add app to enable staff to click patron point in FOLIO to review sent notices
Simplified end point to retrieve notice files; new edge api vs cql queries
SMS Communications - Ex Libris Knowledge Center - just in time notifications
Pay for their sms delivery service
Are there free services?
Susan: Amherst/5 Colleges. EMail notice only currently as system is designed out of the box. Biggest need for SMS are around short term loans - equipment, reserve, hourly. Email not timely enough. Send notices from the system, not a staff user account - you left your wallet at the desk. Not “notice” but just in time notification.
Heather: Short term - study rooms, reserves. More immediate contact needed - SMS ideal.
Olga: Douglas College. Opt in, not everyone wants everything by both email and text. Allow patrons to make decisions on how they want to get communications from the library would be ideal. Short term loans - 4 hours and more. As few workarounds as possible.
How can we get sms service without having to pay for a service to send texts? What about data protection?
Jacob: Northwest/MOBIUS. Opting in and opting out. Defaults - patron type. Use similar to how notices are now - scheduled. Want to be able to push notices on demand. Want to see the text of the notices themselves in circ log as way to know what exactly was in the text/email.
Desire to send User account loan info to a user at the push of a button - both email and text
What about logging and PII? Ability to anonymize loans - same for messaging. BCC library email to save copies of messages as record, purge logs?
Notices should appear in circ log like emails. Utilize links in texts.
Different templates for email vs notices.