UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 21, Page 8
February 24, 1994
TechTalk
Touch-Tone method is new way to renew

     Uh-oh! That library book you've been meaning to return is due, you've
already left campus for the day and the weather is acting up again. No
problem! You can now renew your book without going farther than your
telephone.
     Morris Library users are now able to renew their books by calling
831-1638 on a Touch-Tone phone during the 142 hours per week that DELCAT is
available, according to Nancy Nelson, access services.
     The new service is totally automated, requiring no library staff
interaction. "This is a vast improvement over the previously available
service, increasing its hours of access from 15 to 142 per week," Nelson
said.
     Since some renewal situations can be complex, the interactive-response
system software was modified for this application, based on input from
library staff who worked with Computing and Network Services to identify
all possible situations that can occur during a renewal transaction.
     Sandra Millard, library public services, said this interaction insures
the accuracy of the system and improves the overall renewal process,
creating error-checking routines that aren't possible with the manual
renewal system.