1. “Open Room” Reservation System Buswell Library, Wheaton College March 3, 2016 Cheryl Grubb & Jeffrey Mudge

2. The OLD way of scheduling study rooms… Physical keys Paper reservation charts Student worker PowerPoint training Key checkouts at Circulation

3. Buswell has study rooms available for use by anyone with a Wheaton College ID card. All the rooms have keys available for checkout at the Reserve desk. Keys and rooms checkout for 2 hours. These are the keys for the rooms that can be reserved and checked out to students, staff, and others with Wheaton College IDs. Also, note that IDs are kept in exchange for the keys, which have been checked out in the computer.

4. Room Reservation Binder A binder lists the rooms available for checkout with a schedule for taking reservations and recording users. Wheaton College students, staff, and faculty may reserve rooms in advance. To take a reservation, write in the patron’s name on the appropriate line(s) and block out the hours with a vertical arrow: ↕

6. If the actual time differs from the hourly block times, it is very helpful to note the actual times the patron plans to use the room, such as 2:05-3:15. This room is blocked out for a patron named “Song” from 4:30-6:30. This room is blocked out for “David” from 3:40-5:40. 1 4 Please also note the number of people who will be using the room as part of the reservation.

7. What about non-Wheaton patrons? Buswell study rooms are intended for use by Wheaton College patrons only. Circulation supervisors may make exceptions at their discretion for certain guest patrons, such as alumni with guest accounts, MBI guests, I-Share patrons, etc. These people should have official guest accounts in the Voyager system, which can be used for checking out the key. Do not loan the key to anyone without an account in Voyager. Refer anyone with questions to a staff supervisor.

8. Room Competition Situations Wheaton College students, staff, and faculty have priority over guest patrons for whom exceptions were made, should there be “competition” for rooms. Groups have priority over a single user. A single user can be asked to vacate a room if a group needs it, even if it has been reserved in advance. (This is why having the number of people who are using the room recorded in the binder as part of the reservation is helpful.) If someone who has made a room reservation does not show up to check out the key, and their delay has been at least 15 minutes or more past the reserved start time, and someone else needs and is waiting for a room, the reserved room may be “freed” for check-out to the waiting patron.

9. Key Checkout & Checkin CHECK the KEY OUT in the COMPUTER. Access the patron’s account and use the barcode on the key tag, just as you would check out a book or other item on a patron’s account. Also keep the patron’s ID and put it in the key holder in place of the key. This helps workers know at a glance what rooms are in use, and also provides an extra incentive for patrons to be sure to return the keys. Always inform the patron when the key is due —“in 2 hours.” Keys may NOT be taken out of the library. When the check-out period is “up”, patrons using a room may check at the Reserve desk to see if the room is free for another two hours. If it has not been reserved, the key may be re-checked out for an additional check-out period. Remember to extend the time in the binder. Due in 2 hours

10. If patrons do not come to the desk to renew the key, they may be charged overdue fines if the key is simply kept and returned late. Overdue fines on keys are $1.00 per hour. When a room key is returned to the Reserve desk, inquire whether the patron remembered to relock the door. If they did not, have them go and lock it and then turn the key in. When a room key is returned, always CHECK it IN, in a timely manner. Also return the patron’s ID from the key holder.

11. Fall, 2013 – We began thinking about alternatives that would provide easier room access to patrons. Criteria important to us in a software solution: Schedule multiple rooms Easily managed, intuitive to user Mobile-friendly Available anywhere Rich display of room data (images, technology) Unmoderated scheduling Set time limits

12. Use campus authentication system (LDAP) Tracking/analytics/statistics Uses open standards/software (non-Java) Integrate into library website Customizable interface Cancellation feature would be nice The goal was to choose a reservation system product that we could implement in conjunction with an overhaul of our library website, which was to be launched in summer, 2014.

13. We investigated several room reservation software options: ScheduleIt (now called “Booked”) - http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpscheduleit - http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpscheduleit in use at TCU Library - https://libreservations.tcu.edu/https://libreservations.tcu.edu/ D!BS – http://dibs.evanced.info/ - in use at University of Arizona librarieshttp://dibs.evanced.info/ Astra Meeting Room Scheduler

14. Meeting Room Booking System LibCal from Springshare (used at Columbia, DePaul, SIUC) Open Room (http://sourceforge.net/projects/openroom) –http://sourceforge.net/projects/openroom very informative article at Ball State University, http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2941. http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2941 Another useful link for the source material is https://www.bsu.edu/libraries/getopenroom/https://www.bsu.edu/libraries/getopenroom/

15. Open Room was chosen, and Jeff was experimenting with set-up and implementation by February, 2014. We decided that we would leave the study rooms unlocked and cease room key checkout at Circulation/Reserve! It has worked out GREAT!!!!