User's Manual

Table Of Contents

T r a i n i n g y o u r s t a f f

unsecuredproperly,orthepersonholdingtheitemthatcausedthealarmmaynotevenbeawareitisintheirpossession.Always

respondinapositive,nonthreateningmanner.

Possiblealarmscenarios

Insimpleterms,apatronmightrespondtoatriggeredalarmineitherofthreeways:

1.Thepatronmightstopinthecorridor.

2.Thepatronmightbeunawaretheyhavecausedthealarm,disregardit,andcasuallycontinuetoexit.

3.Thepatronmightrunfortheexit.

Inthethirdscenario,theanswerisobvious:followyourlibrary’spolicyfortheft.

Thesolutionforthefirstandsecondscenariosmaynotbesoclear-cutandyouwillwanttoexercisecourtesyandtactbecauseyou

willwantthepatron’scooperationandinmostcasesthepatronwillwanttocooperate.

Afteraskingthepatrontoreturntothecounter,youmighttypicallyask“Excuseme,didIforgettocheckoutoneofyouritems?”or

“Didyouperhapspickuponeofthelibrary’sbookswithyourownthings?”Thesearecourteousquestionsandtheydon’taccuse

thepatronoftheft.Besuretosmileandaskthequestionsinafriendly,nonthreateningmanner.

Processandunsecureallitemsagain.Ifyoudiscoveranitemthathasn’tbeenproperlycheckedout,neveraccusethepatronof

stealing.Simplyactasiftheerrorwasanoversight—itmorethanlikelywas—andyoucanresolvethesituationeasilyinthismanner.

Ifthepatronisuncooperativeorcausesthealarmtosoundagain,followthepolicythatyourlibraryhasestablishedforpossible

theftofmaterials.

Unwantedalarms

Yourdetectionsystemisvirtuallyfreeoffalsealarms.Occasionallyyoursystemmayalarmandyourstaffmayfindthatthe

patrondoesnothaveunauthorizedlibrarymaterials.Unwantedalarmsmaybecausedbytagsonitemscarriedintothelibrary

suchasbooksfromanotherlibrary.

Unwantedalarmsaregenerallyinfrequentandwillvarydependingonthepatronsandtheproximityofyourlibrarytofacilitiesthat

arereleasingitemscontainingtags.Becauseitisnotpossibletodistinguishbetweenunwantedalarmsandalarmswithpotential

itemloss,allresponsestoalarmsmustbeconsistentandfollowyourmanagementpolicies.Ifpatronsseenoresponsetoalarms,the

systembecomeslesseffective.Whenyoudecidethatatagonanitemfromoutsideyourlibrarycausedanalarm,followthesesteps.

1.Explaintheproblemtothepatron.

2.Verifythatallofthepatron’slibrarymaterialsareproperlycheckedout.

3.Allowthepatrontoexitthelibrary.

Manypatronswilllearnfromtheexperienceandwillnotcarryitemsthatmaycausealarmsintothelibrary.

Preliminary