3M 3900 Whattodowhenthealarmsounds, Alarmlog

Trainingyourstaff

Whattodowhenthealarmsounds

Thefollowingstepsaresuggestedproceduresonly.W erecommendthatallstaffdevelopacompleteunderstandingofthe

library’spoliciesandfollowthemasdirected.Theresponseshouldbeconsistentforallpatronscaughtinanalarm.Itisalso

importantthatstaffbecomefamiliarwithstateandlocallawsgoverningpatrons’rightsandresponsibilities.

Respondingtoalarmsisasensitivesituationbutcanbehandledconfidentlyandeffectivelyaslongasyourlibraryhas

establishedproceduresandyourstaffmembersarefullytrainedinfollowingthem.

First,don’tpanic.Remaincalmandcourteous.Y oucan’tbepositivethatthepersonwhotriggeredthealarmisstealing.Never

accuseanyoneoftheftbyword,byfacialexpression,orbytoneofvoice.Thealarmmayhavebeentriggeredaccidentally,

soalwaysrespondinapositive,non-threateningmanner.

AlarmScenario1

Thelibrarystaffdoesnotdesensitizeataggeditemwhencheckingoutthepatron’smaterials,orthepatronaccidentally

removesmarkedmaterialsfromthelibrary.

Afteraskingthepatrontoreturntothecounter,atypicalresponsemightbe,"Excuseme,didIforgettocheckoutoneofyour

items?"or"Didyouperhapspickuponeofthelibrary’sbookswithyourownthings?”Thesearecourteousquestions,and

theydon’taccusethepatronoftheft.Besuretosmileandaskthequestionsinafriendly,non-threateningmanner.

Processanddesensitizeallitemsagain.Ifyoudiscoveranitemthathasn’tbeenproperlycheckedout,neveraccusethepatron

ofstealing.Simplyactasiftheerrorwasanoversight—itmorethanlikelywas.Ifthepatroncausesthealarmtosoundagain,

followthepolicythatyourlibraryhasestablishedforpossibletheftofmaterials.

AlarmScenario2

Apatrondenieshavinganylibrarymaterialsorrunsoutofthelibraryaftersoundingthealarm.

Followyourlibrary’spolicyfortheft.

Yourdetectionsystemisvirtuallyfreeoffalsealarms.Occasionallyyoursystemmayalarmandyourstaffmayfindthatthe

patrondoesnothaveunauthorizedlibrarymaterials.Unwantedalarmsmaybecausedbyactivestripsonitemscarriedinto

thelibrarysuchasbooksfromanotherlibrary .

Unwantedalarmsaregenerallyinfrequentandwillvarydependingonthepatronsandtheproximityofyourlibrarytofacilities

thatarereleasingitemscontainingsecuritystrips.Becauseitisnotpossibletodistinguishbetweenunwantedalarmsand

alarmswithpotentialitemloss,allresponsestoalarmsmustbeconsistentandfollowyourmanagementpolicies.Ifpatronssee

noresponsetoalarms,thesystembecomeslesseffective.Whenyoudecidethatasecuritystriponanitemfromoutsideyour

librarycausedanalarm,followthesesteps:

1.Explaintheproblemtothepatron.

2.Verifythatallofthepatron’slibrarymaterialsareproperlycheckedout.

3.Allowthepatrontoexitthelibrary .

Manypatronswilllearnfromtheexperienceandwillnotcarryitemsthatmaycausealarmsintothelibrary.

Alarmlog

Thealarmlogisusedtokeeparecordofdetailsinvolvingalarmsthatoccur.SeeDetectionsystemalarmlogonpage21.For

eachalarm,recordtheinformationonthelog.Keepingthislogup-to-dateprovidesakeytoolformonitoringsystemactivity.

Anup-to-datealarmlogprovidesusefulinformationforlibrarymanagementandyour3Mservicerepresentative.