Trainingyourstaff
Whattodowhenthealarmsounds
Thefollowingstepsaresuggestedproceduresonly.Werecommendthatallstaffdevelopacompleteunderstandingofthe
library’spoliciesandfollowthemasdirected.Theresponseshouldbeconsistentforallpatronscaughtinanalarm.Itisalso
importantthatstaffbecomefamiliarwithstateandlocallawsgoverningpatrons’rightsandresponsibilities.
RespondingtoAlarms
Respondingtoalarmsisasensitivesituationbutcanbehandledconfidentlyandeffectivelyaslongasyourlibraryhas
establishedproceduresandyourstaffmembersarefullytrainedinfollowingthem.
First,don’tpanic.Remaincalmandcourteous.Youcan’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.
Unwantedalarms
Yourdetectionsystemisunlikelytoexperiencefalsealarms.Occasionallyyoursystemmayalarmandyourstaffmayfindthat
thepatrondoesnothaveunauthorizedlibrarymaterials.Falsealarmsmaybecausedbyactivestripsonitemscarriedinto
thelibrarysuchasbooksfromanotherlibrary.
Falsealarmsaregenerallyinfrequentandwillvarydependingonthepatronsandtheproximityofyourlibrarytofacilities
thatarereleasingitemscontainingsecuritystrips.Becauseitisnotpossibletodistinguishbetweenfalsealarmsandalarms
withpotentialitemloss,allresponsestoalarmsmustbeconsistentandfollowyourmanagementpolicies.Ifpatronsseeno
responsetoalarms,thesystembecomeslesseffective.Whenyoudecidethatasecuritystriponanitemfromoutsideyour
librarycausedanalarm,followthesesteps:
1.Explaintheproblemtothepatron.
2.Verifythatallofthepatron’slibrarymaterialsareproperlycheckedout.
3.Allowthepatrontoexitthelibrary.
Manypatronswilllearnfromtheexperienceandwillnotcarryitemsthatmaycausealarmsintothelibrary.
Alarmlog
Thealarmlogisusedtokeeparecordofdetailsinvolvingalarmsthatoccur.SeetheDetectionSystemAlarmLog.Foreach
alarm,recordtheinformationonthelog.Keepingthislogup-to-dateprovidesakeytoolformonitoringsystemactivity.An
up-to-datealarmlogprovidesusefulinformationforlibrarymanagementandyour3Mservicerepresentative.
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