PrairieCat News

Informational – e-mail phishing scams potentially directed at patrons

Apparently some patrons may have received an e-mail from scammers indicating that the patron owes money for an overdue book. And therefore trying to solicit money from those patrons.

We have included two example files in this message – one is the example of a scamming attempt and one is a sample of an official overdue notice generated and sent from PrairieCat.

ACTION: Informational, Reminder Notice

In August 2020, PrairieCat changed the timing of when overdue notices and bills were created. Pre-COVID, the first overdue notice was created 7 days after the item’s due date. To accommodate quarantine periods and to prevent patrons receiving that first notice for items that had been returned but not yet checked in, we extended when the first overdue notice was created to 14 days.

ACTION:  Action Required

When checking in materials that have holds for other libraries, it is not necessary to check items out to PrairieCat Union List libraries. The only time you should check those materials out to the library is when you see the word “checkout” in the message. See Procedures for Union List, ILL Barcode and SHARE libraries in the Circulation I training manual.

Please share this will all staff who check in materials as this continues to be an ongoing problem.

Action: Informational

PrairieCat created a Return on Investment document to highlight the progress the organization made in FY20 ending in June 2020 and some of the ways your library benefited from membership in PrairieCat. This is an “at a glance” document that should be easy to share with your library’s board and stakeholders to emphasize the benefits of PrairieCat.