[Michlib-l] Question: It's 9:00 A.M.: Do You Know Where Your MAP Program Is? Answer: The Michigan Activity Pass Program is BAAAAACK! (With Mobile Passes)

[Jim Flury]

Good Morning, 

Following a nearly four month suspension that began the morning of March 17, TLN re-started the Michigan Activity Pass (MAP) program with 401 active partner destinations shortly before 8:00 a.m. this morning, Wednesday, July 15th: 

[ http://www.plymouthrockets.com/michiganactivitypass/ | http://www.plymouthrockets.com/michiganactivitypass/ ] 

Please note that as is the case with much of today's world, MAP partner destinations have opened and are operating under circumstances unseen and unheard of in our lifetimes. That is my way of saying that this is a highly fluid scenario and that as such, MAP partner destinations may close (or re-open) with little or in some cases no, advance warning. We will do our best to keep up to date on what is going on with our MAP partner destinations, and make changes accordingly if and when necessary. That said, if you become aware of a change to the status of a MAP partner destination in your community, please let me know. After all, there are many of you, and far fewer of us. 

There are a few new features included in MAP that we hope will help enhance the patron experience: 

1. Mobile Passes: Please note that there is absolutely no difference between a mobile pass and a printed pass, when it comes to the pass reservation process. The only difference is that a patron will display the completed MAP pass on their mobile device when they arrive at a destination, instead of turning in a printed pass. There is also no way to prevent a patron from printing and turning in a printed pass. 
Long before any of us had heard of something called Covid-19, our goal was to place additional emphasis on the mobile vs print pass aspect of MAP for this year. The timing of such proved fortuitous, given the changes that have occurred in all of our worlds during the past four months. Truth be told, many patrons have been using mobile passes for MAP for a number of years. So before we took MAP off line on March 17 we surveyed MAP partner destinations to ask them if they were okay when it came to accepting a MAP pass that is displayed on a smart phone or tablet, vs a piece of paper. With the exception of one MAP partner which is currently closed, all of our other partner destinations that replied, indicated they had no problem accepting a mobile pass. I suspect that willingness to do so is even stronger now than was the case five months ago when we sent out the survey. As you can see we have placed heavy emphasis on the mobile passes aspect of MAP, on the landing page of the program. 

2. Where I Am Starting Box: Every software platform that involves having to do a search performs better when a particular search strategy is deployed. For the MAP software this has always meant entering the zip code in the Where I Am Starting box. The MAP program now includes "Enter Your Zip Code Here" in the Where I Am Starting box. Having the patron enter a zip code here will deliver optimum search results when using the MAP software. 

3. My Home Library box: The "Home Library" language is problematic. While it means something to us, that may not necessarily be the case for MAP patrons. In an attempt to make this more clear, we have included the phrase "Enter the Name of Your Local Library Here" in the My Home Library box. We have retained the previous functionality whereupon when a patron starts to enter the name of their library, the software will auto-fill the box with the library name. 

We are very pleased to be able to offer the MAP program again, following a four month suspension. Will it be perfect? No, of course not. But it never was. Going forward patrons will encounter a range of difficulties, from showing up at a destination without checking ahead, only to find it closed; to not wanting to wear a mask; to presenting a MAP pass on a mobile phone to destination admissions staff and having them not have a clue as to what this "MAP pass thing" or indeed, what this "MAP pass program" is, etc. 

Patience and flexibility are the keys for MAP, just as is the case for all of the other challenges libraries are currently facing. If you have MAP related patron questions, please do your best to answer them. Otherwise, please encourage your patrons to send an email to [ mailto:michiganactivitypass at gmail.co | michiganactivitypass at gmail.com ] As before, there are many of you, and many more MAP patrons, but only a few of us. 

Thank you for your support and promotion of the Michigan Activity Pass program. 

Welcome back, MAP! We missed you. 

Jim 

Jim Flury 
Technical Services Manager 
The Library Network 
41365 Vincenti Court 
Novi, MI 48375 
248-536-3100, ext 133 
Fax 248-536-3098 
jflury at tln.lib.mi.us 

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