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Co-presented at OVGTSL 2010 on May 20th. Program description: To say that the information environment has changed in the past few decades would simply not capture the complexity and richness of the innovations that prompted those changes. However, many Technical Services departments are still carrying the proverbial heavy suitcase while trying to navigate the changing information landscape. In order to lighten the load of suitcases, many frequent travelers lay out everything that they think they need, and then pack only half of that. What would happen if Technical Services went through and listed every task it did and eliminated the non-critical ones? There have been several efforts in the field doing just that. For example, the R2 Consulting Company has identified low-value tasks that could be left behind to allow for a department to focus on more mission critical tasks. The Technical Services department at the Miami University Libraries has identified several tasks that it could make more efficient or discontinue all together. This presentation will cover these tasks covering several areas of the department (cataloging, physical processing, and serials to name a few), as well as the successes and challenges in creating a department that is better equipped to address the changes coming its way.
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Pack Light: Changes in Technical Services Staffing & Workflow
Becky YooseBibliographic Systems LibrarianMiami University
Paris 2008
What they packed
What I packed
The Rule of Packing Light
1) Lay out everything you think you need
2) Pack half of that
http://www.flickr.com/photos/getdown/4029593878/
“…we should seek to recognize and question
outdated remnants of pre-automation routines,
manual transcription, item by item decisions or tasks, redundant systems, repetition, procedures that introduce error, and seeking the perfect in favor of the good.”
-- Fischer, Ruth, and Lugg, Rick, 2005. “Just Say No: Eliminating Low-Value Tasks.” Against the Grain 16 (6), 84.
Low hanging fruit
• Shelf-lists• Processing unsolicited
periodicals• Gifts (not in-kind)
▫ Accepting▫ Processing
• Binding• Manual statistics
• DLC record editing (if not CIP)
• Call number duplication checks in receipt cataloging
• Selecting all books on an item to item basis
• And more…
Physical LIS Journal Routing
Issues:• Law of routing journals
▫ You will receive the 2/15 issue of LJ in October (year after)
• Most routed journals are available online in FT with no embargo▫ 45 of 51 LIS journals
online, FT with brief to no embargo
• Staff reductions ▫ Needed to free up time to
focus on other workflows
Solution:• Individual RSS feeds
▫ EBSCO Journal Alerts LISTA, ASC
▫ Feed43 Roll your own
• planetplanet meta feed aggregator
• YMMV▫ Yahoo pipes▫ list individual feeds, no
metafeed
Critical mission tasks reviewAny TS workflows meet
the following criteria?
manual transcription item by item decisions
or tasks redundant systems repetition procedures that
introduce error
Alternate question
Does your department look like this?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanjoselibrary/4009109102/
What and how of automationWhat• Database Maintenance• Ordering• Cataloging• Serials• Electronic Resources• Statistics• Etc. etc. etc.
How• Batch processing
▫ III – Global Update▫ MarcEdit▫ PromptCat
• Task automation▫ Macros
Program specific 3rd party applications
▫ Scripts PHP, Expect, MySQL,
etc.
Automation Demo
•Screencast▫http://www.screencast.com/t/gegg952u8gS
•Process Documentation▫http://tinyurl.com/ykroact
Other things to look at• PDA Pilot for e-books
▫ YBP/ebrary
• E-books in general• Not updating more
types of 3rd party records▫ Non-DLC/PCC records that
meet receipt cataloging criteria otherwise
• Stop serials checkin• Stop placing book plates
in general collection books
E-books, E-Journals…
Low hanging forbidden fruit•Things that are not under our control
▫AKA University Policy•Mostly in Acquisitions
▫Invoicing University Policy – no electronic invoices
accepted at University level▫Fund tracking
University Policy – have to use complex system to track individual funds/endowments
•Solution: Workarounds to minimize impact to department
Thank you & QuestionsBecky YooseBibliographic Systems LibrarianMiami [email protected] Twitter: yo_bj
Heavy Light
