Subject: Acquisition Department Annual Report
July 1996 June 1997(FY97)
To: William J. Studer, Director of Libraries
From: Carol P. Diedrichs, Head, Acquisition Department
Date: January 15, 1998
Copy Cataloging Restructuring
FY97 saw much change in the organization and functions of the department particularly as they relate to copy cataloging. We began the year having reduced the monograph uniques turnaround time in copy cataloging to one week. This achievement represented the elimination of what was at one point an 8 week backlog in this area. All of the remaining flows were brought to current status by the end of the fiscal year (added volumes/duplicates, rush requests, cat-as-monos, preservation replacements, Health Sciences, all non-book categories including microfiche and film, and Regional Campuses).
Based on the test of cataloging on receipt over the summer (1996), we made some organizational changes in October; those were announced in August. Suzanne Hochman was shifted from CCD to RAD to staff this function. In addition, Lisa Iacobellis position was revamped with an emphasis on monographic unit order receipt and copy cataloging; her position was reclassed from LMTA1 to LMTA2. Lisa continued to assist with continuation check-in and other functions as well. Linda Trombettis position description was revised to reflect copy cataloging activities now included in her job. In addition, on Sept. 17 responsibility for the Administrative Area was shifted from Sheryl Williams to Cheryl Stojak. John Bennett was reassigned (half-time) to Special Collections starting Feb. 3.
The cat as mono (CAM) procedure was evaluated at the end of December. Based on earlier decisions that the order record could be eliminated, CAMs now go directly from check-in in RAD to be cataloged. Nick will no longer build provisional bib and order records. The original reasons for provisional CAM records were to provide tracking for CAMs in the backlog and to keep MAD from ordering duplicates. With the elimination of many backlogs, this is no longer necessary. Nick continues to receive review shelf CAMs and monographs that come with continuations and work with collection managers to determine a location decision. Titles are then forwarded for cataloging with no provisional record. This flow will now mirror one that has existed for analytics.
Dennis Gordon moved from CCD to the Monograph Acquisition Division on March 25th but actually began copy editing and acquisition processing of approvals in April. Pete Risley also began work which combines copy editing with acquisition processing. This change in workflow definitely speeded throughput time for the majority of approval titles.
As part of the last phase of reorganization (April-June 1997), announcements about final reassignments were made individually to each staff member in CCD. The decision was made to merge most copy cat functions into the former Acquisition Department divisions to facilitate the cataloging on receipt model. Cataloging and Acquisition worked together to match workflows and staff resources. Implementation of the administrative change (in reporting lines but not physical location) was made on June 1.
Staff resources:
Mary Rider -- accepted a position in the Law Library
Natalie Warling -- Acquisition Department, MAD
Vickie Fitzgerald -- Cataloging
Vera Enesey -- Cataloging
Anna Batchev -- Cataloging
Vika Novikova -- Acquisition Department, RAD
This was a very stressful year for everyone. The reorganization required considerable energy and produced an equal level of anxiety. The new structure is a workable one and has already shown considerable improvements in the speed with which material can be processed and cataloged.
Electronic Serial Invoice Processing
With this years serial renewal invoices, we were able to test and implement electronic serial invoicing. III provided an additional option to the process for receiving electronic format invoices from a vendor, Get a serial invoice file via INTERACTIVE fts. This program worked perfectly on the supplemental invoice that Michael tested Blackwell. When we received the corrected annual invoice, it was processed within couple of hours!
The following week we received the Faxon annual invoice. Fortunately, Michael had to make only a few minor corrections to PO numbers. He processed the entire invoice within two days via the FTP process described above. Weeks of work (if Michael had keyed all these invoice sections manually) had been complected in just two working days! Less than two weeks later, Faxon prepared a separate invoice file for our foreign account. Three large sections of invoices were then processed via FTP in just a few minutes. This was a major accomplishment for the Continuation Acquisition Division and the Department.
Faxon Problems
There were ongoing problems with Faxons service throughout the year. Trisha and her staff worked diligently with Faxon in reporting problems in great detail (to the point of telling Faxon exactly what needed to be done in each case). Faxon responsiveness has not been satisfactory. Initial explanations were related to the massive job of switching systems which was completed in Fall 1995. More than a year has past since that transition and service has still not returned to normal levels. At the end of December, we drafted a letter to Vernon Cain, CEO of North American Operations indicating our extreme dissatisfaction. We alerted them that no new orders for domestic titles would be placed with them until performance improved. New orders are now being sent to Swets, Faxons Acquire test service (for which we have experienced no problems), or another suitable vendor. In late spring, we decided to move the service of our Faxon account to the Illinois service center (formerly Dawson) for the 1998 subscriptions.
Faxon Receipt Data Project
In fall 1996, we negotiated a deal with Faxon to provide serials check-in data in exchange for a reduction in our service charge. Sally Rogers tested gathering this check-in information via boolean, sending it to Faxon and checking on how the information was received. Sally wrote the protocol and explained it to Sheryl Williams and me. Sheryl then sent the first real check-in list to Faxon on Sept 27. For the remainder of the year, Sheryl ran a boolean to gather the previous weeks information (Friday through Thursday) and ftped the information to Faxon. We also provided retrospective information for all of 1996.
Online Request Transmission (ORT)
With the installation of release 10, Mike and Marsha began to outline possible procedures for the testing of Online Request Transmission (ORT). Test sites will be MEJ, BPL, EDU (psychology funds only), and FIN. Collection managers not in the ORT test group will be receive a brief overview of the project at the CM Forum in March. The process of accepting online order requests began with two of four test locations in late March. 18 ORTs from EDU and BPL were placed by the last day of the month. More were received in early April. The templates, procedures, and training are working well with the test group. We also tracked how ORTs are handled through the system until receipt in the locations to see if refinements are needed. This new process was greeted with great enthusiasm at the Collection Managers Forum. As a minimum this process will be eliminate the time the paper requests were in the campus mail system to us as well as the redundant keying between the collection managers and their staff and our students and staff. RAD received the first few ORT pieces in April. The processing went well. Issues with the elimination of the paper and its effect on collection manager order files, etc., have yet to be completed explored. We expect to move all collection managers to this form of order transmission by the end of 1997.
HVAC Renovation and Space Issues
June saw the start of the HVAC renovation in the lower level. This caused much disruption throughout the department. The heat and noise were major issues in June. The Libraries received very little notice of impending changes and was forced to move the entire MAD staff from room 036 to 040 with only hours notice. This was, of course, an acceleration of a plan to incorporate the entire Acquisition Department into 040. The staff throughout the department and in particular in MAD worked diligently to move furniture, cover areas, and adjust to working in cramped and crowded space. Deb put in many hours coordinating with Automation and the Building Coordinator on getting wiring and telephone requests forwarded, computers moved, and brought online. As a result of this unexpected move, the wiring for the new computers in MAD was expedited and installed June 20th. All Microns were moved and installed in 040S by the 23rd with the exception of Marshas Mac. As an additional complication, I worked with Magda to expedite the move of Anna, Vera, and Vickie into the Cataloging Department. I am very grateful to Magda and her staff for there willingness to accommodate these unexpected changes in their area as well.
PromptCat
The PromptCat test was scheduled for May. Marsha completed her work with Sally, III, OCLC/OHIONET and B&T on the revised profile and mapping specifications. III notified her in May that their part of the profiling was complete. OHIONET had completed their part. Marsha should soon receive documentation from OCLC on logins and passwords to access the PromptCat records on OCLCs ftp server. A test file will be ftpd before the first file is transmitted. Five live PromptCat records were successfully downloaded from the OCLC server in June. There is some question as to whether the data is indexing correctly in Felix. Some progress was made but many more remain to be evaluated before this product can be implemented.
Mail Distribution and Sorting
We began working with Karen Carroll in February to discuss taking on the distribution and sorting of our own mail once a replacement for Carol Roche is hired. This new position will combine accounting duties and the mail duties. Student assistants will be hired to sort and distribute the mail under the supervision of the Financial Accounting Division. Discussions began in the department concerning space for this activity and equipment/supplies needed. RAD and MAD gave Cheryl Stojak brief explanations of how their serial, monograph and approval pieces are handled. The unexpected physical changes resulted in a delay in implementing this plan.
Collection Managers Forums
Quarterly collection managers forums were held on 11/02/96, 3/20/97, and 6/28/97. Topics covered included Faxon Check-in Data Project, UND Collection Development, Analyzing User Searches by Location, Acquisition Department Copy Cataloging Update, Cat-as-Monos to Analytics, Testing of Order Entry into Felix by Collection Managers (ORTs), Managing Your Order Files -- Timeframes, etc., 79x donor policy, withdrawn location code, conferences and editions policy, ordering/establishing electronic products on the Web, approval investigation of science titles etc., the no search approval pilot, PromptCat, University Press profile, review period policies for the approval shelves, and shelf ready serials.
1. STATUS OF BASIC PRIORITIES
Monograph Acquisition Division
1. Perform pre-order search of order requests within 3 weeks of receipt
Pre-order searching was current every month of FY97, including the difficult December/January period when incoming requests are high and staff and student resources are limited. 18,921 requests were searched and forwarded for ordering.
2. Vend, input, proof and mail purchase orders within 4 working days following pre-order search
Purchase order production was current with the exception of the difficult December/January period. Purchase order production workflow is not monitored on a daily basis but when the 4 day priority begins to slide the division shifts staff and student resources.
Order production improved in the second half of FY97 due to several factors: increase in PFW downloaded full bib records; initiation of online request transmission by collection managers in March; continued cross-training and personnel shifting in peak periods; and improved supervision of production in the Firm Order Section.
The correction of a bug in the ISBN selection software for electronic orders in October allowed the number of purchase orders eligible to be sent electronically to increase substantially in FY97 to 6,321. Of the 26,266 purchase orders produced and proofread in MAD, 24% were sent electronically. This eliminates the need for printing, proofing, bursting, and stuffing envelopes (as well as the postage costs). These factors should continue to speed order production in FY98.
3. Review the outstanding monograph order file for claiming once every 3 months
Claiming was current every month of FY97. A total of 8,340 outstanding orders were reviewed and 3,612 claims issued. Rush, Research Foundation, and prepay files were reviewed monthly. The claim module was down for three weeks after Release 10 installation in September, 1996. Luckily, the entire file had been reviewed in August. John was able to claim priority files the last week of September after the software was corrected. This is the most current claiming has been since the Claims Specialist position was lost many years ago.
4. Maintain the weekly approval cycle
The approval cycle was maintained every month of FY97. We did experience difficulties with the non-supply of books or tapes by the vendor.
5. Clear invoices for payment within 4 weeks of initial display on the review shelves
Invoices were current every month in FY97. Cross-training allowed Deb to maintain current status with invoice processing when Karen was unavailable.
Continuation Acquisition Division
1. Search, process, and vend continuation and serial unit orders within 4 weeks of receipt
This priority was met throughout the year as 441 new continuation orders were received and processed. Orders were lighter the entire year, averaging 109 per month, as compared with 116 in 1996, 163 in 1995 and 141 in 1994. We had an average of 9.4 orders "on-hand" at the end of each month with the average "oldest date as the 28th. The books closed in June with no orders on hand.
2. Process priority and routine claims file for all regular frequencies once per month
The priority and routine claims files for all regular frequencies were processed monthly. All irregular categories were processed 11 months of the year. This activity resulted in 13,788 claims being generated and a year-to-date monthly average of 1,149; 1,510 or 11% of these were transmitted electronically.
3. Review and acknowledge location-generated claims and/or subscription questions within 2 days
All location-generated subscription questions were reviewed and acknowledged within two days. We experienced an unusually high number of requests to obtain issues which fell into the category of "Lapse in Progress" due to the many problems associated with our Faxon account. The breakdown for the FY 1996/97 follows:
| How Request was Received | Action Taken |
| --In Person: 55 | --Already Claimed: 5 |
| --By Mail: 100 | --Lapse in Progress: 104 |
| --Phone: 85 | --Not Legit Claim: 17 |
| --Email: 55 | --Valid Claim: 169 |
| TOTAL: 295 | TOTAL: 295 |
The statistical breakdown of location-generated claims resulted in 57% of those received being valid claims. However, this only represented 1.2% of the total number of claims (13,788) generated for the 1996/97 fiscal year.
4. Process first issues within 3 days of receipt.
All processing remained current.
5. Process title changes within 5 days of receipt.
All processing remained current.
6. Process continuation invoices within 1 week of receipt.
All processing remained current. Time management and prioritizing of work flow remained a vital element in Michaels position as he began devoting nearly half of his time to handling renewals, upgrades, and cancellations of electronic products. Incoming invoices without problems (the vast majority) were processed for payment within one week of receipt. Any invoices with problems or discrepancies were handled promptly, but resolution often depended on the nature of the problem and/or the quality of response from vendors and publishers. Renewal invoices for electronic products often involved more work as we frequently upgraded to more users or changed format from disc to web version.
Receiving Acquisition Division
1. Check-in continuation pieces on OSCAR within 7 days of receipt checked-in
This guideline was maintained throughout the year. Much of the time we processed incoming serials within 2 to 4 days of receipt. This was a difficult task to maintain this year. For the first half of the fiscal year the division had one student assistant, Tara Zemla, helping with check-in of periodicals. In spring 97 the division hired two students, Jess Bookshar and Monica Papp, to replace the graduating Tara. Although we allotted 40 hours a week for student check-in, as is often the case with students, not all the hours were worked each week. During quarter breaks and summer quarter, the staff carried the full responsibility for all check-in work. This meant Lisa Iacobellis and Ellen Scherer often were pulled from other activities to help keep continuations moving out within the 7 day guideline.
2. Check-in unit order pieces on OSCAR within 7 days of receipt processed
Major changes in this workflow occurred throughout the year. The work changed from strict order receipt to a combination of receipt and copy cataloging. With these changes, the work no longer could be handled by student assistants. We did continue to use one student, Nancy Lamenta, though, to do receipt only work until she graduated in Dec. That was accomplished by sorting unit order pieces into those with skeletal hand built bib records Nancy could process and those with bib records downloaded from OCLC that RAD staff handled.
Another change made gradually was which staff members did this processing. Suzanne Hochman was transferred to RAD 10/28/96 and Vika Novikova was transferred 6/1/97, joining Linda Trombetti and Lisa Iacobellis in unit order receipt/copy cataloging. Workflow adjustments progressed from detailed sorting of incoming material for specific individuals to a shared responsibility for most monographic formats. By the end of the year, material was no longer being sorted.
3. Add holdings to OSCAR within 7 days after check-in
This basic priority was adjusted from 5 to 7 days to reflect its relationship to other priorities. The workload continued to escalate through the year, averaging between 500 and 700 serial item records created each month. The earlier approach of sharing the work among 3 staff who already had full workloads was not adequate to keep within the 7 day guideline. In March we tested having a student build serial items, training Candice Madey. She kept record creation well within the 7 day guideline until she left for the summer. For summer quarter, Ellen, Lisa and Sheryl again shared the serial item record creation work.
4. Process unit invoices within 7 days of receipt
Kathie remained current during the year for unit invoices that were completely received and problem free. She had help from two good student assistants. Kathie also took steps this year to shorten the processing time on problematic invoices.
Financial Accounting Division
1. Review statements and resolve invoicing problems monthly
This priority was met only half of the year due to the retirement of Carol Roche.
2. Produce, review, and distribute Accounting Reports on the first of each month; process prepayment accounts just prior to running monthly accounting reports
This priority was met consistently.
3. Review and reconcile FAS reports within 3 weeks of receipt
Again, this priority was met but that was difficult with the retirement of Carol Roche. Once her position is filled, we will be able to review the FAS on schedule. On occasion the adjustments needed to correct mistakes took many months for the necessary accounting unit to make the corrections. All we can do in those cases is monitor the situation and ask for status reports.
4. Review and mail checks within 2 days of receipt This priority was met with the help of Marion Ramage in the Administrative Area and students.
5. Batch process invoices for payment daily
This priority was met on a consistent basis even with the retirement of one staff member.
6. Receipt of checks from Accounts Payable within 3 weeks
A/P has gotten much faster and we are constantly monitoring our invoices for aging so this priority has been met.
7. Open, sort, and distribute mail by 5:00 p.m. of the day it is received; during staff shortages, the mail will be completed no later than 10:00 a.m. the next day
This priority was not met on a consistent basis due to limitations and medical problems. Cheryl spent some time looking at the process and changes are being instituted which will improve the timeliness of this process.
8. Collect and proofread timesheets for students and staff; verify that appropriate signatures are included; deliver timesheets to Library Personnel by 10:00 a.m.
This process was done in a consistent manner by Marion Ramage all year.
Copy Cataloging Division
1. Process new, unique monographs within 1 week of receipt
The division met this goal throughout the year. Throughput time for the majority of monograph receipts has been one week or less, between 3-7 calendar days, for most of the year. During the first 4 months of the fiscal year, the division benefitted from the additional assistance that Teri Hagerman and Terry Camelford were able to provide, particularly during the month of July when the backlog of new receipts was finally eliminated and we were able to keep incoming receipts current within one week or less. Our customary turnaround ran slightly behind (by one week) in December due to numerous staff vacations.
2. Process duplicates and added volumes within 1 week of receipt
Processing of duplicates and added volumes was current in FY97, with records added to OSCAR generally within 0-2 days after receipt. Until the end of 1996, 1-2 student assistants were responsible for processing duplicates/added volumes in CCD. Beginning in November, when the Receiving Acquisition Division began adding OSCAR records for duplicates/added volumes at the point of receipt, the numbers referred to the division diminished greatly.
3. Process rush titles within 48 hours of notification or identification of rush status
Processing of rush titles remained current in FY97, with most titles processed within several hours or the same day as received. After Feb., we stopped counting rush receipts separately from other categories, but continued to process them just as promptly when they were received.
4. Process non-book material within 1 week of receipt
Since Oct., when a sizable backlog of microfiche and film was eliminated, processing of all non-book receipts has remained current within 1 week of receipt or less. At the beginning of the year, the backlog of fiche and film was approximately 2,419 titles. In July, student assistants began searching titles on OCLC to identify pieces with/without copy. Titles without copy were forwarded to the Cataloging Dept. Staff training and orientation for processing non-book materials began in August and the amount of staff time devoted to copy cataloging of fiche and film increased over the next three months so that the backlog could be eliminated by the end of October. Cataloging of all other categories of non-book receipts (videos, audio, computer files, etc.) remained current through-out the year While all members of the division participated in helping to eliminate the long-standing backlog of fiche and film, Vickie Fitzgerald continued to have on-going responsibility for processing incoming non-book receipts the remainder of the year.
5. Process analytics and cat-as-monos within 1 week of receipt
Processing of analytics and cat-as-mono receipts was current during most of the year, except for Dec. when cataloging was temporarily delayed by 1-2 weeks for these categories. At the beginning of the fiscal year, there was a backlog of 327 analytic titles needing to be searched and cataloged. The analytic backlog was eliminated in August with participation from all members of the division. Vera Enesey remained primarily responsible for processing of incoming analytic titles the remainder of the year, until June, while Anna Batchev continued to handle the cat-as-mono workflow.
6. Process all remaining categories of material (Regional Campus, HEA/CHI, preservation) within 4 weeks of receipt
Processing of regional campus and HEA/CHI receipts remained current in FY97. Dennis Gordon and Suzanne Hochman respectively, were responsible for these particular workflows earlier in the year, while Natalie Warling has been responsible for both of these workflows subsequently. While responsibility for processing of regional campus materials was transferred to the Cataloging Dept. in June, Natalie continued her assignment cataloging HEA/CHI receipts.
Processing of preservation replacement copies remained current throughout the year. Since Feb., the small number of preservation microfilm bound-withs has also remained current. Vickie Fitzgerald completed processing of all remaining titles that had been backlogged and these have since remained current.
Project Specialist
1. Process vendor status reports within 1 week of receipt
In the months of July - September Mary Spillman processed 754 vendor status reports. Of those 275 (36%) were referred to others for further action. In September MAD began processing the vendor status reports temporarily while she had surgery and caught up on other backlogs. During the three months she processed the reports they were done within one week of receipt.
2. Complete monthly statistics within 5 working days of the end of the month
Statistics were completed within the first 5 working days of the month. Any delays were because division statistics were not completed on time.
3. Complete PC backups monthly.
With the arrival of new PCs in the department in January, the backup schedule and procedures were revised. Some PCs were passworded and/or moved to the server and no longer required backup. With these changes fewer PCs are being backed up and we able to remain current the last half of the fiscal year.
2. PERSONNEL RESOURCES
Monograph Acquisition Division
1. Walter (Pete) Risley, Approval Processing Specialist, was reclassified to LTMA2. Following reclassification in March 1997, Pete began to copy catalog approval items upon receipt during acquisition processing.
2. Dennis Gordon (LMTA2) was reassigned to MAD March 25, 1997 as part of the reorganization of CCD. Dennis was trained to process order records for approval titles and copy catalog approvals upon receipt.
3. Nick Felt was trained in copy cataloging and assisted CCD with backlogs during the first months of FY97. He began copy cataloging gifts upon receipt in September 1996. This improved throughput time and compensated for loss of staff in CCD. The majority of cat-as-mono processing was moved from Nick to RAD and CCD in December. Nick retained workflow for cams without a location decision.
4. Karen Lawson was trained in copy cataloging in March 1997 and began to supervise two staff (Dennis and Pete) copy cataloging B&T approval receipts. Karen continued approval deduping and took on coordinating B&T tape delivery to University Systems (UTS) following the end of courier service in December, 1996. Marsha, Karen, and Deb now deliver tapes to UTS. Karen added PromptCat file ftp in May, 1997 and continues to trouble-shoot PromptCat records.
5. Deb Cameron trained in the Automation Office and assisted with PC installation, moving, trouble-shooting, and other duties as assigned. This compensated for vacancies in Automation. She also assumed responsibility for vendor reports in September and began working closely with the Firm Order section on order fulfillment, an important task that was decentralized following the loss of Pam Bentleys position many years ago.
6. Connie McClendon assumed responsibility for processing titles received on two new approval plans: Hogarth for Africana and Kennys for Irish literature and criticism.
Continuation Acquisition Division
1. Cheryl Obong, Supervisor, CAD Records Section, resigned as of 3/7/96 to accept a. Library Associate 1 position in the Cataloging Dept. Faye and Trisha assumed the duties and maintained priorities until the position was filled in May.
2. Faye Yungfleisch resigned her LMTA2 Cataloging Specialist position in May, to accept a promotion to the Supervisor of the section. She continued to cover both positions until her replacement was hired in July.
3. Heather Beckley, began work in July 1997, as LMTA2 Serials Processing Specialist, filling the vacancy left by Faye.
4. A significant and permanent change was made early in 1997 to relieve Trisha of the rapidly expanding electronic products workflows. Teri and Michael devoted significantly more time to electronic products, frequently up to 50% of their time. Trisha reviewed and revised existing procedures and workflows to form an electronics products team. The completion of the Exchange Project and the success of electronic invoices provided the time needed to devote to electronic products.
5. Throughout the year, staff were reassigned duties on a temporary basis to accomplish major projects. Teri, Terry, and Jim assisted with the major dealer change project in which 633 titles were transferred by the end of the fiscal year. Teri and Terry worked part-time in CCD from July through October, assisting them in reducing their backlog. The experience provided CAD with new expertise and substantial experience in cataloging and downloading bib records.
6. From March through July, Terry assisted with first issues, title changes, and item record maintenance to maintain division priorities during vacancies and absences.
Receiving Acquisition Division
1. Receiving experienced several personnel changes this year, most in conjunction with the implementation of copy cataloging at point of receipt for unit orders. In August, it was determined that the testing of copy cataloging we had done with assistance from CCDstaff over the previous 5 months was successful and RAD would incorporate copy cataloging on orders with downloaded bib records. One staff member, Suzanne Hochman, was selected for reassignment to RAD, joining the division Oct. 28, 1996.
2. As another element in providing RAD the human resources to do copy cataloging on receipt, Lisa Iacobellis position was upgraded from LMTA1 to LMTA2. The job duties are largely unit order related. A small percentage of her time is still devoted to continuation check-in.
3. The other personnel change related to copy cataloging was the reassignment of Vika Novikova from CCD to RAD on June 1, 1997. Besides unit order receipt/copy cataloging, Vikas assignment includes copy cataloging any overflow of full bib record approval pieces that MAD cannot complete.
4. As a result of these change, the unit order processing positions held by Suzanne Hochman, Lisa Iacobellis, Vika Novikova and Linda Trombetti are supervised by Sheryl Williams.
5. Sheryls position was broad banded during the year. The classification title changed from Office Manager 2 to Office Administrative Associate. The position remains Classified Civil Service and non-exempt. Sheryls position is the first one in the Acquisition Dept member to be broadbanded.
Financial Accounting Division
1. The division had two vacancies this past year. Carol Roche, an account clerk 2, retired in January with little notice. Marion Ramage, an LMTA1, retired in June.
2. With Carol Roches retirement Cheryl continued all accounting duties and relied on Marion and students to help keep paperwork as organized as possible. In addition, three students and one PIC student helped to cover the administrative duties. Together all of them managed to keep things rolling.
3. Jean McMeans was hired to replace Carol Roche in mid May and Alenda Hicks was hired in August (1997) to replace Marion Ramage.
Copy Cataloging Division
1. Restructuring of workflows to support cataloging-on-receipt resulted in the reassignment of 7 out of 8 staff members over the course of the year. In October, Suzanne Hochman (LMTA2) was reassigned to the Receiving Acquisition Division. Responsibility for search and copy cataloging of HEA/CHI receipts was reassigned at that time to Natalie Warling.
2. In Feb., John Bennetts half-time LMTA2 position in CCD was reassigned to Special Collections and his workload was absorbed by remaining staff.
3. In March, Dennis Gordon (LMTA2) was reassigned to the Monograph Acquisition Division to assist with cataloging of approvals on receipt as that workflow was redirected. Natalie Warling then assumed responsibility for Regional campus cataloging.
4. As of June 1, 1997, four additional staffing reassignments became effective, when Vika Novikova (LMTA2) was reassigned to Receiving Acquisitions, while Vera Enesey (LA1), Anna Batchev (LMTA2) and Vickie Fitzgerald (LA1) were reassigned to the Cataloging Dept. At the end of the fiscal year, with one remaining staff member, Natalie Warling, the division continued to be temporarily responsible for processing of HEA/CHI receipts as well as a small number of overflow approval monographs.
Project Specialist
1. There were no vacancies. In September/October Mary took a medical leave for surgery. As noted MAD took over processing vendor status reports.
3. REVIEW OF GOALS FOR 1996/97
Monograph Acquisition Division
1. Review approval plan processing and make recommendations for the future
Approval processing underwent major changes this year which were driven by the reorganization of the Acquisition Department and by new software capabilities following Release 10. implementation.
Plans and Profiles:
Baker & Taylor continued to have problems delivering desired materials. This was particularly noticeable in university press publications. To correct this, Marsha worked with Dana Alessi to establish a separate university press plan profile for all subjects. The plan succeeded in gathering more UP titles following the first shipment received in February 1997.
After consultation within the Libraries, the B&T approval contract was renewed for calendar 1997. B&T has problems meeting the terms of the contract but there was inadequate time to divide and rebid our extremely large and complicated English language plan in FY97. That is a goal that must be accomplished in FY98 because the last renewal ends Dec. 31, 1998.
Workflow and procedures
Karen and Pete displayed three B&T approval shipments in a two week period to catch up to the review cycle disrupted by B&Ts problems during automation migration. This means titles received on Thursday/Friday are searched and displayed for review three working days later on Wednesday.
By April 1997, Pete and Dennis were fully trained to process approval order records and, for the first time, copy catalog titles in the same session. This one-stop acquisition and cataloging processing improved approval processing substantially. Any title not cataloged the same week was forwarded to Cataloging for completion. By June 1997, only titles requiring more complex cataloging decisions were being forwarded.
Another plan to speed books to the shelves was proposed in May by Marsha. The idea is to label monographs at point of cataloging in FELIX. The idea was approved. Furniture capable of holding label printers was ordered. Purchase of label printers and implementation of labeling for approvals and gifts is a goal for FY98.
The approval area performed a two week no-search test in May. Five test sites (AGI, BPL, EDU, MUS and WMN) reviewed approval titles that had not been searched on FELIX prior to display. Data was collected and requires more evaluation. From an approval perspective, no-search titles required a disproportionate amount of post-selection evaluation to process. Preliminary findings do not show savings of time or personnel. This will be reviewed further.
2. Implement PromptCat in approval area when vendor is able
Some progress on PromptCat was made this year. We had high hopes when B&T finally set an implementation date. However, implementation of PromptCat depends on mutual understanding, communication, and coordination between Baker & Taylor, OCLC/PromptCat, OHIONET, Innovative Interfaces, the OSUL Automation Office, and MAD. Profiling began in February but the first five live records were not delivered until June. This was because the required databases, software, profiles, and procedures were not in place for several of the parties involved. Call number indexing and other problems remained at the end of the fiscal year. Review of PromptCat for overall cost effectiveness is a goal for FY98.
3. Implement automatic cancellation period for selected outstanding orders; implement other mechanisms for more effectively pursuing long outstanding orders
Collection managers were queried about an automatic cancellation period at a CM Forum in Fall 1996. The response was a request to test separate cancellation periods for domestic (18 months) vs. foreign (24 months) materials. Marsha worked on this extensively but was unable to find an effective sorting method because orders are not coded that way in the system. Beau Case was contacted and volunteered to test automatic cancellations. Printouts were made of his orders but it became clear that each had a lengthy history precluding cancelling based solely on order date.
Automatic cancellation tests were set aside in order to investigate order fulfillment. Beaus outstanding orders were researched individually, most required high level decision-making and problem-solving. This meant the task could not be assigned to students. Deb Cameron assumed responsibility for investigation and resolution of fulfillment problems.
This process will take an extended period of time to perform, perhaps years to review all outstanding orders and continue reviewing the file on an ongoing basis. However, routine claiming should go faster and claims should be more effective because the review will include coding titles that should not need to be reviewed or claimed again, e.g. sets being published at a very slow rate. Several hundred records were reviewed in FY97 resulting in vendor changes, phone and electronic follow-up, and cancellation of unavailable titles. Preliminary results indicate this is effective but it is also time-consuming. As a result, statistics are being kept for future planning and evaluation.
4. Review gift workflow processing and consider cataloging of some categories of gifts at point of receipt
This goal was certainly achieved and surpassed in FY97. Nick was trained to copy catalog in CCD through Fall Quarter. Following coordination with all appropriate units, Nick discontinued building order records for gifts that had copy on OCLC. He began copy cataloging gifts directly upon receipt. This has speeded gifts, many of which are current imprints, to the shelves.
Nick also began copy cataloging en bloc collections upon receipt. While cataloging the Reiss collection, donor notes were first added in a makeshift 199 field but were eventually placed in a 79x field using MARC tags and a national standard-compatible format. Nick was integral in identifying donor notes as a concern and assisted Cataloging and Special Collections Cataloging in establishing an OSUL policy for donor notes.
5. Complete deduping of OSUL order database
This goal was achieved and surpassed. A total of 52,628 bib records were reviewed primarily by Deb Cameron but also by Karen Lawson, me and many others. The deduping project resulted in 21,967 duplicate bibliographic records being deleted from OSCAR in FY 1996/97. Deb also corrected non-filing character counts for orders attached to bib records beginning with a, an and the. Deb and Karen continue to dedup newly input records, especially approvals, that are added to the system via tape loads. This project makes OSCAR/FELIX easier to use for all patrons and library personnel. It was a time-consuming but very successful project and cleaned up duplicates created by the merger of INNOVACQ with FELIX.
6. Test and implement new features in Release 10 to allow entry of order requests directly into III by collection managers
This goal was achieved in FY97. The ORT (online request transmission) process was possible after Release 10 was installed and debugged in September 1996.
By January, Mike and Marsha successfully tested the ORT software, created templates, devised a new BLOC to identify ORTs, produced training materials, coordinated with other divisions on ORT procedures and policies, and had acceptance from MEJ, BPL, EDU and FIN to serve as test sites. RAD and other Acquisition staff were trained on ORTs in February. It was discovered that some password conflicts necessitated new passwords for staff with circulation authorizations. This was coordinated with Sally Rogers. The initial test locations were trained, followed by Steve Rogers (MAP), and questions were resolved. This project has been very successful. It is a goal for FY98 to train all locations on ORT and migrate away from paper MRF forms.
Continuation Acquisition Division
1. Test 180 titles with RoweCom Subscribe and 250 with Faxon Acquire; monitor orders, claims and billing and prepare analytical report in summer 1997, before 1998 renewals.
In September 1996, a list of 268 titles were selected for the Faxon Acquire test. Faxon preloaded 262 of the titles as orders; they left 6 orders for us to enter and 6 titles for us to add to the catalog so we could place orders against them. Al Nordman, from Faxon Illinois installed a brand new Pentium PC and loaded the Acquire software on the terminal they have provided for the test. We started the test with a Beta version B.2.01, worked our way through 15 version enhancements to the live version 1.0 in early July. The software is updated by modem from Illinois requiring little effort on our part to maintain. New orders and claims are transmitted via modem to the Illinois office; order acknowledgments and catalog updates are transmitted back to our PC the same way.
Our orders were keyed into the RoweCom database in September as proposed orders, to be released, along with our renewals, when the new 1997 catalog was available in November 1996. A glitch in the system allowed the orders to be released in October, prior to the loading of 1997 prices into the database. Because new prices were not available, the system assigned 1996 start dates. Fortunately, the orders were intercepted at RoweCom and start dates were changed to 1997. RoweCom later revised the software to prevent the system from accepting backdated orders so this should not happen again.
In January, Teri tried to download the new catalog from the RoweCom website, but a defect in one of the files prevented the catalog from loading completely. We had to FTP the entire database to RoweCom for correction.. Our Automation office moved the RoweCom files from the server to Trishas PC to make troubleshooting easier. Over the year, the Subscribe system has been improved so that catalog updates take considerably less time. Teri started claiming subscriptions and issues using the Subscribe claiming module which seems to be working well.
2. Continue working with Faxon staff to clean up problems with subscriptions and missing issues, correct errors on Sources, and improve communications.
This was the most time consuming and frustrating activity of the year for the Order Section staff. While communications improved and response time was reduced to two weeks, the resolution of subscription problems was a major concern. The service staff in Westwood are not effective in resolving problems and lack necessary follow-up activities to assure resolution. The new Faxon SOURCE system continued to be plagued by unidentified program/user problems and renewal orders were not sent for over 150 of our periodical subscriptions. The standing orders are also very problematic with duplicate shipments made on many titles and lack of invoicing on others. The decision was made to transfer our account to the Illinois service center with the 1998 renewal period.
3. Expand testing of FTP capabilities for serial invoices; move toward processing invoices from our major vendors.
The highly successful processing of electronic invoices from Faxon and Blackwell's was one of the major accomplishments of this past fiscal year. This achievement allowed Michael to devote even more time to other related duties, especially with the ever-growing number of electronic products and online journal titles. Michael worked out the technical details with each vendor and fortunately only had to make a few minor corrections to purchase order numbers. We did not have the major problems with multiple subscription numbers that we had had the previous fiscal year when Faxon converted to their new Source database. Michael processed the entire Faxon title list, 7,000+ subscriptions, within two days. Within that same week, he received the annual invoice electronically from Blackwell's and this invoice was processed within a couple of hours! Weeks of work, if he had keyed all these invoice sections manually, had been completed in just two working days.
4. Test the new III electronic claims module with the appropriate vendors.
In July 1996, Jim began contacting vendors and gathering the information needed to prepare for electronic claims. Staff at Blackwell's, Swets, and Harrassowitz were very helpful in making electronic claiming a success. By September, we were transmitting electronic claims to Blackwell's, followed in October to Swets, then in February 1997 to Harrassowitz. This resulted in 602 e-claims transmitted to Blackwell's, 547 to Swets and 361 to Harrassowitz. These 1,510 electronic claims represented 11% of the claims produced for the 1996/97 fiscal year. From a workflow perspective, electronic claiming has proven to be very efficient. On the few occasions when bogus or missing information was transmitted, the vendors brought it to our attention and Jim e-mailed/faxed the corrected information.
5. Continue to work with staff in location libraries to move serial handling information from their manual check-in files to Felix check-in records.
Trisha and Cheryl worked with staff from Fine Arts, Vet Medicine, and Science & Engineering Library to get the Loc Labels project started. Codes for adding item records and binding concerns were among the first issues dealt with. As the year progressed, subsequent refinements, and enhancements were processed.
6. Develop procedures for the efficient processing of GPO titles by working with staff in Documents and RAD.
Cheryl and Faye continued to cataloged and set-up records for GPO titles sent down from ISD. Ellen Scherer, and her check-in staff in RAD continue to forward items from the documents collection manager to be set up for the Documents location.
Receiving Acquisition Division
1. Integrate some copy cataloging processes and receipt of unit order materials into a single flow of material.
In August, it was determined that the test of copy cataloging at point of unit order receipt done over the previous 5 months was successful and RAD would incorporate copy cataloging into the process of unit order receiving. Parameters of what material RAD would copy catalog were determined. The division and department worked with the Cataloging Dept and Copy Cat Division staff to set up flows for the materials going to those areas for cataloging after receipt in RAD. There have been many procedures and workflows to revise with these changes and the ongoing restructuring but good progress was made in incorporating this new activity into the existing priorities of the division.
2. Reorganize the division and train staff to support the new processing initiatives associated with PFW and PromptCat.
PromptCat did not become a factor in monograph processing until late in the fiscal year. We began testing in for approval materials and have not made much progress to date. As a result, there has been no discussion of its use for firm orders. The Passport for Windows download has been incorporated in the workflow noted above, cataloging on receipt.
To support PFW downloading and copy cataloging in RAD, Lisa Iacobellis position was upgraded from LMTA 1 to LMTA2 with a change in focus from serial check-in to unit order processing. It was determined the expected workload would require 2 additional LMTA2 staff and that Sheryl would be the direct supervisor of all unit order processing staff. As planning for these changes developed, it became clear that supervising the administrative unit in addition to the growing unit order staff was not a viable workload. Over the preceding year Cheryl Stojak had improved FAD processing to the point that she welcomed the idea of moving responsibility for administrative work and supervision of one staff member, Marion Ramage from RAD to FAD, so that change was made in September. Thereafter, Suzanne Hochman and Vika Novikova were transferred from CCD to RAD in Oct. and June respectively.
Implementing cataloging on receipt was done in stages to develop uniform unit receipt and copy cataloging skills among this staff, half of whom are experienced with order receipt and half of whom have strong cataloging skills. That transition continues with the intention of having all 4 staff at the same skill levels in the next fiscal year.
3. Analyze the divisions ability to maintain a 48 hour turnaround time for continuation pieces with the staffing changes planned for implementation in fall.
With the change of Lisa Iacobellis position to largely unit order work, only 2 full-time check-in staff, Mart Burr and Bessie Yen, were left to handle check-in with help from one student. We expanded student check-in of simple serials to 2 student positions. Lisa continues to do continuation check-in as the two workflows, units and continuations, ebb and flow. Ellen also has spent much time checking in over the year to keep us within a 2 day turnaround time. This is a workflow that will require further monitoring and analysis in FY98.
One task which has grown is serial item record creation. After struggling for months to keep up with the 500 to 600 pieces each month needing serial item records, the division trained an experienced student to do this work in March. Reassigning this task allowed the division to maintain their turnaround time a little easier. Maintaining this workflow is tenuous though, as holidays or any leave time by check-in staff can lengthen processing time very quickly.
4. Participate in examination of other acquisition workflows for improved efficiency such as cat-as-monos and gifts.
The move to eliminate order record creation for cat-as-monos on continuation and gift pieces identified in Kathie Millers problem solving was not difficult to make. MAD and RAD staff readily agreed to the change. Routing of pieces directly from RAD to Cataloging Dept was arranged.
RAD did some testing of item record creation for serials during the check-in process. The Release 10 allowed check-in and updating of records via both Database maintenance and Ordering & receiving paths. Ellen and Lisa both tried creating item records using check-in in Order/receive. They found it required several extra steps to insert or revise necessary item record fields. They also found the Database maintenance path was a much more efficient combination of tasks. With just a few steps out of check-in, item records can be built. Still, this approach means using scarce staff time for item record building, so we have not moved to this method exclusively. It is most efficient to have items built by a student employee when possible. The Database maintenance path is used for check-in and item building when checking in some hardbound serials.
Kathie examined the amount of material she returns to vendors as part of her invoice clearing work. She found there had been a 58% increase in pieces returned between 1993 and 1996. Research on this development will continue in the coming year.
Financial Accounting Division
1. Learn MS Office which includes: Excel 5, Word, and Access a data base management system. Learn Eudora e-mail software. Identify uses for these tools in the Divisions day to day work.
Cheryl learned Excel and used it to maintain the general ledger. It took much juggling to keep the ledger updated and accurate. It is easy for human error to creep in. The other two software packages got little attention because they were not going to become standards in the department.
2. Implement Phase 2 of the General Ledger project as the division becomes more proficient with the above software packages. Reduce the manual manipulation of data into various workbooks.
Cheryl did achieve this goal . This part of the General Ledger project allowed for better report generation.
3. Investigate ways to get more access time to departmental PCs as the projects above expand.
The spread sheet program Excel is not on all PCs in the department. As a result, only the PC in the Administrative area had this functionality. A new Micron PC is expected for the division in fall 1997.
Copy Cataloging Division
1. Maintain or exceed newly defined current, throughput time of 1 week or less for all categories of monograph receipts including approvals, firm orders, gift books, duplicates/added volumes, and analytics received from Acquisitions as well as Health Sciences, Children's Hospital and Regional Campus locations.
Beginning in July, the division met this goal on a regular basis, with average through-put between 3-7 calendar days for the majority of new receipts. Exceptions included a one-week delay in Dec. 1996 due to holidays and staff vacations, and a 2-day delay in June 1997 resulting from staffing and workflow changes. Some categories including Regional campus, and HEA/CHI maintained current status within 4 weeks of receipts or less.
2. Eliminate copy cataloging backlog of non-book receipts (i.e., microfiche and film). Refer materials needing original cataloging to Cataloging Department as they are identified.
In Oct., staff completed OCLC search and cataloging that eliminated a backlog of nearly 2419 non-book receipts (fiche and film). Materials without copy were referred to the Cataloging Department for completion.
3. Develop new Acquisition Department copy cataloging guidelines to highlight essential fields needing review and minimize revision and also to clarify criteria for cataloging upon receipt in RAD versus referral of records for further review to CCD. Continue to review procedures and make changes as needed to promote efficiency.
Mary Rider updated and completed final revisions of the Monograph Copy Cataloging Guidelines for use in the Acquisition Department in December 1996. The guidelines, along with related documentation, are also now available on the Acquisition Dept. web page that Mary created and which continues under development on the libraries temporary server.
4. Participate with Technical Services staff in review of monographic workflows including gift books, duplicates/added volumes and "cat-as-monos".
Mary participated in discussions with other Technical Services staff that resulted in the redirection of most monographic workflows in FY97, e.g, duplicates/added volumes are now processed in RAD, and cat-as-monos (initially) were sent to CCD immediately upon receipt for search/cataloging which eliminated the need for brief bib/order records to be created.
5. Prepare for changes and redefine staff responsibilities as needed in response to implementation of PromptCat for approval books.
Changes in workflow and staffing reassignments were, for the most part, made in advance of PromptCat testing and implementation in the Monograph Acquisition Division, e.g., Dennis Gordon was reassigned to that division in March to assist with copy cataloging of approval books on receipt. PromptCat continued to be delayed at the vendor end.
6. Continue to expand and refine staff training within the division to meet new needs, especially relating to use of OSCAR for editing and record maintenance and the cataloging of non-book materials, analytics and other categories as identified.
Training continued throughout the year to support changing needs and priorities, e.g., cataloging of analytics, non-book receipts, deduping of OSCAR records, etc.
7. Implement new statistics form to record pertinent information about monthly division workload of incoming/outgoing monograph receipts. Continue to experiment with and review statistical forms as needed and investigate use of new methods (i.e., OSCAR booleans) to generate statistical information.
Mary developed a new monthly statistics form to track incoming/outgoing receipts and to compile monthly statistics for cataloging completed by division members. We did not implement use of OSCAR booleans on a regular basis due to complexity of tracking variant workflows, e.g., cat-as-monos, rush, duplicates/added volumes.
Project Specialist
1. Continue to become more proficient with the various software packages in the department.
A great deal of progress was made in this area with some training , self teaching and experimentation. With the demise of Magnus in November, Mary taught herself to use Eudora for e-mail. This included building nicknames, mailboxes, filters and transferring my files from Magnus. In April with the assistance of Brian Daher from Cataloging Mary learned how to read Eudora from the hard drive to avoid crashing the disk when its full and losing messages. In December she took the Windows 95 tutorial on Mary Riders PC to familiarize herself with the system. She also attended Beginners Windows 95 Training at the Computer Workshop in Dublin in March.
2. Document procedures for the position.
Some procedures have been documented, but my major goal of documenting vendor status reports processing has not. As previously mentioned they have been processed the majority of the year in MAD.
3. Put the remainder of the departments forms on the PC for easy update and production.
In January Mary completed transferring all the documents to the PC. In February the project was completed. The entire project included transferring documents to the PC, revising forms, weeding and discarding outdated forms, updating the forms index and notebook, assigning numbers to unnumbered forms and rearranging and relabelling the file cabinet drawers. Once the project was completed, Mary received many compliments on the new look.
4. Weed the department files and become current in filing.
The statistics file has been completely weeded. Two and one half of the three file cabinets of the department files have been weeded. We maintain seven complete years as well as the current year. Although some progress has been made on the department files we still have a backlog.
4. NEW INITIATIVES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS (not already mentioned in priorities and goals sections)
Monograph Acquisition Division
1. MAD moved from 036 to 040S ahead of schedule. In the last weeks of June, we abruptly moved of staff and equipment from 036 due to asbestos removal following duct work. Staff did a remarkable job of relocating to 040S several months ahead of schedule and sharing space with CCD staff and furniture. They did a valiant job of maintaining workflow despite lack of PCs and network wiring which was being planned for a late August move date. In particular, John and Deb did everything possible to relocate furniture and computers. Maintaining workflow under crowded conditions and general confusion is one more example of the dedication and adaptability of this staff.
2. Reorganization of MAD as both and acquisition and copy cataloging center was a major change made quickly. MAD staff, some with no MARC or cataloging experience, quickly learned new tasks, made suggestions for streamlining workflow, and quickly gained full production speed in cataloging on receipt. Dennis Gordon transferred to MAD from CCD. Although training materials were produced, staff (especially Dennis, Pete and Nick) did an exceptional job of internalizing new procedures combining acquisition and copy cataloging in one step. Copy cataloging in MAD began full scale only in March-June of FY97. During those months, a total of 6,027 items were completed, including 4,674 unique titles copy cataloged and 1,353 added volumes and copies processed. This increased the speed with which we are able to move materials to patrons.
3. Processing of several major gift collections was completed in FY97. Nick helped Susan Wyngaard evaluate the massive Reiss collection and searched and copy cataloged Reiss monographs. Nick coordinated on standardization of donor data with Noelle Van Pulis, Madga El-Sherbini and Hannah Thomas. He also trained on the Bindery Preps LARS system to add records for Reiss titles to be bound. Nick processed Provost Sissons collection, for a total of over 4,613 gift orders built and an additional 2,475 items cataloged for the collections.
4. The Needed for Patron process was implemented. Materials ordered for specific patrons are problematic because charge data is not obvious to circulation staff processing newly labelled items. Marsha, in coordination with RAD, Circulation, Cataloging and collection managers, implemented a Needed for Patron streamer to help circulation points identify items needed for patrons or closed reserve. The procedure has had an uneven implementation due to the large number of people involved but the concept is increasingly important as ORTs replace the paper MRF form which formerly held patron charge information.
5. Marsha, Trisha and I worked with Regional campus personnel developing a fourth account unit. Templates for bib, order, and check-in records were created based on regionals specifications. Regional personnel were trained and Marsha provided password, trouble-shooting, and documentation support. This inter-campus cooperative effort helped solidify our productive relationship with Regionals.
6. Deb and Marsha identified and corrected several coding errors in the database. As mentioned above, tens of thousands of bib records were deduped and non-filing character counts were corrected. Nearly 1,000 cancelled bib and order records (with no item or check-in record attached) were suppressed from public view. Marsha worked with Sally on identifying and analyzing floating bib records created in a variety of workflows. Sally continues to suppress these from public view. MAD procedures were changed to decrease problem downloaded bibs from remaining as floaters prior to creation of an order record. This provides more information online to assist public and technical services staff. Marsha and Deb also replaced FELIX tables and settings that disappeared, rebuilt damaged data, worked with Sally on reporting problems to III, and performed ongoing printer, terminal, server, and software trouble-shooting.
7. The Firm Order section reacted promptly when our secondary domestic monograph vendor, EBS, went out of business abruptly in February 1997. Mike vendor changed outstanding EBS orders, worked with EBS staff on orders in the pipeline, and reviewed EBS orders for fulfillment.
8. There was concern that B&T was not identifying sufficient numbers of science and technology titles. Marsha worked with Yankee Book Peddler in January 1997, to obtain notification slips for all sci/tech titles identified by YBP in FY96. The 10,000 plus slips were searched by students against the B&T database and tabulated by Deb in general LC subject classes. The massive project showed that YBP was capable of identifying a comparable number of sci/tech titles despite B&Ts larger size. This was also useful to know prior to rebidding the English language approval plan. MAD added YBP as a secondary vendor following the demise of EBS.
9. Debs automation duties expanded exponentially as she assumed the role of resource person for PC hardware and software for all Acquisition divisions, served as a resource for Cataloging following the departure of Brian Daher, and assisted Automation during peak periods by installing PCs in technical and public areas. This sharing of duties across divisions and departments is another example of the big picture training and cooperation supported in MAD and ACQ. Other examples were joint projects with Automation, Law, Health Sciences, Regionals, Cataloging, and in training of new collection managers and their staff. This spirit of shared goals, along with more high-end computers, allowed MAD to do less with more, faster and cheaper, in FY97.
Continuation Acquisition Division
1. The volume of new electronic products from both OhioLINK and OSUL required considerable changes in the division as we continued to add more electronic journals to our website. A variety of new duties and projects was undertaken. Michael reviewed and annotated many electronic publisher lists from OhioLINK in preparation for access, including Academic, Blackwell Scientific, Thomson Science, Highwire Press and Springer-Verlag.
2. Regional campuses expressed interest in accessing a number of electronic titles. Trisha and Michael prepared various reports on pricing and availability for their consideration. Teri assumed the responsibility for searching, keying and vending orders for all electronic products, both continuation and one-time unit orders.
3. The Academic list and subsequent invoicing took major time from Faye, Teri, and Michael as they updated the bibliographic records with the publisher name, built order records, ran boolean and statistical packages, created spreadsheets for expenditures, and posted E-prices and payments.
4. Following DMSC recommendations, Michael reviewed our Master File of Electronic Products and updated all records to the new electronic codes: 1 - Electronic Journal, 2 - Electronic Text, 3 - Online File, c - CD-ROM, d - Diskette, and t - magnetic tape
5. In preparation for OhioLINKs load of the Elsevier electronic titles, all Elsevier paper subscriptions were consolidated with Swets. Linda, Jim, Teri, and Terry handled this massive dealer change project which included 293 cancellations, 293 new purchase orders to Swets and significant correspondence with Swets.
6. Terry continued to aggressively search for needed serial issues from USBE. Statistics from July 96-June 97: 153 titles (573 issues) received
estimated value: $17,654 (based on continuation costs)
USBE cost: -$ 4,011
total savings: $ 13,743
7. The large comes/with backlog was eliminated this year. New procedures has enabled Terry to stay current since October 1996. Key statistics included a total of 611 issues processed, 10 undetected title changes identified, and 73 check-in pieces forwarded to RAD.
Receiving Acquisition Division
1. In September, Sheryl began ftp transfer of continuation check-in information to the Faxon Company. The actual box information is gathered by boolean weekly and shared with Faxon to supplement their database of issues published and shipped. An agreement had been arranged earlier in the year to provide Faxon with information in exchange for a discount on subscriptions. Sheryl ran retrospective booleans to gather check-in information back to January 1, 1996 and sent it along with the current weekly lists.
2. The division experienced a marked increase in material damaged during initial processing in the Mail room during the first half of the fiscal year. Ellen, Linda and Sheryl worked with Mail Room staff and students to correct the situation. When it was determined that FAD would take over the opening of ACQ incoming mail, the division provided Cheryl Stojak with background on the damage wed experienced and how best to avoid it during the opening of boxes and other containers. The division also provided information about preparing daily incoming serial and monograph book trucks based on RADs years of experience with these materials.
3. RAD unit order staff, Linda, Lisa, Suzanne, Vika and Sheryl participated in the Online Request Transmission (ORT) test. They provided suggestions to Marsha as she designed the test and feedback for process refinements after receipt of some orders. One result of this initiative was the need to search NCIF (no card in file) pieces much more frequently than in the past because these pieces may not be problems, they may be ORTs which by design, have no order slips in our dealer file.
4. The division eliminated the production of III printed order slips for partially received unit orders. This removed a task from MAD and cut some RAD processing time for subsequent pieces of multivolume unit orders.
5. Sheryl participated in the Main Library book truck task force from Aug. to spring 97. The group examined the existing practices of sharing book trucks within the building, what improvement could be made in communication between departments, and what improvements in organization, use and the number of trucks might be advisable. A report including recommendations was given to the library administration. Some portions of the report have been implemented.
6. The invoice save function became available on Felix in this year. Kathie Miller tested it with her unit order invoices. We were disappointed to discover that saving a keyed invoice made all related order records busy, unavailable for updating by any other staff until the invoice was completed and posted. Unless these features change, the save function will not be useable for us.
Financial Accounting Division
1. FAD primary focus at the end of the year was hiring new staff to fill vacancies and establish a new divisional philosophy. FAD has begun to realize a cooperative team effort toward problem resolution in the last half of this year. They are focused on fixing and preventing errors rather than assessing blame for mistakes. They are also looking at processes and will begin to streamline them in the coming year.
Project Specialist
1. Mary discovered a flaw in the template for CCD statistics. She completed a project to correct the previous year and have accurate annual statistics for the department.
2. In July Automation loaded the Office Pro software on the Administrative PC. In doing so, the erroneously deleted all of our WordPerfect directories and documents. Mary reloaded with the most recent backup and then corrected the documents which had been updated since the backup.
3. In November Mary revised the Christmas Card Mailing Labels. To update the addresses and to add + 4 zip codes she taught herself to use the OhioLINK Database to access the telephone directories.
4. Mary discovered a way to adjust existing WordPerfect labels to create labels for divider tabs and folder tabs. This has come in handy for creating office notebooks and the department files.
5. Mary tested and began sending various department updated lists and reports over e-mail instead of making copies for everyone.
6. In March Mary began distributing the Absence Calendar monthly with updates sent e-mail.
7. In May Mary began working with Mary Rider to learn html coding. She also took several tutorials on Netscape to learn the coding. She completed coding of two folders of department documents in preparation of putting them on our Web page.
8. In June Mary completed a project involving updating the Department Fund List and the Fund Specialist List to include fund names.
9. Throughout the year Mary updated various department lists and routings to reflect changes, as well as typing new job descriptions for revisions or vacant positions. She also attended Collection Manager Forums and distributed handouts to those not in attendance.
10. Throughout the year Mary assisted with many administrative duties including telephones, mail sorting and distribution, student and staff time sheets and payroll distribution, photocopies and supply ordering and distribution.
5. GOALS FOR 1997/98
Monograph Acquisition Division
1. Train all locations on ORT online request transmission. Gradually replace paper MRF with online records. This includes enhancement of Needed for Patron charge information.
2. Rebid the major English language approval plan. Investigate splitting the plan which now covers US, selected Canadian, Dutch, and British imprints. Insure Charvat fiction titles are received uninterrupted. Monitor state-wide discussions of joint approval ventures. Work with Purchasing to develop RFPs to improve approval performance.
3. Review the outstanding order file. Resolve problems with receipt, revend orders or cancel as appropriate. Mark reviewed records to remove them from the claim files. Develop a mechanism to review outstanding orders on an ongoing basis.
4. Develop and implement the plan to label gifts and approvals cataloged in MAD. Investigate and purchase appropriate printers and label stock. Format software, in coordination with Sally, to handle call numbers correctly. Coordinate with other cataloging centers on their labeling plans.
5. Review PromptCat for cost effectiveness and functionality. Determine if product can function as advertised or discontinue pending selection of a new approval vendor.
Continuation Acquisition Division
1. Continue to develop and expand procedures and workflows for handling electronic products orders.
2. Continue working with Faxon Westwood to resolve subscription problems before our account is switched to the Illinois office. Begin working with Faxon Illinois for the switch over of the 1998 renewals. Monitor service from Faxon Illinois service center.
3. Conduct successful renewal of Faxon ACQUIRE and RoweCom test titles. Continue to monitor the RoweCom Subscribe database and subscriptions. Prepare an analysis of our experience with the Subscribe system before 1999 renewals are processed.
4. Investigate the use of Online Request Transmissions for serials and continuations.
5. Expand testing of FTP capabilities for serial invoices to include all invoices from our major vendors.
6. Continue to test the III electronic claims module with the appropriate vendors.
7. Continue to work with staff in location libraries to move serial handling information from their manual check-in files to Felix check-in records.
8. Develop procedures for the efficient processing of GPO titles by working with staff in Documents and RAD.
Receiving Acquisition Division
1. Strengthen unit order processing staff skills so all 4 individuals can receive varying formats and copy catalog any call numbers within guidelines.
2. Examine what activities related to continuations need additional staff support or reassignment in light of the increasing service requests on the horizon.
3. Evaluate the options for label production at point of unit order receipt based on the experiences in MAD for approvals and gifts.
Financial Accounting Division
1. Work with each division member to make them familiar with their assigned duties and the software used.
2. Review processes and streamline; consolidate and eliminate unnecessary or cumbersome tasks where possible.
3. Devise a plan where FAD functions smoothly in the absence of one or two full time staff members.
4. Monitor ARMS implementation for the Accounts Payable functions. Participate in the development of an interface between III and ARMS if the University decides to pursue that.
5. Take on responsibility for mail sorting operations for the incoming serial and monograph mail. Streamline and staff the process as needed.
Project Specialist
1. Continue to become more computer literate with the various software packages in the department.
2. Become current with the department filing and improve the look of the files.
cc: Wes Boomgaarden
Gay Dannelly
Magda El-Sherbini
Susan Logan
Pat McCandless
Hannah Thomas
Acq Dept. Division Heads