Technical Services Division Priorities, 2003

Prepared May 7, 2003; revised for distribution Aug. 22, 2003

Prepared by Carol Pitts Diedrichs, Assistant Director for Technical Services and Collections in consultation with Tschera Connell, Trisha Davis, Magda El-Sherbini, Marsha Hamilton, and Beth Russell; revised by Sally Rogers, Acting Assistant Director for Technical Services, and the above-mentioned Technical Services department heads.

1. Technical Services Mission

   Technical Services supports the educational mission of the University Libraries by:

   • efficiently acquiring and processing materials in all formats, and
   • providing effective, accurate tools that assist users in locating information

2. Background

   The current budget reductions and vacancies leave the Technical Services Division with at least 6 FTE vacancies. These vacancies and subsequent reassignment of other staff members, result in reduced staff in most departments in the Division. In addition, these vacancies have resulted in considerable loss of expertise and leadership especially in the area of cataloging. Thus, the basic operations and priorities of the Division must be reordered. As always, there will occur circumstances in which these priorities may require review as we move forward.

   After consultation with the department heads, we propose the following priorities, so that basic operations can be maintained, but in many cases, at a slower pace than we are accustomed to providing. It is extremely difficult for the division to make the compromises in service and quality that these lean times necessitate. We appreciate your patience and assistance in dealing with these difficult times.

3. Goals/Priorities

   Please note that the items listed in each category below are in random order; position in the list is not an indication of relative priority within that group.

   1. Expend the materials budget
      • place monograph, serial and e-resource orders
      • acquire special collections
      • receive and process approvals and gathering plans
      • receive books and other one-time purchases
      • check-in serials
      • claim overdue materials
      • purchased serials claimed on regular cycle; gifts claimed only on request
      • rush monographs claimed on regular cycle; all other monographs claimed at collection manager request or as time permits
      • pay invoices
      • reconcile p-card statements
      • maintain financial accounts and manage the budget

   2. Make purchased and other high priority materials available to users
      • catalog newly received, purchased books and serials, including ETDs, analytics, and other formats
      • catalog newly acquired, purchased electronic resources (local, OhioLINK and CIC)
      • catalog newly acquired, purchased special collections
      • catalog newly acquired materials for regional campus libraries
      • maintain the quality of the database by solving problems which impact user access
      • maintain involvement in national standards initiatives
      • load catalog records for high priority materials e.g. GPO, ERIC, Serials Solutions

   3. Support processing of materials for storage in the Depository to facilitate the renovation of Main Library
      • process materials selected for storage from Main Library collections
      • resolve problems that impact user access in bibliographic records for materials being transferred to STX
      • process backlogs housed in Main Library lower level such as Hebrew and Slavic
      • plan and implement project to accelerate processing of materials to STX
      • complete monograph and analytics retrocon for materials in Main Library stacks

   4. Support and train staff
      • provide IT support to keep systems running and functional
      • provide administrative support to division staff e.g. mail, supplies, payroll
      • provide training to staff and collection managers to facilitate priority activities
      • provide training for oversight areas such as item record maintenance
      • provide continuing education to support new initiatives
      • maintain technical services website for communication, training and administrative support

   5. Engage in selected, new initiatives identified as library priorities
      • Knowledge Bank/DSpace
      • QuickRef (if grant is funded)
      • OCLC Connexion implementation
      • General ledger/III accounting interface
      • Millennium module implementation
      • EAD implementation for digital projects
      • III Electronic Resources Management module testing and implementation
      • Load records for electronic journal titles in aggregators (e.g., Serial Solutions)
      • Test and evaluate shelf-ready approvals processing

4. Activities processed on an “as time permits” basis
   • departmental gifts from individual collection managers (single titles subject to quota; collections on hold indefinitely)
   • theses retrocon (subject to availability of funds for student workers)
   • statewide initiatives such as testing of record loads
   • statement resolution for invoices
   • Polar Studies collection retrocon
   • cataloging of free web sites as requested by collection managers
   • cataloging of microform collections (e.g. Goldsmith-Kress)
   • resolving problems in bibliographic records for materials not being transferred to STX

5. Activities placed on indefinite hold
   • processing of large gift collections such as Galron-Goldschlager and Rudolph
   • analytic retrocon project (except those being transferred to STX)
   • retrospective cataloging of new titles as analytics not being sent to storage
   • cataloging of ELs and AHs in STX
   • project based URL checking and update
   • recataloging/reclassification of material where adequate access exists
   • serials retrocon (latest entry) project unless material is being sent to storage
   • retrospective cataloging of state experiment station titles for FAE
   • processing of non-current backlog of titles received on standing order such as UN, UNESCO, FAO
   • cataloging of Fortune 500 company reports for BUS

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