Presented as part of the "Innovative Practices in Electronic Resources and Acquisition Management" Preconference at the 2010 Charleston Conference. Also presenting were Ryan Weir, Regina Koury, Denise Pan, Kelly A. Smith, and Geoffrey P. Timms.
16. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentbye/2053916246
EKU is…
1) Building an eResource Management tool using
Drupal
Desired Fields/Functionality:
http://tinyurl.com/drupaldb
Mockup: http://library-
dev.eku.edu/resources/subject
2) Hoping to develop a ticketing system using
Footprints software to track
Changes with journal titles
Problem reports
Next Step
Need a better TOOL to *Manage* the workflows we’ve developed.
2 basic components to successful eResource management
At EKU, we often use a tool called Process Mapping to assess and improve our workflows and processes. We’ve used this for processes involving Databases, eBooks, and eJournals. This presentation will cover how we’ve applied this process to managing our databases. Furthermore, it will focus on just the acquisition part of the process, as opposed to the access and discoverability part.
Question marks indicate areas where the “hand-offs” break down.
Goals met:
~ more efficient
~ better tracking of historical decisions, etc.
Transitioned from siloed to shared tools.
Many shared documents stored in Sharepoint (microsoft’s web-based collaboration tool).
Benefits of Sharepoint (Microsoft’s web-based collaboration tool)
good for creating single tracking documents that are updated by multiple people
only one person can edit at a time – prevents version problems
web-based – accessible from anywhere
private and secure – login authenticated using campus credentials
flexible – can add columns, tabs, etc., as needed
small learning curve – staff already know how to use Excel
basic alerts built in – can get email notification when files for which you’ve set up an alert have been edited
Drawbacks of Sharepoint:
Interface has some glitches – sometimes users end up in endless login loop
Folder/file structure not easily changed. Cannot move files from one folder to another.
Separate tab to track a specific workflow - renewals
Ndrive (our shared network drive)
Benefits to this tool
Good for storing and organizing sets of files = virtual file cabinet.
Drawbacks
There’s not a way to tell if someone else is currently editing, so when multiple people edit N drive documents, there’s a potential for version conflicts.
Not available from the web. Can use VPN to access, but this is more complicated.
For stats, no way to pull reports. Files are static. We will soon be tracking all of this in SFX’s USTAT service, which includes Sushi cabability as well as other more advanced reporting tools.
We will soon be tracking all of this in SFX’s USTAT service. (next slide)
We are now transitioning all stats storage to Ustat, the statistics gathering tool offered as part of SFX, our OpenURL link resolver. Sushi-compliant reports are automatically harvested by Ustat, and we are also gradually uploading all non-sushi compliant reports there.
Finally, we have to manually populate our locally built Database of Databases that generates a public Database A-Z list.
This is the public view of our Databases list.
In conclusion, right now we have Sharepoint and N drive, which are very useful containers for documents and shared editing, and they have worked better than our previous systems; and we’ve got a database of databases that generates a public view. But these are separate systems that we’ve got to edit manually in multiple places, and we’ve got no real way to track every piece of the workflow that we are doing.
Commercial ERMs that we explored seemed to mainly serve the container function. “Ticklers” and “Reminders” are not adequate substitutes for actual workflow management. So we’ve decided to build our own system with integrative architecture.
We are working on 2 projects:
DRUPAL
Benefits:
Extensively customizable
Will populate public view of resources
Drawbacks:
? Not sure yet
FOOTPRINTS TICKETING SOFTWARE
Benefits:
“Free” to library – campus IT already has license for it
Will allow us to track workflow from staff member to staff member.
Central space to store correspondence about a resource – can get stuff out of hidden email folders.
Drawbacks:
Extended set-up time – relying on campus IT to get it started – asked to implement in January… still waiting
Does not talk to existing library tools.