1. Technical Services
Best Practices
Or,
What I Learned in 26 Workflow Projects
Jane Richard
Wisconsin Library Association Conference, October 26, 2012

2. WiLS Tech Services projects
 Madison Public Library (beta)
 Nicolet Technical College
 UW-Milwaukee (beta)
 Portage County Public Library
 Alverno
 Rhinelander Public Library
 Beloit College
 Saint Norbert College
 Brown County
 Southwest Wisconsin Library System
 Cardinal Stritch
 UW-Baraboo/Sauk
 Carroll University
 UW-Green Bay
 Fond du Lac Public Library
 UW-La Crosse
 Lakeshores Library System
 UW-Marinette
 Lawrence University
 UW-Oshkosh
 Manitowoc Public Library
 UW-Stevens Point
 Menasha Public Library
 Viterbo University
 Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
 Winnefox Library System
 Wisconsin Valley Library System
October 25, 2012

3. Reasons for looking at workflow
 Retirements and other staffing changes
 Implementing RDA or other standards
 New collection formats (often backlogged)
 New physical space, rearrangements
 Striving for efficiency (money or time)
 New ILSes or other discovery tools
 Curiosity
October 25, 2012

4. Cataloging has changed
MARC data users
Patron Computer Librarian
-Great for known items -Has a terrible time -Great for inventory
reading the text
-Less great for
strings - Less great for
discovery maintenance, like
- Divergent from authority control
current metadata
- Viewed as an
practice: hard to map
obstacle to getting
what they want to other schema
October 25, 2012

5. WiLS technical services workflow
project process
1. Get overview of library through annual reports,
organizational charts, statistics
2. Site visit
 Observe main workflow(s)
 Interview staff for insight to improving systems
1. Write and send report
2. Edit with corrections and re-submit
3. Ask for feedback
October 25, 2012

6. Report structure:
 Put the library in context
 Librarytrends and challenges
 Sub-group (academic or public) trends and challenges
 Technical services trends and challenges
 Specific observations and recommendations for
library, with time frame and costs/benefits;
example:
Recommendations (2) (Immediate): Stop printing order forms. Stop printing OCLC records. The
book always has a representative record in ILS and is easily found in the acquisitions module. A small
sticky note could be attached to the book on receiving with the order and/or OCLC number.
 Benefit: This will save time, and it’s greener and cheaper than using so much paper.
 Cost: More staff may need access to and training in Acquisitions module.
October 25, 2012

7. What was learned: improve the process
 More planning discussions about what can realistically
be addressed
 Present the report in person; it part of a discussion
 What was unclear?
 What didn’t apply?
 Is there resistance?
 Is there a different interpretation of outcome from each
recommendation?
 Better follow-up: what has changed? Why?
October 25, 2012

8. Successful workflow projects
 “Outside eyes” can help identify anomalies
 Include all staff
 Have a high goal, but focus on just a few
specific topics, snags
 Clearly detail how changes can be achieved, with
cause and effect, to stimulate a useful discussion
 Follow-upRevisionsFollow-up
October 25, 2012

9. What was learned: library trends
 Collection size is de-emphasized as an assessment marker:
turnaround time is more important
 New formats challenge workflows and staff skills
 Students expect perpetual electronic access to materials
 The physical library is a locale for the meeting of minds (and
friends), no longer primarily a place for the browsing of books
 Many processes are offered outside the library by vendors or
consortia (e.g., selection and ordering tools, shelf-ready processing
and e-resources management)
October 25, 2012

10. Tech services trends
 Merging acquisitions and cataloging departments: bypass cataloging as
much as possible
 Integrate selection and ordering processes; eliminate pre-order searching
 Integrate receipt and cataloging processes
 Budget shifts from one-time to ongoing expenditures
 Extension of acquisitions tools into selection (GOBI, Collection Manager,
OASIS, ITSO)
 Interfaces between ILS acquisitions module and institutional accounting systems
 Changing role of the ILS
 A-Z lists
 Link resolvers
 Proxy servers
 ERMS
October 25, 2012

11. Tech services trends
 Evaluating patron driven acquisitions (PDA)
 Growth of media orders/activity
 Increasing need for non-MARC metadata
 Define “good enough” bibliographic records
 Receive vendor records
 Increasing use of cataloging and shelf-prep
service, aka Outsourcing
October 25, 2012

12. Tech services trends
 Focus on hidden collections: More time spent cataloging original
and archival material (academics)
 Print-on-Demand
 Massive weeding projects: serials, reference
 Collaborative collections across consortia or other institutions
 Traditional spaces are being re-purposed as learning spaces
 Expanded roles working with students, or developing services
(like mobile apps)
 Data management for repositories (academics)
 New measures of accountability and assessment
October 25, 2012

13. Some tips
 Stop printing order forms
 Stop printing and/or keeping OCLC records
 Download the OCLC record to ILS during pre-order search
 Add OCLC holdings on receipt of books: ILL embargo on very new
 Stop creating unique call numbers
 Stop adding date to book
 Receive shelf-ready material from vendors
 Defer original cataloging for new books until off New Book Shelf
 Subscribe to WorldCat Cataloging Partners and OCLC’s Bibliographic
Notification service to maximize OCLC subscription
 Add supplemental content to bibliographic records to assist users in
evaluating resources
 Re-consider metrics to measure quantity and quality: dock-to-shelf time
 Seek out more training opportunities
October 25, 2012

14. A checklist for Interlibrary loan assessment:
Ease of identifying materials:
The library….
 is a member of a consortium with a shared circulation system
 promotes use of plug-ins/widgets for identifying and locating library materials
 utilizes Open URL
 provides links to digitaized collections in ILS
 utilizes federated search tool for cross-collection searching by users
 electronic collections holdings are up-to-date in the ILS
 holdings are discoverable in WorldCat
 Lending holdings are up-to-date in resource sharing programs
 Lending serials holdings are up-to-date within a year
October 25, 2012

15. Finding inspiration
 ALCTS forums: archive: http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/past/e-forum
 OCLC training portal: http://training.oclc.org/1
October 25, 2012

16. Typical principles of workflow analyses
Evaluate tasks through these filters:
 Should it be enhanced? (example: add links to more content to bib
records)
 Can it be automated? (example: macros)
 Can it be eliminated?
 Outsource it (example: processing)
 Send up or down stream (example: set WorldCat holdings in
Acquisitions)
 Stop doing it (example: writing date on books)
October 25, 2012

17. Strategies for implementing change
 Get ideas from all staff
 Empower staff to make decisions
 Start small, have success, and then do more
 Agree to address corrections as needed (for example,
don’t check all call numbers for uniqueness, but address
duplicates reported)
 “Pilot” change
 Get input from external source
 Cross training can be invigorating, if not too stressful
October 25, 2012

18. Transformation of workflow projects
 Started with cataloging issues: MARC fields,
formats, etc.: Cataloger identity crisis; RDA, new
ILS models; patrons want content, not records
 Staffing issues were more urgent
 What’s the next big thing?
 Bigdata?
 Assessment?
 What is “library scale”?
October 25, 2012

19. Susan Gibbons, University of Rochester,
commentator on the future of academic libraries:
"...the emphasis of technical services will change from the acquisition of
content to the user’s discovery of content. A library’s success will be
qualitatively and locally defined by whether its users are finding the best
materials easily and quickly, rather than by quantitative metrics of its
collections. A myriad of services, customized to the library’s local needs,
will emerge that will sit on top of a library’s broad print and electronic
collections."
October 25, 2012