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Doing more with less by going ‘e’

Doing more with less by going ‘e’. Monica Crump. Doing more with less?. In NUI Galway like in all public institutions, we have less money and less staff. Since 2008: 12% staff reduction 17.5% books and journals budget cut 17.5% operations budget cut We also have more students

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Doing more with less by going ‘e’

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  1. Doing more with less by going ‘e’ Monica Crump James Hardiman Library

  2. Doing more with less? • In NUI Galway like in all public institutions, we have less money and less staff. Since 2008: • 12% staff reduction • 17.5% books and journals budget cut • 17.5% operations budget cut • We also have more students • 10% more students since 2008 • An increasing proportion of students are ‘non-traditional’ and have higher expectation of excellent services

  3. Challenge facing us all • How to sustain our existing high level of service with less resources? • How to meet the increased expectations of more students and more demanding students? • We need to be innovative and radical in reviewing everything we do: • Do we need to keep doing it? • Does it add value to our customers? • Can we can do it more efficiently or in a different way?

  4. What are we doing in NUI Galway? • Reviewing all processes to ensure: • alignment with strategy, • most effective workflows • that we’re adding value • Resulting in lots of enhancements and changes: • helping us cope with staff losses in particular areas • identifying more efficient ways of working • using technology where we can • Focus today is on our move closer to the ‘e-library’ as one way of doing more with less

  5. Evolution of E-journals Availability in NUI Galway • Starting Point (2000): • JSTOR, Science Direct, Business Source Premier, 311 individual e-journals • Gradual Increase (2002-): • Print + Electronic combined subscriptions • Full-text publisher bundles • IReL • Science, Technology, Medicine (2004-) • Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences (2006-) James Hardiman Library

  6. Journals accessible to NUI Galway users James Hardiman Library

  7. Evolution of Attitudes to e-Journals • Critical mass of e-journal availability • very positive affect on acceptance of e-journals as a reliable alternative to print and on attitudes towards them. • Surveys have shown a huge shift in attitude towards e-journals amongst academic staff and researchers. • Collection Management Policy has grown ever more certain in its direction • Now explicit in preference for electronic over print journals. James Hardiman Library

  8. Changing Attitudes – Surveys • Cycle of surveys of NUI Galway researchers • academic staff, researchers, and research postgraduates • 2003, 2005 and 2008 surveys show a marked change of attitude towards online information generally and journals specifically. James Hardiman Library

  9. Change in how library services are accessed James Hardiman Library

  10. Change in frequent use of journals James Hardiman Library

  11. Increase in Satisfaction with Journals James Hardiman Library

  12. Online Information Makes Physical Collections less Important James Hardiman Library

  13. Changing Collection Management Policy February 2003: “Electronic journals provide possibilities for wider access; the Library aims to supplement existing print subscriptions by making available the online version where possible. The viability of completely online access is explored on a case-by-case basis, a key factor being the publisher’s commitment to online archiving.” January 2009: “The Library recommends online subscription over print where available, because of the improved accessibility offered by electronic journals both on and off campus, the speedier availability of latest issues, and the reduced storage and handling costs involved. The viability of completely online access is explored on a case-by-case basis, key factors being the publisher’s commitment to online archiving and proposed conditions of access.” James Hardiman Library

  14. Misaligned Allocation of Staff Resources 2004 Journals Staffing • Print: 3 FTE Library Assistants • Electronic: 1 Assistant Librarian Electronic Resources 2009 Journals Staffing • Print: 2.6 FTE Library Assistants • Electronic: 1 Assistant Librarian Electronic Resources with assistance from AL Collection Management and AL Cataloguing • Clearly a misalignment between extent and importance of e-journals vs. print journals and the staffing allocated to each James Hardiman Library

  15. E-Journal Management Insufficient staff numbers to guarantee full accuracy of e-journal linking and holdings information Reactive: errors corrected as they were reported No ‘check-in’ equivalent Given level of investment and the greater value placed on e-journals by our users, this was no longer satisfactory BUT print still required a lot of work: 2008/2009: 8943 issues checked in James Hardiman Library

  16. So, what did we set out to do? • Take out all new subscriptions as e-only • Convert all print + electronic combined subs to e-only • Cancel any remaining print subs to titles in IReL • Investigate availability of e-only for all remaining print subs • Thereby reducing time required for print and releasing staff to focus on e-journals

  17. Academic Consultation • External financial situation strengthened our case • Support from University Management Team • Significantly less objections than past efforts to move to ‘e’ • Some issues raised: • A prestigious and old collection • Accreditation • Image Quality (e.g. Archaeology) • Core Titles

  18. Criteria for moving to e-only • Perpetual, post-cancellation access • Involvementin dark archiving initiatives (e.g. Portico) • Technical considerations (e.g. IP authentication, off campus) • Subscription cost was not a criteria: • we believed staff and storage cost relating to print justifies sub increase of moving to e-only • But be warned some e-only significantly more expensive James Hardiman Library

  19. Quick Wins! • Science Direct Renegotiation: 96 titles moved to e-only • LWW Subscriptions: 33 print + e subs converted to e-only • 155 print subscriptions to IReL titles cancelled • Then the hard work began – 1344 titles to review! • UKSG 2009 discussions with publishers showed many were now allowing e-only with perpetual access. • But of course, long tail of small publishers not present!

  20. Direct Survey of Publishers Didn’t use Swets in the interests of speed Model email was drawn up and sent directly to each publisher - very time consuming! Swets could not provide us with contact namesdue to data protection, so had to resort to Ulrich's and Google– very time consuming! Replies very slow and required follow up emails- very time consuming! Got help from Swets in the end James Hardiman Library

  21. Outcome for 2010 Subscription Year • 237 titles converted to e-only (in addition to 129 big deal conversions and 155 IReL cancellations) • 380 couldn’t be decoupled from print or did not meet our criteria • No answers at all were received from publishers of 436 titles! • Further work in 2010 – another 136 moved to e-only • Still 84 titles, whose publisher has never responded!

  22. Situation prior to the project James Hardiman Library

  23. Situation after the project James Hardiman Library

  24. Leaping towards e-only!

  25. Impact on extent of print work

  26. Converting journals staff to ‘e’! • To ensure extent of change clear to all, and required change to mindset and culture: • Journals team renamed E-resources team • Line management changed, team now reporting to E-resources Librarian • Intensive programme of training and up-skilling • Step by step approach, acknowledging extent of change • Training followed by immediate practical tasks, so that learning was put straight into practice • Programme of checking of existing portfolios of journals for immediate benefit and reinforcement of learning

  27. Outstanding Issues • Legal deposit and donated titles still arriving in print, so danger of tendency to fall back to old comfort zone of focussing on print! • Current initiative to gain support for ceasing all print issue check in – lots of resistance! • Swets invoice payment has taken lots of staff time • Moving to EDI for Swets invoice payment • Would like to capitalise on potential space savings, by discarding print holdings where e-access is secure.

  28. Be prepared to spend lots of time in making the transition! Publishers incredibly slow to respond – be persistent. Be prepared to invest time in re-skilling of staff Recognise that cultural shift is needed as well as new skills – human nature to fall back to what’s familiar Need critical mass to make the real gains – can’t expect staff to take on e-journal management if they’re still managing lots of print. Consulting academics – have your evidence ready, be prepared for the likely arguments, be willing to say no! Gain support from the top with the economic arguments! Conclusion James Hardiman Library

  29. Worth doing? • Absolutely! • Staff time allocated where it’s most needed and valued • Staff morale boost of knowing value of their work • Error rate in e-journal linking and access greatly reduced • Expect knock-on affect on user satisfaction • Expect saving in staff time across library with less user queries about e-access • Considerable space savings and more to come

  30. Contact Details • Monica Crump, Head of Information Access and Learning Services,James Hardiman Library, NUI Galwaymonica.crump@nuigalway.ie

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