Redesigning Collection Management/Acquisition Work at the University of Alberta Libraries

1. Redesigning Collection Management/Acquisition Work at the University of Alberta Libraries Kit WilsonAcquisitions and Collections Coordinator

2. University of Alberta Libraries • Full time students – 30,258 • Library materials expenditure - $15,813,114 • Total current serials received – 40,328 (includes free and deposit) • Electronic journals- 12,368 • Monographs purchased- 30,044 • ARL ranking – 17th

3. Vendor Services adopted • Outsourced most of our monograph cataloguing in 1995 • Consolidated our periodicals with Ebsco in 1998 • Consolidated our standing orders with Harrassowitz and Ebsco in 2002 • Began online ordering using mono vendors’ websites (without a corresponding order record in our ILS) in fall of 2000.

4. Task Force Membership • Coordinator of Bibliographic Services • Acquisitions and Collections Coordinator • Serials and Microform Librarian (Collection Coordinator) for our largest unit library

5. MANDATE - Review of Resources Related to the Acquisition of Materials • Evaluate changes in the publishing & vendor industry that have had a significant impact on local procedures and practices • Identify/investigate changes in volume, workflows, and processes in both Technical Services and Unit Libraries • What implications do these changes have for our staffing resources?

6. Timeline

7. Points of Contact for Consultation/Communication • Collection Development Committee (CDC) and the unit library collection coordinators • Acquisition and Cataloguing Team (ACT) • Senior Administration Team (SAT) and the unit library directors

8. **Establish priorities** Make recommendations in order to streamline, increase efficiencies in workload and work processes based upon these established priorities Two working assumptions are budget stringency and the need for system-wide prioritization Recommendations may have an impact on staffing assignments Process and Working Assumptions

9. Task Force Process • Developed two questionnaires • spreadsheet of activities for prioritization • open ended questions for Unit Library input • Met with CDC/ACT re questionnaires • Met with appropriate individuals in each unit library to discuss questionnaires and their work place situation • Ensured unit directors had copies of input and met with them at various times to discuss the process

10. …Task Force Process • Analyzed gathered information and compiled it into a report with recommendations/completion date/group responsible • Presented report to SAT and met with them to discuss • Met with representatives from each unit library to discuss recommendations and implementation processes

11. If currently done in your unit, estimated FTE Expect to increase or decrease in next 2 years? Acceptable frequency/ turnaround time (eg. daily, monthly) Priority 1=high 5=low Comments Ordering new monographs Ordering new e-resources Ordering new print serials Providing order records in Sirsi (duplicate detection, OPAC display, funds commitment) Information Gathering

12. Discussion Questions Designed to encourage discussion and provide an opportunity for units to communicate about issues expected to be problematic: • What processing work has increased/decreased? • If you had to give up some processing work, what would go 1st, 2nd, 3rd? • During the SIRSI transition, systematic claiming for missing issues was put on hold for 6 months. Has this approach caused problems in your unit? • What bindery records do you keep in the unit and why?

13. TASK BSJ Priority 5=low 1=high EDUC Priority 5=low 1=high HSS Priority 5=low 1=high JWS Priority 5=low 1=high LAW Priority 5=low 1=high SCI Priority 5=low 1=high OVERALL FROM LOWEST TO HIGHEST PRIORITY Tattletaping periodical issues 5 5 5 5 5 5 30 Cataloguing of donations--older monographs 5 5 4 5 5 5 29 Including floor numbers for HSS and SCI/TECH in the OPAC holdings n/a 5 4 5 5 5 29 Claiming print serials systematically (via Sirsi, 3 claims) 4 5 5 4 5 5 28 Removing duplicate records from OPAC 5 4 4 5 5 5 28 Lowest Priorities for Unit Libraries:

14. Summary of Recommendations

15. Highest Priorities for Unit Libraries • Cataloguing of purchased e-resources • Cataloguing of purchased print monographs • Cataloguing of purchased print serials • Ordering new e-resources • Ordering new monographs • Providing access/linking to e-journals at article level (SFX maintenance)

16. Lowest Priorities for Unit Libraries • Tattletaping periodical issues • Cataloguing of donations (older monographs) • Claiming print serials systematically (3 claims) • Including floor numbers for Unit Library in OPAC • Removing duplicate records from OPAC

17. Report & Highlights Comments/Recommendations fell into the following categories: • Electronic Resources • Monograph Orders and Vendors • Serials • Donations • Cataloguing • Collection Development/Management • Staffing

18. Issues Requiring Further Investigation • Task force to review serial bindery processing and record keeping with the aim being to share records and reduce duplication in preparation steps • Task force to determine collection/cataloging policy for librarian selected free material • Task force to document and streamline handling of government documents system-wide

19. General Comments • Saw commonalities amongst the units • Electronic materials are important to everyone • Discovered some monitoring and duplicate record keeping • Identified a list of projects/backlogs that need work • Provided rational for making changes and reassigning staff • Communication is key!