Redesigning Collection Management/Acquisition Work at the

University of Alberta Libraries

Kit WilsonAcquisitions and Collections Coordinator

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

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.

Task Force Membership

• Coordinator of Bibliographic Services

• Acquisitions and Collections Coordinator

• Serials and Microform Librarian (Collection Coordinator) for our largest unit library

• 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?

MANDATE - Review of Resources Related to the Acquisition of Materials

TimelineEarly March 2004

SAT establishes Task Force

Mid March Mandate and timeline finalized; Process developed

March/April Data gathering through written instruments; Consultation with Unit Libraries and designated committees and individuals

May 7 Report of Task Force submitted to SAT

May 18- SAT meets to discuss recommendations and assign completion date and responsibility for implementation of recommendation

May/June Task Force members meet with various groups to discuss recommendations, completion dates, how to implement, etc…

June/July/Aug Work to have ‘first set’ of recommendations in place for fall term

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

• **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

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

…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

Information Gathering  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=high5=low

Comments

Ordering new monographs          

Ordering new e-resources          

Ordering new print serials          

Providing order records in Sirsi (duplicate detection,

OPAC display, funds commitment)

         

Discussion QuestionsDesigned 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?

Lowest Priorities for Unit Libraries:

TASK BSJ Priority

5=low 1=high

EDUC Priority

5=low1=high

HSS Priority

5=low 1=high

JWS Priority

5=low1=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

Summary of Recommendations

RECOMMENDATION COMPLETION DATE

UNIT/GROUP RESPONSIBLE

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)

• 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

Lowest Priorities for Unit Libraries

Report & HighlightsComments/Recommendations fell into the following categories:

• Electronic Resources• Monograph Orders and Vendors• Serials• Donations• Cataloguing• Collection Development/Management• Staffing

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

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!