Meetings/workshops attended:
Pauline – OLA Program Committee/Board meeting, November 18
Ursula – Oklahoma Federal Depository Libraries, November 30
Jill – Motivating Under the Radar workshop, December 1
Pauline, Jana, Aaron, and Jill attended the Staff Recognition Banquet on November 19. Jana received her 10-year pin; Pauline, her 20.
Pauline taped a book talk for Read About It on December 2. She also attended the Read About It luncheon on December 9.
The meeting of Oklahoma state depository libraries, scheduled for December 8, was cancelled. No rescheduled date has been announced.
Pauline expressed her appreciation to those present and, by extension, the MLS family, for their concern and support during this difficult time.
She announced that she will work 4 day weeks until the end of the year.
Pauline stated that materials have continued to flow through Cataloging in her absence, and that very few problems were waiting when she returned. She commended her staff for their excellent work in carrying on the operations of the department during her absence. Karen seconded the kudos.
The runs have been on average 760 labels per day; this is an increase of 45 labels over last month. TP currently receives an average of about 46 boxes of materials a day which is about the same amount received on average last month.
Materials receipt in July and August has increased by about 30% over last fiscal year’s first two months. In July and August of FY06, TP received 40,092 materials as compared to July and August of FY05’s 30,689; that is an increase of 9,403 items. The daily run count also has increased during this same time period by about 17% over last fiscal year’s; 31,953 items as compared to last fiscal year’s 27,215; that is an increase of 4,738 items during the first two months of FY06.
Technical Processing is working very hard to process all of these materials in a timely fashion. All rush materials are processed the same day. The processors and part-time techs are currently processing non-rush materials from Sept. 12. Kelly’s help with processing paperbacks and DVDs is also greatly appreciated. Right now, TP is keeping pace; however, once bindery materials arrive next week, the situation may change very quickly, depending on run size.
TP has made arrangements for Maintenance to transport the boxes of processed DVDs to the owning libraries during the week of Oct. 3. There are currently about 50 boxes ready to go, by then it may around 60 or more boxes. TP has used about 4,500 single and 800 double DVD cases so far, and more are on order already.
Labels
The number of barcode labels printed in July was a new all-time high for a single month. On three different days, the run was over 1,000 labels; on three more, over 900. August is somewhat slower; the run has still been over 1,000 labels on two days, but there have been no days on which it was over 900.
Pauline has placed an order for 30,000 blank labels from Reliance Barcode Solutions. Their sample product was the best one tried, and the company has been very responsive to Cataloging’s needs. The labels should arrive the first week of September; if they are acceptable, Pauline will place a larger order. Reliance has promised a fourweek turnaround on future orders.
In the meantime, Cataloging is still working with labels from their former supplier. The balance of May’s label order has finally been received. The labels are still not good quality; there are perforations between labels, but they are not straight. However, Cataloging now has enough labels in stock to be certain of not running out before the Reliance order is received.
Donna was not able to stay for the meeting, but stopped in to greet the managers.
Interlibrary Loan Update - Pamela Kosted
Pamela reported the interlibrary loan activities are up 30% over last year. Lending is up 24% and Borrowing is up 6%.
Pamela will forward to Pauline concerns she has about the new OCLC FirstSearch Resource Sharing software. Pauline will contact Amigos and/or OCLC to get information and perhaps assistance.
Crystal has announced her resignation from the library system; her last day atwork will be June 30. Party plans are in the works.
The Cataloger position was posted on June 13, with a deadline of June 24. Pauline hopes to look over applications around June 30; if not, after July 6. Her goal is to have someone in the position by July 18.
The new box of labels with perforations arrived on May 31. The labels seem to have more problems than the original batch, but are a vast improvement over the unperforated ones. The other four boxes have not been returned as yet.
Heidi sent a nice note to Pauline, complimenting Laqueta and Margaret on their good work in helping with processing. She commented that Tech Processing would not have been able to meet its output goals without them.
Margaret and Laqueta have also been instrumental in allowing the Cataloging Technicians to get training recently. On June 15, all three Cataloging Technicians attended the Lunch ‘n Learn “How to Speak Up without Putting Others Down”, and on June 16, they attended an all-day workshop on using the OCLC Connexion browser. The MSD Technicians have done a great job of taking over ordering and printing barcodes, to allow all the Cataloging Technicians to be out at the same time.
Along with several other library staff, Pauline visited the Dallas County Community College District technical services department on June 9. She did not learn as much as she had hoped to, but did come away with some ideas about office layout and workflow.
The runs have been on average 687 labels per day. Receipt of materials has remained steady since the last MSD meeting at an average of 41 boxes ofmaterials a day.
Heidi is back from vacation and trying to catch up on mail, e-mails, and two appraisals due shortly. Staff in TP carried on very well in her absence and is to be commended. Thanks also to Pauline, Janet, and Karen for helping out as needed, as well as to staff in Cataloging and Materials Selection for giving a helping hand.
Heidi has received notification from B&T’s accounting dept. that some of the problem credits still listed on MLS’s accounts have now been properly applied and should no longer be listed on next month’s (June’s) statements. Heidi is hopeful about the situation, but reserves jubilation until these statements have actually been received.
Jim Welch has installed a trial version of the new GUI receiving system in Technical Processing. Some minor problems are currently being worked out, but overall it will be a very helpful update to the receiving process. All orders placed on a purchase order can be accessed at once, without separate order numbers having to be entered. This will speed up the receiving of materials enormously, and the entering of invoices takes almost care of itself, making the whole process more efficient. Also, partial receipt of an order will be much easier, since receiving and backordering/canceling of orders is now possible on the same screen, not on two separate screens as before, again speeding up the process. Thank you, Jimmy!
Meetings/workshops attended:
Crystal – CPR workshop, April 7
Pauline, Jill – OLA regional meeting, Mustang, April 19
Several staff attended all or part of OLA March 31 and April 1: Pauline, Jana, Crystal, Ursula, and Jill. Jill attended the OLA Gold preconference on March 30. Jana, Crystal, and Clyde presented a program on cataloging locally published materials; it was well attended and interesting. Ursula attended the GODORT membership meeting; she has been elected chair-elect of GODORT. Pauline presented as a member of a panel discussing management issues in different library environments. Pauline also attended the session at which Heidi presented on AV packaging. Heidi’s presentation was informative was the “hit” of the program!
Beth visited Tech on March 28 and April 11. She was able to experience processing and receiving during her visits. She visited IT on April 4.
Pauline attended the Commission’s Long Range Planning Committee meeting on April 4. The Ad Team recommended construction of a new building near the current maintenance center, to house Cataloging and Tech. Cataloging staff are excited about the plans.
At the request of Jeanie Johnson, on April 9 Pauline served as a guest speaker for a cataloging class as part of OSU’s graduate program in education. There were approximately 20 people in the class, and they were interested and appreciative.
Library Visits
Selectors conducted annual visits to DN and SO during February. Janet and Karen had a follow up meeting with Debra/DN the first week of March.
Selectors are conducting a 6-month visit to MC and an annual visit to BC and Books-by-Mail during March.
Selectors are scheduled to do a 6-month collection review of BE and annual visits to BI and the Extensions during April.
Spotlight On
Selectors are updating the Asian American Spotlight On.
The updates will be sent to Teresa/PLA the first of April
MSD Tech in TP
Christina worked in TP on Wednesday, March 16.
OU Intern/UCO Student
OU Intern, Beth Jones spent the day, Feb. 28 with selection staff. She spent time with technicians and selectors to see how the department operates. She also sat in on a vendor visit with Janet.
Julie and Janet met with a UCO Media student on March 17.
