Ursula’s surgery on May 15 was a success. She expects to be off for 4-6 weeks. Per HIPAA guidelines, Pauline has written permission from Ursula to provide updates on her condition to friends and co-workers. Currently, Pauline is receiving depository shipments; Clyde has taken over continuations; and Aaron is assisting with cataloging in Clyde’s assigned areas.
Label counts have continued to be high. As of the end of April, the number of labels printed is already 3% higher than the number printed through May in the last two fiscal years. It is only 6% behind the highest ever total for a complete fiscal year.
So far, the runs in April have been on average 814 labels per day which is a big increase compared to last month’s 751 labels. Technical Processing currently receives an average of 42 boxes of materials a day, which is a decrease from last month’s average of 47.
Technical Processing is currently processing non-rush materials from the run brought to TP on April 5; there have been five runs since then.
TP is still waiting for the bindery to return the current bindery group. The last projected return date was March 8. Heidi resent an e-mail on 4-11-06, originally dated 2-27-06, inquiring about the status of these bindery books. So far, no response has been received.
Andrew Keepers-Phillips, former page at WA, has started his new position as TP’s Data Entry Technician on 4-3-06. He attended GOAL on 4-10-06, and is currently being trained to return materials for credit to Baker & Taylor.
The Receiving Tech position is still open at this time. Seven people applied and three passed the tests administered by HUM. Heidi and Pauline interviewed these three applicants. Heidi hopes to make a decision before the end of the week.
Josh’s last official day in TP was on 4-7-06. He is scheduled to come back for two half-days this week to help out with continuations, etc.
Christy is scheduled to work in TP on 4-13-06 to help with training the new Data Entry Tech.
Pauline has received 4 applications for the MSD Technician position. She plans to start interviewing on March 13, and conclude that week.
Karen Peterson, who is working on her school media certification at UCO, visited the department on February 23. She spent most of a day there, working primarily with Jana, Aaron, and Clyde. She also visited with Pauline, and took a tour of Tech Processing. She was impressed and a little overwhelmed with the volume of work.
Pauline attended a meeting of the Advisory Council for the Oklahoma Union List of Serials. Probably, there will be no dues again next year. The meeting focused mainly on ways to provide training for union listing in OCLC Connexion. Pauline has not had time to consider how to handle union listing at MLS.
The runs have been on average 736 labels per day which is a decrease of 126 labels compared to last month’s 862. Receipt of material continues steady at 44 boxes of materials a day, the same average number received last month.
Technical Processing is still able to process all Rush materials on the same day they are brought to the dept. However, the processors are still processing non-rush materials from the run brought to TP on February 3; there have been ten runs since then.
John Ellis-Etchison has started as TP’s new processor. His training in processing books is progressing; training in AV materials should start shortly.
Melanie, as one of the more experienced processors, has moved upstairs to the new workstation set up in the area south of Cataloging. She now is cutting the run every day before it is brought to TP, then spending the rest of her time processing materials and helping with quality checking in the afternoons.
The meeting of Oklahoma state depository libraries has been rescheduled for April 25.
Run Counts
Run counts have been erratic over the past month, ranging from 373 to 1,360. There were three 1,000+ runs in December, and there have been three so far in January.
Cataloger Computers
Jana’s, Aaron’s, and Clyde’s computers have been replaced.
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.
