Materials Services Division Managers' Meeting Minutes for January 2012

Date: January 19, 2012

Transfers All

• Managers discussed the backlog and priority of transfers. Karen is going to talk to Donna about the possibility of suspending the practice and only keeping “hot tiles” for replacements and OK materials.
• Pauline pointed out that Cataloging no longer has a staff member dedicated to processing transferred materials; full time staff in Cataloging and Technical Processing cannot spare time from regular duties to work on this. At this time, no transfers are being processed.
• Karen suggested that selectors determine whether or not there is a need to keep material for transfer and make decisions on what is currently in the basement.
• Karen mentioned that the Friends want to make sure staff are not defacing or damaging the material when removing RFID tags. Unless the RFID tag pops off easily, it should be left in place and cut across diagonally with a box knife. Janet will be sure that the DN receptionist volunteer who helps with tags knows the correct process.
• Pauline asked about in system gifts received from libraries that are not in good condition. She will review gift guidelines with Cataloging Technicians and instruct them that gifts which do not meet the guidelines are not to be added.
• Staff at Meetings All

• Managers decided that interested department staff should have an opportunity to attend a managers’ meeting to participate in the discussion of issues of interest to them and in the resolving of problems.
• Individual managers are responsible for determining staff interest and for inviting them to an appropriate meeting.
• The managers should request that the issue of interest be added to the agenda and alert the meeting chair no later than noon on Monday before the scheduled meeting which staff they would like to bring.
• Cataloging/ILL Updates Pauline
• Cataloging for all AMPs received has been completed.
• During December, an average of 94 ordered titles per day were forwarded to Catalogers. This represents a decrease from the November average, but is the second highest daily average for the fiscal year. This average includes only titles
  received from Technical Processing with printed workslips; gifts or other materials routed directly from Materials Selection or libraries are not counted.
• On average, 103 titles were cataloged per day in December, equal to the November average. The number of titles cataloged continues to exceed the number forwarded to Catalogers, so Catalogers are making steady progress at breaking down the backlog of materials waiting to be cataloged. With the exception of DVDs, average turnaround time is currently approximately 10 working days.
• Barcode labels were generated for an average of 190 titles per day during December; this total includes new titles cataloged and in system titles with additional copies. This is the highest average of titles barcoded for the fiscal year. An average of 1,034 barcode labels were printed each day in December. This average decreased in November and December, but the average for the fiscal year remains the highest recorded.
• ILL received 746 requests to borrow materials for MLS customers in December, for an average of 36 per day; of those requests, 687 were submitted to libraries, for an average of 33 per day. These averages are down somewhat from previous months; this is normal for December. The fill rate for requests to borrow materials has stayed consistent at approximately 80%.
• On average, 8% of requests submitted to ILL are not submitted to other libraries. Approximately 70% of such requests are requests for materials that cannot be located in lending libraries. About 20% are requests for titles which Materials Selection selects for addition to MLS collections. The remaining unsubmitted requests are for titles currently available in the MLS collections; between 1% and 3% are titles held only in reference collections.
•  ILL is currently not lending MLS materials to other libraries, due to ongoing staff shortage. At this time, the target date to resume lending is January 30.
• Applications for the ILL Technician position have closed, and HUM has completed testing of all applicants. Pauline has reviewed tests and is in the process of scheduling interviews.
• Several CAT and ILL staff have completed safety training for the first quarter.
•  Happy notes
• Jenny Rempel, Cataloger, married Matt Bodenhamer on December 31, 2011. She is now using the name Jenny Bodenhamer.
• Garry Souders, ILL Technician, is now the proud grandfather of Esmé Souders, born January 11, 2012. She is his fourth grandchild and third granddaughter.
• Technical Processing Updates Heidi
• There is not much of an update for TP as everyone is working very hard to move the mountains of materials through the dept. Receiving statistics show that TP has received about 20% more materials during the first half of FY12 than compared to the first half of FY11. This is a significant increase!
• Statistics show the number of barcodes printed on average per day in December was 1003 items for a total of 21,023 items, a new record. The processors are current on processing all “rush” materials and are processing non-rush materials from about three weeks ago. Study guides and dated materials like continuations are also current. The conveyors in TP are overflowing and items are being pulled from Big Bin as soon as there is space to put them. Both Kristin and Heidi have spent a lot of their time helping with the processing of materials.
• During the month of December, TP received an average of 47 boxes a day, for a total of 878 boxes of materials.
• All Playaways have been processed and are ready for tagging and filling reserves per agreed on schedule.
• Heidi will participate in the Collection workshop on Feb. 21 scheduled for new NW library staff and give a tour of Technical Processing and the Sorter room.
• John Rahhal informed Heidi that Brodart wants to schedule one of their sales reps. to visit Technical Processing to discuss options in the materials used for processing, esp. concerning the plastic book jackets used and also the replacement cases for books on CD. A date has not been set.
• Materials Selection Updates Janet
  Library Visits
• Selectors are conducting annual visits to BI and 6-month visits to CH this month.
• They are scheduled to do an annual visit to DN and 6-month to CT in February.  iWeed
• Selectors are conducting training for the new iWeed application. Training is scheduled for ED, MC, WA, BI, CH and DN.
• About 70 staff members signed up for the training.
• Staff
• Armando Celyos submitted his letter of resignation to pursue a Fellowship in England. His last day is Feb. 3.
• Meetings/Workshops
• Ruby and Marilyn attended the Adult Services Retreat on Jan. 11. Ruby presented information about locating titles on OverDrive and how to tell if a title is available through our service or through a public source.
• Melissa attended the first meeting of the Wellness Committee on Jan. 12.
• Janet is scheduled to view a telecast of the children’s book awards ceremony from ALA on Jan. 23rd.
• Janet is scheduled to attend Tech Support meeting on Jan. 24.
• Staff are planning to attend the retirement meeting scheduled for DN on Jan. 25th.
• Lisa is scheduled to attend the Staff Association Meeting on Jan. 26th
• Janet and Melissa plan to attend the Children’s Services Retreat on Feb. 1
• Janet is scheduled to train NW staff on Feb. 21.
• Administration Updates Karen
• Commission
• Karen referenced the Commission Agenda and highlighted several of the agenda items.  Construction
• The opening of NW is currently estimated to be in April. The library’s official name will be the Patience Latting Northwest Library. Internally, it will be referred to as Northwest and the library code will continue to be NW.
• Del City officials have requested an estimate of needs for a potential new Library in Del City by Jan. 17th. Funding for a new library may be included on a city election ballot in August.
• There are some delays with SO. Plan to move after Summer Reading and open in fall. Public art has been selected for SO.
• Harrah is interested in a larger space. Donna is talking to Harrah officials.
• No update on JN’s new building. Diane continues to work with the committee raising funds.
• WA will be the next library to receive landscaping as part of a grant from the Community Foundation.
• AdTeam
• IT working the annual replacement of computers.
• Lloyd/BUS submitted a draft for the budget timeline. The Travel/Mileage guidelines coming out Feb. 20th. Entry deadline for budget is April 13.
• Donna and Lloyd continue to work on hiring a new HUM director.
• Donna, Kay, Lloyd and Denyvetta are attending ALA Midwinter.
• MaC is working on samples of Playaway promotion and marketing. The completed annual report is available in commission minutes or the Info Magazine.
• Kay/LO is working on plans for the new strategic plan and Sunday hour staffing.
• Candice is updating the safety manual and announced the Chemical Inventory is due in Feb.AMPs (Playaways)
• All received AMPs are cataloged and processed.
• Reserves for Playaways going to libraries with a.m. delivery will be filled on Monday for Tuesday morning delivery. Reserves for libraries with p.m. delivery will be filled Tuesday morning.
• Soft opening for the AMPs is scheduled for Wednesday Jan. 25th.
• Miscellaneous All
• No miscellaneous items discussed.
• Action Items
• Karen will discuss transfers with Donna
• Pauline will review gift guidelines with CAT Technicians.
• Selectors will review withdrawals currently in the basement and make decisions on items to send to Friends.

Next meeting scheduled for February 16th at the Service Center. Heidi will chair.