Materials Services Division Updates for July 2013

Department Highlights

Materials Selection:

• In June, Materials Selection selected 5,134 titles and 33,273 items, ending the year with a total of 41,560 titles and 263,504 items.  Also in June, MSL received 1,247 suggestions to purchase material for a total of 16,442 items for the year.

Technical Processing:

• The average daily run for June was 937 items per day, for a total of 18,746 items. The average for July so far is 1,059 items per day. The processors are current on processing all rush materials and are processing non-rush materials from the run 10 days ago. Study guides and dated materials like continuations are also current. For FY13, TP processed a total of 231,817 items, that’s a daily average of 924 items, and an increase of about 1% compared to FY12.
• During June, TP received a daily average of 67 boxes of materials a day, for a total of 1,332 boxes.  That was a 14% increase compared to May’s total of 1,140. The daily average in July so far is 58 boxes.  TP received a total of 13,583 boxes of materials in FY13 which is a 12% increase compared to FY12’s total of 12,147 boxes.
• Heidi attended the Library Managers’ meeting on July 17, 2013, to receive the library managers’ decisions on how to process and label the new Playaway Views to be added to MLS’s collection soon. Managers decided to keep power cords stored with each View unit and wanted the new label to list the contents included with each set (Playaway View unit and AC adaptor power cord). They inquired about the timeline, which was estimated to be about 2-3 months, so they can be ready to receive this new format at their libraries.
• In FY13, TP received a total of 295,494 items. That is a 6% increase compared to FY12’s total of 278,272 items received.

Cataloging:

• During FY13:
• 32,153 new titles were cataloged, including 8,594 e-media titles.  For comparison, 25,529 new titles were cataloged in FY12; 1,746 were e-media.
• 262,415 barcode labels were printed; 236,467 for new materials and 25,948 for reprocessed materials.  For comparison, 240,401 labels were printed in FY12; 230,397 were for new materials and 10,004 for reprocessed materials.
• Average turnaround time for new titles in Cataloging was 1.32 working days.  This includes only time that materials were in Cataloging; it does not include time in Technical Processing.
• Average ratio of copies to titles was 4.55 copies per title.
• 10,148 requests to borrow materials through ILL were received; 7,686 materials were borrowed; average fill rate was 72%.  For comparison, 10,038 requests were received in FY12; 7,611 materials were borrowed. 
• Average turnaround time for borrowing materials in ILL was 8 calendar days.  This includes only time from the date requests are sent out from ILL to the date that they are received in ILL; it does not include routing time between MLS libraries and ILL.
• Staff in ILL evaluated 21,672 requests to lend MLS materials to other libraries were received; 10,142 materials were lent; average fill rate was 45%.  For comparison, in FY12 19,466 requests were evaluated and 9,554 materials lent.

Materials Selection Update

FY13-FY14

• Most of June was spent finalizing orders and getting FY13 funds encumbered.  The last order for FY13 went out on July 27th.   
• Selectors began selecting titles for FY14 during the last few days of June since the first order of the new fiscal year went out on July 2nd.

Library Visits

• Materials Selectors made annual library visits to Bethany and Almonte during June
• In July they are scheduled to do visits to CH and NW.
• In August visits to Book Centers and Books by Mail are scheduled in addition to an annual visit to CT

Staff

• On June 3rd, Kristine Charter began as the fulltime MSL Tech, replacing Lori Mullooly.  She picked up the processes of order entry quickly and was a big help during the fiscal year-end crunch.
• Lessa Keller-Kenton helped out in TP on June 28, July 2 and July 3rd.

Meetings Attended

•  Janet met with Aaron on June 10 to discuss the visit to Luther in May.
•  Janet attended the June library managers’ meeting for the discussion on the Playaway Views.
• Ruby attended a United Way meeting on June 19.
• Lisa attended the Staff Association meeting on June 27th.

TP Update

• Baker & Taylor’s and Ingram’s accounts continue to be current. 
• On July 15, Rose State’s Information Matrix Camp group visited the Service Center for their 3rd annual tour. And as in previous years, many of the students asked questions and were impressed by the behind-the-scenes work done to get materials on the shelves at libraries.
• Heidi attended the Safety Committee meeting on July 9 at Belle Isle and the Staff Recognition committee on July 11 at DN.

CAT/ILL Update

• Pauline would like to express major appreciation to the staff in CAT and ILL for their great job in keeping operations flowing smoothly during her absence for ALA and vacation.  They functioned so well that many people didn’t even realize that she was out.
• Pauline also thanks Heidi Johnson for providing management assistance and guidance to CAT and ILL while she was gone.
• Pauline attended the ALA Conference June 29-July 1.  She went to several sessions that provided good information and ideas.  She also visited with the potential ILS vendors to talk about how Cataloging and ILL function within each one.
• The OLA Information Matrix Camp visited the Service Center on July 15.  The campers were excited and excitable, and seemed to have a good time visiting with staff.  They were provided with library-themed puzzles such as crosswords, word search, etc., to help stave off boredom as they waited to move from one area to the next.
• Staff in ILL and CAT continue to rotate in and out for vacations, and will do so through August.  Both departments will have adequate staff to handle normal operations at all times, and will be available to respond to questions and provide assistance.