Materials Services Division - November 2014

Date:  November 20, 2014
Time:  8:00am
Location:  Service Center Conference Room

Present:        Janet Brooks, Heidi Johnson, Karen Marriott, Pauline Rodriguez-Atkins

Administrative Update    Karen

Commission agenda includes a recommendation to purchase a new Human Resources Management System from Paycom.  Replacement of our current system is necessary due to Jim Welch’s retirement. If purchase is approved, the target date for implementation will be April 1 of next year. Departments will be using the online calendar which is part of the package. The system also includes a new performance appraisal module and other features related to employment.  Details are listed in November’s Commission packet.

The next system that must be replaced will cover financials. Business Office has begun work on locating and evaluating possible systems.

MLS will switch over to a new e-mail system on December 13, 2014. Additional information will be coming from the IT department.

MLS’s phone system is about 10 years old and needs to be updated. 25 test phones were purchased and are currently being used at various beta sites in the system. This item may be on the December Commission agenda for approval and implementation within the next year.

Today’s Commission agenda also includes approval of final contract with MLS’s new Executive Director, Tim Rogers. He will start in his new position a week sooner than originally announced. His first day with the system will be on Thursday, January 8, 2015. At their October meeting, the Commission approved the appointment of Deputy Executive Director/Library Operations Kay Bauman as Interim Executive Director.

The Library Endowment Trust has received a grant for $132,000 from the Inasmuch Foundation for the purchase of four MediaSurfers to assist in bridging the digital divide in Oklahoma County. Each MediaSurfer contains sixteen (16) iPad 4 devices with a battery life of ten (10) hours. The iPad4 devices will be loaded with applications and programs for adults and children that are selected by our library and information technology staff to optimize accessibility of job opportunities, educational resources, government programs, health care information, library resources, and social networks. There is no definite timeline established yet.

On Nov. 21, there will be a meeting of the Design Committee for the Capitol Hill expansion. Current plans are to move to a temporary location while construction is ongoing. Estimated time for this move is August, following the Summer Reading program. However, plans may change based on progress of building plans and available space for a temporary location.

Managers really like the rendition of plans for the Jones library. Jones has decided to go forward with this design.

The City of Bethany has expressed an interest in expanding their library.  Harrah and Village are interested in updating and/or expanding their library facilities.

Cataloging/ILL Update  Pauline

CALL NUMBERS AND BARCODE LABEL PRINTING

Cataloging is still unable to print barcode labels for call numbers with a total of more than 32 characters.  This does not affect a large percentage of call numbers, but does have an impact.  Some materials are still being held until the issue is resolved.

Library staff should feel free to check with Cataloging to see if materials are being held due to this problem.

ILL NOTIFICATIONS AND MATERIAL TITLES

Several library staff had mentioned that ILL customer notices did not include the title of the requested materials.  Customers had contacted libraries asking for that information.

Anne Fischer worked with TLC staff to resolve the problem.  All notices regarding ILL materials, e-mail and postal, now include titles of materials.

During September and October, approximately 4,500 titles new to the collection were cataloged, including 64 e-media titles.  Approximately 466 records for mass market paperbacks were added during that time.

During September and October, roughly 38,350 new items were added to the collections.  This total includes mass market paperback items.

Titles with customer holds waiting are prioritized over titles with no holds, regardless of the number of holds and/or copies.

During September and October, ILL requested approximately 2,150 titles for MLS customers; and borrowed approximately 1,290.  This does not accurately reflect the fill rate, as responses to all requests have not been received yet.

During the same period, ILL received roughly 2,000 requests to lend MLS materials to other libraries; and lent roughly 900.  Not all requests to lend were evaluated by ILL staff; some were automatically declined based on system criteria.

Margaret Angeles, former MSD Technician in Cataloging, returned to the system as a part-time ILL Technician on November 10.  Her previous experience in Cataloging and ILL has been a plus.  She is learning the basic tasks of her position and has already reduced the workload on other ILL Techs.

Aaron and Pauline attended the OLA Technical Services Roundtable workshop on ILL, “Any Way You Want It”, in Stillwater on October 31.

The Cataloging Technicians are regularly adding records for mass market paperbacks to the catalog, then barcoding and inventorying the items.  They are doing a great job of incorporating this task into their workflow.

As they have time, the Catalogers are working to update the list of approximately 3,000 catalog records that currently do not display formats in the CarlX staff client.

Cataloging has taken responsibility for uploading MARC records for e-media materials within five working days of receipt of the records.  Classification information is being added to all new records.  This will help to prevent materials intended as YA from displaying in the public children’s catalog.

Karen Marriott and Anne Fischer visited ILL on November 19 to job shadow and gain a better understanding of the department’s procedures.  The ILL Technicians did a great job of demonstrating and discussing processes.

Various staff members attended the Wellness Results session on November 11.

Christle Chumley of Backstage Library Works visited Pauline on November 19, to discuss Backstage’s authority control products.

The annual Service Center holiday potluck luncheon has been scheduled for December 8.

Several staff members are scheduled for AVL between now and the end of the year.  However, there will always be staff in each area to respond to queries and provide assistance.

Pauline will be on AVL December 22-January 5, returning to work on January 6.

Materials Selection Update  Janet

• Since the beginning of the fiscal year, Materials Selection added a total of 10859 titles and 71656 items.  Since the beginning of September, when we migrated to CarlX, a total of 5606 titles and 35863 items were added.  Orders are averaging 467 titles and 2,988 items per week in the new system.   Orders have been smaller since going to the new system, as MSL continues to learn and refine procedures.  Most recent orders seem to be returning to a normal rate.
• Since the beginning of the fiscal year, Materials Selection received 4640 customer suggestions to purchase materials, for an average of 232 suggestions per week.  Prior to the migration, MSL averaged about 296 suggestions per week.  Over the weekend of 11/15-16, there was a problem with the Suggest a Title function.  On Monday, 11/17 only 3 recommendations were received. In the CarlX Item Maintenance function, we noticed several titles with a number of duplicate temporary records with no customer information attached and they were not showing up in the Recommendations Title Queue.  TLC has been made aware of the problem and Anne and Janet will see what is needed to remove the temporary records.

Library Visits

• Selectors made annual visits to RE and WR during November.
• They are scheduled to visit WA in December.

Staff Activities

• Janet met with Suzette/MC on 11/6 and helped her select some YA titles for MC from the withdrawals held in the MSL basement
• Several staff attended the Wellness Results meeting on 11/10
• Marilyn worked with the part time librarian at DC on 11/14.  They discussed how to weed and maintain the part of the collection she works.
• Janet and Karen met with Baker and Taylor rep, Tammy Crooks on 11/19.

Periodicals

• Susan, Kristine and Lauren have been busy getting periodical titles input in the new system.  This has been a very time consuming and tedious task.
• Kristine and Susan are now working the Ebsco invoice for periodicals.

Technical Processing Update                                                       Heidi

• Due to the migration to the CarlX system, no receiving or barcode statistics are available for October. TP can only estimate their productivity by using the numbers provided by Materials Selection and Cataloging. The processors are current on processing all rush and non-rush materials received from Cataloging.  There is no backlog in Technical Processing.
• During October, TP received a daily average of 43 boxes of materials a day, for a total of 953 boxes.  735 were received from Baker & Taylor, 218 from other vendors. The daily average in November so far is 45 boxes.
• Baker & Taylor’s and Ingram’s accounts continue to be current. 
• The sorter issues have settled down. There are fewer misroutings and missing Hold routing labels than there were a few weeks ago The sorter appears to be working without any problems now. Curtiss had a protective frame built around the sensor array which will prevent bins from damaging any more sensors. In addition, he had metal strips installed along the length of the sorter to keep the wheels of the sorter bins in place and prevent the bins from moving away from the sorter chutes as books are falling into them. Thank you, Curtiss and Maintenance!
• The Service Center’s Christmas party has been scheduled for Monday, December 8. All MSD managers are invited to participate.
• UPS did not delivery any boxes to TP on November 11, Veteran’s Day. The same thing happened last year. At that time, Heidi called the UPS rep. who was supposed to make a note on the record, noting that the Service Center is open on that day and is expecting delivery. Heidi will call again to ensure delivery on next year’s Veteran’s Day, but closer to the actual date.
• Findaway World has experienced a number of order entry issues during the last 3-4 weeks. TP has received several incorrect quantities of titles ordered; TP also has received several titles which MSL had not ordered at all, and several instances of receiving the same title as ordered, but by different author, with different ISBN and SKU#. Karen Peck assures TP that they are working on correcting these issues.
• Heidi asked the Webmaster to update TP’s online supply catalog to reflect the recent change in outreach category stickers available from TP. Only adult and juvenile fiction category stickers will still be available. Use of non-fiction category stickers has been discontinued.

Fine Removal for SC Staff

Current policy allows staff to have their fines waved. The procedure has been to contact Circulation Control or circulation staff at libraries to request waiver. Because CarlX tracks the amount of fines cleared by staff at the libraries, some are concerned about clearing too many staff fines. Service Center staff should contact Circulation Control to handle these transactions.

Serials

Managers had submitted questions relating to serials and continuations ahead of time.  Some of the items discussed and clarified:

Q: Which department/area is responsible for each of the following:

Tracking periodical changes, i.e.., changes in title, frequency, format, etc.?

A: TP notifies MSL if there is a change when continuations/standing orders are received in TP; then Selector in MSL will make necessary changes to checking record. MSL is responsible for changes to periodicals,

Updating/adding/maintaining subscriptions?

A: Materials Selection

Updating/maintaining/correcting holdings?

A: Materials Selection, Libraries

Creating Item records?

A:  Libraries create their own item records for their subscriptions.

Withdrawing items?

A: Libraries are responsible for withdrawing items. Heidi mentioned that in the past, TP has made sure that old editions of continuations were withdrawn, esp. ones that needed to be destroyed or returned to the vendor, as long as MSL indicates this in the check-in record.

Q: What information do libraries need in a CarlX record for a periodical?

A:  Title – Publisher – ISSN – Former/succeeding titles

Q: How are periodical title changes handled?

A: Selector notifies CAT when a title changes. CAT closes the existing record so that it reflects that there will no new issues, and a new record for the new title is created. Links between titles are included. Libraries should check in issues on the record that matches the title in hand.

Q: How long can libraries keep back issues after having deleted their subscription? Is it the same time for each library or will each library be different? Should they be keeping them at all?

A: Libraries keep back issues for no more than 3 years.

Q: What should they do in Serials in CarlX? Should they delete all the issues in their grids and then notify MSL so that MSL can then delete the library from the subscription title?

A:  Yes, they should notify MSL. All issues must be withdrawn before their subscription is deleted.

Minimally Cataloged Paperbacks  

Janet shared MLS staff’s concerns about BIDs assigned to brief catalog records for paperbacks. Some titles had been ordered with BIDs, but the brief records were created on new BIDs. The orders required MSL to create dummy items. Since the brief records were on different BIDs, the dummy items were not deleted.

Pauline and Heidi explained that the issue arose from a lack of knowledge as to how the ordered paperbacks were to be handled. They have now established a process that will make sure that the brief record for any paperback received with a BID will overlay the ordered BID.

Miscellaneous

There were no miscellaneous items for discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for December 18, 2014; Pauline will chair.