Materials Services Division Updates for October 2013

Department Highlights

Statistical Update:

• Since the beginning of the fiscal year 4078 customer suggestions have been received, for an average of 272 per week.  During September, 1173 customer suggestions were received.
• Since 7/1/13, 9135 titles were selected for an average of 609 titles per week.  63926 items were selected for an average of 4262 per week.
• From Sept. 2 to Oct. 7^th, 135 boxes of withdrawals and gifts were received from the libraries.  29 boxes of transfers and 3 boxes of gifts were sent to cataloging for processing.  43 boxes were sent to the Friends.  During September Selection staff spent nearly 150 hours working with the withdrawals and gifts. So far in October, staff spent nearly 47 hours working with these materials.
• The average daily run for September was 988 items per day, for a total of 19,753 items.  The average for October of 2013 so far is 902 items per day. The processors are current on processing all rush materials and are processing non-rush materials from the run 9 days ago. Study guides and dated materials like continuations are also current. 
• During September, TP received a daily average of 61 boxes of materials a day, for a total of 1,228 boxes.  The daily average in October so far is 58 boxes. 
• TP has processed and sent out the first batch of Views to the libraries during the first week in October. Heidi e-mailed the library managers prior to sending out the first shipment from TP.
• 2,822 new titles were cataloged during September, including 723 e-media titles.
• 21,599 barcode labels were printed in September; 19,888 for new materials and 1,711 for reprocessed materials.
• 2,271 new titles were received in Cataloging during September.
• Average turnaround time for new titles in Cataloging in September was 3.78 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 5.36 copies per title for September.
• 737 requests to borrow materials through ILL were received in September; 700 borrowed materials were received.  Materials are not always received during the same month that a request is placed.  During September, 380 materials received (54% of receives) were requested in September.  In August, 1,114 requests were received and a total of 867 of the requested materials were borrowed, for a fill rate of 78%.
• Average turnaround time for borrowing materials in ILL during September was 6.14 working 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 1,085 requests to lend MLS materials to other libraries in September; 537 materials were lent; average fill rate was 49%. 

Department Updates

Cataloging/Interlibrary Loan                                                                               Pauline

• MLS blocked ILL requests to lend beginning September 17 due to short staffing; this accounts for the lower numbers. Materials lent to other libraries in August were returned after 13.1 working days on average.
• Morris Crisp began transitioning to his new position as a Cataloging Technician on September 30.  Since his absence leaves ILL down a part-time staff member as well as a full-time one, he is continuing to assist in ILL until the open positions in that department have been filled.
• Interviews for the full-time ILL Technician position were held October 7-9.  Jenny, Brandon, Alex, and Morris participated with Pauline in the interview process.  An excellent group of candidates was interviewed, making the decision difficult.  Former MLS employee Aaron Killough has accepted the position and will begin work on November 4.
• The part-time ILL Technician position will be posted in the near future.  Pauline hopes to hold interviews in early November.
• LJ Blair and Sharon Young from ED visited ILL on the morning of September 25; Susan Urban from DN visited on the afternoon of the same day.  All are new ILL contacts at their libraries, and wanted to learn more about the ILL process in order to assist customers.  They were very interested, asked many good questions, and are looking forward to working with ILL in the future.
• OCLC has postponed the timeline for replacing FirstSearch Resource Sharing with WorldShare ILL.  Libraries were to have been converted to WorldShare by the end of December 2013; that date has been moved to May 2014.  Pauline is continuing to monitor WorldShare to come up with ways to adapt ILL workflows to work with it.
• ILL suspended lending of MLS materials to other libraries on September 17, due to short staffing.  Lending is scheduled to resume on October 28.
• All Cataloging and ILL staff attended Focus on October 14.  All agreed that there was something for everyone there.
• On October 16, Pauline attended a meeting with MTC staff, Service Center managers, and the local distributor from HUMAN Healthy Vending to discuss the possibility of setting up a vending machine for healthy products in the building.
• Heidi Johnson has updated the Service Center building fire safety protocol and forwarded it to Candace McDaniel.  Thanks to Heidi for doing this!
• Ursula and Pauline are working to plan for Ursula’s retirement.  Most of the functions of her position will be absorbed by other staff initially.  They hope to discuss their ideas with Karen Marriott in early November.
• Cataloging has planned Ursula’s retirement Tea Par-tea for November 13 at the Service Center.  It will be a come and go event, from 11:00 to 3:00.  Everyone is invited.  Donations toward the party and a retirement gift are welcome and may be sent to Jill Vessels in Cataloging.

Technical Processing                                                                                           Heidi

• Baker & Taylor’s and Ingram’s accounts continue to be current.  Vicki from BTE called and informed MSL and TP that she has been reassigned to a different territory and that MLS’s new sales rep. will be Heather at x. 2026.
• Heidi has been on vacation for much of the last three weeks and is just now catching up with e-mail, inboxes, needed supplies, etc. She would like to say thank you to Pauline and all TP staff who held down the fort and carried on like troopers while the boss was away. Heidi has attended Focus on October 14, and will be attending the ILS demos scheduled DN for October 22-24. Kristin Hill and Kevin Colwell, both from the receiving and data entry section in TP, will also be attending the demos.
• Tony Alfonso, a retired mail carrier, has started as TP’s afternoon Aide on October 7. He attended GOAL on October 15.
• Heidi has updated and forwarded the Service Center’s building evacuation procedure to all departments within the SC, plus to Karen and to Candace for inclusion in the safety manual.
• Kevin Colwell, SA representative at the Service Center, attended the last Staff Association meeting scheduled at RE on September 26.
• The Robert Howard Co., for many years sole supplier of gold dots used to mark new fiction titles in MLS’s collection, has gone out of business. The question of where to purchase more gold dots has been tabled at this time due to upcoming changes to MLS’s ILS. Once we use the new system, there will be changes in the type and size of barcodes used, no matter which company we decide on. TP and Purchasing will revisit this issue when current supplies run low or a final decision on MLS’s new ILS has been reached and CAT and TP have a better idea what the new barcodes will look like.
• Representatives from all SC departments met with a new vendor who proposes to supply the Service Center with a healthy selection of snacks. Staff is still being polled as it would mean eliminating the current soda machine. Results of the poll will follow at a future date.

Materials Selection                                                                                                            Janet

• During September Selectors made annual visits DC.
• In October they are doing annual visits to VI and JN.
• In November they are scheduled to do annual visits to RE and WR.
• Janet met with Todd/CT on Oct. 1 and with Emily/VI on Oct. 2^nd to review selection and collection procedures.
• Susan met with the representative from Gale on Oct. 2^nd.
• Melissa attended the children’s services meeting on Oct. 9.
• Ruby had a United Way Committee meeting on Oct. 9.
• Ruby attended the October Commission meeting to receive her 35 year certificate.
• Janet is scheduled to meet with the new YA librarian at RE on Oct. 29^th
• Janet is scheduled to attend the YA services meeting on Oct. 30.

Administration                                                                                                        Karen

• Karen shared that the new Maintenance Manager, Curtis Ray begins Nov. 4th.
• Surplus sale is Friday.
• City is discussing an AL building with a bond issue in 2019.
• Construction on the west entrance to DN is beginning soon.
• Kay asks for feedback for the strategic plan.
• Unveiling of public art at WA scheduled for October 26th.
• Candace is beginning work on the DN Christmas Open House.
• Karen and Kay are working on the new online Summer Reading registration. 

ILS Demos                                                                                                               All

• Managers and Karen discussed the upcoming ILS demos and reviewed the scenarios and evaluation questions. 

        Miscellaneous                                                                                                         All

• No miscellaneous items were discussed.

Next meeting scheduled for November 21^st.  Heidi is chair of this meeting.