I anticipate improvements in efficiency due to staff time not being spent flagging materials "rush" and searching for materials which must be moved up the queue. I anticipate improvements in effectiveness from reduced wait times for customers with materials on hold. Currently, when materials are received from vendors, the printed distribution list indicates whether members have already placed holds for each title. There is no information as to how many holds are waiting, nor the ratio of holds to purchased copies. Any title with holds waiting is flagged "rush" in Cataloging; "rush" titles are moved to the top of the cataloging queue. These titles are cataloged, barcode/spine labels printed, and forwarded for processing before any titles not flagged "rush". Titles that are not "rush" are cataloged and barcode/spine labels printed in order of date received. New titles are received in Cataloging 2-3 times daily; each time, titles that are not "rush" are pushed further down the queue. Cataloging turnaround time for "rush" titles averages 2 working days. I am not familiar with average turnaround times for processing, but I believe it is about the same. As of 7/18/2016, "non rush" titles received in Cataloging on 6/30/2016 are at the beginning of the cataloging queue, indicating an average turnaround time of 10 working days. "Non rush" titles returned to Technical Processing on 6/29/2016 are at the beginning of that queue, again indicating an average turnaround of 10 working days. This indicates an average turnaround time of about 20 working days per title for materials that are not flagged "rush". There are multiple problems with this process. The primary issue is that titles are only flagged "rush" if there are member holds at the time that orders are received. If one or more members place holds after a title is received, Cataloging staff are not aware of it, so the titles are not flagged. A member who places a hold on the day after a material is received will wait about 4 weeks to get the material, whereas a member who places a hold the day before receipt will wait about 1 week. Materials Selection staff often become aware of these situations while evaluating hold lists, and contact Cataloging or Technical Processing to request that a title be rushed. Cataloging and/or Technical Processing staff then spend time searching for the title and moving it up the queue rather than on getting materials out to members. Staff time spent flagging titles "rush" at the beginning of the cataloging process delays titles being added to the queue and being cataloged, barcode/spine labels printed, or processed. Proposed methodology: 1. Determine a time frame for the project. I suggest a period of 1-2 months. Timing of the project should be decided in consultation with Materials Selection and Technical Processing. 2. Select a category of materials for which members frequently place holds, either before or after receipt. Again, this should be done in consultation with Materials Selection and Technical Processing. Possible categories are DVDs or adult fiction materials. 3. Cataloging Technicians track the number of materials received each day that fall into the selected category. Technicians normally track the total number of materials received. This is an extra step, but the time spent may be offset by step 4. 4. Cataloging Technicians do not flag any materials in the selected category as "rush"; instead, they place them in a FIFO queue. Depending on workload at the time of the pilot, it may be necessary to create a separate hold area. The time saved by not flagging these materials "rush" should offset the time spent tracking the number of materials described in step 3. 5. Catalogers catalog received materials according to the FIFO timeline and track the number of titles cataloged along with the date received. Cataloging Technicians print barcode/spine labels according to the same timeline and track in the same manner. 6. After the pilot test is completed, evaluate overall turnaround time for the selected category vs. turnaround for the priority style queue.