Yale University Library

Service Quality Improvement Council

 

February 7, 2001

Agenda

  1. Update on procedures for handling records for lost & missing books (Joan Swanekamp)
    See http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/lostcatalogmaintenance.pdf

  2. Problem patrons document (Sandy Peterson)

  3. Update from Accessibility Group regarding patrons whose first language is not English (Danuta Nitecki)

  4. Document Delivery Task Force (Sue Lorimer)
    See http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/system%20evalfinrep.pdf

  5. Looking forward to the new SQIC (Danuta Nitecki)

  6. If time allows: Service implications for representing non-YUL holdings in Orbis.

Minutes

Present: Sue Crockford-Peters, Suzanne Eggleston, Holly Grossetta Nardini, Danuta Nitecki, Sandy Peterson, Rich Richie, Andy Shimp, David Stern, Paul Stuehrenberg (chair)

Absent: Emily Horning, Fred Martz, Martha Smalley, Joan Swanekamp

I. Announcements, questions, future agenda items.

A. Paul Stuehrenberg introduced the new Web Advisory Group (WAG) liaison to the SQI Council, David Stern. Andy Shimp, the former chair of WAG, will continue to serve as the Collection Development Council liaison.

II. Update on procedures for handling records for lost & missing books.

The Council reviewed Joan Swanekamp's proposed catalog management policy for lost materials in her absence. Comments included various clarifications.

  • It was noted that outside of the Sterling Memorial Library, Circulation and Technical Services units are responsible for processing lost and missing books.
  • The proposed policy asserts that ORBIS is the catalog of record for all cataloged materials determined to be lost.
  • RSC's (Research Services & Collections) input will be considered on the proactive placement of a message that informs library users when a replacement copy is being sought. Fred offered to look into whether the text of NOTIS-generated messages can be changed.
  • Sue Crockford-Peters confirmed that the Library Systems Office does not at this time generate search reports for Circulation use.
  • Danuta Nitecki inquired whether Joan's document should be viewed as a proposal for a policy or a proposal for workflow procedure. She further asked what should be done with the proposal. It was agreed that since the proposed practice of not pulling cards will constitute a policy change, the final version should be brought to LMC (Library Management Council). A policy change will fundamentally redefine what the library catalog is - i.e., we will be displaying what we no longer own.
  • David suggested that the public service implications of planting "dead" file entries in ORBIS be reviewed. Students in search of research topics who see ORBIS entries for a particular topic will not be aware that some of those entries are "dead" unless they go through each of them.
  • Sue Crockford-Peters suggested that the handling of multi-volume sets with missing volumes be addressed in the draft.

Paul will share comments with Joan. Discussion of the proposal will continue with input from Joan, RSC, and Fred Martz.

III. Guidelines to Respond to Problem Behavior.

The following decisions were made:

  • University Police guidelines on dealing with situations involving unacceptable patron behavior will be made available at service desks. Sandy Peterson will field test the efficacy of the police guidelines.
  • The success of having on-site copies of these guidelines will be reviewed by the SQI Council in 6 months.
  • The guidelines will be posted online. Once posted, it will be announced to library staff as well as to LMC and Kate Reynolds, who will be responsible for any related training needs.

IV. Assisting patrons for whom English is not a first language.

Danuta described plans underway to better assist library patrons who are not fluent in English. The issue is being treated as one of diversity. As a result of discussions in the SML-CCL Good Neighbors Group, procedures are being designed to call upon staff (including students) with fluency in non-English languages to translate basic reference and service dialogs when necessary. Kate Reynolds has agreed to provide staff with training in cultural sensitivity. In addition, Holly Grossetta Nardini will look into ways in which the library is represented in text (print and online) to non-native speakers. Suzanne Eggleston noted that the Bibliographic Instruction Subcommittee program at the 1999 Music Library Association conference had focused on this topic. Guidelines on how to assist patrons not fluent in English used by other library institutions were shared at the conference. ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries) has posted an online glossary of library terms in various languages.

V. Looking forward to the new SQIC.

Danuta briefly updated the Council on efforts to form the next SQI Council.

VI. Document Delivery Task Force.

Suzanne Lorimer, chair of the Document Delivery Task Force, apprised the Council of the Task Force's activities since November 2000. Three vendors were invited to present their products in November. Each product was rated based on its ability to meet a number of core requirements. After a rigorous evaluation process, the Task Force recommended purchase of a stand-alone interlibrary loan system. Pigasus WINGS was recommended as the preferred product, but it was noted that in different ways any of the three systems would offer service improvements.

In order to provide a document delivery-interlibrary loan package that will enable the library to offer patron empowerment and service quality improvement directly to users, a solution for managing document delivery -- including interlibrary loan, and other related services -- is being sought. The solution will depend largely on the timing of a possible systems purchase by the CoPY group, which has followed a parallel assessment track for the BorrowDirect service. Meetings to compare Fretwell-Downing and Pigasus as the replacement software underlying BorrowDirect will be held later this month. If the CoPY group can decide by March if it will purchase either of these systems to replace epixtech's Ursa, the Task Force will piggyback on the purchase of the chosen product. If CoPY cannot decide or chooses to pursue a different option, the Document Delivery Task Force proposes to subscribe to OCLC ILLiad as a short-term service solution for improvement of interlibrary loan.

The Task Force has presented its recommendations to Danuta. It is currently gathering baseline statistics to establish service standards for gauging the following success factors:

1. turnaround time
2. fill rate
3. user satisfaction
4. unit cost

Process improvements will be assessed over time against current data on these factors.

The Task Force will explore use of a commercial document delivery service in comparison to other options.

Sue noted that all of the systems considered by the Task Force do offer assistance with internal processes, such as providing our staff with Yale call numbers and the location of items requested by other libraries, and in reducing staff time entering transaction elements for loan requests.

The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

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