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Yale University Library
Service Quality
Improvement Council
March 21, 2001
Agenda
- Discussion of "no call number" records in ORBIS
Minutes
Present: Sue Crockford-Peters, Suzanne Eggleston, Holly
Grossetta Nardini, Emily Horning, Fred Martz, Danuta Nitecki, Andy Shimp,
Alan Solomon, Paul Stuehrenberg, Joan Swanekamp
Absent: Sandy Peterson, Rich Richie, David Stern
I. Announcements, questions, future agenda items.
Danuta Nitecki announced that after nearly two years as
charter chair of the SQIC, Paul Stuehrenberg will pass leadership of
the Council to Alan Solomon. Paul was applauded for his work and asked
to be on call to advise the new chair. Alan was welcomed to the Council.
II. Discussion of "no call number" records in ORBIS.
The Council continued its review of issues relating to the
immediate problem of how to handle "no call number" records for items
belonging to the 1) American Oriental Society, 2) Babylonian Collection,
3) Boswell Collection, and the 4) Linguistics Seminar Room. Specifically,
how should we treat ORBIS messages to accurately direct users to service
points?
Fred Martz reported the following:
- The library should address all three ways in which notes for "no
call number" records are being generated. These include:
- Batch jobs run against existing records in ORBIS
It is feasible to rerun a program using the same "no call number"
selection criteria and input new customized notes to replace the
old ones. He stated that modifying and testing the program would
be relatively easy to do. However, this program cannot be run
periodically - it is too big a project. It could be run a few
times before data are migrated to ORBIS 2. It may be possible
to catch all inaccurate "no call number" records using this method.
- Retrospective conversion tapes from OCLC as part of the data
load process.
The text of the message currently loaded into the software can
be changed.
- Added copies that OCLC staff create.
OCLC will have to be instructed to load different messages, or
stop loading messages altogether, thus eliminating the possibility
of errors. We can then run the program described in point #1 to
catch any existing records with inaccurate messages.
- If a message is to be applied to the location entry, a new program
will have to be designed with the new selection criteria. The program
will seek out locations first and isolate records to be changed, and
then check for any pre-existing notes. Fred advised that this option
may lead to complications.
- From an operational point of view, the preferred option would be
to wait until the new system is in place (the ORBIS II system will
allow for 255 characters whereas the current system will only allow
for 40 characters in the location field). Fred suggested the possibility
of removing all notes in place now and waiting to solve the problem
of providing service information until the completion of the migration
process. Another solution proposed was to add the revised service
information now and remove post-migration.
Joan cautioned against embedding phone and room numbers, and other
ephemeral data in the catalog record. Should this information be
set as a regular Marc field, bibliographic integrity will be difficult
to maintain. She noted that if it is decided to input revised messages
now, corrupted information may remain in the system since the program
will search for a particular combination of words in the message
(anything not fitting that combination will not be cleared).
Proposed solutions to the immediate issue of handling "no call number"
records for items in the four collections were:
1. Do nothing and wait for the new Library Management System
2. Revise or delete the current messages.
Fred noted that from the LSO perspective, revising or deleting the
messages is equal in terms of labor required. It was remarked that there
are many records currently in the system with no messages - stripping
the messages would impact readers no more than the no-message records
already in place. It would not constitute an error, but a lack of information.
Service staff will have to be trained in how to respond to queries regarding
the four collections. Service information on the Web would also assist
users in accessing material in these collections. Paul added that having
no message is consistent with the principle of not adding new information
for retrospective conversion.
Fred pointed out that since there will be numerous requests to add
messages when the new system is in place, records for items in the four
collections will have to wait their turn to be addressed. If it is a
matter of fitting the service information in the location field, a simple
table change is all that will be required. Fred added that the ability
to move service information to a more appropriate, manageable spot (should
it be decided to take the option of loading revised message text now)
will depend on the vendor chosen by the library and the customization
options available.
The SQI Council decided on the following:
- A vote was taken on whether to delete or to add revised message
text. Results: 4 to revise, 6 to delete.
LSO will run a program to delete messages in place now for "no call
number" records belonging to the four collections. Once run, Fred
assured that it will not have to be run again.
- Joan will request that OCLC stop inserting messages to added copies
for items belonging to the four collections.
- Parallel efforts to publicize access and service policies of the
four collections will be made (Web pages and signage)
The meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.
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2001 Yale University Library.
Last modified March 29, 2001.
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