YUL
MOVING FORWARD: QUESTIONS and ANSWERS
Listed
below are questions posed at the last large group staff meeting (Moving Forward
11/4/03). These questions have been
categorized and sent to appropriate staff members for response. Before each answer is the name of the staff
member(s) who responded. This document
will continue to be updated, as answers are submitted (in varying colors so
that readers may quickly identify new answers). Please continue checking in for new answers over the coming
weeks.
Answers: December 1, 2003 are in blue
Answers: December 10, 2003 are in purple
Answers: December 23, 2003 are in green
Go Directly to:
A. Access
Services
B. Acquisitions
C. Communications
D. Flexibility
and Agility
E. Integrated
Access
F. InterLibrary
Loan/Borrow Direct
H. International
Programs
I. Library
Shelving Facility
J. Orbis
K. Preservation
L. Service
Quality
M. Staff
Training and Development
N. Unlocking
Collections/Cataloging
[Danuta Nitecki] A major result of an inventory is to account for the items in the collection. We expect to identify lost items in the catalog, have items shelved where they belong, and thereby make it easier for readers to access materials needed.
[Danuta
Nitecki] Not in every way. There are
common types of loan periods across the libraries, though variations in the
length of loans, for example, dependent on the borrowing needs of different
constituents served. Best practices for
procedures are shared among circulation staffs, but the variation in the
circulation activity levels may call for different workflows.
[Danuta
Nitecki] Yes, the Collection Space Management program aims to reach a point
when on-campus shelving will be occupied at about 80% capacity to provide for
comfortable browsing and effective stack management.
[Danuta Nitecki] Not known if we ever did a complete inventory of the YUL collections.
·
Collection management – would
you elaborate on the pilot project of no more than 250,000 volumes?
[Mary
Caldera/Communications Committee] This is admittedly one of the most difficult
parts of our job. The CC is a broad
communication vehicle. Our
communications tend to be directed to the Library as a whole and in our opinion
are relevant to all staff members. The
only way to ensure that we are doing a good job is for individuals to let us
know.
It is
important to recognize that communication is not the responsibility of just one
group or select individuals. In
addition to communicating ourselves, we make recommendations to others on how
they may improve and encourage the exchange of ideas and information. For instance, we have encouraged the
establishment of feedback mechanisms and have made recommendations to LMC
regarding departmental meeting agendas.
Each individual in the library is an integral part of the communication
network, and the more we listen and talk to each the more-- the more we are
actively engaged with the seeking and imparting of relevant information, the
more we will be satisfied with the flow of communication.
[Mary Caldera/Communications Committee] One measure we are
using is the High Performing Organization (HPO) Survey. As you may recall the library-wide survey
was taken by staff in November of last year.
In the area of communications (Shared Information and Open
Communication), the library score was 4.3, which is slightly above
neutral. The survey will be taken again
early next year. We will compare the
score from the next survey and with the November benchmark.
A Communications Committee sub-group lead by Dana Peterman is studying the question of measures and will recommend additional measures. If you have any suggestions regarding measuring our progress in this area, please let me know, and I will forward them to Dana.
[Alice Prochaska and Diane Young Turner] The Communications Committee is seriously working on this issue as well as other areas of library-wide communications. Additionally, I believe that communications will have to become a higher priority of LMT and LMC. Some improvements have been made but more work is needed. Based upon the feedback from staff at prior Large Group sessions, staff meetings have been the single most important vehicle for communicating. Guidelines for running a meeting have already been developed and other tools will be suggested in order to help to facilitate these meetings. It is also important for staff to help to promote open communication with middle managers by making suggestions on specific topics that you would like to have discussed. Training in management (which includes good communications) is available to all managers in the Library, and they are encouraged to take advantage of this. Accountability is also fostered in an environment of commonly decided goals and targets; and part of the work of Moving Forward was to help define some of these goals.
[Alice Prochaska and Diane Young Turner] Based upon the work of the two SQI Redesign Teams (formed by Danuta Nitecki) some progress has already been made in improving communications across departments. For example, the ELI Express redesign team, consisting of people in all the departments involved, has come up with some real improvements to the service; and improvements are in progress for the more complex acquisitions process, involving numerous people in several departments. I am optimistic that cross training, more joint departmental meetings and other initiatives will assist in solving this issue as well.
[Alice Prochaska, Kate Reynolds, Diane Young Turner] Keep in mind that all staff members who work in the library
play a part in achieving the strategic goals as set forth by the Library. Your
supervisor should be able to help you clearly understand exactly what role your
department or unit plays as well as outline the objectives that your unit must
accomplish in order to help achieve the strategic planning goals. The most
immediate source of information is your supervisor or department head. Ask your
supervisor or department head to hold a staff meeting to explain your
department’s role and report progress about what is being accomplished in other
areas of the Library.
[Alice Prochaska, Kate Reynolds, Diane Young Turner] First, let us bring you up to date on what has already been put in place. Most significantly, has been the inclusion of C&T staff members on various Library standing committee and project teams. The former staff association M&PSA has been renamed LiSA (Library Staff Association) and brings together all levels of staff members around various projects. The University Librarian’s Teas are an invitation to all library staff members to gather and exchange ideas with one another in an informal atmosphere.
On behalf of the university, the Library is hosting
a pilot program, “Creating A Shared Future”, which will encourage and sustain
2-way dialogue amongst all levels of staff on ways Yale can become a more
civil, effective and innovative place to work.
Members of our Library staff will be randomly selected to participate.
The sessions will be co-facilitated by Laura Freebairn-Smith and Kate Reynolds.
Library Humans Resources will continue to develop vehicles, such as the Communications Committee and tools like the Learning Plan that enhance 2-way dialogue amongst all levels of staff. Most importantly, we will seek your input and recommendations as we develop new initiatives.
[Alice Prochaska] School and departmental libraries are crucial in all parts of the Strategic Plan. Each action plan applies to all departments in one way or another. As one example, the Unlocking Collections action plan lists collections all over the library system that need attention; and I know several departmental libraries are turning their attention now to some of these collections. To take another example, the International Program focuses not just on parts of the library which concentrate on international collections. Some great work in the international arena is being done at the Medical Library, Social Sciences Library, Beinecke, and Divinity Library, as well as in RSC and the area studies collections, and I know that does not complete the list. More generally, the committees and councils that are being set up to carry forward our strategy in particular areas of activity (e.g. the multi-departmental international council and the Integrated Access Council) will draw membership from all parts of the Library. I hope all parts of the Library system, wherever they are based, will give thought to how they can contribute to each of the action plans. Much good thinking along these lines came out of the Spring Forward meeting in particular, and we are using these ideas as we move forward with the action plans.
[Alice Prochaska] I think there was a specific question behind this one, and I can’t say whether one particular department’s changes will be reviewed or not. But we certainly will look at organizational change, within LMT and LMC, as one way of meeting strategic priorities effectively. There is no presumption that a recent change has to be maintained if it really is not working.
- How will the recent announcement of Yale’s budget crunch affect strategic planning and subsumed activities?
- With the University plan to reduce staffing in order to handle the deficit, how is the library planning to meet the goals of the Strategic Plan including the staffing expansion predicted in the planning documents?
- Given the recent article in the New Haven Register about the 5-10% cut in University staffing, how is the library planning to accomplish the strategic plan?
- Despite budget constraints, we need a way to bring new challenges and opportunities unto the strategic plan—what will be the mechanism for doing so?
[Alice Prochaska] Let me try to answer these questions
together. The Library Management Team will be looking at all vacancies to
determine which are the most important to fill, either to continue core
operations, or to fulfill high priorities in the Strategic Plan. Where any vacant position is not filled, the
supervisors concerned are asked to specify the consequences of doing without
it, so that necessary adjustments in their department’s work can be made. In addition, we will be redoubling our
efforts to win grants and endowments for some Library activities, bringing in
externally-funded positions to replace some that were formerly funded from the
university’s general allocation.
The Provost’s Office has approved a basic plan for our
share of budget reductions that I submitted last week. It shows the Library can
achieve the 5% cuts without any need for layoffs, and without biting into our
basic provision for implementing the strategic plan. Some of the reductions
will come from expenditure on equipment and other non-staff costs. Some will come from keeping open some
positions that are currently vacant (where they are not essential to the
strategic plan immediately). We also
project a certain number of vacancies arising naturally; based on the record of
turnover in staff positions in recent years, only a small proportion of those
vacancies will need to be held open.
Across the university, teams of managers are taking a close
look at redundant activities and areas where work can be shared between
units. This will help achieve the
necessary savings for the university as a whole and, I hope, may also reduce
some of the administrative burdens placed on the Library. It is never easy to face budgetary cuts, but
with a well articulated Strategic Plan and the action plans flowing from it, we
are in a strong position to do so with clear understanding of the impact on our
core services and staff, and to plan how best to fit our priorities for the
future to these reduced resources.
[Alice Prochaska] See in part, my answer above. It is vitally important for us to continue
with our plans, and to look outside the Library for partnerships that will help
all concerned to achieve their aims in a cost-effective way. I personally do not see a ‘circle of wagons’
thinking developing in the Library. I
agree it can be a danger in any organization that faces cuts.
[Alice Prochaska] The feedback forms submitted after the
meeting (mounted separately on this site) show that the great majority of those
attending found it well worthwhile. One
further measure of success will be in the responses to the second staff survey,
to be carried out in January. Beyond those, an enduring value of this meeting
and the Focus Forward and Spring Forward meetings will come from the large
number of ideas and proposals made during the meetings, on which the Library
acts. The Strategic Plan as published
contains the work of the Focus Forward meeting, and the wording adopted
there. Both Focus Forward and Spring
Forward produced large numbers of proposals which have been and are being
carried forward. The same will be true
of Moving Forward, as we process the proposals for measurement and the many
other comments that came from it.
- Why isn’t there a union rep on today’s panel?
[Maureen Malone Jones and Diane Young Turner] Panel members were selected based upon areas of the strategic planning process that needed to be addressed. Those individuals selected had specific responsibilities for past and/or ongoing responsibilities for implementation.
[Maureen Malone Jones and Diane Young Turner] I do hope that there is accountability between staff and supervisors. The library expects no less. If there isn’t, it should be brought to the attention of the department head, AUL, Library Human Resources or the University Librarian. A number of venues have been established to encourage this sort of communication. Concerning the question about the accountability within the Union, I am not in a position to answer. Questions about internal Union affairs should be directed to a Union steward or Union staff.
[Maureen
Malone Jones and Diane Young Turner] Since this is not a question, it is
difficult to respond. I do know that
President Levin, other University Officers and the library administration,
headed by Alice, are keenly interested in creating a cooperative work
environment, where we all work together and freely communicate our opinions and
differences respectfully and with civility.
Certainly if we can’t agree, there are mechanisms in place to resolve
the disagreement.
[Alice Prochaska and Diane Young Turner] Committee
members are sometimes selected from volunteers and nominations and at times are
selected based upon the knowledge and expertise that staff will lend to the
Committee. Selections are sometimes
made by the Committee, the Committee’s Sponsor, Library Administration, or the
chair of the Committee. It is now regarded
as the norm that committee membership should be drawn from all levels of
staff. People are invited on the basis
of the contribution they can make to the particular work of the committee. I am
pleased that most Committees now make an attempt to have cross representation
from all levels of staff.
[Alice
Prochaska and Diane Young Turner] We believe that this series of meeting, of
which Moving Forward was the last, has been vitally important to advancing the
overall work of the library and providing a sense of direction for the library
administration and staff. Additionally,
the feedback that we have received from the four meetings confirms that staff
are eager to be engaged in discussions about the library’s future and to obtain
a sense of their role in the process.
We have further learned from staff, the importance of communication at
all levels, is critically important. Having each staff member be involved once
in such a meeting is not frivolous. On
the contrary, it is important to the health of the organization to involve all
staff, and to derive form them the many excellent ideas that have come forward
in these meetings. Some extremely valuable contributions have resulted from
each of the series of large group meetings that we have held. The views expressed by staff, and the good
thinking they have put into designing the different elements in the Library’s
strategic plan, are being incorporated into the plan and are highly valued.
[Alice Prochaska and Diane Young Turner] We have gained so much value from the process, it is hard to place a price tag on the overall cost. It is an important part of the business that we conduct on behalf of the Yale University library system.
[Alice Prochaska and Diane Young Turner] Some of
our strategic initiatives may take longer to achieve, but they are important to
the life and work of the Library, and we will continue to move them forward. As
I recently stated in the December issue of Library Links, “expectations will
have to be reexamined in every sphere, and where it is not possible to reach
earlier targets with streamlined resources, that will have to be made clear,
and targets will need to be reexamined and if necessary, adjusted. The good
news is that we have a period of eighteen months in which to achieve the full
5% reductions that the university expects of us. During that time, reductions
will be achieved both by reducing expenditure on equipment, subscriptions and
other non-staff items, and by choosing not to fill just a small number of the
vacancies that will arise naturally from resignations and retirements. Nobody
expects to see any layoffs in the Library's ranks as a result of these budget
reductions.” Strategic initiatives need
to have goals and targets, against which they will be measured. These goals may have longer timescales than
they otherwise would, if the initiatives are in areas where positions may be
lost owing to vacancies not being filled.
[Diane
Young Turner] The Service Quality Awards are available to all levels of
staff. Nominations have been sought
from staff as well as supervisors. I do
believe that we should do more. A
professional development plan for all levels of staff is one of my goals for
the 2004 year.
[Diane
Young Turner] I agree that we do want to take advantage of recognizing staff
throughout their library/university career.
Through focus groups (and other means of input) that we will be
conducting in early 2004, I will be keenly interested in hearing other
suggestions from staff on ways that we can recognize staff. For those completing training classes, I’d
like to see us go beyond a presentation of certificate.
[Ann
Okerson] The Media Task Force of the Collection Development Council has been
working hard, under the leadership of Tobin Nellhaus, to make media materials
much more straightforward to manage for the Library staff, and particularly
much more accessible for our patrons.
The recommendations of the group have been accepted by the Library
Management Council and an implementation group is being formed. The Media Report makes for very interesting
reading, covering the various topics of security, integration, organization,
and much more.
URL: http://www.library.yale.edu/CDC/public/subcommittees/Media/index.html
[Ann Okerson] In at least 3 or more ways: (1) Under the leadership of Kimberly Parker, Head of Electronic Collections, and other colleagues, the Library Web Site offers database, ejournal, and ebook listings which are very much kept up to date. For example, the ejournals pages list about 30,000 journals by title. (2) In addition, Catalog Department staff, along with Library Systems, are now regularly loading MARC records for electronic books, journals, databases, and other resources into Orbis. (3) The Library Web is rich in departmental library and subject specialist's pages, and these inform readers about new and existing resources in areas of particular interest (see, for example, the pages of the Medical Library, or Social Sciences, and many many more). Finally, library staff throughout the system teach many classes in how to use resources, and these instructional efforts strive to include the most current resources and enhancements.
- International Programs – Where is the library-initiated expansion and strengthen in areas? or is the library following the University/student body’s leading?
[Ann
Okerson] The Yale Library collects geographically in order to support teaching,
research, and learning programs of the University. The current area studies programs (Africa, East Asia, Judaica,
Latin America, Near East, Slavic and East Europe, and South East Asia) have
been developed over a relatively long period of time, as they represent
long-standing areas of University interest.
Now the University is consciously expanding into both entirely new areas
(such as South Asia and Hellenic Studies) and new subsets of existing ones
(such as Korea and Persia).
Accordingly, the Library is beginning to support those areas as
well. Startup happens through
partnerships with the Yale Center for International and Area Studies (YCIAS)
and its Councils, and their working with the Library in order to raise seed
money for staff. After 2-3 years of
such seeding, the Library is expected to naturalize the new programs into its
ongoing activities.
URL: http://www.library.yale.edu/area_studies/
[Ann Okerson] See above. The choice of nations and cultures is related to University teaching and research programs, rather than the Library's choice of countries and cultures that might be interesting for their own sakes. Unfortunately, no library, not even Yale's, is resourced to cover all the many fascinating possibilities that the world offers.
[Ann
Okerson] One of the most important sources for Federal funding for the Yale
University is the U.S. Department of Education, under its Title VI program,
which has been in existence since the late 1950s, when it was established as
the National Defense Education Act (NDEA).
At that time of competition such as the cold war and space travel
(Sputnik) the United States determined that it needed to raise awareness and
interest in other nations, in order to strengthen this country. The Title VI programs allow universities to
strengthen existing already strong programs, as well as to create new ones in
the national interest. They are hugely
successful, funding diverse activities such as fellowships, visiting scholars,
library resources, colloquia, language teaching, and much more. Title VI grants are given typically for
3-year periods, and YCIAS and the Library invest a fair amount of time in
developing strong applications.
Currently Yale is the proud holder of several substantial Title VI
grants in areas such as Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. Each of these has a small but important
library component. Additionally, the
Library applied for and successfully won a Title VI grant to build a database of
Middle Eastern periodicals, a grant just beginning its second year.
Various foundations
support international programs.
Currently the YCIAS and the Library are recipients of funds from the
Niarchos Foundation, which supports Hellenic Studies. Ford and Rockefeller have also given funding to the University,
and other organizations are being tapped for future support.
URLs: http://www.library.yale.edu/oacis
[Ann Okerson] The position will support all of these programs, by working with different areas to identify opportunities (such as internships and fellowships, grants, exchanges, and much more) and to realize them. The Library also needs to show its international programs in a much more integrated, coherent way than we currently do. While the Library is doing all many, many things in the international arena, it is not resourced to expand beyond current activities, and we need badly to do that. Bringing focus and resource to international activities will be enhanced in its being someone's assignment to do just that.
[Ann Okerson] Voyager is developing capacities for representing non-Roman scripts, which, when we implement them, will enable users of our catalog to search and retrieve books in their natural language, rather than relying on transliteration. This will improve the likelihood of successful interactions with Orbis in languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Hebrew. Orbis is available not only to our own users, of course, but also globally through the Web. We don't yet have an idea of what impact this kind of functionality will have beyond our institution, but no doubt we can expect many rewards -- and demands -- as a result.
- How can visiting scholars receive specific orientations to branch libraries?
[Ann Okerson] Not all; more than one might think (all the area curators and many subject specialists attend a number of orientations for their fields, and the Library provides an orientation for the President's World Fellows Program early every academic year). But we need to identify more such opportunities and provide support for our visitors. This is another area that the Program Manager can be most helpful with.
[Ann Okerson] The YCIAS is interested in expanding into "Central Asia" and is applying for grants to do so. If funding can be secured, the University and the Library will add resources for this region. However, the University has many priorities; this may not be at the top of the list at this time.
[Ann Okerson] While its shape and size hasn't been fully determined, the plan is that the Council will have representation from staff working on different geographical programs and will also attempt to be representative of various school and departmental libraries, as well as different levels of staff.
[Ann Okerson] It is a conceptual draft only and does not exist as a specific site that can be accessed at this time. This is definitely another assignment for the International Program Manager!
[Joan Swanekamp] A number of the collections listed
in the Unlocking Collections report support the Library’s international
programs.
[Danuta Nitecki] I am not sure if I understand this question and so welcome a direct query to me [danuta.nitecki@yale.edu or 2-1818] if the person posing it had something else in mind. The time it takes to move items to LSF is dependent on several factors. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the fund amount available to the project is translated into a figure of how many items we project we are capable of moving. The LMC agrees to an allocation of this capacity among the libraries and collection units requesting to transfer materials to the LSF. The process of transferring materials to the LSF involves selections made by subject specialists responsible for the collections throughout the Library, retrieval from the shelves, confirmation [sometimes correction] that the bibliographic record in Orbis is correct for each item, physical movement to Hamden, and accessioning the piece at the LSF. Time may vary to accomplish each of these steps. When the LSF opened five years ago, the Provost funded the operation with an expectation of moving 250,000 items each year. Since then, the University Librarians have increased the funds available and the staff have streamlined routines and work hard to improve their productivity. As a result we now are moving close to 400,000 items in a year.
[Danuta
Nitecki] Before transferring a material format to the LSF, its Advisory Group
in close collaboration with Preservation staff, establish appropriate methods
to handle items of the format. These
specifications are posted among the pages of the LSF web site, see: http://www.library.yale.edu/lsf/transfers.html. In addition, the LSF staff receive training
in how to handle materials to and from the facility.
- Is there a plan for new LSF facilities?
[Danuta Nitecki]
Not in the foreseeable future. Last
summer construction was completed of all modules planned for the LSF facility
in Hamden, which should give the Library growth capacity for many years to
come.
[Joan Swanekamp] I am a bit unsure of what you are
getting at. Materials sent to LSF only
have their location changed so there is no reclassification or
recataloging. For materials that are
truly withdrawn from the Yale University Library there is a message in the OPAC
that acknowledges that the Library once owned the item, but it is no longer
available. The staff who perform this
work should be trained in the set of appropriate procedures …
[Danuta
Nitecki] Our workflow is currently designed to strive for efficient
productivity and the LSF staff don't correct any problems. Instead,
members of the staff are trained to recognize problems and are then
instructed either to avoid them (by not picking the items in the first place)
or to forward them elsewhere for resolution. Examples of the first
strategy (preventative) would be sorting pickslips prior to retrieval at the
shelf and pulling out those which appear to identify analytics, bound-withs, or
pamphlets. Examples of the second method of dealing with problems would be
sending items picked (but subsequently found to have encoding level problems,
re-linking issues, or call number typos) to Cataloging for problem resolution.
LSF staff work in the circulation module. They do not have permissions to either re-link items or to delete item records. They do not have access to the Cataloging module and therefore do not work on the holdings level. Given these restrictions, I'm not quite sure what problems they could be trained to solve without having a different staffing model.
- Where is one integrated search by Endeavor to meet all needs?
[Fred Martz] Since May 2003, a group of library staff led by Audrey Novak has been comparing the features of the MetaLib and ENCompass federated searching products. Both systems have been installed at Yale for the purposes of this pilot investigation and members of the group have configured a selected set of resources for cross-database searching. The evaluation is nearing completion and the group will deliver a report / recommendation to LMC in January. At that point the library will decide whether to proceed with production implementation of one of these portal products.
[Fred
Martz] Built in to the Voyager system is an item-less request process and
form. When a reader requests material
that does not have an item record, the request is linked to the title and not
to a particular library’s holdings. The
request goes to the first ELI Express library that owns the material in
alphabetical order.
[Fred Martz] It’s
difficult to answer this question without some additional information. In answering, we are assuming that the
question refers to item status displays in the OPAC (and not patron, vendor,
order, invoice, etc. status values).
The reinstatement of NOTIS-like pseudo-patron messages in the OPAC was completed with the implementation of release 2001.2 this past summer. This implementation corrected the status problem we had since going live with Voyager for in-process, frontlog, at the bindery, etc. materials. Otherwise, the item status messages in Orbis reflect the accurate, current status of materials to the extent that processing was completed. If manual processing has not been completed or if it was done incorrectly, the status in Orbis will not be accurate, but the only way to resolve this kind of inaccuracy is by completing the manual process. For example, if material that was in-transit is now shelved in the owning library but the barcode was not discharged by the owning library to clear the in-transit message, Orbis will incorrectly report the material as still being in-transit. The only way to correct this problem is to confirm that the material is on the shelf and then to discharge it.
[Fred Martz]Call number searching for LC classes is available in Orbis, but retrieval of Yale class call numbers still is not working correctly. In the original agreement with Endeavor, Yale contracted for custom programming to support the sorting and indexing of Old Yale call numbers so that readers could browse an accurate Yale class shelf list and staff could work efficiently with Old Yale call numbers. Because of the design of the Voyager product and because of the inevitable idiosyncrasies embedded in the numerous Yale call number schemes, Endeavor has so far been unable to deliver a working solution and the LSO has therefore been unable to build a Yale class index. After extensive negotiation with Endeavor, library staff are close to agreement on a solution, which entails offering separate call number indexes through the OPAC (LC, SUDOC, Other, etc.). Discussion about this solution involves numerous library groups including CCC, PIC, LSO, LMT and LMC. After a period of development and testing, this solution will be put into production during the spring semester.
[Ann Okerson] Voyager is developing capacities for
representing non-Roman scripts, which, when we implement them, will enable
users of our catalog to search and retrieve books in their natural language,
rather than relying on transliteration.
This will improve the likelihood of successful interactions with Orbis
in languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Hebrew. Orbis is available not only to our own
users, of course, but also globally through the Web. We don't yet have an idea of what impact this kind of
functionality will have beyond our institution, but no doubt we can expect many
rewards -- and demands -- as a result.
[Joan Swanekamp] If you could provide some specific instances of when you need to create flowcharts to help organize your work, I think I could provide either some suggestions regarding managing your workflow, or other contacts with the same set of issues.
[Bobbie Pilette] a) Please keep in mind that for the most part the preservation of library material is use-based. In other words, it is material that has been used or it is anticipated will be heavily used (perhaps on Reserve) that receives priority. Unfortunately, the Preservation Department does not have staffing or space to repair, treat or reformat every item in the Yale University Library’s collections that currently needs attention.
Though we
certainly give attention to a volume a patron may bring to the circulation desk
in need of repair. The volume can be
set aside and brought to the Preservation Department’s attention. In Sterling there is a mechanism where those
volumes identified as needing repair are picked up daily and reviewed by
preservation staff. In school and
department libraries, the Preservation Department will be happy to work out a
means of identifying and properly directing the volumes for the proper
care. Please contact me, Bobbie Pilette
<mailto:roberta.pilette@yale.edu>
so this can be arranged. If staff run across damaged materials in the course of
their work, they should contact the Preservation Department.
b) Preservation does not make judgments/decisions on when something should be pulled from the stacks – this is the job of the subject specialists. We can make recommendations only.
- Can someone talk about Digital Preservation?
[Ann
Okerson] The Yale Library has been active in experimenting with preservation of
"born digital" materials. For
example, we received an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant between 2000-2002 to
work with a major journals publisher to learn what was required to preserve
such materials electronically over a long period of time. A team of about 8 staff was closely involved
in the exploration. While the Mellon
Foundation decided not to fund the next phase of this particular project, it
gave us an invaluable foundation and contacts related to digital preservation. The Library has also been an alpha and beta
test site for Stanford's LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) project. In short, the LOCKSS software facilitates
easy web cache-ing of journals, and it enables extant copies at different
locations to check one another for accuracy and to repair errors. LOCKSS will be "going live" in
early 2004 and Yale will be a founding member of the LOCKSS Alliance, a group
of libraries that will work together to strengthen this preservation option. LOCKSS is being explored as a possible
solution to caching not only of e-journals but also of government documents and
other potentially vulnerable e-resources.
On a more local note, the Library's Manuscripts and Archives is working
towards developing long-term archiving and preservation protocols and repositories
for Yale University's official, "born digital" electronic documents.
URLs: http://www.library.yale.edu/~okerson/yea/
[David Stern] The
SQI Council reviews all library-wide services in order to promote, publicize, and
demonstrate the value of the SQI process. This means that SQIC will help to
insure that priorities are ranked based upon user-oriented perspectives and
feedback mechanisms from both readers and staff members. Committees, task
forces, and other groups will be reviewing all aspects of the strategic plan
and report updates to SQIC for analysis and consideration.
[David Stern] This
is already in process. You will see a number of staff training sessions in this
area shortly.
[David Stern] The short version: SQI is a process to measure user satisfaction and revise existing operations based upon the best available methods (industry benchmarks). User surveys were used to identify top priority areas for improvement. We have begun a number of projects to demonstrate both the process and the results. These pilot projects will be discussed in public sessions very shortly in order to expand the knowledge and use of these techniques throughout the library.
[David Stern] Since
it is impossible to have all staff attend any one session due to coverage
issues, we will offer multiple sessions to allow maximum attendance. Our AULs
strongly encourage all staff to attend SQI sessions in order to be better
prepared to help in the future evaluation efforts.
[David Stern] As part of our complete redesign and upgrade, we will enhance the SQIC web site to include these types of materials. http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/SQIC.html
[David Stern] We have already complied with all Phase I requirements. The Task Force on Services for Persons with Disabilities reviews these issue and considers additional recommendations. http://www.library.yale.edu/~ksprague/ada/
[Danuta Nitecki and David Stern] A variety of tools will be used based upon the specific
tasks to be considered and the possible user populations. Surveys, face-to-face
meetings, accumulated staff knowledge, web-based comment forms (anonymous if
desirable), and many other methods can be used to identify users and their
concerns.
[Danuta
Nitecki and David Stern] The criteria for the Service Quality Improvement Awards
are posted on the web at
http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/nomination_form2003.pdf.
Improvements can be made in units of any size, and often the impact is felt throughout the entire Library after the adoption of these best practices. Those nominating an individual are asked to describe both the actual improvement and the significance of the contribution.
Award
recipients are recorded on the web as well and can be reviewed at: http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/SQIC/about.htm.
Such a
review will illustrate that these awards are given to staff across the Library
and also across departments, including colleagues from school and department
libraries as well as reader and technical services.
[David
Stern] Our plan is to continue surveying our readers to determine their
top priorities and their satisfaction with our existing services. Survey
feedback, along with other feedback mechanisms such as targeted Focus Groups
and web-based comment forms, will be used to maintain two-way communication
with users. Specific SQI projects will
be developed in areas in which there is the greatest discrepancy between users
wishes and actual library performance.
[Sue
Crockford-Peters] Re: a piece of this year’s SQIC agenda -- The Circulation
Support Group, which is a sub-group of the SQIC, focuses its attention on
operational and policy issues related to borrowing, retrieval, reserves and
stacks services. It seeks continuous improvements to systems and
procedures which support these activities and works with others throughout the
library such as the Systems Office and the Public Interface Committee (PIC) to
accomplish them. This year, the CSG will continue to focus attention on
Voyager, where there is still much work to be done to tweak its performance,
improve and extend training in its use to staff, develop procedures which
support policies and policies which support services.
An
important focus of attention this year will be to clean up and then routinize
regular review of situations which prevent readers from using the Place
Requests features in the OPAC. This will be accomplished in a few ways:
Clean up
of all libraries' circulation data which migrated from Notis has begun.
Two staff members have been hired for two years to do the work. The first
target of the effort is to eliminate all of the erroneous billing records
associated with materials which have been in process for many years.
Books which cannot be accounted for in their status tracking locations will be
identified and follow up searching done. Eliminating the erroneous
billing will correct false messages now displaying in the OPAC and make it
possible for readers to use the Place Requests feature in the OPAC to obtain
them. In parallel with that effort, all status tracking patron records
will be replaced with new ones. They will have the accurate patron groups
associated with them and email addresses will be added for those which do not
already have them (eliminating paper notices and speeding communication about
in process items needed for readers). Consistent patron group assignments
are important because of the new local messages feature in the OPAC, which
provides instructions to readers about how to request in process items, depends
on the patron groups. The instructions are another improvement to the
ability of readers to use the Place Requests feature.
Within the next few weeks, an improved report will become available to circulation managers which will allow them to follow up on materials which remain in transit from one location to another for too long according to the Voyager record. The improvement to the report will allow staff to sort and rearrange the data in useable ways for searching and other follow up. The work to be done from the data is to account for the books in their home locations and clear the records of the "in transit" status. The Place Requests feature does not work for items "in transit," so once it is cleared, the items may once again be requested. Ultimately, the circulation managers will turn their attention to preventing the recurrence of the problems. This will require workflow analysis in order to identify the causes.
[Kate Reynolds] The Each One Teach One (EOTO)
directory is a database that allows library staff members seeking assistance
with language, technical or non-technical tasks, to contact staff volunteers who
are willing to share language expertise or other technical or non-technical
skills in a one-to-one situation. The
EOTO, which is in the final stages of development, is a project of the Staff
Training & Organizational Development (STOD) Committee.
The STOD committee expects to unveil EOTO to the library community the end of
January ’04, and will invite other members of the library to comment on the
product before its library-wide introduction and provide recommendations for
its rollout. Watch YULIB for the message and volunteer your thoughts.
In the meantime, you can peek at the site to get an idea of the operating guidelines at: http://www.library.yale.edu/training/stod/eotodirectory.html
[Kate Reynolds] This is a difficult challenge for all of us. However, the balancing act gets a little less challenging when an organization has an articulated mission, vision, statement of values and a plan that sets forth strategic goals. This body of work can act as a compass that helps us prioritize our activities and make decisions, sometimes on a daily basis, that will keep us focused on completing tasks or undertaking initiatives that have a direct and positive impact on achieving our goals. It helps answer the question, “What’s most important?” and to put that most important work first.
On the other hand, there are always unforeseen events that come our way, and we must be flexible in changing directions. That’s why it is so important to have a clear understanding of the Library’s mission, vision, statement of values and strategic goals. In addition to other approaches, regularly scheduled unit or department meetings communicate a department’s progress towards achieving its goals and identifying any unforeseen barriers to success. Regular meetings also enhance the 2-way communication among staff members that is so helpful in balancing the needs of staff with the need to get work done.
[Alice
Prochaska, Kate Reynolds, Diane Young Turner] In this economic climate there
are few guarantees. However, our
University Librarian is keenly interested in seeing that each staff member has
the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully achieve the strategic goals
of the library. She is highly
supportive of the Learning Plan initiative and has committed a modest amount of
dollars to fund Learning Plan activities.
Additionally, Library Human Resources has added the new position of
Staff Development Coordinator and Technical Trainer to provide support for the
Learning Plan initiative, assist in developing other staff development programs
and provide reinforcement technical training for Library staff members.
It should
be noted, however, that all Library staff share this responsibility for
developing and maintaining a continuous learning environment. Supervisors and managers must continually
develop their staff members to ensure that all are skilled and
knowledgeable. All Library staff
members should frequently assess their own skill levels and make a plan to keep
skills current.
The newly negotiated union contract also stresses the importance of skill
building and development for all levels of staff. The university encourages interested staff members to engage in
more formalized education (degree programs) and has adjusted its tuition
reimbursement program to reflect its importance. It would be a shame if staff members did not take advantage of
these opportunities to develop skills and other capabilities.
In determining how successful staff training and development initiatives are here at the library, we would measure several indicators, such as: number of Learning Plans submitted and completed, range of learning activities undertaken by staff, impact upon performance as well as the actual utilization of Learning Plan funds.
[Joan
Swanekamp] Not quite sure what you are getting at. Staff who have responsibility for serials
problem resolution and serials cataloging are trained to upgrade serial
records.
Many organizations have
identified the specific skills and knowledge, commonly called competencies that
are necessary for successful individual and organizational performance. Training programs are thus built to support
and develop these competencies.
LHR is moving in this direction.
There is no restriction
on cross training under the union contract.
In fact, the union believes that it is crucial for staff members to
develop and enhance their skills in order to remain valuable to university and
encourages such programs. The Library
and the union have at least one common goal here: to improve and enhance the skills and abilities of all levels a
of staff members in order to become a more flexible and agile organization.
Here is snapshot of the steps LHR will follow in developing the program:
1) Conduct a review of "best practices" of peer institutions re:
cross-training programs
2) Hold focus groups to gain input from library staff members re: design,
content and other operational details and considerations
3) Create a draft program design to be reviewed by the Staff Training &
Organizational Development Committee and other staff members.
4) Form a design and roll out team, who may work jointly with the STOD
Committee and other staff members, to finalize design plan, communication
vehicles, identify, develop and recommend additional support mechanisms.
As you can see there will be plenty of opportunity for staff input regarding
the development of this program. We really need everybody's best thinking
on these types of initiatives and hope you will offer your ideas as we move
through this development process.
However, there is a concern. After a very favorable reception
of the Learning Plan during its rollout in May and June 2003, there has been a
marked drop in submissions. There are approximately 554 staff members eligible
to submit Learning Plans. To date, LHR has received 233 Learning Plans,
significantly down by 110 plans from the anticipated 3rd quarter
benchmark of 343. All 230 M&P Learning Plans were to have been submitted by
June 30. LHR has received 120 to date.
The third quarter, typically the time most staff members take
vacation followed by labor union 34/35 strike caused a significant drop in plan
development and submission.
We need to change this situation post haste if staff members
and the library are to benefit from skills development. The newly hired Staff Development
Coordinator and Technical Trainer will provide support to the Learning Plan in
order to ensure its success.
The
newly negotiated 34/35-labor contract stresses the importance of developing and
improving skills. So, for those of you who have not completed your learning
plans, please submit them as soon as possible.
The university’s tuition reimbursement program reimburses
Yale staff for courses taken at both community and four –year colleges. This is
an added incentive for many who want to start or complete a degree.
Career development is a shared responsibility between the
individual staff member and the organization. Both the individual and the
institution partner to develop and enhance the skills benefit. The resulting
partnership, which encourages the individual skill development and growth,
benefits both the individual and the organization.
Learning
and training activities that are conducted during work hours are eligible for
release time. The newly negotiated 34/35-labor contract stresses the importance
of developing skills and recommends that 22.5 hours per year be devoted to
maintaining or developing new skills.
[Joan
Swanekamp] Each project will involve a planning process that will look at
workflows, costs, and a variety of other factors including the impact on other
units.
[Joan
Swanekamp] The backlog/frontlog is a dynamic collection of materials. New materials are added and older materials
are cycled out. To date we have cataloged
over 150,000 titles from the Frontlog.
[Joan
Swanekamp] The Unlocking Collections report includes a set of criteria for
prioritizing the various cataloging projects.
You can consult the Library’s strategic planning documents for the
report.
[Joan Swanekamp] The priorities issue was addressed above. Partnerships will depend on the various projects.
[Joan
Swanekamp] See above.
[Joan Swanekamp] The report includes criteria for prioritization.
[Joan
Swanekamp] As various projects are
undertaken, a project plan will be developed and it will determine resource and
staffing needs appropriate to the project.
[Joan
Swanekamp] A planning committee has just been appointed.
[Joan Swanekamp] No. It may be traditional cataloging; or the creation of a finding aid; or the creation of metadata according to some other system; or, in some cases where there is a source file—retrospective conversion.
[Joan
Swanekamp] We have a very long way to go.
Mostly because we have so many wonderful special collections.
[Joan
Swanekamp] We need to develop library-wide support structures to provide this
support.
[Joan Swanekamp] The processes that we used were designed to handle our vernacular data. Work is complete for Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, Persian and we are just completing the work for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean collection.
[Joan Swanekamp] We have a number of ways to identify the small number of titles that were not converted—usually because the cards were not in the catalog. These come to our attention when they circulate or when we try to send them to LSF and then we have processes to handle them.
[Joan Swanekamp] While we do add to the backlogs or Frontlog, we are also removing titles and cataloging them. The goal is insure that the Frontlog or backlog size does not grow.