Automating Technical Services: An Innovative Approach in Australia

Citation

Rowsell, G. (2002), "Automating Technical Services: An Innovative Approach in Australia", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919caf.003

Automating Technical Services: An Innovative Approach in Australia

Glenda Rowsell

University libraries in Australia are much the same as those around the world - all are having to do more with less, all have a significant investment in technology, particularly in their automated library management systems, and all are under pressure to improve efficiencies and performance, both internally and in terms of the services they offer their user communities. This is the story of how one library "down under" approached these challenges and, at the same time, began to implement a cultural change among the staff.

Griffith University is one of Australia's most progressive and dynamic tertiary institutions, with six campuses in the Brisbane-Gold Coast corridor and a total of some 24,000 students. The University offers a wide range of degree level courses from biomedical science to international business, aviation to education, law to music, engineering to fine art, information technology to the humanities, and nursing to physiotherapy.

Six years ago, the University Library was faced with the reality of having to reprioritize resources in order to accommodate a new campus and enhanced services, while still maintaining the existing operational budget. Consequently, they undertook a project to achieve a measurable 50 percent improvement in productivity in the area of technical services. Their objectives were threefold:

1. 1.

   To develop innovative technological solutions to reduce repetitive components of technical services work without sacrificing quality.

2. 2.

   To enter into a mutually beneficial partnership agreement with a preferred vendor for resource materials and related services.

3. 3.

   To institute a culture change that included high performance, and self-managed teams.

That was an ambitious undertaking by anyone's standards.

Given the scope of the project, the Library took a staged approach, starting with a formal RFP process to decide on a preferred vendor who was best equipped to assist them in achieving their goals. The RFP for monographs was won by Blackwell's Book Services and all partners, including the library's system vendor (GEAC), sat down and started to work through the objectives the library hoped to achieve.

The next step was an evaluation of the current monographic ordering processes. Unlike most libraries in today's technological environment, the library decided that none of the existing information industry standards - neither any of the EDI formats, nor BISAC - met their specific needs for automating this process. Specifically, they wanted to:

• •

  Order online using the Blackwell's Web-based selection and acquisitions tool, Collection Manager, doing away with the need to generate order files in their library system for transmission to Blackwell's.

• •

  Receive order records electronically for loading into the library system as a local order record.

• •

  Accession and invoice books electronically.

• •

  Receive high quality bibliographic records to match orders.

• •

  Receive shelf-ready items - fully end processed with barcodes already linked to bibliographic records.

• •

  User error/exception reporting to monitor processing rather than examine every order received.

After a close look at all the options, and the implications for their library system (Advance), a decision was made to use a modified version of the Blackwell's MaRC with Books service, where an LC MaRC record is supplied for all invoiced books. The MaRC record would also be used as a carrier for related acquisition data, using additional 9XX tags, and would be enhanced with Table of Contents data where these data were available. Programming changes were required of both Blackwell's and GEAC in order to make it work. Blackwell's needed to ensure that the MaRC records supplied as order confirmations, and later as MaRC with Books records, included all order elements in the appropriate MaRC tags. GEAC needed to program a new MaRC loader, which would accommodate both acquisitions and bibliographic updating of the library's Advance system. The library's role was to prepare detailed specifications for both partners. After a lot of collaboration and testing, the final workflow was implemented. This is how it works . . .

Processing of firm orders is a two-stage process. After the library has selected titles and transmitted orders online, they initially receive an order confirmation record from Blackwell's, followed by a shipment record when the book has been invoiced.

Firm orders are first checked on the local catalog, and are then ordered online using Collection Manager. This process is extremely efficient, as the library uses the same system to review new titles in any given subject area as to generate the order. Blackwell's batch-processes online orders daily, and generates a file of bibliographic records including sequentially assigned Purchase Order numbers. Orders include quantity, fund code and any special instructions for Blackwell's - these data come back to the library embedded in locally defined 9XX MaRC tags in the order confirmation records. The library retrieves files daily via FTP (a fully automated process). The files are then moved automatically to a designated load directory after a 24-hour period to allow time for notification of any potential problems with the file. Loads are scheduled to run as a background process, and an e-mail notification is automatically generated to alert staff to the results of each load.

When the files are loaded into Advance, a number of things happen: new order records are created in the local Acquisitions module, funds are committed with commitment based on the estimated price and fund, and a currency conversion is done, based on the vendor code indicated by the file name. The system also checks to ensure that funds have not been over-committed. At the same time, a bibliographic record is created in the integrated database after an automatic duplicate check. If the title is already held, the system adds a location statement which includes campus information, Purchase Order number and an "on order" status. Brief holdings records are also created. After each file has been loaded, reports are manually generated to notify staff of any errors such as invalid or insufficient funds. Automatic report generation has been scheduled for future development.

The second stage of the process is the receipt of shipment and invoicing data. Blackwell's generates a second file of MaRC records weekly for all orders invoiced during that week. These records contain Purchase Order number, fund code, invoice date, invoice number, invoice line number, selling price, number of copies, and type of order in predefined 9XX MaRC tags. They are identical in bibliographic content to the order confirmation records, unless Blackwell's has upgraded any records since the original order confirmation was received (such as CIP to full MaRC, or Table of Contents enhancement). The library automatically retrieves each file, and holds them until the shipment of books arrives.

When the shipment and paper copy of the invoice are unpacked, Acquisitions staff request that the matching file is loaded into Advance. The system uses the Purchase Order number originally assigned by Blackwell's as the primary overlay key, with bibliographic elements such as Blackwell's title number, ISBN, LCCN or title as the secondary keys. A status of "received" is assigned to the order, and funds are expended based on the selling price and quantity supplied. If the incoming bibliographic record matches an existing full MaRC record, then the original record is retained, as the library may have done local editing. However, if additional data are detected (such as Table of Contents in MaRC tag 505 or Descriptive Summaries in MaRC tag 520), then these data are added to the original record.

At the time of accessioning, an invoice is automatically built from the invoice and line numbers embedded in the MaRC with Books record. Staff match this "built" invoice with the paper invoice, and authorise payment. There are rarely (if ever) backlogs of books waiting to be accessioned and, because most steps in the process are automated, staff can use their time more productively on other tasks. In fact, some technical services staff were able to be relocated to other operations within the library with no detrimental effect on technical services. Because the majority of orders are received shelf-ready and with MaRC data already supplied, the average time from accessioning to a final catalog record improved from 48 days to ten days and, from cataloging to shelving, from 15 days to three days in the first year.

Updating of holdings records is an incredibly simple procedure. Call number and barcode have already been inserted into the holdings statement upon load of the record. Before forwarding the books on to the relevant campus, accessioning staff simply wand in the barcode in each book to call up the matching record, and change the status to "in library". Any discrepancies or mismatches are detected at this point, and are set aside for research.

Implementing such a large re-engineering project is never always plain sailing. The project was sometimes stressful, sometimes frustrating, and there were some casualties along the way. It also did not happen overnight. However, in addition to an almost 50 percent reduction in the number of staff involved in technical service generally, and a significant reduction in the total order turnaround time (from average 118.5 days to 74.5 days from receipt of request for an order to shelving in the first year of the project), there have been a number of less tangible benefits. The most noticeable of these has been the change in thinking of the library staff, who are now focused on proactively looking for ways of continually improving workflows and procedures. The processes of implementing an automated workflow without compromising quality, and establishing a close working relationship with Blackwell's and GEAC could not have been achieved without the necessary cultural change that the project has fostered, particularly close teamwork to achieve team objectives, and a real appreciation of the concept of continuous improvement.

It should also be mentioned that the benefits achieved by this project have not just been restricted to the library. Working in collaboration with Griffith University to support a fully automated workflow has given both Blackwell's and GEAC the opportunity to develop and implement new service/product offerings and workflow options to their other customers. The library has also noticed a marked improvement in average order fulfilment time from Blackwell's, largely due to the efficiencies that Blackwell's has been able to achieve as a result of collaborative system development with Griffith.

Griffith University Library continues to work in partnership with Blackwell's - both organisations recognise the potential (and the confusion) that technology offers, and the speed with which the library industry is changing as a result of these technologies. By taking a collaborative approach to new and innovative products and services for libraries, we hope to be able to continue to challenge some of the traditional models for delivering relevant library services to our respective clienteles.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Beverley Reynolds and Glenda Smith from Griffith University for their input. Much of the workflow description was sourced from Chambers et al. (2000).

ReferenceChambers, J., Martin and Reynolds, B. (2000), "Defying conventional wisdom: innovations and culture change from down under", Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 35-50.

Glenda Rowsell(rowsell@blackwell.com.au) is Systems Consultant and Area Sales Manager, Blackwell's Book Services, Australia.