NASIG Newsletter

NOTES FROM BRAINSTORMING SESSION ON “WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO GET PEOPLE TO RUN FOR EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF NASIG?”
Joyce Tenney, NASIG Secretary

Session held June 2, 2007 from 4 p.m.-5 p.m. during the NASIG Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and moderated by Katy Ginanni.

Approximately 90 people attended the brainstorming session.

Ginanni thanked all for coming and opened the discussion with the following two questions:

1. Why do you think people choose not to run for vice president/president-elect and treasurer?
2. What would it take for you to run, or what would make it easier to hold office?

There was discussion of the Nominations & Elections Committee’s (N&E) procedures and ground rules for the discussion.  Ginanni noted that the N&E Committee had received 30 nomination forms this year.  There were 16 nominations for VP/PE (a total of 8 people) and all declined to run.  There were 9 nominations for treasurer and 2 accepted.  N&E did eventually get one nominee willing to run for VP/PE, and then a petition candidate was added.  Katy asked why we were not getting more candidates for these offices.

Some comments from the floor were:

• The reason NASIG members don’t run is the amount of work required.
• Unclear about how to get enough experience to qualify to run.
• Need to know more about the N&E process.  What is weighed the most heavily in evaluating nominees?  What NASIG path is needed to make it on the ballot? 
• There is a perception that being VP/PE or treasurer is a huge job. Need a way to get past the perception and make it more clear what the time commitments are for each position.
• Some had been nominated several times, but never made it to the ballot.  More information is needed to clarify the N&E procedures and evaluation process.  This should be provided on a yearly basis; treat each year like an incoming class of students and repeat the education process every year.
• Misperception that it is a closed loop. Need to let all members know that everyone is eligible and encouraged to put their name forward.  Need to educate members on process. Ginanni reminded everyone that the board does not approve the slate of candidates that N&E presents.  The Nominations & Elections Committee is entirely in charge of that process.
• When nominees are contacted they should be given information on the time commitments and a contact of a former board member in that position to discuss the job and any concerns.

Several past presidents and officers spoke to the rewards and work involved in the positions and how they managed the workloads.

Ginanni introduced the idea of hiring an association manager at some point in the future for NASIG administrative functions.  There was a discussion of what an association manager would do, how it might be funded and the possible need for new revenue sources.

Other ideas from the floor on this topic were:

• Florida Library Association has such a manager; NASIG might want to look at their model.
• Maybe need to rethink duties of VP/PE and treasurer; may need to add a position to make workload more manageable.
• Possibly find a retired NASIG member that would be willing to work part time or volunteer time to assist these positions.
• Maybe it is time to re-evaluate the founding principles.  Can the non-commercialism ban be discussed in the context of raising money?

Time ran short for the discussion and Novak announced that the notes of the meeting would be posted on either the NASIG Moodle site or the NASIG blog, so the discussion could continue.  Ginanni noted that the Nominations & Elections procedures documents will be posted on NASIG’s website, so members can see the process and continue the conversation.  

All were thanked for attending and the discussion will continue after the conference.

22nd CONFERENCE

NASIG BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES
JUNE 1, 2007, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
Joyce Tenney, NASIG Secretary

CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME (NOVAK)
At 12:35 p.m., June 1, 2007, Denise Novak, NASIG President, welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order.  She announced Beverley Geer would serve as the parliamentarian for the business meeting.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAST YEAR (NOVAK)
Novak reported that NASIG moved membership renewal to an online process this year and thanked all of those that made it happen.  She noted that an RFP for the technology functions of NASIG had been drafted and released for responses. 

Novak relayed greetings from Paul Harwood, chair of the United Kingdom Serials Group.  Mr. Harwood was unable to attend the conference but sent best wishes for a successful meeting. 

She encouraged everyone to complete the online evaluation form.  Everyone who completes an online evaluation form, using the email that they used to register for the conference, will be entered in a drawing for a free conference registration for next year.  There is a link to the online evaluation form on the NASIG Conference website.

INTRODUCTION OF THE 2006-2007 EXECUTIVE BOARD (NOVAK)
Novak introduced the Executive Board members for 2006-2007.  Char Simser (Vice President/ President-Elect), Mary Page (Past President), Joyce Tenney (Secretary), Rose Robischon (Treasurer), Members-at-Large Rick Anderson, Adam Chesler, Katy Ginanni, Kim Maxwell, Alison Roth, and Bob Schatz.  Novak expressed sadness over the recent death of NASIG Treasurer Rose Robischon. 

SECRETARY’S REPORT (TENNEY)
Highlights of the May 2007 meeting of the NASIG Executive Board:

• The official P.O. Box for NASIG will be changed to a New York address to align with the state in which NASIG is incorporated.  The change should take place this summer.
• The 2006 NASIG Proceedings will have a memorial to Rose Robischon, NASIG Treasurer.
• The board is working to coordinate and update the technological components of the organization, such as online voting, membership renewal and online conference registration.  To this end, an RFP for technology has been issued and responses will be reviewed this summer.

TREASURER’S REPORT (NOVAK)
Novak asked for a moment of silence in memory of Rose Robischon, NASIG Treasurer.  Novak relayed the arrangements for Robischon’s memorial service in New York.  Also, she noted that the 2006 NASIG Proceedings will be dedicated to Robischon. 

Novak reported that the NASIG balance sheet looks good.  This was the first year that members joining or renewing could make a donation to NASIG via the membership form.  It was a great success. $4,075 was donated as seed money for new scholarships.  She noted that NASIG is in sound financial position, and she thanked the membership for their support.

INTRODUCTION OF THE 2007-2008 EXECUTIVE BOARD (DAVID BURKE AND GAIL JULIAN, CO-CHAIRS OF THE NOMINATIONS & ELECTIONS COMMITTEE)
Burke encouraged all members to complete a nomination form.  Nomination forms were included in the conference registration packet, or they are online on the NASIG website.  He thanked all of the Nominations & Elections Committee members for their hard work this year.

Burke introduced the new board members for 2007-2008:  Jill Emery (Vice President/President-Elect), Peter Whiting (Treasurer), Members-at-Large Anna Creech, Kim Maxwell and Jeff Slagell.

Burke thanked all who had participated in the process.

OUTGOING COMMITTEE CHAIR AND BOARD MEMBER APPRECATION AWARDS (SARAH SUTTON)
Novak and Sutton presented awards to all outgoing committee chairs and board members.  All were thanked for their hard work this past year.

NEW BUSINESS
Novak asked for any new business.  None reported.

OLD BUSINESS
Novak asked for any old business.  None reported.

Novak adjourned the meeting at 12:50 p.m.

USER GROUP MEETINGS

ER&L
Jill Emery, University of Texas Libraries; Dana Walker, University of Georgia Libraries
Reported by Lola Halpin

Electronic Resources & Libraries is a conference that has been held for the last 2 years.  The conference was developed as a result of a survey done by Bonnie Tijerina of Georgia Tech.  See http://electroniclibrarian.org/moodle/.

At the 2007 conference Jane Burke gave a presentation on ERAMS (Electronic Resources Access & Management Systems) and emphasized the need for more collaboration among people and systems.

There was an ER&L forum at ACRL and another will be held at ALA annual in Washington at the Hawk ‘n’ Dove.  The goal is to get more contributors who are working in the e-resource spectrum to ask questions, offer suggestions and work collaboratively.

The following questions were discussed: 

•  If the belief that we need an ERM Knowledge Base (KB) is valid, what can we do to improve the KB?
• How should libraries manage staffing for e-resources?  If 60-70% of the budget is spent on e but only 20-30% of the staff there’s a gap – and – typically managing e requires more staff and at a higher level and training is labor intensive.
• What’s still holding us back from driving the market?  We created homegrown systems and stopped when vendors started creating ERMs.

The audience included publishers, agents, system vendors and library staff.  The discussions of each question led to many more questions and proposals.  There was general agreement that we not only need standards but that we also need adherence to standards.  Everyone was urged to develop an understanding of the issues and to talk to their various contacts.  The ER&L has provided space on their site to make contacts, ask & receive info, see  http://www.electroniclibrarian.org/forum/ 

Endeavor
Maggie Rioux, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; Bob Persing, University of Pennsylvania
Reported by T.J. Kao

Maggie Rioux began this meeting by giving some updates from the last Endeavor End User Group conference.  Both Aleph and Voyager will continue to exist.  Ex Libris will continue its support of Voyager at least till Voyager 8.0.  At this point, there is no information on what will happen next.   There will be no more Endeavor End User Group.  Both Aleph and Voyager users will become members of one of the two Ex Libris user groups, ELUNA for North American users and IGeLu for other users.  The 2008 ELUNA meeting will be held in Long Beach, California.  In order to be more involved in the process, for example, being a member of the Steering Committee, an institution needs to pay dues.  The previous enhancement work group will be replaced with the Voyager Product Working Group.  In addition, other Endeavor products, such as OpenURL and the ERM product, will be replaced with Ex Libris equivalent products.

Three issues were raised by attendees.  One is the concern regarding interoperability between SFX and Verde.  A librarian sent an e-mail to Voyager-L mentioning some problems after migrating data from SFX to Verde, including holdings not being imported into Verde correctly, and the collapse of the SFX database.  One attendee suggested that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology might be able to provide some insights on this issue.  The other issue is about the continuing support for Meridian in the post-Endeavor era.  Maggie replied that the support might end in 2008.  However, for users who purchase the software and install it on their local servers, there should not be any disruption on their usage. Another issue concerns the timeline of migrating SFX from MySQL to Oracle.  Maggie responded that the migration might happen sometime by the end of 2007.

SirsiDynix
Sharon Dyas-Correia, University of Toronto; Jane Grawemeyer, SIRSI Dynix
Reported by Sharon Dyas-Correia

Almost thirty five SirsiDynix customers attended the NASIG joint Unicorn and Horizon informal user group meeting.  Sharon Dyas-Correia, SIRSI Serial Enhancements Forum Moderator, began the session by welcoming everyone, presenting a basic agenda and introducing herself and Jane Grawemeyer, SirsiDynix Technical Product Manager.   Sharon reminded attendees of the enhancement process for SirsiDynix products and encouraged users to actively participate on SirsiDynix lists and enhancement forums. 

Jane Grawemeyer then gave an informative summary of improvements scheduled for release with the product Rome later this year.  Enhancements discussed included improvements to sorting options for received issues and prediction as late reports; a serial control not linked to the vendors’ report; and a report on serial controls without predictions.  Enrichments to MARC holdings report selection criteria, as well as improvements to MARC holdings report output, MARC holdings export, and CONSER pattern loading support were also discussed.

Improvements will also include: a new dialog box to alert receivers when there are no more expected issues; a deleted issues tool button on the received tab; a delete received issues report; and a print serial issue label report.  In the near future, it will also be possible to have ISSNs appear on printed serial claim notices.

A question and answer period followed Jane’s presentation and there was considerable discussion of future directions and product development.  Many tips and tricks were shared as well.  Sharon asked if there were any final questions or comments and adjourned the meeting when the allotted time was finished.

22nd CONFERENCE 

POSTER SESSIONS
Reported by Sally Gibson

There were fourteen poster sessions at the meeting this year.  It was the largest number ever presented at a NASIG conference.  The topics covered included: the CONSER standard record, managing electronic resources, consortial Partnerships, usage statistics, and relocating departments and journal collections.  Unfortunately, I was not able to view all of the poster sessions.

Hedge Your Bet to Improve the Odds of Going the Distance: Dental Theses Journal Citation Analysis
Janice Cox, Indiana University

Dental students rely on scholarly literature from core dental journals as well as a diverse selection of journals representing other medical disciplines.  When considering collection development the emphasis and expenditure should be on the most recently published.  The acquisition of e-journal backfiles is not critical since students use current journal citations and a print backfile is readily available.

Taking a Gamble: Venturing into the Development of an Electronic Resources Management System
Nancy Beals, Wayne State University

When developing and implementing their ERM system, Wayne State University used the following key factors: determining user groups and their needs; implementations and technical issues; testing the system; analyzing how the system will be used; setting future goals; and acknowledging outside considerations.

Maximizing Access through Consortial Partnership: Mississippi State University Libraries’ Journal Expansion Project
Patrick Carr, Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University Libraries participate in several consortial partnerships to gain online access to journals in which one partner library maintains a subscription.  Many libraries have a subscription to the same journal.  In order to gain access to additional journals, MSU identified their journals which were duplicated by other libraries.  The library was able to cancel the duplicate subscriptions and begin a subscription to sixty new titles which further expanded their access to e-journals.
 
Coming Down the Backstretch of Moving Technical Services Out of the Library and into a Dedicated Facility: Will This Be a Long Shot or a Sure Bet?
Germaine Wadeborn, UCLA

During July 2006 to March 2007, the UCLA Library moved its technical services operation to an off campus location and it reorganized the Serials and Monographs divisions of the Print Acquisitions department.  Seven full time employees were transferred to the Print Acquisitions department.  This resulted in a redesign of workflows.  The technical services department faced the challenge of developing new workflows; creating a new organization; and maintaining quality and timely service while moving to a new location.   

“Yes, As a Matter of Fact, We Are Throwing Those Away”: A Small Public University Deals with De-Selection
Randall Watts, University of South Carolina Aiken

After an extensive renovation to the library building did not result in additional space, the library examined the non-current print titles as a potential source for space.  Criteria for de-selection were established and the titles identified.  Any requests to add the journals to departments were denied since the library did not want to encourage the creation of departmental libraries.  The faculty was informed of the de-selection of the journals and their silence was viewed as consent.

Partners in Space: Integrating Periodicals and Government Documents
Janette Prescod, University of Tennessee

The creation of an Information Commons required a reorganization of library space.  The Periodicals and Government Documents units were combined as a way to address the need for additional space, the challenge of staffing two service desks, and the issues of workflow.  The result was increased study areas and work spaces, public services concentrated on the first floor, and the identification of inefficiencies and low-priority processes.

Designing a Local Database for Usage Statistics
Brian McDonald, SUNY College at Oswego

The library designed their own database to manage and present usage statistics for journals in all formats.  Due to budget concerns and the need for greater flexibility, the library created a usage database that was built on a Microsoft Access database rather than purchase an ERM product. The data is stored in three tables and queries are used to combine the tables and produce various reports.  More information is available at http://oswegoserials.pbwiki.com.

“I Need to Find an Article on…”: What Librarians Need to Know about How Patrons Look for Journal Articles on the Library Website
Sarah Sutton, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi

The library is in the process of concluding a two year website redesign.  It conducted user centered evaluations using formal usability tests among the undergraduates.  The evaluations were a basis for both redesign decisions and determining undergraduate information seeking behaviors.   

The CONSER Standard Record
Les Hawkins and Hien Nguyen, Library of Congress

The CONSER standard record launched June 1 and is projected to save twenty to twenty-five percent of the time needed to create current serials records.  It will apply to all formats, replace existing multiple record levels and reduce serials cataloging costs.  Additional information is available at http://www.loc.gov/acq/conser.

Using Open Source Software to Build Your Tools
Laurentiu Mircea Stefancu, University of Illinois at Chicago

Cat Stats was created to gather daily, monthly, and annual cataloging statistics.  The manual method of gathering statistics was prone to error.  Cat Stats allows the same tasks to be performed faster, easier, and more accurately.  It uses PHP at the front end and MySQL at the back end.  Advantages to using custom built tools are that they can be adjusted as needed.  The disadvantage is the need to maintain in-house expertise. 

The SUPERFECTA - The Best Bet for Winning the Electronic Derby
Rebecca Martinez, Rutgers University

Rutgers University Libraries developed a team approach to handling the workflow for electronic resources.  The team consisted of members from the Acquisitions Department and the Distributed Technical Services Department and it utilized a communication email listserv.  The creation of the team eliminated confusion on who to contact for what; removed failure points; and developed and expanded staff expertise and awareness of electronic resource material. 

A Comparison of Journal Impact Factor to Journal Use in a University Library
C. Derrik Hiatt, Brigham Young University

While the journal impact factor has been used as a selection tool for academic libraries, few studies have been conducted to determine how closely it parallels journal usage by students.  Ninety journals were examined in four disciplines.  There is a statistically significant correlation in history and geology but no correlation in business or organic chemistry.  The results do not support using the journal impact factor as a predictor of use since the correlation of the impact factor to usage is tied to discipline.

Making a Silk Purse from a Sow’s Ear
Chandra Jackson, University of Georgia

Comprehensive Serials Information Databases Eases Journal Cuts
Raleigh Muns, University of Missouri-St. Louis

22nd CONFERENCE
TACTICS SESSION 

Alternatives to Licensing of E-Resources
Zachary Rolnik, Now Publishers; Selden Durgom Lamoureux, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Reported by Kyle Winward

Zachary Rolnik began the session speaking about the context of licensing, and how an increasing acquisition in digital content during the 1990s led to a shift in emphasis from copyright law to contract law for licensing.  The consequences have been higher costs, bottlenecks in the ordering process, access being delayed or never initiated, and large publishers, with large resources, being favored over small publishers.  The cumulative effect is that library patrons are not well served, library financial resources are not maximized, and small publishers are frequently under-represented in many libraries’ online collections.

Rolnik next spoke about the challenges for small publishers in creating licenses, including the cost of creating a license, attorney fees, and that three quarters of all licenses require some revision.  Rolnik added that he has never responded negatively to requests to change terms, but that the process results in a minimum delay of weeks and sometimes several months.

Selden Durgom Lamoureux followed with information concerning previous presentations on the problems of licensing at the 2005 Charleston Conference and other conferences - the response was enthusiastic for licensing alternatives.  At the Charleston Conference, Oliver Pesch (EBSCO) spoke with Lamoureux, and this conversation inspired a working group of librarians and publishers, which formed the NISO Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) Working Group.

The first step the working group took was to divide a license into three parts: contract (legal) boilerplate, business terms, and the remainder of the license.  The next step was discarding the contract boilerplate, moving the business terms to a purchase order, and focusing on the remaining content.  There was a general consensus about what constitutes a site, who is a user, what are appropriate and inappropriate use, confidentiality and privacy, online performance and service, and archival and perpetual access.

Rolnik followed with the reasons why a new model could work, including the significant and shared experience of publishers and librarians with e-resource licensing, and a high level of trust based on the amicable resolution of problems.  For example, there have been fewer than five court cases between publishers and libraries for license violations in the past few years, and there is strong motivation to find a licensing alternative.

Lamoureux provided more details on SERU, and emphasized that it is a mutual understanding between libraries and publishers in which they forego a license agreement and instead rely on SERU and copyright law.  SERU is not a replacement for all license and contract agreements, nor is it a standard license or license of adhesion.  SERU’s next steps include a Draft Recommended Practice for Trial Use (version 0.9), a registry of participants, and a formal NISO review process in 2008.  The speakers encouraged interested parties to register on the SERU website – the registration form isn’t currently online but should be soon.  A very interactive and informative round of questions and answers followed.

22nd CONFERENCE
TACTICS SESSION 

Little Things Mean a Lot
Bob Pershing, University of Pennsylvania Library; Eve Davis, EBSCO Information Services; David Horwitz, SAGE Publications
Reported by Susan Markley

Bob Persing, Eve Davis, and David Horwitz represented the various constituents in the publishing game.  They each presented some of the common annoyances they face each day which in turn have a cumulative impact on their daily activities and workload.  Although these minor complaints are often rather humorous, they do increase stress and workflow problems for all involved.

One of the “small” issues that libraries face include postal regulations for bulk mailings which limit the number of characters on the mailing label so items continually are sent to the wrong location.  Added to this annoyance are postal charges not included in the publication price so the journal is not even sent to the library.  Then there are hidden fees bundled into the journal’s actual cost, making it difficult to determine the service charge.  Another nuisance mentioned was the small notification postcards sent by fulfillment centers that extend your subscription one month when claims are placed. In addition, unanswered claims are always a major concern.  Libraries often have a real problem with the numbering system of many journals that follow no logical arrangement or units, making check-in and claiming very problematic.

Publishers and vendors complain that university accounts payable and procurement departments are often rigid about exact payment and about receiving e-mails instead of written letters.  Publishers often find that their automated or bulk e-mails to libraries end up in university spam files.  Universities often use confusing acronyms for their buildings or libraries, making it difficult for the publishers to recognize who is actually subscribing to the journal.  Publishers have problems with libraries that claim too soon or too often, not allowing time for the problem to be resolved.  They also find libraries try to circumvent publisher policies by trying to cancel requested titles after the subscription has already begun.

Vendors have problems with fulfillment houses that start subscriptions immediately after the order is received rather than waiting until the start of the year and volume.  There is also the problem of renewals or invoices sent after the cancellation period has ended.

In the new electronic serial world, additional problems have emerged, such as registration and activation headaches.  Why is there a need to re-register year after year and why can’t vendors register for the library?  In addition, automated e-mail responses from publishers that don’t include your initial question rank high on the list of petty annoyances.

The session concluded with this piece of advice: you can make a difference by complaining loud and clear.  Publishers do listen if enough people complain.  This was truly an excellent suggestion for an enjoyable presentation.

22nd CONFERENCE
TACTICS SESSION 

Creating a Local Print Repository for State Consortium Online Purchases
Douglas P. Kiker and Jay Wiese, University of Florida
Reported by Selina Lin

The presentation entitled, “Dim Archive Project 2004-2007: an Experiment in Creating a Local Print Repository”, details the University of Florida’s project in 2003 to begin a statewide cooperative effort to preserve an archival print copy of each online journal from Springer/Kluwer.  The University of Florida is a member of the Florida Consortium of eleven public universities which joined together for this project.  Springer/Kluwer is one of the six large publisher packages acquired by the consortium.  Each participating institution agreed to maintain and house print copies of a designated publisher package.  The rationale for the project was “apprehension about no longer maintaining a print version in any state university collection.” 

The number of journals in the Springer/Kluwer package totals 1,324, of which 361 titles, 3,605 issues, have been processed in this experimental pilot project.  These journals were received and labeled using a locally designed macro and efficient automated workflow to create item records in the ILS.  In all, 45.5 hours of staff time was spent over 200 weeks to process 361 titles which are housed in 91 archival boxes.  The end result is approximately 136 linear feet and 3.3 sections of storage space in the University’s Auxiliary Library Facility (ALF). There are 5000 titles remaining for the entire consortium to process.

22nd CONFERENCE
TACTICS SESSION 

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) for Libraries, Publishers, and Agents
The Reality Show—SUSHI, ONIX, and ?
Tina Feick, Swets Information Services
Reported by Valerie Bross

Tina Feick’s electric presentation countered the stereotype that standards are dry.  Beginning with the Berlin Airlift and ending with Tina’s dream for the future, the session spanned a half-century of standards development.

The first standard—the grandfather of the bunch—is EDI. Electronic Data Interchange entails the computer-to-computer exchange of data according to a specified format agreed to by all parties, with no human intervention. This was a revolutionary concept in 1945, and in some senses remains an ideal.

Within the serials community, EDI took off in 1979 with ICEDIS (International Committee on EDI for Serials) and, in the 1980s, with the SISAC SICI (Serials Industry Systems Advisory Committee’s Serial Item and Contribution Identifier).  Fritz Schwartz, in whose name the NASIG award was created, helped develop and promote use of EDI standards.  Many NASIG members first learned not to fear these new technical standards through his excellent workshops and patient explanations.  By 1992, EDI had been implemented for agent-to-publisher/publisher-to-agent transactions (orders, renewals, and transfers), as well as some library-to-agent/agent-to-library transactions (invoices, packing lists, claims).

Of more recent vintage, ONIX for Serials (ONline Information eXchange), under the auspices of EDItEUR, provides a family of XML-based standards for communicating data among agents, publishers, and e-resources management systems (ERMs).  ONIX for Serials standards include: SPS (serial products and subscriptions), SOH (serial holdings), and SRN (serial release notification).  The latest in the suite of standards is ONIX for Licensing Terms, the first draft which was released in March 2007.

SUSHI addresses a much different problem than either EDI or ONIX—the problem of statistics collection.  SUSHI, or Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative, is a protocol that formats data so that ERMs can more efficiently load it.  By combining SUSHI-based data with payment data, a library can create useful management reports of, for example, cost-per-use.

Finally in Tina’s dream-world, all standards are in place and fully implemented; library automation systems use the same standard; manual work has been reduced; and the librarian finally has time to focus on issues of quality.

22nd CONFERENCE
TACTICS SESSION 

Risky Business: Outsourcing Serials Cataloging
Faye Leibowitz, University of Pittsburgh
Reported by Kurt Blythe

Leibowitz’s presentation arose from her experiences managing an outsourced cataloging project for a collection of serials at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Economics Library.  The GSPIA/Economics Library’s serials and monographs ostensibly serve a wide range of research, but were nonetheless difficult to access.  These materials had not been included in Pittsburgh’s previous retrocons, and were only accessible via an incomplete shelf list.  Beyond that, the collection was classified using a local, hybrid classification system.  In point of fact, access was primarily afforded through browsing.

When the decision was made that the collection needed to be made accessible from the online catalog, grant funding was sought for an outsourcing project.  After analyzing the collection to determine the scope of the project, Leibowitz won a $75,000 grant.  This grant would fund the outsourcing of approximately 7500 volumes of which 1200 were serial in nature.  OCLC TechPro contracted to do the retrocon inside of one year.

Since the shelf list was incomplete, actual volumes were shipped to OCLC in lieu of cards; but only those volumes embodying major changes or first and last issues of a run were sent.  This process required a great deal of prep work to be done by Pitt’s library staff.  Students performed much of this work, checking OCLC to discover if any records relating to materials in the collection were already held, to follow up on 780 and 785 fields, and forwarding all available information to a librarian for vetting.  Few title changes were found, and most serials consisted of short runs or single issues.  OCLC was instructed to use CONSER records when available and serials were flagged before returning to the library so that holdings could be added.

Leibowitz’s experiences illustrate that serials cataloging is much more difficult to outsource than monographic cataloging.  The application of a cataloger’s judgment in determining major changes versus minor or recording designations breeds inconsistencies in treatment.  These inconsistencies are compounded when OCLC’s catalogers evaluate each volume of a title separate from the others rather than in the context of a library catalog, resulting in volumes from the same title being variously cataloged as serials and monographs.  Often, OCLC’s decisions conflicted with Pittsburgh’s policies.  At the same time, the student labor used in the preparatory phase and to process volumes returning from OCLC was often unsatisfactory due to the steep learning curve associated with training students and their lack of knowledge.

In the end, Leibowitz determined that she may have been better served had she been able to use her funding to hire full-time temporary workers to do the retrocon in-house.  With so much work required of the outsourcing institution before and after materials were handled by OCLC, and with the knowledge of students generally insufficient to the task, combined with the judgment of offsite catalogers sometimes in conflict with that of the outsourcing institution’s policies, it seems preferable to keep serials at home.

22nd CONFERENCE
TACTICS SESSION

ERM on a Shoestring: Betting on an Alternative Solution
Dalene Hawthorne, Head of Systems and Technical Services, Emporia State University; Jennifer Watson, Head of Electronic & Collection Services, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center
Reported by Virginia A. Rumph

Jennifer Watson and Dalene Hawthorne presented two options for keeping track of licenses and invoices for electronic resources.   At Tennessee, a FileMaker Pro database is used for individual title information.  It automatically generates URLs for the catalog’s 856 fields, and HTML for their A-Z list.  The advantages: ease of use, no IT help needed, no subscription fees, generates static URLs, and links to other databases.  However, the disadvantages include: the A-Z list cannot be incorporated into the new website’s content management system, it doesn’t include licenses and invoices, and the software must be installed on each computer, adding to expenses and training time.

The Health Sciences Center adapted Blackboard to manage licenses and invoices.  The pluses: already installed on campus with no additional cost, ease of use, no software to download, different levels of privileges can be set, and it is accessible from anywhere.  The negatives: no integration with other ERM systems, title linking is difficult, and a dependency on campus support.  Jennifer regards Blackboard as an interim measure until their EMS can handle invoices and licenses. 

The EMS was created using MySQL and Ruby on Rails (a Web application development framework).  The e-journals Web page is automatically populated, can be updated quickly, and works well with their content management system.  Jennifer thinks the best part of this EMS is its use of “smart” URLs which link each title on the A-Z list to the EMS, allowing usage statistics to be generated for all titles.  Loading data into the link resolver has improved, too.  Since it is Web-based, no software is needed, it is accessible from anywhere, and it is easy to use.  However, it requires a skilled IT person to create and maintain.

Currently, the Health Sciences Center employs FileMaker Pro to house usage statistics, Blackboard for invoices and licenses, and the EMS for everything else. However, the goal is to get all the information into the EMS.  This home-grown system meets their electronic resources management needs because they do not subscribe to many database packages (notoriously volatile).  Their systems are easily customizable, and cheap to set up and maintain, thus freeing money for more journal subscriptions to meet patron needs.

Emporia State has not purchased an ERM yet, has not been registering e-journals, wasn’t tracking licenses well, and relied on Serials Solutions to handle database content changes.  When the decision was made to get better control of their electronic resources, Emporia assigned responsibility for e-resources tasks to the appropriate staff, and subscribed to EBSCOHost Electronic Journals Service Enhanced version (EJS).  Suppressed brief bibliographic records are stored in a password-protected e-reserves course with attached scanned licenses and invoices are entered in the acquisitions module.  However, usage statistics are not being collected regularly.  EJS is being used as a registration tracker, to supply end user access notes, to create an A-Z list, and to generate administrative alerts.  Emporia has been satisfied with this combined solution to electronic resource management, but, unlike the Health Sciences Center, they subscribe primarily to databases.  Dalene doesn’t think their approach is scaleable to large institutions.