Technical Services Monthly Report

April 2003

DIVISION-WIDE ACTIVITIES:

After months of work, we were finally able to load the Serials Solutions records into the production database in April. Ann Ercelawn and Rick Stringer-Hye will be taking over primary responsibility for Serials Solutions during the production and clean-up phase, which begins now. Dale Poulter created scripts to remove URL’s and Internet library call numbers from print records in Acorn as well as duplicate online-only records. However, the program was not able to capture and remove this information if there was no ISSN match, so some cleanup remains. Please remember to use the web form linked to the Staffweb to report problems with SS records: http://forms.library.vanderbilt.edu/requests/sersol.phtml

April 7-11 was our first annual Preservation Week. Sue Davis, Charlotte Lew, and Daphne Walker initiated, planned and carried out this event. OUL staff helped with the publicity. The festivities included a special bookmark, two small exhibits, two workshops, one afternoon at the movies, and one open condition assessment session. As this was their first such celebration, attendance was lower than hoped. Workshops are available upon request and the videos are all available for borrowing. Thanks to Sue, Charlotte, and Daphne for scheduling and sponsoring the events.

TechForce resumed regular meetings after some down time in March. The INeed proposal was given the green light by LMC, and TechForce has worked on turning the proposal into procedures to be implemented after feedback from CAG. Zora Breeding and Sue Davis will present INeed at the next CAG meeting.

The TechForce also identified the need for a new TS task force to examine Rush and Priority procedures and Roberta Winjum is currently drawing up a charge. Mary Ellen will chair the new task force. Rita Breen, Susan Bell and Sheranda Lee have also agreed to serve.

The Cataloging Workflows Task Force is currently examining several issues. One of the most significant was the idea of reducing the time it takes patron requests to move through cataloging and marking. The catalogers have agreed on a turnaround time of three days for these in the future. Some other matters discussed by the TF include: possibilities for re-searching various kinds of copy on receipt in Order Services; the problem of excessive new unauthorized headings caused by this re-searching; and the change in PromptCat's record selection procedures. The TF is also looking at other libraries’ procedures and will solicit additional information from libraries similar to our own.

Mary Ellen Wilson, Chris Waldrop, Sue Davis and the Preservation Team continue to work on draft contracts for our subscription and binding vendors in fulfillment of one of the requirements of Internal Audit.

Sue Davis worked with Norman Nash to finalize the draft of an updated library emergency response plan.

PERSONNEL ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS:

Denise Chavez replaces Susan Bell as TS/GLB Training Coordinator effective immediately. Susan has been filling this role since its inception and was ready to pass the baton to someone else. Thank you to Susan for her efforts in this role for the last five years. And congratulations and good luck to Denise as she assumes the mantle just in time to help us with the transition to Mulberry.

Mary Charles Lasater won election to ALA ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section’s Executive Committee. Congratulations!

Norma Riddick has taken another break from her retirement to work cataloging the Dyck gift collection for Special Collections. Norma is working partly in various workstations in Cataloging and partly in an office in Special Collections. In the first half of May you will find her in Yuh-Fen’s station while Yuh-Fen is away.

Sue Davis was invited to attend a pilot session of a Quality of Work Life class under development by Human Resources.

Several staff attended the Management Director candidates’ presentations as well as some of the informative workshops presented by Sue Davis and Charlotte Lew during Preservation Awareness Week. Some staff have begun attending overview sessions on Mulberry, our new e-mail software.

Denise Chavez, Susan Timmons, and Roberta Winjum have volunteered to read during weekly story hours at the Susan Gray School.

Zora Breeeding and Yuh-Fen Benda attended a meeting of the Unicorn 2003 beta testing group. Mary Charles Lasater and Ann Ercelawn will also be testing.

Don Jones attended the Kickoff Luncheon of the 2003 Faculty Staff Campaign and spent some time during the month working on the campaign with the other library representatives, MAT Trotter and Mary Beth Blalock.

Yuh-Fen Benda began a three-week leave (April 24-May 15) to visit her family in

Taiwan.

CATALOGING AND AUTHORITIES:

Cataloging:

Materials in French and Spanish continued to be heavy this month while German and Russian materials were very light. Receipt of other material remained steady. In addition to cataloging new receipts: Zora Breeding and Michael Scott finished cataloging the Past Masters electronic database. Susan Bell began a concerted effort to finish the batch of Tennessee textbooks currently waiting processing in the workroom so that Peabody can send her the batch of last year’s gifts that are being held over there. Becky Atack began processing the inscribed Pia duplicates. Jeff Taylor cataloged the latest VU electronic theses and some very old (1890’s) University of Nashville theses. Bryan Kurowski and Jeff cataloged more inventory material through the RIP project. Mary Charles Lasater and Chris Benda worked on the Peabody masters theses and she and Jeff continued to work on the Ed.S. theses. Jean Wright completed the addition of records for the large shipment of Congressional material from the Memphis Public Library. Ann Ercelawn did much CONSER work this month and contributed a number of serial patterns to OCLC.

Authorities and Maintenance:

Linda Davis completed processing the list of Peabody withdrawals to date. Mary Charles Lasater completed correction of the topical and geographic headings from the EEBO list. Linda began work on identifying which records with a catstat:c in Notis need to be manually shadowed in Acorn. Ann Ercelawn has also asked Linda to take over the conversion clean-up project (which has been on hold for some time) of adding call numbers to holdings. Sue Richardson made a lot of progress on new headings lists.

ORDER SERVICES:

Received and processed:

Serials/Periodicals: 4029

Firm orders: 1534

Approvals: 1071

Added to Acorn:

SSO's: 147

Gifts: 107

In addition, 2328 new orders were placed in OS, and 1181 titles were speed cataloged in OS.

Monographs and Serials/Periodicals are being received and processed within 48 hours of receipt. New Order requests have increased substantially this month, especially for RUSH orders, yet they are also being processed quickly - the oldest requests are currently dated (received in OS on) April 25.

During the month of April, 826 standing orders were received or prepaid, and approximately 182 periodical renewals were made.

Central: 80

Divinity: 36

Educ: 13

Mngt: 9

Music: 13

Science: 31

The Swets/Blackwell invoice was finalized this month, so subscriptions to them now have a status of PAID. This leaves only the Harrassowitz invoices unreconciled. After checking with Harrassowitz, we plan to have these invoices completely reconciled (PAID) around the middle of May.

PRESERVATION:

The annual spring influx of materials began in earnest in April. Shelves, trucks, and any other available space filled to capacity as books, periodicals, and serials flooded into both the binding/marking and repair areas.

The biosafety hood used in the repair lab for mold inspection barely passed its annual inspection with a recommendation to replace it. An industrial hygienist from the VU Environmental Health and Safety Dept. is providing the expertise on selecting the appropriate model for our needs.

Binding:

1,036 volumes sent including:

528 monographs

374 periodicals

134 serials

371 Acorn holdings records were updated as a result of binding.

1,290 new Central paperbacks sorted; 549 (42.5%) selected for immediate binding.

251 paperbacks were rebarcoded in preparation for binding

There is a growing backlog of previously circulated monograph paperbacks waiting for rebarcoding before binding. With no funding for additional summer staff, the backlog will take longer than usual to work through.

Marking:

4,356 items labeled

21 microfilm reels

280 unbound serials

213 RUSH items

As of May 5, Pres staff were labeling items which arrived in the unit April 24. Our already missed student assistant was a major reason the output was so high for April.

Repair:

195 volumes repaired with 280 treatments

With great joy Charlotte announces the completion of the Biderman poster project. Over the course of the last year Pres staff flattened 462 posters in small batches. In April Yvonne B., Paula C., and Kathy S. spent several hours sorting the posters into 12 subject piles and placed them in custom-made folder portfolios. The largest folder measured 44" x 29". Suspect storage conditions prior to the posters' arrival at Vanderbilt increased the need for careful handling.