Technical Services Monthly Report
Aug. 2006
DIVISION-WIDE ACTIVITIES:
Staff finished
taking Sirsi Java training classes and slowly began
switching over to the new Java client. Molly Dahl, Mary Charles Lasater
and Denise Chavez conducted portions of the training classes. Some of us are jumping in with the new client,
while others may have to have the old C client pried from our fingers. Java WorkFlows
is already the primary client being used in Order Services, although some
are still returning as necessary to the C client to use SmartPort,
as LITS works with Sirsi on a fix for the display
problems we are experiencing.
New faster
computers have been ordered for those within TS whose CPU memory is less than
adequate for working with Java.
Roberta Winjum and Zora Breeding began
discussions this month with the new Music Library Director, Holling
Smith-Borne, about how the team will help with the cataloging of new Music
materials. Until a new music cataloger
can be hired, CAT will handle copy cataloging of new Music monographs, scores,
CDs and DVDs.
With the rest of the LibQual group,
Janice Adlington presented results from the spring
2006 survey at the "Loveless LibQual" LMC
retreat. The group has been asked to
present a brown bag to staff in the fall, and produce a preliminary report
which can be posted to the web. Roberta Winjum was
among the LMC attendees.
PERSONNEL ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS:
Mary Ellen Wilson, Zora Breeding, and Sue
Davis gave the new Central Reference librarian, Sara Byrd, a tour of their
areas and teams.
Becky Atack, Susan Bell, Zora Breeding, Yuf-Fen Benda, Molly Dahl, Don Jones, Ann Ercelawn, Charlotte Lew, and Sue Davis took turns as “greeters” for the Central Open House.
Jean Wright returned to work after a long recovery from her knee injury -- just in time for Java training. So far, she has decided to stay anyway. Welcome back, Jean!
Machelle Keen resigned her
position in the bindery effective Sept. 8.
Daphne Walker requested a 2-month leave
to take care of her mother.
Several attended
the Science and Engineering Open House and a few even made it to the Music
Open House. Many team members attended the Primo Open House.
The official
reclassification came through for Yuh-Fen Benda’s position (LAIV) and she launched into her new
duties with full steam. She met with
Mary Beth Blalock, John Haar, Peter Brush and Zora Breeding in an attempt to understand and define her
new role and duties. She also met with
several of the Asian Studies faculty to discuss books they were interested in
ordering, which she then investigated, contacting vendors and bringing in OCLC
records for Order Services to place orders.
We are very pleased with Yuh-Fen’s initiative
and perseverance in dealing with her new responsibilities.
The team
continued to process many materials being ordered Rush for the new semester,
including a huge amount of new DVDs (including many in Russian, Chinese and
Spanish). We continued to see many
Spanish/Portuguese gift books as well.
Jeff Taylor
processed more electronic theses and about half of the usual amount of bound
theses for this time of year. Ann Barnette completed subject analysis of many electronic and
bound theses.
Gina Berry
finished the project to update DVD records and moved on to updating videotape
records. She has completed about 500
thus far.
Linda Davis
began a project to assist Yuh-Fen in creating volume
holdings and preparing many volumes of a Japanese periodical title to be
marked.
Mary Charles Lasater declared Chris Benda an
independent NACO contributor for personal names.
Metadata Journal Club:
The team read
and discussed an article explaining FAST (Faceted Application of Subject
Terminology) and one by Thomas Mann, long-time reference librarian at the
Library of Congress titled, “What’s going on at the Library of Congress.”
FAST: <http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/fast/dc-fast.doc>
Mann: <http://guild2910.org/AFSCMEWhatIsGoingOn.pdf>
Statistics:
2070 new
titles cataloged by TS
1357 new titles
cataloged by CAT
251 of which
were original contributions or national level enhancements
208 titles recataloged
11 titles reconned
107 items
withdrawn
6177 new or
modified authority records delivered by Marcive
450 local
changes made to names on bib records outside of normal cataloging
80 local
changes made to subjects on bib records outside of normal cataloging
131 local
changes made to series on bib records outside of normal cataloging
109 authority
records deleted
E-RESOURCES
Janice continued meeting with various staff involved with
e-resources, including Chris Waldrop and Mary Ellen Wilson, Rachel Vacek, and also with Kitty Porter, who is helping her
become more familiar with SFX. To date Janice has been meeting with various
staff to learn about e-resource problems, but she will begin focusing on
documenting our present procedures for her white paper
Janice also participated in a
In her new role, Janice will serve on the SFX Project Team, the Central
Electronic Resources Committee, and the Collections Committee, among others.
ORDER
SERVICES:
Statistics:
2819 serials and periodicals received and processed
955 approvals processed
59 gifts processed
1054 new orders placed
705 titles Speed Cataloged
61 SSO's added to Acorn, primarily by
Cataloging.
The month of August saw a shift of priorities, from processing
gifts back to placing and receiving firm orders. The month also had a dramatic increase in the
number of high priority orders placed and received, as well as an increase in
the number of patron requests. We were kept quite busy ordering and expediting
these materials.
Overall, OS is becoming more familiar with the Java WorkFlows client; in early August we had a training/ Q&A
session in the place of a team meeting.
Response time for some on the new client is still slow for some while
they await the deployment of new computers; processing has slowed while we try
to build familiarity and comfort with the new client.
PRESERVATION:
Sue Davis responded to a distress call from Special Collections
about a leaky pipe. The leaky pipe was
likely the result of the GLB's HVAC system cooling
(or lack thereof) problems in late Aug. Fortunately
the leak was located over computers and not rare materials. The drips were redirected by plastic sheeting
procured from Central's stock. Dewey was
already on the spot when Sue got there, so the leak never had a chance to
become a real disaster.
Binding:
690 monographs
186 rebinds
273 periodicals
98 serials
1247 volumes total
756 new paperbacks sorted and 334 selected for immediate
binding (44%).
101 monographs rebarcoded in preparation for binding
307 Acorn periodical and serial records updated as a result of
binding.
Marking:
3611 volumes including 331 RUSH items
The RUSH count increases every Aug. as the academic year cranks up
for the fall semester. Karen Pillow, Sheranda Lee and Ann Mallette spent
a goodly portion of their time finding and processing the RUSH books.
Repair:
224 volumes were repaired
with 351 treatments