Library Process Redesign:

Renewing Services,

Changing Workflows

Karen Calhoun

VP Metadata, OCLC

calhounk@oclc.org

Prepared for

Cambridge

University

Library

10 February 2011

The Deming circle.

Image: CC BY 3.0

Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)

Outline

• Review of library collection trends

▫ The Cambridge strategy

▫ E-resources and special collections as priorities

• Trends in special collections’ usage and management

• Freeing up time for new initiatives

▫ The principles and practice of library process redesign

2

Themes of the Cambridge University Library

Strategic Plan

User-centered collections and services

1. Usability, discoverability, access

• Understanding of user communities

• Knowledge organization

• Visibility of collections

• Ease of use – ‘desktop delivery’

2. Highly skilled staff; organizational development

• Digital librarianship

3. Preservation and housing of collections

• Storage and space

• Collection management

4. The ‘hybrid library’ – not either/or but both/and

• Physical and online collections; expansion of the digital library

5. Resourcing

• UEF and HEFCE funding reductions

• Fundraising

• Increased efficiency

Median Circulation and Reference Transactions in North

American Research Libraries 1991-2008, With Five Year

Forecast

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

Circulation

Reference Transactions

Linear (Circulation)

Linear (Reference Transactions)

Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008

http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf

4

“65% of information requests

originate off-campus.” –

University of Minnesota

Discoverability report, p. 4

Percentage Change in Median Resources Per Student at

ARL Libraries, 2000-2008

(Compared to 2000)

-0.035

-0.03

-0.025

-0.02

-0.015

-0.01

-0.005

0

0.005

Staff

Monographs Purchased

Volumes Added

Change in Staff, Volumes Added,

Monographs Purchased Per Student 0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

Eserials Expenditures

Change in E-Serials Expenditures

Per Student

Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008

http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf

5

What Did Users Say They Want? (2002)

•Faculty and students do more

work and study away from

campus

•Loyal to the library, but library

is only one element in complex

information structure

•Print still important, but almost

half of undergraduates say they

rely exclusively or almost

exclusively on electronic

materials

•Seamless linking from one

information object to another is

expected

•Fast forward to 2011: these

trends many times stronger!

Do you use electronic sources all of the time,

most of the time, some of the time, or none of the

time?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

All of the

time/most of

the time

Some of the

time

None of the

time

Responses

Perc

en

t

Faculty/Graduate

Undergrad

http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub110/contents.html

6

Open Access Repositories Gaining

Visibility and Impact

Sources: Alexa.com 15 Nov 2009 and the Cybermetrics Lab’s ranking of top

Repositories (disciplinary and institutional) at

http://repositories.webometrics.info/about.html

2008-2009 Traffic

Compared:

*Social Science Research

Network

*arXiv.org

*Research Papers in

Economics

*British Library (bl.uk)

7

8

October

2010

http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-11.pdf

“Special collections and archives are increasingly seen as elements

of distinction that serve to differentiate an academic or research library

from its peers … however, much rare and unique material remains

undiscoverable, and monetary resources are shrinking at the same time

that user demand is growing.”—Executive summary

Rising Interest in Digital Collections on the BnF

and LC Web Sites

Source: Alexa.com, 15 Nov 2009

Where do people go

on bnf.fr and

loc.gov?

BnF:

Expositions: 30%

Catalogue: 26%

Gallica: 26%

LC:

American Memory: 41%

Catalog: 17%

Legislative information

(THOMAS): 6%

9

Research into use and users of digital

library collections

“Digital libraries, far from being simple digital

versions of library holdings, are now attracting a

new type of public, bringing about new, unique and

original ways for reading and understanding

texts.”—BibUsages Study 2002 [3]

“The availability of primary sources has

been crucial for the success of my

teaching in history. Students have

remarked what a difference it has made,

and I have noticed a big difference

between this course with the availability

of online primary resources to those I

have taught before that were based on

printed resources.” –History instructor,

University of California [2]

Usage of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

2001-2008 [1]

R2 = 0.9701

0

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

8000000

9000000

10000000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Millio

ns o

f S

essio

ns/U

ses

“The function of searching across

collections is a dream frequently

discussed but seldom realized at a

robust level. This paper …

discusses how we might move

from isolated digital collections to

interoperable digital libraries.”

—Howard Besser [4]

10

See final slide for citations.

Some process redesign principles for

special collections

• Programs not projects

• Describing special collections—

take a page from the archivists

• Quality vs. quantity—quantity

wins!

• Discovery happens elsewhere—

get exposed!

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“Special collections are stuck in an eddy,

while the mass of digitized books drift by

in the current of the mainstream. We

need to jump into the flow or risk being

left high and dry.”—p. 4

http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2007/2007-02.pdf

Don’t Get Further Behind! Learn

from the Archivists

• Item level

description – Get

over it!

• Some access is

better than no

access - really

David Steuart Erskine, founder, Scottish

Society of Antiquaries

Meanwhile …

… the demands of

processing the

print/AV collections

continue to

dominate how

technical services

staff spend their

time

By Ulleskelf

CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulleskelf/349312876/

13

Staffing allocations = de facto

priorities

70%

9%

8%

5%

3% 3%

2%

Estimated FTE Allocations in A Research Library TS Division

Print/AV Support Management/Training

Metadata E-Resources

Special Collections Programming/Web Support

Desktop Support

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What to do?

• How to free up time for these new priorities …

• … while TS staffing continues to shrink?

15

The Deming circle.

Image: CC BY 3.0

Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)

A Blueprint for Change: Innovate and

Reduce Costs

16

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf

Where metadata comes from

(and will come from) • Library cataloging • Publishers, vendors, aggregators • Publication supply chain data

(ONIX) • Abstracting and indexing services • Authority, classification data,

terminologies

Professionally produced

• Institutional repositories • Scholarly portals (e.g., arXiv.org) • Tags, reviews, lists, etc.

Author/User contributed

• Knowledge bases • Algorithmically-created indexes • Author identity pages • Facets for topics, places, events • FRBR Work Sets …

Mined

Algorithmically produced, re-

used, harvested

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Achieving efficiencies: workflow

redesign principles

1. Look at the whole process as one process (e.g., selection to ordering to receipt to cataloging to shelf-ready)

2. Maximize acquisitions/cataloging collaboration 3. Capture bibliographic data as far upstream as

possible (at point of selection/ordering if you can) 4. To the greatest extent possible, handle items and

records only once 5. Perform work where it makes the most sense; and

maximize use of students/volunteers 6. Wholly manual processes do not scale; integrate

automated and manual operations

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Case study: Before and after workflow

redesign for print monographs processing

Before redesign

• All cataloging done in cataloging • Many exceptions • Manual approach

Redesign and free up staff

• Automated approach • Few exceptions • 50% of cataloging done in acquisitions

Address priorities

• E-resource unit staffed • Metadata unit staffed • Special collections/digital projects staffed

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Percent Change during this period:

FTE down 20%

Cataloging up 64%

20

Themes of the Transition in Technical

Services

• More with less • Streamlined workflows • Greater use of batch and macro strategies • Greater use of technology • Greater integration of acquisitions and cataloging • More cooperation • Partnerships with vendors • Outsourcing • New roles and responsibilities

▫ E-resources licensing and management ▫ Metadata services (institutional repositories) ▫ Special collections / digitization projects

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A range of outsourcing solutions being

implemented by many

▫ Approval plans (with records supplied)

▫ Shelf ready services

▫ Outsourced non-English language cataloging

▫ Re-use of publisher and vendor records

▫ Post-cataloging authority control

▫ Batch search/record capture services

▫ Record sets for e-journals and e-books

▫ And now … patron-driven acquisitions (records

loaded to library’s catalog or discovery service)

What is Technical Services “Quality”?

• Must begin with user’s needs and end with user’s perceptions

• What does ‘quality’ mean? ▫ Fast cycle time for new materials

▫ Providing for easy, convenient use of library collections*

▫ Being creative, responsive and flexible

▫ Optimizing the library’s investment in personnel, materials, equipment, etc.

▫ Balancing trade-offs

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*A recent example = patron-driven acquisitions!

Metadata Before and After the Web:

What is a “Full” Record?

+ 3 more screens

Product description & purchase information More like this Editorial reviews & author info Inside the book Tags, Ratings Customer reviews Lists More

With thanks to David Lankes: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALCTS.pdf

Bibliographic data Library Holdings Details Subjects Editions Reviews

23

What is

‘good enough’

cataloging?

http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-06.pdf

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How many of you have considered or

implemented changes to workflows for

physical materials? For example …

• Get most of your cataloging done as part of the

acquisitions process?

• Re-use others’ records (including publisher or

vendor record sets) with minimal or no further

review?

• Ruthlessly pare down exceptions to standard

workflows?

• Do patron-driven acquisitions for print books?

25

Library metadata has reached a point of

discontinuous change

We must change how we think about it and

what we do

Photo by: OMG Ventures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagebuilders/2877401212/

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Endings

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What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning

The end is where we start from

--T.S. Eliot

“It’s not the changes that do you in,

it’s the transitions” –William Bridges

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Change = something in the external environment changes

(e.g., a new library director is hired; a new system is being introduced;

a reorganization occurs; new procedures or policies are planned)

Transition = an internal psychological reorientation process to a change

The three phases of transition

It is critical to

manage transitions

and include staff in

the process.

Bridges, William. 1991. Managing transitions: making the most of change. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

Digital Collections Slide - Citations

• [1] Data source for chart: University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center. Summary

Statistics. http://uwdcc.library.wisc.edu/usageStats/publicView.shtml

• [2] Quote from survey respondent as reported in Harley, Diane. 2007. Use and users of

digital resources. Educause Quarterly 4, p. 12-20.

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0742.pdf

• [3a] Assadi, Houssem, et al. 2002. Use and users of online digital libraries in France.

(BibUsages project) http://bibnum.bnf.fr/usages/bibusages_ecdl2003.pdf

• And

• [3b] Lupovici, Catherine, and Lesquins, Noémie. 2007. Gallica 2.0: a second life for the

Bibliothèque nationale de France digital library. http://www.ifla.org.sg/IV/ifla73/papers/146-

Lupovici-en.pdf

• [4] Besser, Howard. 2002. The next stage: moving from digital collections to interoperable

digital libraries. First Monday 7:6.

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/958/879

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Questions and Comments?

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