Next Generation Workflows for Next Generation Libraries
OLA Super Conference 2011, Session #320, February 3
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Rick Anderson, Scholarly Resources & Collections, University of Utah
Karen Calhoun, VP Metadata, OCLC
Convenor: Moira Davidson, Lakehead University
Let Them Eat... Everything:Embracing a Patron-Driven
Future
Rick Anderson
Associate Director
Scholarly Resources & Collections
J. Willard Marriott Library
Toward Greater Sanity in Scholarly Communication
Less sane Interlibrary loan Big Deals
Subscriptions Approval plans
Reference/Bib instruction Redundant cataloging Print runs
More sane Article purchases
(document delivery) Wikipedia Shared cataloging Ease of use PDA (for books) Print on demand
J. Willard Marriott Library
Up through the 19th century, a library was...
“... a building, room, or set of rooms, containing a collection of books for the use of the public or of some particular portion of it, or of the members of some society or the like; a public institution or establishment, charged with the care of a collection of books, and the duty of rendering the books accessible to those who require to use them.” (OED)
“... a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale.” (Merriam-Webster)
J. Willard Marriott Library
(Up through) 19th-century model
J. Willard Marriott Library
A more recent definition:
“... a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual.” (Wikipedia)
J. Willard Marriott Library
20th-century model
J. Willard Marriott Library
In other words, when we say library we’ve usually meant:
a structure, filled with
a collection.
J. Willard Marriott Library
Then comes the internet.
Buildings start mattering much less Collections are diffuse and hard to define Access is available from anywhere in the world Access can be purchased virtually immediately Collection size is potentially limitless Economies of scale make vast purchases affordable
... and therefore Libraries can cast a huge net rather than carefully craft
artisanal collections; or Libraries can put off acquisition until need is demonstrated
J. Willard Marriott Library
21st-century model
J. Willard Marriott Library
Today, when we say library we increasingly mean:
a “structure,” “filled” with
a “collection.”
J. Willard Marriott Library
Game-changers in the next five years:
Continued budget declines (or, at best, flattening) Google Books
Radical discoverability Radical availability
Hathi Trust Robust, trustworthy archiving with effective metadata ( = even better
discoverability) 8 million books in 2010; 14 million by 2012
Patron-driven options Ebook/article PDA Print book POD (Espresso Book Machine)
J. Willard Marriott Library
Espresso Book Machine: The UU Experience
Basic design Two printers Saw Glue pot
Complications Dry climate Ink systems Still waiting for color printer
What works: Physical processes
What doesn’t: Discoverability of content (metadata) A certain creakiness (glue pot, etc.)
J. Willard Marriott Library
Espresso Book Machine: The UU Experience
Surprises: Demand for self-publishing Demand for blank books (!) Opportunities for commercial publishing
Plans for the future: U of Utah Press backlist Unique digital collections Hopefully, more ODB content with better discoverability
ODB’s plans: Advanced search by end of 2010 Adding new in-copyright content (with metadata) at a rate of roughly 10k ti/month Currently working on deals with Internet Archive (1.8m titles) and Bibliolife (1.5m)
J. Willard Marriott Library
To summarize: this is our new context:
Documents tend strongly to be available online Documents are radically more discoverable than they have ever
been (even if only available in print) Print-on-demand (whether outsourced or insourced) is an
increasingly available option Our budgets have been/are being dramatically cut Waste is decreasingly acceptable to stakeholders When we try to guess what patrons will want, we’re wrong nearly
half the time
J. Willard Marriott Library
Circ Trends at the University of Utah
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20100
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Initial Circs Per Enrolled Student
J. Willard Marriott Library
Reshelving Trends at the U. of Utah
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20100
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Reshelvings per student
J. Willard Marriott Library
Why we are still building collections anyway:
Not everything needed is available (or even discoverable) online
Some essential documents require physical curation Watch for growing bifurcation: library as archive (special collections) vs. library as
information resource (general collections)
Not everything can be shown to patrons before purchase and then purchased immediately upon demand
Budget management: easiest way to control spending is to keep control inside the library
J. Willard Marriott Library
The Unattainable Ideal (or North Star Approach)
Every book ever published is easily and immediately findable
Any book ever published can be purchased by library for patron immediately upon realization of need (purchase or borrow)
Every article...
Every data set...
This ideal does not have to be attainable in order to be useful.
J. Willard Marriott Library
What can we do in the meantime?
Share. (Ugh.)
Books: expose everything we can and buy when the patron points Ebooks (MyiLibrary, NetLibrary, EBL, Ebrary, etc.) Print books (LightningSource, OUP, etc.) Print books (Espresso Book Machine)
Journals: by-the-drink purchasing Remember: patrons don’t need journals; they need articles This is the opposite of the Big Deal: it’s the Tiny Deal Problem: publishers don’t want to sell that way
Library Process Redesign: Renewing Services, Changing Workflows
Karen CalhounVP Metadata, [email protected]
Prepared for the
OLA Superconference,
Toronto
3 February 2011
The Deming circle.Image: CC BY 3.0Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)
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Outline
•Review of library collection trends▫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
Median Circulation and Reference Transactions in North American Research Libraries 1991-2008, With Five Year Forecast
19911992
19931994
19951996
19971998
19992000
20012002
20032004
20052006
20072008
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
CirculationLinear (Circulation)Reference TransactionsLinear (Reference Transactions)
Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf
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“65% of information requestsoriginate off-campus.” –University of Minnesota Discoverability report, p. 4
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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
StaffMonographs PurchasedVolumes Added
Change in Staff, Volumes Added, Monographs Purchased Per Student
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
0.000.200.400.600.801.001.201.401.601.802.00
Eserials Expen-ditures
Change in E-Serials ExpendituresPer Student
Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf
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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 thetime/most of
the time
Some of thetime
None of thetime
Responses
Per
cen
t
Faculty/Graduate
Undergrad
http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub110/contents.html
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) athttp://repositories.webometrics.info/about.html
2008-2009 TrafficCompared:
*Social Science Research Network*arXiv.org*Research Papers in Economics*British Library (bl.uk)
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October 2010
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-11.pdf
“Special collections and archives are increasingly seen as elementsof distinction that serve to differentiate an academic or research library from its peers … however, much rare and unique material remainsundiscoverable, 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%
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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
Mill
ion
s o
f S
essi
on
s/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]
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See final slide for citations.
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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!
“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, ScottishSociety of Antiquaries
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Meanwhile …
… the demands of processing the print/AV collections continue to dominate how technical services staff spend their time
By UlleskelfCC-BY-NC-ND 2.0http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulleskelf/349312876/
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Staffing allocations = de facto priorities
70%
9%
8%
4%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?
The Deming circle.Image: CC BY 3.0Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)
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A Blueprint for Change: Innovate and Reduce Costs
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf
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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 collaboration3. 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 once5. 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
Percent Change during this period:
FTE down 20%
Cataloging up 64%
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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)
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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
*A recent example = patron-driven acquisitions!
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Metadata Before and After the Web: What is a “Full” Record?
+ 3 more screens
Productdescription& purchaseinformationMore like this
Editorialreviews & author infoInside the bookTags, RatingsCustomer reviewsListsMore
With thanks to David Lankes:http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALCTS.pdf
Bibliographic dataLibrary HoldingsDetailsSubjectsEditionsReviews
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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?
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Library metadata has reached a point of discontinuous change
We must change how we think about it and what we do
Photo by: OMG Ventureshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/imagebuilders/2877401212/
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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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