The document outlines a redesign of library processes at Cambridge University Library, focusing on enhancing user-centered collections and services, particularly in the context of growing e-resources and special collections. It discusses trends in library usage, the importance of adapting workflows to meet user demand, and strategies for increasing efficiency amid resource constraints. Key principles for change include collaboration across departments, maximizing the use of technology, and reevaluating staffing priorities to better serve evolving user needs.

1. Prepared for Library Process Redesign:
Cambridge
University
Library
Renewing Services,
10 February 2011 Changing Workflows
The Deming circle.
Karen Calhoun
Image: CC BY 3.0
Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com) VP Metadata, OCLC
calhounk@oclc.org

2. 2
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

3. 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

4. 4
Median Circulation and Reference Transactions in North
American Research Libraries 1991-2008, With Five Year
Forecast
400000
“65% of information requests
originate off-campus.” –
350000 University of Minnesota
Discoverability report, p. 4
300000
250000
Circulation
200000 Reference Transactions
Linear (Circulation)
150000 Linear (Reference Transactions)
100000
50000
Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf
0

5. 5
Percentage Change in Median Resources Per Student at
ARL Libraries, 2000-2008
(Compared to 2000)
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.01 Staff
-0.015
Monographs
-0.02 2.00
Purchased
1.80
Volumes Added
-0.025
1.60
-0.03 1.40
-0.035 1.20
1.00
Eserials
0.80
Expenditures
0.60
Change in Staff, Volumes Added, 0.40
Monographs Purchased Per Student 0.20
0.00
Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf
Change in E-Serials Expenditures
Per Student

6. 6
What Did Users Say They Want? (2002)
•Faculty and students do more
work and study away from
campus
•Loyal to the library, but library Do you use electronic sources all of the time,
most of the time, some of the time, or none of the
is only one element in complex time?
information structure
60%
•Print still important, but almost 50%
half of undergraduates say they 40%
Percent
Faculty/Graduate
rely exclusively or almost 30%
20%
Undergrad
exclusively on electronic 10%
materials 0%
All of the Some of the None of the
•Seamless linking from one time/most of
the time
time time
information object to another is Responses
expected
•Fast forward to 2011: these http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub110/contents.html
trends many times stronger!

7. 7
Open Access Repositories Gaining
Visibility and Impact
2008-2009 Traffic
Compared:
*Social Science Research
Network
*arXiv.org
*Research Papers in
Economics
*British Library (bl.uk)
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

8. 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

9. 9
Rising Interest in Digital Collections on the BnF
and LC Web Sites
Where do people go
on bnf.fr and
loc.gov?
BnF:
Expositions: 30%
Catalogue: 26%
Gallica: 26%
LC:
American Memory: 41%
Source: Alexa.com, 15 Nov 2009
Catalog: 17%
Legislative information
(THOMAS): 6%

10. 10
Research into use and users of digital
library collections “The function of searching across
“The availability of primary sources has
Usage of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections collections is a the success of my
been crucial for dream frequently
discussedin history. Students have at a
teaching
2001-2008 [1]
but seldom realized
remarked what a difference it has made,
10000000
robusthave noticed apaper …
and I level. This big difference
9000000
R2 = 0.9701
8000000
Millions of Sessions/Uses
discusses this coursemight move
between how we with the availability
7000000
6000000
from isolated digital collections Ito
of online primary resources to those
5000000
4000000
interoperable digital libraries.”on
have taught before that were based
3000000
2000000
1000000 printed resources.” –History instructor,
—Howard Besser [4] [2]
University of California
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
“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]
See final slide for citations.

11. 11
Some process redesign principles for
special collections
“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
• Programs not projects
• Describing special collections—
take a page from the archivists
• Quality vs. quantity—quantity
wins!
• Discovery happens elsewhere—
get exposed!
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2007/2007-02.pdf

12. 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

13. 13
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/

14. 14
Staffing allocations = de facto
priorities
Estimated FTE Allocations in A Research
Library TS Division
3% 2%
3%
5%
8%
9%
70%
Print/AV Support Management/Training
Metadata E-Resources
Special Collections Programming/Web Support
Desktop Support

15. 15
What to do?
• How to free up time for these new priorities …
• … while TS staffing continues to shrink?
The Deming circle.
Image: CC BY 3.0
Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)

16. 16
A Blueprint for Change: Innovate and
Reduce Costs
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf

17. 17
Where metadata comes from
(and will come from)
• Library cataloging
• Publishers, vendors, aggregators
Professionally • Publication supply chain data
(ONIX)
produced • Abstracting and indexing services
• Authority, classification data,
terminologies
• Institutional repositories
Author/User • Scholarly portals (e.g., arXiv.org)
contributed • Tags, reviews, lists, etc.
• Knowledge bases
• Algorithmically-created indexes
Mined • Author identity pages
• Facets for topics, places, events
• FRBR Work Sets …
Algorithmically
produced, re-
used, harvested

18. 18
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

19. 19
Case study: Before and after workflow
redesign for print monographs processing
• All cataloging done in cataloging
• Many exceptions
Percent
Before • Manual approach Change
redesign during this
period:
FTE down
• Automated approach 20%
• Few exceptions
Redesign and • 50% of cataloging done in acquisitions Cataloging
free up staff up 64%
• E-resource unit staffed
• Metadata unit staffed
Address • Special collections/digital projects staffed
priorities

20. 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

21. 21
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)

22. 22
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!

23. 23
Metadata Before and After the Web:
What is a “Full” Record?
Product
description
& purchase
information
More like this
Editorial
reviews & author info
Inside the book
Tags, Ratings
Bibliographic data Customer reviews
Library Holdings Lists
Details More
Subjects
Editions
Reviews
+ 3 more screens
With thanks to David Lankes:
http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALCTS.pdf

24. 24
What is
‘good enough’
cataloging?
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-06.pdf

25. 25
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?

26. 26
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/

27. Endings
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
27

28. 28
“It’s not the changes that do you in,
it’s the transitions” –William Bridges
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
It is critical to
manage transitions
and include staff in
the process.
The three phases of transition
Bridges, William. 1991. Managing transitions: making the most of change.
Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

29. 29
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?