eBook workflow between acquisitions and cataloging.

1. Ebooks: Discovering the Virtual Backlog
an ALCTS Program
Presenters:
Sommer Browning
Head of Electronic Access & Discovery Services
University of Colorado Denver, Auraria Library
Rhonda Glazier
Director of Collections Management
University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Kraemer Family Library
June 29, 2014
Co-Sponsors:
ALCTS Technical Services Managers in Academic Libraries Interest Group
ACRL Technical Services Interest Group
E-Resources Interest Group
#alctsAC14

2. Murky Waters
Acquisitions-
to-
Cataloging-
to-Shelf
workflow is
inadequate
Acquisitions
to Cataloging
Handoff isn’t
clear
Cataloging
often must go
back to
Acquisitions
for answers
Access issues
affect both
departments

3. Traditional Book Workflow

4. Today’s Ebook Workflow

5. Goals
Elucidate the
complexity of
ebook
workflow
Examine cross
departmental
responsibility
Share
strategies to
uncover virtual
backlogs

6. About Kraemer Family Library
Serves over 406 faculty and 10,000+ students
Technical Services
 Cataloging: 3 staff members
 Acquisitions: 1.5 staff members
 Electronic Resources: 2 staff members
 Collection
 1,289,028 volumes (all formats)
 323,556 titles
 200 databases
 35,000+ full-text journals/titles
 18,600 streaming videos
 93,000 e-books in catalog as of May 30, 2014

7. Acquiring Ebooks
Type of Access
Vendor vs.
Publisher
Package vs. single
title purchase
Platform

8. Considerations - to - Complications
 Acquisition staff members can no longer just
locate and purchase
 Ebook may involve a license
 Purchase alone or part of a consortia
 Criteria for purchase is evolving
 Cost less of a factor
 Individual vs. package
 Functionality
 Availability/quality of MARC records

9. Complications Continue
Determining ownership
• How can staff determine whether or not you have perpetual access
to a title vs. leasing?
• How are you tracking the variances of ownership between
packages, publishers, and vendors?
• How/when do you know that you have received the titles?
• How do you know what titles are actually in a package and
whether that package changes?
• What mechanisms are in place to help acquisitions determine
library ownership/availability in the future?
• What titles have records in the catalog – and when does a record
not exist?

10. Communication
Impacts
multiple groups
• Selectors
• Acquisition’s staff
• Electronic Resources staff
• Cataloging staff
• Public Services staff
• Library Administration
• Patrons
• Faculty
• Students
• Public
• Is it needed?
Does a collection development
policy for ebooks enhance
communication?

11. Who is responsible for communicating ebook
purchases and changes?
Selectors: as they determine the need for access to specific titles
Acquisitions: as they contact vendors about purchasing titles
Electronic resources staff: as they create access through the
library’s ERM
Cataloging staff: as they load records and verify access through
the catalog
Public Services staff: as they determine access or lack of access
when trying to use these resources
Patrons: as they try to determine what the library owns

12. Collaboration
• Who determines purchasing method?
• Do selectors need to communicate
format/functionality at time of ordering?
• How does the selector know when the title has
been added?
• How does cataloging let library staff members
know that a title has been cataloged?
• Who tracks ongoing access?
• Does access = ownership and who is
responsible for documenting ownership?
• HOW DO WE KEEP THE PATRON CENTRAL
IN THIS PROCESS?
ASSIGN
RESPONSIBILITY

13. The Hand Off
 Acquisition’s staff have purchased the title
 Acquisition’s staff are notified that new titles
are available in a package
 Electronic Resources staff have “signed off on
a title”

14. About Auraria Library
Serves over 3000 faculty and 35,000+ students
Technical Services
 Access & Discovery: 4 Staff members
 Acquisitions: 7 staff members
We have over 260,000 purchased ebooks.

15. Hello. You have ebooks.
• For new packages
Linking
Form
• Can’t always be
centralizedEmail
• Needs routine checkingFTP Site

16. Time to Catalog, But How?
Batchload One by One
Shelf Ready
Track for
MARC in
ProQuest

17. Hello. You Have a Backlog.
Linking form is
not created
What is new to
cataloging is
not new to acq
E-Resources
Spreadsheet

18. Hello. You Have a Backlog.
Vendor never
emails to alert
you about
records
Books sit on
FTP site for
weeks/months
Calendar,
ticklers,
reminders

19. Hello. You have a Backlog.
OCLC
Collection Set
is not ready
OCLC
Collection Set
in not ready
OCLC
Collection Set
is not ready

20. Backlogs that Defy Physics
 Delay when tracking in ProQuest
 In discovery layer in 48 hours, in OPAC in 30 days
 Preprints
 No current way to catalog book chapters
 Inverse backlog
 Cataloging books that don’t exist yet!

21. Discovery Without Access?
• Package Batchloads
• Vendor Supplied
Spot-
check
• Direct from
Publisher
One-
by-One

22. When Access Isn’t
Vendor
Records
Cataloger
Contacts
Vendor
But Where is
the Contact
Information?
OCLC
Records
Cataloger
Contacts
OCLC and/or
Vendor
But What Did
We Really
Buy?
Consortial
Records
Cataloger
Contacts
Lead Library
But Who to
Contact at
Lead Library?

23. Why it Might Go Back to Acq
Title List
Did we Buy
This?
Admin &
Contact
Information
Simultaneous
Users
IP Addresses

24. Acquisition’s Responsibility …. Maybe
 Is the item leased or owned?
 What was the purchasing mechanism?
 Did we purchase it as an individual title or part of a
package?
 Was it purchased as part of a consortia?
 What agreement do we have with the vendor in
terms of notification of title changes?
 Do we have access under some cases – and not
others?

25. The Pro-Active Environment
THE
HANDOFF
Is it clear and
streamlined?
ROLE
S
Do staff
know
where to
go when
there’s an
issue?
ACCESS
Is it checked
regularly? Are
there
patterns?
KNOWLEDG
E
Do staff know how to
resolve or report
access issues?

26. Recognize the Work
•Define ebooks as Core to
the Collection
•Highlight the Work
•Emphasize Circulation
•Marketing!

27. ACQUISITIONS
QUESTIONS?
ACCESS
CATALOGING
TROUBLE-
SHOOTING
OPAC
ACQUISITIONS
DISCOVERY
LAYER

28. Thank you
for attending this ALCTS program
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