The University of Notre Dame Libraries moved over 1 million volumes to an off-site storage facility in two phases. Phase 1 moved over 200,000 items but had challenges due to an unrealistic timeline and inexperienced staff. Phase 2 was more successful, with improved timelines allowing for thorough catalog record review and problem resolution. Ongoing annual transfers of 30,000 to 40,000 items require transitioning workflows to an enduring routine with less reliance on systems and more cross-training of staff. Lessons learned include starting preparations earlier, hiring temporary staff, and having selectors thoroughly review item lists before transfer.

1. How to Move a Mountain
The Preparation and Transfer of One Million Volumes to an
Off-Site Storage Facility
Nastia Guimaraes and Jared Collins, University of Notre Dame
NASIG Conference, June 11, 2017

2. Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame
● 3.5 million print volumes
● $13 million annual acq budget
● Humanities heavy
● Master renovation plan
● Off-site shared facility

3. Overview of the Project
● Environmental scan
● Joint library and teaching faculty Task Force report
● Administrative organization of the project
● Multi-phase approach
● Vendor and temp staff

4. Environmental Scan
● Skype interviews with five libraries
● On-site visits to two facilities
● Final report
● Information about what to avoid and what works well
- home grown IMS
- no duplication

5. Task Force Report and Criteria for Selection
● Non-currently received print serials
● Monographs with zero circulations and no touches in the last 10 years
● Exclusions
● A whole call number range
● Serial titles duplicated in JSTOR

6. Management of the Project
● Strategic Initiative
● Full-time Project Manager
● Project teams
- Collections Preparation
- Systems (reporting, IMS)
- Annex facility, ILL and Doc Del services

7. Project Logistics Breakdown
● 2-phase approach (goal: 1 million volumes)
● Moving vendor
● Temp staff
● Volunteers

8. Inventory Management System
● Features not available in the vended solution
● Interface with the ILS and the ILL/Doc Del request form
● Clean design, web interface
● Bibliographic info on pull slips
● Code available on GitHub: https://github.com/ndlib/annex-ims

9. Collections Preparation Team
● Hire 6 limited term “processing assistants”
- each new hire paired with an experienced cataloger
● Equipment
- laptop, mouse, scanner - locked to a three-tiered AV cart
● Shared tools and roles
- Google spreadsheets and structured teamwork
● Matching tasks with individual strengths
- assign roles that build upon expertise and comfort

10. Workflow, pt.1
● Coordination of work
- daily “scrums” to consider problems and coordinate workflows
● Item reports and formatting
- two types of reports
- five essential sets of information per report
● Item prep and tracking
- color-coding scheme for tracking prep work on spreadsheets

11. ● Pull reports for vendor
- easy to read - no more than 20 title rows per page
- bulky - divide full report into several parts for ease of use
● Global changes
- carefully coordinated batch changes to ensure location accuracy
- items in-transit to the Annex are coded “temporarily unavailable”
Workflow, pt.2

12. Further Considerations
● “Low hanging fruit” vs “High hanging fruit”
- basic prep work only, primarily barcoding
● Division of labor
- spreadsheet review of titles with multi-parts by cataloging staff volunteers
● Condition review
- string, envelopes and scripted batch insertion of condition notes
● Hire Jared - catalog maintenance specialist
- to handle day-to-day considerations and guide collections prep work

13. Cataloging Problems, pt.1
● Uncataloged titles
- some titles linked to incorrect bib record
- varying editions cataloged as duplicates
● Title changes
- serial issues linked to wrong bib record
- predecessor/successor title issues bound together
● OCLC copy numbers in bib record wrong or obsolete
- must reconcile to ensure accurate holdings in WorldCat
- and to ensure access to appropriate digital copies via HathiTrust

14. ● Unlinked items
- item record(s) not linked to a holdings record
- if left unlinked, information would not be updated during global changes
● Bound-withs
- distinct titles bound together with multiple barcodes per single volume
- each volume can retain only one barcode at point of ingest
- one barcode retained for first title only; other titles linked to first title by LKR in bib record
● Partially analyzed titles
- serial issues with distinct monographic titles linked to serial record
- distinctive bibliographic information and access points “hidden”, limiting discoverability
- link monograph bib records to corresponding serial item record with LKR
Cataloging Problems, pt.2

15. Phase 1, pt.1
● Very short, unrealistic timeline
- unrealistic six-month timeline to prepare 450,000 items
● Inexperienced processing assistants
- training needs of new staff and insufficient staffing overall
● Figuring out the new process
- inaccurate catalog records and associated problematic data
- exceptions within the larger categories of the selection criteria

16. ● No review of reports by Collection managers
- no time for bibliographer review
- result: some titles had to be permanently recalled
● Low hanging fruit only
- barcoding and limited catalog maintenance
- over 200,000 items were barcoded; over 400,000 items were prepped and moved
- some items with significant cataloging problems were ingested without remediation
Phase 1, pt.2

17. Phase 2
● More time for barcoding work, training and comprehensive inventory
- a reasonable deadline allowed for a comprehensive review of transfer reports
● More detailed review of catalog records
- all titles were reviewed for acceptable bib, holdings and items information
● Lessened division of labor
- processing assistants were trained to fix basic cataloging problems during the prep process
● More time for Collection managers to review reports
- bibliographers were able to identify exclusions prior to transfer

18. Post-ingest Considerations, pt.1
● Storage of problem items
- temporary storage locations for problem item “rejects”
- rejects: problem items that the IMS system or ingest personnel refused to accept
● Ingest rejects: system and personnel
- system rejects: two types
- “barcode not found”: update barcode on item record or link item to proper bib and holding
- “item not marked for Annex”: check to see where item belongs, proceed accordingly

19. ● Complex cataloging problems
- personnel rejects: a variety of cataloging problems missed during the prep process
● Items left behind by the moving vendor
- must search for, gather, transfer and ingest at a later date
- must sort out what was actually left behind from what is or has been missing
● Items to temporarily recall for catalog maintenance
- must recall ingested problem items from storage facility for remediation
Post-ingest Considerations, pt.2

20. Enduring Commitment, pt.1
● Ongoing annual transfers
- transition from project mode to enduring commitment mode
- yearly transfer goal of 30,000 - 40,000 items
● Design/refine workflows and test efficiencies
- how to most efficiently style book transfers as a daily routine?
- design workflow variations and measure variants
● No moving vendor to pull and move books
- prep staff must now pull books and box them for transfer
- other library units must get involved in the full spectrum transfer

21. ● Rely less on Systems for global changes
- prep staff can make item and holdings updates as part of their daily routine
● Continue working with Systems
- to root-out glitches in the IMS and further enhance the product
● Continue working with Collection Development
- to reduce faculty misconceptions about the true function of off-site storage
Enduring Commitment, pt.2

22. Lessons Learned
● Start conversations and preparations early
● Hire temp workers
● Establish more straightforward criteria for item selection
● Have selectors review lists before transfer
● Better quality control of the vendor work

23. Positive Results
● Increased access to materials
● Increased catalog accuracy
● Increased visibility of cataloging staff value
● Increased opportunities for staff cross-training
● Better overall preservation conditions for collections at the Annex

24. THANK YOU
Nastia Guimaraes
Project Management Librarian
426 Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
o: 574-631-3558
e: aguimara@nd.edu
Jared Collins
Supervisor of Serials, Holdings and
Discovery Quality unit
402AC Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
o: 574-631-6043
e: jcolli14@nd.edu