2014 Charleston Conference Innovation Sessions Saturday, Nov 8, 11:00 AM

1. Remote Storage: Leveraging
Technology to Maximize Efficiency and
Minimize Investments
Eric Parker
Pritzker Legal Research Center
Northwestern University Law School
ecp278@law.northwestern.edu

2. About Pritzker Legal Research Center
• Chicago campus
• Over 600,000 volumes held
• Long back runs of many serial titles
• Anticipating space renovation

3. Remote Storage at Northwestern
• Oak Grove Library Center opened late 2011
Located in Waukegan, IL
• Capacity to hold 1.9 million vols.
• University & Health
Sciences Libraries
sent materials first

4. Pritzker and Remote Storage
• Off-site plan from 2010-2011
• Spring 2014 construction project
• Need to move ca. 5,000 vols.
of state case reports
• One week to plan
before totes delivered

5. Pritzker and Remote Storage
• Could rely on other libraries’ experiences
• Weekly van pick up
• Single fixed workstation

6. Oak Grove Assistant Program
• Written by Gary Strawn, Authorities Librarian at
Northwestern University Library
• Works with Voyager

7. Voyager Item Record - Before

8. Voyager Item Record - After

9. Pritzker and Remote Storage
• No extra staff to do project
• Staff already stretched
• Seemed necessary to find alternatives

10. Take the Computer to the Work!

11. Take the Computer to the Work!
• Modifications to Oak Grove Assistant
Process files rather than individual barcodes
• Take laptop to work area
• Purchase and use wireless barcode scanners
About $75 each

12. Take the Computer to the Work! (cont’d)
• 1-2 hour shifts creating .txt files of scanned
barcodes
• Pack books into totes right in aisles
• Email .txt files to be processed
• Separation and batching of scanning and packing
from database changes

13. Packed Totes Ready for Pick-Up

14. Our Results
• Initial 5,000 volume project on-time,
and with minimal mistakes
• Follow up checks in our catalog
• A few pieces added to bins
w/o scanning: < ½%
• A few pieces that lacked barcodes
• One item returned lacking a barcode

15. Lessons Learned
• Include staff from the get-go
• No one single approach
• Keep thinking of ways to improve!

16. Thank You!!
ecp278@law.northwestern.edu