Library Process Redesign:
Renewing Services,
Changing Workflows
Karen Calhoun
VP Metadata, OCLC
Prepared for
Cambridge
University
Library
10 February 2011
The Deming circle.
Image: CC BY 3.0
Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)
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
2
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
Median Circulation and Reference Transactions in North
American Research Libraries 1991-2008, With Five Year
Forecast
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
Circulation
Reference Transactions
Linear (Circulation)
Linear (Reference Transactions)
Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf
4
“65% of information requests
originate off-campus.” –
University of Minnesota
Discoverability report, p. 4
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
Staff
Monographs Purchased
Volumes Added
Change in Staff, Volumes Added,
Monographs Purchased Per Student 0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
Eserials Expenditures
Change in E-Serials Expenditures
Per Student
Data source: ARL Statistics 2007-2008
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf
5
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 the
time/most of
the time
Some of the
time
None of the
time
Responses
Perc
en
t
Faculty/Graduate
Undergrad
http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub110/contents.html
6
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) at
http://repositories.webometrics.info/about.html
2008-2009 Traffic
Compared:
*Social Science Research
Network
*arXiv.org
*Research Papers in
Economics
*British Library (bl.uk)
7
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
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%
9
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
Millio
ns o
f S
essio
ns/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]
10
See final slide for citations.
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!
11
“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, Scottish
Society of Antiquaries
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/
13
Staffing allocations = de facto
priorities
70%
9%
8%
5%
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
14
What to do?
• How to free up time for these new priorities …
• … while TS staffing continues to shrink?
15
The Deming circle.
Image: CC BY 3.0
Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)
A Blueprint for Change: Innovate and
Reduce Costs
16
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf
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
17
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
18
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
19
Percent Change during this period:
FTE down 20%
Cataloging up 64%
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
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)
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
22
*A recent example = patron-driven acquisitions!
Metadata Before and After the Web:
What is a “Full” Record?
+ 3 more screens
Product description & purchase information More like this Editorial reviews & author info Inside the book Tags, Ratings Customer reviews Lists More
With thanks to David Lankes: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALCTS.pdf
Bibliographic data Library Holdings Details Subjects Editions Reviews
23
What is
‘good enough’
cataloging?
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-06.pdf
24
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?
25
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/
26
Endings
27
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
“It’s not the changes that do you in,
it’s the transitions” –William Bridges
28
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
The three phases of transition
It is critical to
manage transitions
and include staff in
the process.
Bridges, William. 1991. Managing transitions: making the most of change. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.
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
29
Questions and Comments?
30