Keeping Up Connections: Managing Change in Technical Services

Through Collaboration at Atkins Library

Joseph Nicholson, Metadata Librarian

Shoko Tokoro, Electronic and Continuing Resources LibrarianJ. Murrey Atkins Library

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

ALCTS Technical Services Workflow Efficiency Interest GroupALA Annual, Las Vegas

June 30, 2014

• UNC Charlotte Atkins Library• Catalysts for Reorganization• Before & After Reorganization• Most Pressing Question Posed By Reorganization• Data Migration Team: Collaborative Approaches• Applying the Data Migration Team Model to Other Library Workflows• Keys to Collaborative Approaches at Atkins: Cataloging Group • Cataloging Group Products• New Collaborative Endeavors at Atkins• Keys to Success of Collaborative Approaches• Drawbacks of Collaborative Approaches• Collaborative Approach Cases 1 & 2• Future of Cross-Departmental Collaboration in Atkins

Outline

• Urban research institution• UNC Charlotte - 24,000 students

(21 doctoral, 65 masters, and 45 graduate certificate programs)

• Middle-sized academic library• Member of ASERL (the Association

of Southeastern Research Libraries)• Library staff: 33 librarians & 54 staff

(# of librarians +10%; # of staff -23% since 2008)

• 3 library locations: Main Library, Architecture Library & Center City (no physical materials)

UNC Charlotte Atkins Library

• Library consultants’ visit (2010)– Adapt YBP shelf-ready books

service– Redirect cataloging expertise to

unique and hidden collections– Catalog to the level needed,

etc.• Space renovations• New library system

(July 2013)

Catalysts for Reorganization

Roles Department/Unit# of librarians performing

TS tasks

# of staff Performing

TS tasks

Cataloging, ER & print acquisitions, Serials check-in, Physical processing

Technical Services 1 6

Collection development, Licensing, ER management, ER & print acquisitions, Cataloging, NACO assistance

Collection Development & Electronic Resources (CDER)

3 2

Cataloging, NACO contribution, Government Documents

Special Collections 1 3

Total 5 11

Collection Development & Technical Services ( 5 librarians, 23 library staff) - Cataloging, Acquisitions & Serials, Gov. Documents, Post-Cataloging Quality Control

Before & After Reorganization

How do we ensure that old and new technical services functions operate effectively in changed landscape with redrawn boundaries and scattered personnel?

• Old hierarchies dismantled, old ways of getting things done no longer operative

• Need for new modus operandi—and a new modus vivendi as well

• Collaboration the key?

ETD

Workflow

Copy Cataloging

Authority

Work/NACO

Seria

ls

Chec

k-in

Labeling

E-Resources

Management

Most Pressing Question Posted By Reorganization

• Made up of 2 librarians and 4 staff from different departments

• Members roughly equal in responsibility, though each contributed different strengths and talents to the work

• Improved cross-departmental communication

• Reconstructed functions and responsibilities

• Less identification on part of members with “departments,” more with library as a whole

• Blurring of lines between “professional” and “paraprofessional” responsibilities

• Realization: We can actually work together across departments to get things done—and we MUST

Data Migration: Collaborative Approaches

Problems resulting from reorganization:

Inconsistent metadata practices; lack of shared standards

Lack of coordination between people doing the same type of work

Some confusion about roles

Skills strengthening needed for some staff

Loss of expertise, documentation

No overall unit head to spearhead effort to solve these problems …

ERGO = No choice but to collaborate across new organizational boundaries!

Applying the Data Migration Team Model to Other Library Workflows

Group Composition• Four permanent members

from three different units

• Three professional librarians, one paraprofessional

• Differing levels of authority within organization

Group Activities• Democratic model of decision-

making

• Forging solutions to problems in different units

• Bringing technical services activities in different units into better alignment

• Recording decisions in documentation and minutes and communicating them to staff

Keys to Collaborative Approaches at Atkins: Cataloging Group

• New policies and documentation

Formatting call numbers instructions Electronic theses and dissertations guidelines Matching record guidelines Acceptable copy policy Serials holdings manual

• Training sessions

Serials holdings RDA training Constant data

• Pressure brought to bear on other parts of the organization to bring about needed change

New call number tool

Cataloging Group Products

Collaborative Effort• Electronic Resources

• ETD

• Ebooks

• Ongoing migration issues

• NACO

• Consulting on cataloging and metadata creation in different departments

Departments Involved• Collection Development, Technical Services,

Special Collections

• Special Collections, Collection Development, Technical Services

• Collection Development, Digital Initiatives, Information Commons

• Members from nearly all departments

• Collection Development, Special Collections

• All departments

New Collaborative Endeavors at Atkins

• Careful coordination and communication with participants as well as with department heads and supervisors

• Documentation, documentation, documentation

• Diplomacy and tact

• Agility , flexibility, readiness for the new

• Ability to adjust to new types of working relationships

Keys to Success of Collaborative Approaches

• Making decisions and changing practices can be complicated and takes time

• Is everybody on the same page?

• Misunderstandings can cause tensions between staff in different departments

• Responsibility vs. authority dilemma can cause confusion and inconsistency in workflows

Drawbacks of Collaborative Approaches

E-textbook (course adaption titles) Projecthttp://library.uncc.edu/etextbooks- Involved many departments in Library and UNCC Bookstore and beyond

(publishers, consortium, etc.)Ordering process- Modified monographic ordering that is usually processed by Technical Services, but Collection Development & Electronic Resources (CDER) orders e-textbooks to expedite the process - Created solid workflows defining responsibilities

The more electronic resources are available, the more workflow must become versatile, requiring

collaborative approach.

Collaborative Approach Case 1: E-Textbooks

Collaborative Approach Case 2: NACO - Effort at Atkins

Old problem: New ILS didn’t support local authority control; former authorities staff scattered to other units and other tasks

• Recruited two staff and one librarian with previous experience in authority work from two departments

• Negotiated details with supervisors, unit heads• Received training, secured commitment for monthly record contributions• Held group meetings to discuss progress, individual meetings to resolve problems• Received NACO membership early in probationary period

New problem: Not supervising staff turns out to be an impediment to getting things done after all?

• Now: NACO staff reduced to two

• Library initiatives increasingly span boundaries of separate departments, so collaboration will become more and more essential

• Seeds of “culture of collaboration” have been planted in organization

• Old department-centered ways of working obsolete: future at Atkins will be about cooperation

Future of Cross-Departmental Collaboration in Atkins

Collaboration at Atkins: Users’ Needs Paramount

• Serving our users has remained stable focus during upheavals of reorganization, shift to new system

Users’ needs can be met just as well through collaborative efforts as through traditional hierarchical approaches.

Image SourcesSlide 4Andrew Baker. “Contrast between people moving up arrow to brighter weather and people moving down to stormy weather.” Photograph, n.d. Cobris Images, http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/42-48514152/contrast-between-people-moving-up-arrow-to?popup=1 (accessed June 26, 2014).Slide 7Winfried Wisniewski. “Flock of geese in flight.” Photograph, n.d. Cobris Images, http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/42-56973979/snow-geese-and-sandhill-cranes-take-to?popup=1 (accessed June 26, 2014).Slide 8Russavia. “Casemate museum, Kornwederzand, Afsluitdijk.” Photograph. 2010. Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Barbed_wire#mediaviewer/File:Casemate_museum_Kornwerderzand,_Afsluitdijk_%289788319005%29.jpg (accessed June 24, 2014). Slide 10Vassil. “Corne d’Abondance statue Louis SV Reims.” Photograph. 2007. Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cornucopia#mediaviewer/File:Corne_d%27Abondance_Statue_Louis_XV_Reims_270608_3.jpg (accessed June 24, 2014). Slide 12 Yaroslavtsev. “2nd Watch-Making Factory Slava.” Photograph. 1980. Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RIAN_archive_865510_2nd_Watch-Making_Factory_Slava.jpg (accessed June 24, 2014).Slide 16“Български: Хасково в бъдещето, българска пощенска картичка от началото на 20 век.” Scanned postcard. ca. 1900. Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haskovo_Futurism.jpg (accessed June 24, 2014). Slide 17Alpsdake. “Fujisan from Yamanakako.” Photograph. 2004. Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mt._Fuji#mediaviewer/File:01_Fujisan_from_Yamanakako_2004-2-7.jpg (accessed June 24, 2014)

References

Thank You!

Joseph NicholsonMetadata Librarianjnicho56@uncc.edu

Shoko TokoroElectronic and Continuing Resources Librarian

stokoro@uncc.edu

J. Murrey Atkins LibraryUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte