Cornell University Library
ALCTS Technical Services Directors of Large Research Libraries
ALA Mid-Winter Report, January 2015
Thanks to my colleagues Gary Branch, Adam Chandler, Steven Folsom, Jesse Koennecke,
Wendy Kozlowski, and Chew Chiat Naun for their contributions to this report (Jim LeBlanc).
2CUL Technical Services Initiative (TSI)
As we reported last June, the logistics of technical services integration have proven more
complex than we originally envisioned. Our goal had been to “integrate Columbia and Cornell
technical services operations as much as possible, while retaining local practices and workflows
that must remain institution-specific.” Issues concerning cross-institutional supervision and
accounting, as well as delays in purchasing a shared library management system, have led TSI
planners to re-envision the project as a Technical Services Initiative, in which we will focus more
exclusively on promising individual projects and alliances. Among these:
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Development of joint protocols for troubleshooting of e-access problems, management
of shared data and contacts, and integrated workflows for account management now
that the two libraries are using similar ERMs (see below) and link resolvers (ProQuest’s
360 Link);
Collaborative investigation of batch record loading and maintenance issues;
Shared cataloging expertise in languages such as Georgian and Thai; collaborative
participation in national cataloging and metadata initiatives such as FAST, BIBFRAME
training and testing, and linked data;
Coordination of metadata working group activities at the two institutions.
With help from serials supervisors and staff, TSI project managers are also conducting in-depth
reviews of print serials workflows at the two institutions, which vary considerably between
Columbia’s de-centralized and Cornell’s centralized processing environments.
Acquisitions / Licensing
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Made 2CUL joint purchases for Sage Research Methods and an ASM Digital Library
Technical Papers backfile. These required coordinating the negotiation process
between both institutions’ collection development and licensing staff.
Completed the implementation of ProQuest/Serials Solutions Resource Manager (RM).
The implementation accomplished several important goals, including:
o More common e-resource workflow tools across 2CUL.
o A re-configuration of our MARC updates service that includes more direct
linkages between the records in our Voyager LMS and the Serials Solutions
knowledge base. The first practical use of this was to link to database license
data and terms of use stored in RM from our Blacklight discovery system.
o Considerable time savings by no longer having to load records into a separate
ERM system.
Upgraded our EZ Proxy system, resulting in a new staff workflow tool for configuring
resources. The new system makes it easier for front line e-resources staff to identify
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proxy configuration issues and to add exceptions such as alumni access for individual
resources.
Began an approval plan for newly published materials originating in Cambodia with the
vendor Wannanet. The vendor also supplies MARC records with Romanized and Khmer
script.
Expanding our print DDA plan with Ingram to include humanities titles from Ashgate
Publishing. We will continue to explore adding other publisher content, particularly in the
humanities, to our print and e-book DDA plans in the coming months.
Automated Technical Services
Some highlights from the past six months include:
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Started actively collaborating, with Cataloging and Metadata staff, on integration of
linked data into library technical services operations, for example, batch automating the
addition of VIVO URIs for theses advisors to theses records and consulting on the
addition of WorldCat Work ID's to our MARC bibliographic records.
Added OCLC FAST headings to our Voyager MARC records. IT staff are now in the
process of integrating the data into the public Blacklight catalog. Over 1.1 million records
were enhanced during this process.
Improved collaboration and communication between batch processing staff and the eresources unit. Reloaded over 400,000 records with codes that link to item-level license
information.
Investigated, with help from Mark Wilson at Columbia, applications for OCLC's
WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager.
Started the phased process of adding RDA authority records to Voyager. Ran the
Strawn RDA Conversion tool on all of our database changing headings on thousands of
records to the approved RDA form.
Added functionality to our local LStools batch toolset.
Migration of some vendor MARC records into Serial Solutions loads.
Cataloging / Metadata Services
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Following a successful pilot, LTS has adopted FAST for its minimal-level cataloging.
Around 1,500 titles were cataloged using FAST during the trial period.
In addition to their FAST work, LTS staff have also contributed to the Discovery &
Access group's current efforts to develop authority browsing functionality in our
Blacklight discovery system.
LTS metadata librarians were invited to join the Linked Data for Libraries (LD4L) project
at the end of June. They have participated in regular meetings of the ontology group
over the past six months, and have contributed to the group's modeling work. LTS plans
to invest heavily in linked data training during 2015, and will be charging a steering
committee to oversee our linked data projects as well as to consider their implications for
LTS's future role. As an initial step, we are investigating the potential for embedding IDs
in our ILS records (see section on Automated Technical Services, above).
In parallel with LD4L, Cornell and Columbia cataloging and metadata staff have been
collaborating on a joint study of BIBFRAME, and initiated a training program with
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Zepheira in which fifteen institutions took part. We have also begun experimenting with
RIMMF3, the RDF-enabled RDA training and editing tool.
Our workflow managers continue to evaluate and refine our production processes. In
recent months they have found some significant additional efficiencies in copy
cataloging, in part by introducing a batch searching process for finding copy for
uncataloged items.
Cornell cataloging & metadata staff continue to be active in the standards arena. As in
recent years, much of this work has centered on music-related RDA revision proposals
and on DCRM(MSS) which is now in its final stages.
Productivity / Staffing
We recently reviewed production stats for Library Technical Services (LTS) since 2005. Of
particular note were the following:
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Receipt of new titles in physical formats has decreased by 32%
Individual print serial issues received have decreased by 55%
E-journal titles licensed and maintained have increased by 286%
E-books (both licensed and non-licensed) have increased by 329%
During this same period, staffing for the functions currently performed in LTS has declined
overall by 29%. Of particular note, however, are increases in (non-MARC) metadata services
staff by 100% (from two librarians to four) and in staff devoted to batch processing by 700%
(from one staff member to seven). Staff nominally devoted to MARC database maintenance
have declined by 73%, with the automation of much of this work. These last two numbers are
somewhat misleading, however, given the extensive amount of cross-training that we’ve
encouraged over the past few years. Most LTS staff are now engaged in more than one
functional area.
New services in LTS since 2005 include: demand-driven acquisitions, image cataloging using
VRA Core, research data curation, and web archiving.
User Experience Activities
During the fall, LTS staff ran two usability tests on the Low Barrier Metadata Creation client
OCLC is developing. Development partners include: Cornell, Columbia, Duke, Harvard,
Princeton, Toronto, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne,
and Yale. OCLC is now in the process of fixing problems and adding features to the tool.