Library Technical Services
Annual Report
June 2005-May 2006
A.
B.
C.
Access to the world of knowledge
+
Provision of outstanding collections
+
Excellence in service
Since the main role of Library Technical Services is to acquire the library
resources required to support the University’s teaching and research mission,
and to make these collections accessible, it is difficult to separate these three
points because of the overlap.
Resources acquired and added to the bibliographic database
Last year, there were 35,710 firm monograph orders and 553 new serial
orders (36,263 total), and 7,864 titles were acquired through approval
plans. The total no. of monograph acquisitions (orders + approval) was
43,574. This year, the total no. of monographs acquisitions (orders +
approvals) was in the similar range, 42,223, but the proportion of approval
plan acquisitions was higher. This year, there were 31,025 firm
monograph orders and 438 serial orders (31,463 total), and 11,198 titles
acquired through approval plans. However, a certain portion of these
approvals came through as part of the retrospective profile created with
YBP towards the end of the year. Thus, the figures show a large increase
in approvals, but this must be balanced against the impact of the
retrospective purchase.
2004/05
2005/06
% approval plan/total monograph acquisitions
22%
36%
There was also an increase in the number of bibliographic records added
to the library catalogue.
July 14, 2006
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Records added to the library catalogue: 119,851
In 2004/05, 96,197 new bibliographic records were added to the
catalogue. 2005/06 saw an increase of 23,654 records or a 24% increase
over the previous year.
Breakdown of records added to the catalogue:
Records for monographs:
64,284
Records for continuing resources:
1,633
Batch loaded for e-resources:
monograph:
continuing resources
21,678
32,256
57,025 of the records added this year were to provide access to electronic
resources (53,934 bibliographic records were batch-loaded). New
bibliographic records were also added to provide access to DVDs, scores,
sound recordings, maps, etc.
The quality of the database was maintained through 90,967 database
updates. Updates can be updates to URLs, deletes when titles are
weeded, updates of information in records, changes to volume holdings,
and other changes required to keep the database accurately reflecting
McGill’s holdings, etc. There were also 4,875 added copies (when an
additional copy (copies) is added to the catalogue record, whether for the
same branch or another branch). This is a small increase over last year’s
statistic: 4,364.
1,649 authority records were created by McGill cataloguing staff, to
supplement the authority records acquired from Library of Congress,
National Library of Medicine, and Library and Archives Canada. (also an
increase over last year: 1,552).
Staff in LTS is to be congratulated for these increases in productivity
because there were several challenges to be overcome. The year began
with the implementation of Aleph 16.02. This meant that there was a one
week freeze while data was migrated and re-indexed. Once 16.2 was in
production, staff had to become familiar with the new staff interface which
had changed completely, both in look and in the structuring of functions.
Staff worked hard to regain their efficient stride, which they did. As
mentioned below in Facilities, space was reconfigured during the summer
and fall. Staff work stations and PCs were being moved over several
weeks during the summer and the fall while new furniture was assembled.
They took these disruptions in stride as well and they certainly appreciated
the new furniture and the new look of the department.
July 14, 2006
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A special service provided for McGill users is the rush cataloguing service.
There were a total of 1231 requests. Of these requests, 4 titles were still
on order at the time of the request, 1207 were completed within the
promised time frame, and only 21 titles were not found (1.7% of total
requests). The cost of this service in staff time continues to be
outweighed by the high level of success with this service.
YBP workflow
When the Library decided to change vendor from Blackwell’s to YBP for
English language trade and university press publications, collection
profiles and technical processing profiles had to be created with the new
vendor. Diane Koen led an expedition to YBP’s offices in New Hampshire
with Elaine Yarosky representing the selection function, Joan Hobbins
representing the acquisitions function and Chris Oliver representing the
cataloguing/processing function. The design of the collection profile and
how it is recorded by the vendor is intrinsically linked to technical
processing and has an impact on what requirements of ours can be
fulfilled. During the summer of 2005, there was a period of intense and
frequent communication between YBP and McGill to lay the groundwork
for a productive relationship. The result has been a flow of shelf-ready
material to McGill and a flow of order records and full bibliographic records
which are loaded into Aleph. LSO worked with LTS to implement a smooth
workflow for record loading and overlay, and automated most steps of the
process so that the transfer of files and initiating the loading is carried out
by library assistants in the Acquisitions/FastCat team. There have been
some surprises, such as the receipt of damaged books, but on the whole
the transition has been very smooth.
Coutts workflow
For Canadiana material, Coutts was chosen as McGill’s vendor. McGill
had used Coutts for firm orders for many years. During the summer of
2005, McGill expanded use of Coutts’ services, initiating an approval plan
for Canadian material, and initiating the transfer of order and bibliographic
records as well as shelf-ready processing. Again, LSO worked with LTS to
implement a smooth workflow for record loading and overlay, and
automated most steps of the process so that the transfer of files and
initiating the loading is carried out by library assistants in the
Acquisitions/FastCat team. Each vendor has varied practices and different
ways of structuring their collection profile data, thus requiring LTS to
become familiar with a different set of relationships between collection
profiles and technical processing profiles. The Coutts staff, like the YBP
staff, were very responsive to questions and issues, and the workflow is
also working smoothly.
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Partnership with the Bookstore for textbooks and coursepacks
The Library decided to support teaching and learning especially in the
undergraduate community by acquiring more textbooks and also initiating
the acquisition of course-packs. The Bookstore was contacted and their
staff worked with LTS staff to set this project in motion. The Bookstore’s
procedures differ from the Library’s and their database is not available for
checking and ordering, but despite these challenges, the Library was
successful in making multiple copies of textbooks and coursepacks
available to students. The cooperation of the Bookstore staff was greatly
appreciated by LTS Acquisitions staff. The first year’s experience will
assist in building a smoother workflow next year.
Migration to ALEPH 16.02
LTS staff made a successful migration to the new staff mode clients when
Aleph was upgraded to version 16.02. This was a significant upgrade
because it included the redesign of all the staff modules. It also required a
freeze of all Aleph work for a week. There had been some work on new
procedures prior to the upgrade. After the upgrade, existing documentation
on the LTS web site had to be reviewed and updated.
SFX/MARCIt
This year saw a major reorientation of the Aleph bibliographic database in
the area of e-journals. Previously, there had been a record for each ejournal distributed by each vendor. Also all URLs went directly to the title.
There were several problems developing: difficulty for users to navigate
the display, a large amount of work in keeping URLs up to date,
duplication of work with the SFX Knowledge Base, difficulties managing
multiple, overlapping packages from different sources, each requiring
variant loading routines and updating in different ways. The decision was
taken by SMG to focus the management of e-journals in the SFX
Knowledge Base, and to use this data, via the MARCIt service, to
generate records for the catalogue. The aim was to have one
bibliographic record for each title available electronically; when a title was
available from multiple sources, this information would show to the user
when the FindIt button was clicked and the SFX menu appeared. The
implementation of this project required not just the analysis of records and
development of a loading routine, but also an intermediate step to identify
the majority of existing e-journal records that would match MARCIt records
and to suppress them automatically so that users would in fact see a
simplified display. LSO gave invaluable help in ensuring that the project
was a success. Implementation was in February 2006. There was a
certain amount of database clean-up work generated by this methodology,
but the presentation of information to the user was immediately improved.
July 14, 2006
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Since then, based on Knowledge Base updates, several update files of
MARCIt records were loaded, and the procedure is working as it should.
By the end of May, there were 29,482 full MARCIt records and 2,774 brief
MARCIt records loaded in Aleph. During the updating process, changed
records overlay earlier versions of the records. Thus, LTS loads more
records than add up to the total in Aleph because each update file
includes a number of overlays. Even so, about 1,000 new titles are added
each month to Aleph through the MARCIt updates.
With the SFX Knowledge Base generating the file of MARCIt records and
this in turn generating the A-Z list, the focus of activity for the Electronic
Resources and Serials team has become the SFX Knowledge Base:
activating and deactivating titles, editing holdings to reflect McGill’s
access, creating fixes for problem titles, reporting errors to the SFX team,
investigating non-linking titles, etc. There is a large amount of LTS work
happening within the SFX Knowledge Base that is not regularly counted in
LTS activity statistics but represents the new core of activity in terms of
giving access to electronic journals.
MetaLib
LTS continued to participate in MetaLib work.
ARC
The new reporting software ARC (Aleph Reporting Centre) that interfaces
with Aleph data, was installed and implemented by LSO. One of the first
priorities was to extract acquisitions information using ARC, and Joanna
Andrews with her extensive experience in this area, worked with LSO staff
to test ARC and to begin developing acquisition and expenditure reports
appropriate for McGill’s needs.
Batchloading records for monograph e-resources
All batchloading programs had to be retested and in some cases adjusted
post Aleph 16.02 implementation. Work was undertaken to prepare
loading programs for updates received from different e-book vendors.
These programs enable library assistants to initiate an updating load
based on receiving notification from the vendor. A master list was
compiled of e-resources to which McGill had access and of the availability
of MARC records. LSO member Adele Toutant began training to assist
with batchloading work in January 2006; she was reassigned to the ARC
implementation project as a higher priority; Ruth Sonksen began training
in April. New sets loaded: Literature online, LLMC Digital, EHRAF, and
Women Writer’s online, FoodNetBase. Progress on loading new sets
July 14, 2006
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should speed up in the next year as the experience of newly trained staff
increases.
Standardization
The aim is to have consistent policies throughout the library and to have
standard procedures for materials regardless of location, whenever
feasible. LTS continued to implement further standardizations, e.g.
consistency and standardization of stamping. The shelf-ready profiles at
YBP and Coutts were an excellent opportunity to begin this process.
Cataloguing profiles with vendors also meant that some special practices
requested by branches had to be abandoned. However, the increased
speed in making material available offset these changes.
In an effort also to improve processes in other parts of the library system,
a recommendation was received to change the placement of the barcode.
this change was implemented both with the shelf-ready vendors and in
house.
Process mapping
LTS staff participated in process mapping sessions with McGill 2000+
staff. There were three mapping exercises: monographs acquisitions and
cataloguing, processing and serials/electronic resources acquisitions and
cataloguing.
Absorption of tasks from HuSSL’s Serials and Microform Services
(SMS)
The Library’s plan to reorganize the space and functions in the Humanities
and Social Sciences Library included a change in the way journals,
newspapers and microforms would be received and made accessible to
users. LTS was asked to absorb the check-in and claiming function for
HuSSL serials, and a member of the SMS staff, Terry Tsiampouras, was
transferred to LTS and became a member of the Electronic Resources
and Serials team. LTS was also asked to absorb part of the binding
functions previously carried out in SMS, and this function was transferred
to the Processing team.
D.
Facilities
There was a major reorganization of space stemming in part from the
decision to create a staff lounge on the 2nd floor of Redpath and in part
from the decision to move staff closer to immediate supervisors. As part of
this reorganization, new modular furniture was acquired for LTS staff. The
July 14, 2006
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move required planning both for the temporary shifting of staff as some
existing units were disassembled and new units assembled, and also
long-term reassignment of seating. Most staff were moved to new seating
arrangements. The move of staff and PCs was carried out in two main
phases: cataloguing and acquisitions staff during the summer and
processing staff in the fall. New ergonomic red book trucks were also
acquired.
E.
Outreach
The implementation of general e-mail boxes for catalogue corrections,
electronic resource problems, rush, acquisitions and general LTS
questions has been very successful. There is a constant stream of mail
arriving to these mail boxes. Supervisors organize schedules so that staff
rotate duties for monitoring, answering and/or forwarding mail.
The redesigned LTS web site (separated into general and specialized LTS
staff side) proved very useful for LTS staff as the source for up-to-date
documentation. Documentation constantly needs updating, but especially
after the implementation of a new LMS version. Documents that all library
staff need to see are also posted on this site, on the public side, so that
we no longer need to send attachments but just the links when there is an
important document for all staff to read.
F.
Cooperative ventures

July 14, 2006
with Library Systems Office:
Aleph 16.02
 implementation and maintenance of modules and
tables
 design of new Aleph services to streamline batch
loading processes
 custom loaders for batch record loading jobs with
regular updates
 MARCIt project
 interface between Aleph and monograph vendors,
YBP and Coutts for the receipt of brief records,
automatic creation of orders and overlay with full
bibliographic records
 CJK project initiated
SFX and MARCIt service
MetaLib
ARC
7

with Islamic Studies Library: Islamic Studies Recon Project
continued

with Health Sciences Library and Library Systems Office,
assistance with the Blacker-Wood integration project, especially in
the area of database procedures, setting up a new sublibrary, and a
new accession number index; training in the new procedure; also
assistance with setup for spine label printing and advice on
workflow

with Osler Library (funded by Osler Library; training and supervision
by LTS):
 Rare theses cataloguing project, funded by Osler
Library
 Osler original cataloguing of French and German
books
 with the Polish Institute and Presbyterian College: LTS managed
the cataloguing for these two affiliates whose records are included
in McGill’s library catalogue. Nevenka Koscevic was hired as a
casual librarian and funded by the fees charged to the affiliates
 with Humanities and Social Sciences Library, to develop database
procedures and train students for the weeding project
 with the Digital Collections Program: Macy Zheng’s participation in
McGill’s part of the Ming Qing Women’s Writings project (project
with the Harvard-Yenching Library)
 with the Music Library: trial to order scores online from Harrasowitz
(Music Library was allotted additional funding towards the end of
the fiscal year and ordering needed to be expedited)
G.
Financial matters
This year there was a simplified list of budget funds and a drastic
reduction of small special funds, which facilitated accounting work. In
addition, the Financial Officer, Michael Lifshitz, instructed acquisitions to
raise the limit for encumberances in Aleph; thus a large volume of orders
could be placed, ensuring the complete spending of the collections budget
and avoiding the time-consuming requirement of shifting small amounts of
money from one fund to another or of paying an invoice using multiple
funds.
July 14, 2006
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This year, the Director’s Office also implemented a change in practice for
P-cards. Librarians were instructed not to use their P-cards to acquire
resources for the library’s collection. If a purchase required the use of a Pcard, librarians were still to go through LTS acquisitions staff. The impact
of this decision was quickly seen in LTS, in terms of improved efficiency
when reconciling P-card purchases.
H.
Staffing
Honours
Honours:
Penny Aubin received the Prinicpal’s Award for Administrative
and Support Staff
Lise Hackett received the Library Staff Excellence Award.
Staff changes
Transfer to LTS
July 2005: Louise Robertson became the Law Cataloguing Librarian. Her full
title: Associate Law Librarian and Law Cataloguer
Feb. 2006: Terry Tsiampouras joined the Electronic Resources and
Serials team.
Secondment
Dec. 2005: Joseph Hafner seconded to work as part of the Humanities and
Social Sciences Library team, as Coordinator of Lending and Access
Services
New temporary replacement librarian
March 2006: Megan Chellew - replacement for Joseph Hafner
Retirements:
Lennie Wygylan
Joan Santerre
July 14, 2006
(end of Aug. 2005)
(end of Dec. 2005)
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2005 Publications
Lise Hackett
Hackett, Lise. (2005) Review of book Directory of Biomedical and Health Care
Grants,
19th ed. edited by Jeremy T. Miner, Lynn E. Miner Lister. E-STREAMS
June/July
http://www.e-streams.com/index8.html?es0806_7/es0867_4193.html&2
Hackett, Lise. (2005) Review of book Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical
Nursing Procedures,
th
6 ed. edited by Lisa Dougherty, Sara E. Lister. E-STREAMS
April http://www.e-streams.com/es0804/es0804_4070.html
Joseph Hafner
Report on “FRBR: Bridging Communication Between Technical and Public
Service Mark Scharff, (Washington U (St. Louis, MO)) and Constance
Mayer (Harvard)” at the MLA Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC,
February 2005.” CAML Review, April/August 2005. p. 15.
Show case Session : Bibliothèque nationale du Québec", OLAC Newsletter,
v.25(2) (June 2005), p.5-6.
Louise Robertson
Conference Session Summaries of the CALL Conference, St. John’s
Newfoundland, May 15 – 18, 2005, “Copyright Update”. In Canadian Law
Library Review/Revue canadienne des bibliothèques de droit, v.30, no.3
(Conference 2005), p. 128-129.
Committee Memberships (non-McGill)
Joseph Hafner
Music Library Association (MLA), Kevin Freeman Travel Grant Committee, Chair,
2006-2007.
July 14, 2006
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Quebec Chapter of the Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Co-President,
2005-2006. Planned first annual conference co-hosted by McGill
University and the BNQ. Held on October 21, 2005.
International Association of Music Libraries (IAML). Cataloguing Commission,
Secretary. 2005Music Library Association (MLA). Subcommittee on MARC Formats. Member.
2005- .
Music Library Association (MLA). Aleph Music Users Group. Member. 2005Music Library Association (MLA). Public Libraries Committee. Member. 2004Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Cataloguing Committee. Member. 2004- Including: Subcommittee to work
on comments on the draft of AACR3/RDA to submit to the Canadian
Committee on Cataloguing. 2005International Association of Music Libraries (IAML). Cataloguing Commission on
ISBD(PM)-FRBR Harmonization. Member. 2004-
Karen Jensen
Program for Cooperative Cataloging, Standing Committee on Training, Task
Group to Update the SACO Participants' Manual. Member. April 2005-
Chris Oliver
Canadian Committee on Cataloguing. Chair and CLA representative. Ongoing.
Joint Steering Committee for the Revision of the Anglo-American Cataloguing
Rules (JSC). RDA Outreach Group. Member. Ongoing.
Marc Richard
Conférence des recteurs et principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ).
Sous-comité des bibliothèques. Groupe de travail sur le traitement de la
documentation. McGill representative, January 2005-Present
Pat Riva
July 14, 2006
11
American Library Association. Association for Library Collections and Technical
Services. LRTS (Library Resources & Technical Services) Editorial Board.
Member. July 2004- [Board members review manuscripts in a double-blind
process and contribute to the journal's policies, the Board meets at ALA.]
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
Cataloguing Section. Standing Committee, elected member, 2005International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
Cataloguing Section. FRBR Review Group, Chair, 2005Canadian Committee on MARC (CCM). Chair and CLA representative. Ongoing.
Canadian Association of College and University Libraries. Miles Blackwell Award
for Outstanding Academic Librarian Committee. Member-at-large. March
2006
Joint Steering Committee for the Revision of the Anglo-American Cataloguing
Rules (JSC). Examples Review Group. Member. January 2005ExLibris Users of North American (ELUNA). Aleph Product Group
Ad hoc Group on Authority Enhancements. Member, February 2005-`
Version 18 Functional Specification Review and Testing Team. Member,
March 2005-
Louise Robertson
Canadian Association of Law Libraries. Access Services and Resource Sharing
Special Interest Group. Co-Chair 2006CREPUQ. Groupe de travail sur les emprunts directs, Member
Committee Memberships (McGill)
Joanna Andrews
McGill University. Library Tenure Committee. Member. Ongoing.
Barbara Finlay
McGill Library. Library Technical Services. Original Cataloguing Librarians
Evaluation Committee. Member. 2005. Completed.
July 14, 2006
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Lise Hackett
McGill Library. Search Interface Committee. Member 2006-
Joseph Hafner
McGill Library. OPAC Committee. July-Dec. 2005.
McGill Library. Search Interface Committee. July 2005Schulich School of Music. Course Curriculum Committee. Member, JuneDecember, 2005.
Joan Hobbins
McGill University. Committee on Academic Salary Policy. Member. Ongoing.
McGill Library. Library Merit Committee, 2005. Member. Completed
Karen Jensen
MAUT Librarians' Section. Chair Elect. April 11, 2006MAUT Librarians' Section. Professional Issues Committee. Chair. April 13, 2006McGill Library. MetaLib Implementation Team. Member. Nov. 2004-July 2005
McGill Library. Library Technical Services. Original Cataloguing Librarians
Evaluation Committee. Member. 2005. Completed.
Nola Julien
McGill Library. Committee to Advise on Design of Redpath Staff Lounge.
Member 2005. Completed.
Marc Richard
McGill Library. Library Technical Services. Original Cataloguing Librarians
Evaluation Committee. Member. 2005. Completed.
July 14, 2006
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MAUT Librarians’ Section. Professional Issues Committee. Member Feb. 2006McGill Association of University Teachers. MAUT delegate to Conseil fédéral
meetings of FQPPU (Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs
d'université). October 2005, February and May 2006.
McGill University. Librarian Regulations Committee. Member Sept. 2005-
Pat Riva
McGill University. Librarian Regulations Committee. Member Sept. 2005McGill University. Promotion to Librarian Committee. Member. September 2005[no cases considered]
McGill University. University Tenure Committee for the Libraries. Member.
September 2004McGill University. University Tenure Committee for Recruitment. Member.
September 2005MAUT. Discussion group facilitator, "Benefits", MAUT Retreat, November 4, 2005
McGill Library. Thirty+ Group. Process Improvement and Measurement
workgroup. Member. June 2005-
Louise Robertson
McGill Library. Loans Services Committee. Chair 2004-
Other Professional Involvements (Presentations, etc.)
Joseph Hafner
Metadata Infrastructure for Sound Recordings – Project lead by Professor Ichiro
Fujinaga of McGill University with a grant to create a metadata
infrastructure for sound recordings and a search portal of digital audio
archives. Grant from the Canadian Government. Cataloguing specialist on
the project.
Chris Oliver
July 14, 2006
14
McGill. University. Lecture on rare book cataloguing for: Descriptive Bibliography,
GSLIS644 (3 credit course in GSLIS), April 6th, 2006 (1 lecture)
Louise Robertson
McGill University. Lecture on legal classification and cataloguing for: Law
Information, GSLIS672 (3 credit course in GLSLIS), Jan. 27, 2006 (1
lecture)
Macy Zheng
McGill Library. Presentation given as one of the Library Trends series:
The East Asian Collection at McGill: Past, Present and Future. (December 9,
2005)
July 14, 2006
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