Keeping Up Connections:
Managing Change in Technical Services
Through Collaboration
at Atkins Library
Joseph Nicholson, Metadata Librarian
Shoko Tokoro, Electronic and Continuing Resources Librarian
J. Murrey Atkins Library
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
ALCTS Technical Services Workflow Efficiency Interest Group
ALA Annual, Las Vegas
June 30, 2014
Outline
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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
UNC Charlotte Atkins Library
• 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)
Catalysts for Reorganization
• 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)
Before & After Reorganization
Collection Development & Technical Services ( 5 librarians, 23 library staff)
- Cataloging, Acquisitions & Serials, Gov. Documents, Post-Cataloging Quality Control
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)
Special Collections
3
2
1
3
5
11
Cataloging, NACO contribution, Government
Documents
Total
Most Pressing Question Posted
By Reorganization
ETD Workflow
How do we ensure that old and
new technical services functions
operate effectively in changed
landscape with redrawn
boundaries and scattered
personnel?
• Need for new modus operandi—
and a new modus vivendi as well
• Collaboration the key?
Serials
Check-in
• Old hierarchies dismantled, old
ways of getting things done no
longer operative
Data Migration:
Collaborative Approaches
• 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
Applying the Data
Migration Team Model to
Other Library Workflows
Problems resulting from
reorganization:
 Inconsistent metadata practices;
lack of shared standards
 Lack of coordination between
people doing the same type of
work
No overall unit head to
spearhead effort to solve
these problems …
ERGO = No choice but to
collaborate across new
organizational boundaries!
 Some confusion about roles
 Skills strengthening needed for
some staff
 Loss of expertise, documentation
Keys to Collaborative Approaches
at Atkins: Cataloging Group
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 decisionmaking
• 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
Cataloging Group Products
• New policies and documentation
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Formatting call numbers instructions
Electronic theses and dissertations guidelines
Matching record guidelines
Acceptable copy policy
Serials holdings manual
• Training sessions
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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
New Collaborative Endeavors at Atkins
Collaborative Effort
• Electronic Resources
• ETD
Departments Involved
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Collection Development, Technical
Services, Special Collections
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Special Collections, Collection
Development, Technical Services
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Collection Development, Digital Initiatives,
Information Commons
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Members from nearly all departments
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Collection Development, Special
Collections
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All departments
• Ebooks
• Ongoing migration issues
• NACO
• Consulting on cataloging and
metadata creation in different
departments
Keys to Success of
Collaborative Approaches
• 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
Drawbacks 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
Collaborative Approach
Case 1: E-Textbooks
E-textbook (course adaption titles) Project
http://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 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
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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?
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Now: NACO staff reduced to two
Future of Cross-Departmental
Collaboration in Atkins
• 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
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.
References
Image
Sources
Slide 4
Andrew 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-arrowto?popup=1 (accessed June 26, 2014).
Slide 7
Winfried Wisniewski. “Flock of geese in flight.” Photograph, n.d. Cobris Images, http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rightsmanaged/42-56973979/snow-geese-and-sandhill-cranes-take-to?popup=1 (accessed June 26, 2014).
Slide 8
Russavia. “Casemate museum, Kornwederzand, Afsluitdijk.” Photograph. 2010. Wikimedia Commons,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Barbed_wire#mediaviewer/File:Casemate_museum_Kornwerderzand,_Afsluitdijk_%28978831
9005%29.jpg (accessed June 24, 2014).
Slide 10
Vassil. “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 17
Alpsdake. “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)
Thank You!
Joseph Nicholson
Metadata Librarian
jnicho56@uncc.edu
Shoko Tokoro
Electronic and Continuing Resources Librarian
stokoro@uncc.edu
J. Murrey Atkins Library
University of North Carolina at Charlotte