Serials and Acquisitions Services

LITS Annual Report 2003-2004

The following report encompasses the work performed by all members of the SAS staff. We have had yet another interesting and busy year. We tested some new ways of using staff in the department, worked to further automate our acquisitions procedures, while maintaining our usual workflow. Below are some highlights of the past year followed by statistical data pertaining to our day to day operations.

Space Renovation and New Computers
The SAS staff, along with Cataloging, saw a complete renovation of our departmental space. While construction took place, we moved to temporary quarters on levels 4 and 5 of the Williston stacks. Prior to moving, we spent a significant amount of time discarding unnecessary files, printed materials, old equipment, etc. We moved back into our reconfigured space which is smaller and has less storage capacity. There continue to be challenges such as a heightened noise-level that comes with people being in closer proximity and less room for trucks, deliveries, etc. However, we have adjusted well to our new space.

This summer SAS received new desktop computers with flat panel monitors. The flat panel monitors were a welcomed addition as they take up less counter space. Some members of the acquisitions group also received roll-over attached printers which are very much appreciated.

Five College Depository
SAS has continued to play a major role in sending materials to the Five College Depository. In fact, our responsibilities have increased this year as we have taken on greater responsibilities for the coordination and processing of shipments. You will notice that we sent many more serials this year and we continued to send a large number of periodicals. In coordination with collection development staff Mount Holyoke has withdrawn the following numbers of titles and volumes to the Depository 2003/04 fiscal year:

(Total number of titles and volumes sent to the Depository to date = Titles 1,288 Volumes 27,299 which includes 21 microform titles, and 2,880 microform vols. sent to the Depository by the Cataloging group in 2002/03)

Expansion of the Leisure Book Collection
The Leisure Book collection has continued to be a popular service to our community. So popular, in fact, that we have added an additional leisure component; videos and dvds. SAS processes this new collection and has taken on greater responsibility for the maintenance and processing of the rental leisure collection. We track the rental collection very carefully so that our contractual obligations and limitations are monitored. We also order most of the new titles entering the rental collection. For all leisure collection materials we create brief bibliographic and item records in our online catalog. The following numbers of leisure materials were processed by SAS this fiscal year:

MARC Loader Table
One of the recommendations made in the R2 Consulting report was that we automate more of our acquisitions processes. As a move in this direction, we began working with library systems staff at UMass to write a MARC loader table so that we can download brief bib, item and order records from our principal domestic vendor, Midwest. The process to write a table has been time-consuming, detailed and slow. This is a good example of how our Five College cooperation often complicates matters. Not only must we compete for library systems staff time, we must also deal with the intricacies of working in a shared catalog with shared bibliographic records. That said, we continue to make progress towards an operational loader table. Midwest has been most cooperative and their data loads seem very clean and straight-forward. The major problem we face is finding a workable “match-point” for downloading bibs into our catalog. We have tried a title key match and an ISBN match with no success. Our hope is this problem will be resolved by the end of this summer.

ILS Demos
SAS staff participated fully in the search for a new integrated library system. Staff attended the demos for all vendors, including the demonstrations of the serials and acquisitions sub-systems. We filled out check-lists and returned them to the Five College Serials/Acquisitions Committee. We anticipate a migration to Ex Libris within the next few years. The migration will require significant coordination and participation from the SAS staff.

Book and Serial Vendors
We consolidated the number of book vendors used to purchase books. A single vendor now provides us most of our domestic and British titles. Another vendor provides us most of our foreign language titles. This change occurred mid-year so materials are still arriving from multiple vendors as orders are fulfilled.

In serials we completed the transition to our new vendor, EBSCO, following the demise of divine, inc. The transition was a very difficult one and required significant amounts of staff time to correct and implement. As part of this change, we continue to clean up title number problems in our check-in records so that electronic claiming can be fully implemented.

Circulation Duties
Three members of the SAS staff broaden their duties to include working in the Access Services department for the Spring semester. Two SAS staff members worked three hours per week at the circulation desk and another devoted six hours per week performing stack maintenance duties. Staffing needs within Access Services continue to be evaluated and it appears that our circulation desk hours will no longer be needed. We will continue the stack maintenance duties which have been much appreciated by Access Services. SAS remains open to the possibility that other changes in responsibilities may be in our future.

SFX Implementation
SAS staff participated on the implementation team for the SFX product. We contacted vendors to activate appropriate databases. Overall the implementation was very successful and has benefited our users greatly.

Journal Use Study
SAS has taken an active role in the journal use study. We prepared a list of currently received materials and barcoded titles to create a rolodex from which to track usage. SAS staff scan and re-shelve journal issues in the main reading room.

Personnel Changes
Janis (Fay) Kordana requested and was granted part-time status beginning July 1, 2004.
Sandy Berestka will be leaving Mount Holyoke to take a position as a school librarian. Because of these changes, other staff members within SAS have taken on additional responsibilities.

Committees/Regular Meetings/Demos/Workshops
Members of SAS attended the following committees, regular meetings, demos, workshops this fiscal year:

• Five College Serials/Acquisitions Committee
• Five College-Enabling Positive Change Workshop
• Employee Service Awards Committee
• Local Experts Group
• Student Employment Meetings
• Serial & Book Vendor mtgs.
• Management Team mtgs
• Managers’ Retreat
• Strategic Plan mtgs.
• SAS mtgs.
• SAS/Cataloging mtgs.
• Gail’s Group mtgs.
• All-Hands mtgs.
• SFX Implementation Group
• OCLC Connexion training
• Periodical Review mtgs.
• ILLIAD training
• Proquest demo/training
• RefWorks Workshop
• Books In Print Online training
• UlrichsWeb training
• Dreamweaver training
• XML Workshop
• ILS demos
• JAF mtgs. with H.R.

Summary Statistics
Below are some summary statistics reflecting the work accomplished in SAS:

Materials Cataloged/Work Performed

Most Frequently Used Vendors

Midwest 29%
YBP 17%
Coutts 11%
Eastern 8 %
Various Online Vendors 7%
Direct w/ pubs. 4%
Latin American Books 2.6%
Harrassowitz 2.6%

81% of our monographic budget was expended using the vendors listed above.

EBSCO 35%
Consortia & direct pub. purchases 26%
Harrassowitz 12%
UMI 4.8%
Nelinet 3.3%
Five Colleges, Inc. 2.5%

83.5% of our serials and periodicals budget was expended using the vendors/consortia listed above.

Binding

Monographs bound 684
Periodicals bound 2,246
Music scores bound 149
Theses bound 67
Conserphase boxes 277