Best Practices

Program Goals - Discuss

What are Best Practices?

What makes them useful?

What tools are there?

What role does Administration have with Best Practices?

What Local and Cooperative Strategies Work?Cyril Oberlander, SUNY Geneseo

Best Practices

Best practicethe most effective and efficient way to do something or to achieve a particular aim. (NOTE: in business, best practice is often determined by benchmarking…) Dictionary of Human Resources & Personnel Management

Best Practices – Benefits

What makes best practices useful? • Improve service qualities:

• Decrease turnaround time• Increase accuracy / reduce errors• Enhance service offerings; color,

delivery, customer satisfaction, etc.• Reduce cost• Reduce staff time• Others?

Best Practices

How do you know what is a best practice?&

What criteria do you use?

So are there helpful tools?

Best Practices

Mentor Program

Workflow Toolkit

Transaction Performance Analysis Module (TPAM)

Best Practices: Mentor Program

Began in 2007; mentors assist libraries joining IDS Project and use of ILLiad.

Evolving charge…

Support optimal best practices in resource sharing among all IDS Project libraries.

Distributing continual improvements opportunities.

Best Practices: TPAMTPAM Guide: http://idsproject.org/Tools/TPAM.aspx

Best Practices: Workflow Toolkit

Over 100 ILLiad tips and workflow strategies shared in this popular wiki – used by libraries across the nation; growing by about one tip a week; authors from outside the project have joined the effort… but how good is it?

• How many has your library adopted?

• How useful are the tips?

Best Practices: Top 8

Un-mediate processing

1. Direct Request

2. Custom Holdings

3. ALIAS

4. Odyssey Trusted Sender

5. Holdings Maintenance (required for automation):

OCLC Local Holdings Records , OCLC Reclamation,

Knowledge Bases (Serials Solutions, SFX, etc.)Continued on next page

Best Practices: Top 8

Workflow Patterns6. Utilize article conversion & Odyssey Helper7. Change Inefficient Workflow Patterns

Knowledge sharing is the root of most answers8. Actively participate in Best Practices Community by

promoting…• Internal and external development and training• Communicate with vendors – problems &

suggestions• We all have best & worst practices – so share the

best, and be open to changing the worst• Network - Contact Tim Bowersox and invite mentors

to visit, or visit a mentor library?

Best Practice #1: Direct Request

Users places requests

Bulk are automatically sent on to lending

library

Staff focus on receives, and have time to for problem

requests

Direct Request Benefit20 requests…Average Time: 111.38 hoursAvg. Time from Patron Request to Sent to OCLC: 22.38 hoursDirect Request can cut 20% of the Turnaround time.

Common misconceptions with Direct Request:- Users select the wrong record+ OCLC sorts by most widely held.

- Direct Request makes errors + Yes, if holdings aren’t accurate or settings improperly administered.

- Staff make better decisions on lenders or availability + robust custom holdings, 1st lender fills 85% even without checking availability.

Best Practices #2: Custom Holdings

There are about 10,000 libraries use OCLC for ILL messaging. Custom Holdings allows you to set lending priorities the way you want to, for an example of order…

1st IDS Project Libraries2nd Regional Free Partners3rd National Free Partners (East, Central, West groups)4th Type of Delivery; Odyssey, Ariel, UPS, LAND, USPS, etc.5th Cost (OCLC IFM)6th Cost InvoiceOther Factors: Due Dates, Renewal, Slow but free, etc.

We created a set last year, and are about to release the new version:http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=borrowing:customholdings

Benefits; lower cost, decrease turnaround time, decrease staff processing time, add other service qualities.

Best Practices #3: ALIAS

Estimation: July 200981 hours saved across the project by un-mediation.

Best Practices #4: Odyssey Trusted Sender

Lending Library sends

article via Odyssey

ILLiad receives & user notified

to viewNo mediation

(unless lender checks – please review)

How ALIAS & Odyssey work together…Benefits; decrease turnaround time, decrease staff processing time/cost.

Best Practices #5: Holdings Maintenance

Maintain OCLC Local Holdings is critical for the future of ALIAS – Integrated Fulfillment. OCLC LHR Info: http://www.oclc.org/batchprocessing/options/holdings/localdatarecords/

Maintain knowledge base in your link resolvers (Serials Solutions, SFX, etc.)Also - add print (physical) serial holdings to your knowledge base – good for user & ALIAS: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=wiki:ids_project

Benefits: •You, users, and other libraries know what you have.•Reduce staff time; cancelling requests, detecting local holdings, lower cost, etc.•Reduce turnaround times; more requests are handled automatically

Best Practices #6: Article converters & Odyssey Helper

Print out

Article

ScanArticle

SendArticle

Open Article

ConvertArticle

Best Practices #6: Article converters & Odyssey Helper

Best Practices #7: Change Inefficient Workflow Patterns

Anyone want to admit they have an inefficient workflow?

To name a few…

• Paper files backing up ILLiad

• Paper filing and retrieving instead of keeping it with the work

• Writing or stamping on paperwork instead of ILLiad

• Maintaining lists instead of incorporating them into ILLiad

• Performing ILLiad functions just to move requests into a new

status (not actually printing)

• Clicking through pop-ups that can be turned off; ILLiad,

Internet Explorer, etc.

Best Practices #8: Active Participant in Best Practices

Many ways to become active in best practices community

• Internal discussion, workflow open houses, and training across library service units; cataloging, acquisitions, interlibrary loan, reference etc – MARC training.

• External discussion and training with other libraries, workflow tours.

• Actively report problems and enhancement suggestion to vendors. Contact: support@oclc.org

• Actively share good ideas on the listservs and contribute to toolkit.

• Invite mentors to visit or visit a mentor library – contact Tim Bowersox, IDS Project Mentor & Training Coordinator: bowersox@geneseo.edu

• Other Suggestions?• How can you help? How to identify and share best practices?

Best Practices

So where to next with our goal to “continually implement and objectively evaluate innovative resource sharing strategies, policies and procedures that will optimize mutual access to information resources…”

Best Practices

Thank you

Questions, comments, suggestions?

IDS Project Best Practices Checklist 2009

1. Direct Request: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=borrowing:directrequest Service is active Direct Request Routing Rule uses both OCLC# and ISBN#?

http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=borrowing:routing#direct_request_routing_rule Most liberal settings – Set Minimum Number in Lender String 1 (Because automate first, mediate second; and the first library in the lender

string fills requests 83.3% of the time, the second 11.5%) ILLiad OpenURL requests are linked to Library Database and/or OpenURL Resolvers.

2. Custom Holdings: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=borrowing:customholdings Set Default loan and article paths in ILLiad:

http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=borrowing:customholdings#step_3._choose_your_default_paths_for_loans_and_copies Robust, well designed and differentiated Custom Holdings Groups with more than 2,000 library symbols in total Up-to-date Custom Holdings Groups – no more than 2 years old

3. ALIAS: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=wiki:ids_project#article_license_information_availability_server_alias Service is active (also see holdings maintenance #5 for Print Serials in ALIAS) Using Routing Rule to bypass copyright clearance mediation for articles older than 5 years:

http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=borrowing:routing#bypassing_copyright_clearance_for_older_articles

4. Odyssey Trusted Sender: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=borrowing:trustedsender AutoElecDel setting = Always and not “Trusted”.

Trusted means only a select group of libraries are unmediated, while No means all transmissions are manually reviewed. Recommendation no page checking or cropping for Ariel and other mediated forms of article delivery because that services isn’t

happening with Odyssey transmissions. 5. Holdings Maintenance

Loaded Print (physical holdings) in Serials Solutions, SFX, etc. for ALIAS. Serials Solutions details: https://illiad.lib.geneseo.edu/ids/project/alias/validdates.pdf

Maintain accurate knowledge base with Serials Solutions, SFX? Maintain Local Holdings Records in OCLC: http://www.oclc.org/batchprocessing/options/holdings/localdatarecords/ OCLC Reclamation: http://www.oclc.org/batchprocessing/options/holdings/set/

6. Utilize article conversion and Odyssey Helper: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=lending:convertarticles

Converting articles for sending, rather than printing and scanning articles from e-Journals for lending. Batch Odyssey with Odyssey Helper: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku.php?id=lending:odysseyhelper

7. Change Inefficient Workflow Patterns: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/ No paper files as backup to ILLiad records Any ILL paperwork stays with the item, not filed and retrieved Notes added to ILLiad and not handwritten on paperwork Converted all paper and card file lists into ILLiad fields and workflow Bypass unnecessary processing, such as the pretend printing shipping labels to move requests to next status Disabled annoying pop-ups (CopyrightWarning in Borrowing, OdysseyReminder in Lending)

8. Actively Participate in Best Practices Community by promoting...

Reviewed all Workflow Toolkit tips Internal discussion and training across various service units – MARC training, workflow open houses, etc. External discussion and training with other libraries – workflow tours at other libraries Actively report problems and enhancement suggestions to vendors Actively share good ideas on the listserv – staff encouraged to contribute to listserv, toolkit, etc. We all have best and worst practices,

so share the best, and are open to changing clunky workflows. Invite mentors to visit or visit a mentor library – if interested contact Tim Bowersox: bowersox@geneseo.edu