Implementation on online serials control: Two approaches within the same library system

Implementation on Online Serials Control: Two Approaches Within

the Same Library System

Sylvia Martin and Judith Rieke

Martin is head of the Serials Department for General Technical Services at Vanderbilt University Library, Nashville, Tennessee. Rieke is head of the Serials Section at the Medical Center Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

INTRODUCTION

Vanderbilt University Library has always shown a great interest in automated library functions - - f rom cataloging on OCLC to fund accounting on a locally devised database. Therefore it came as no surprise when, in the spring of 1984, the library administration announced its intention to purchase an integrated automated library system. Now, five years later, most of the components of the system have been fully and successfully implemented. Although the initial impact of our conversion to integrated automation is a thing of the past to many within the library, the serials staff of our three processing centers remember well the frustrations of the early stages of implementation. Serials control can be perplexing under the best of circumstances. Add to it the pressures of conversion, and the memory does not readily fade. The serials departments of General Technical Services and of the Medical Center Library approached the task differently, each adopting procedures that best suited its own unique needs and situations. The end results were the same: integrated online records that control, as far as the system permits, all aspects of serials, and which produce for the patron a display of holdings for individual titles.

Select ion Process

The choice of NOTIS as the automated system for the Vanderbilt University Library was the outcome of an ambitious and well-executed library undertaking to select and implement an integrated online system that would best meet our specified library functions.

SERIALS REVIEW FALL 1989 7

Several automated procedures, using both in- ternal and external facilities, were already in operation within Vanderbilt's library system when the library administration announced in early 1984 that plans were underway to choose and purchase an integrated system. Specifications, drawn up by a leading consultant on library automation, were sent to four major vendors of automated systems in July of that year.

While the specifications were being prepared, nine subcommittees of a library steering committee were appointed to help with the selection process. A conscious effort was made to include all levels of library staff, and also to have on every subcommittee a representative from each of our three processing centers: Medical Center, Law, and Gen- eral Technical Services (GTS). One of these nine subcommittees was dedicated to the study, review, and evaluation of online serials control.

The Serials Subcommittee began to research all aspects of automated serials control. Specific functions that the group reviewed and eventually submitted opinions about were ordering, check-in, claiming, holdings, binding, and the capability for machine-generated reports. The check-in and claiming experience that the Serials Department within GTS had with OCLC's Serials Control Sub- system served as a good foundation upon which to base our critique of the specifications, as well as our subsequent evaluations of the proposals from the four vendors.

By mid-August, each of the vendors had submitted a detailed description of how its system would be able to meet the library's specifications. The subcommittees reviewed the proposal of each vendor. They then assigned a numerical rating to both the current and potential capabilities of each vendor's system. The Serials Subcommittee ranked NOTIS as the system with the most features of serials control that were of interest to our library.

The other eight subcommittees concurred in recommending NOTIS to the Steering Committee; thus, in September 1984, the committee, with the blessing of the library administration, made the official announcement: Vanderbilt University L i - brary would purchase and begin the implementation of the NOTIS system.

SERIALS CONTROL IN GTS

Since the major portion of the library's collection had already been converted to machine- readable format on OCLC tapes, we were able to bring up the online catalog in September 1985, just one year following the decision to implement NOTIS (now locally called Acorn). Technical services librarians and support staff who were in-

volved in these early stages of activity were en- thusiastic about this new approach to old routines.

The serials control functions of NOTIS, actually a part of the acquisitions module, 1 were originally assigned low priority in the overall implementation of the system within GTS. The serials staff was grateful for the extra time that this low priority allowed us. We were optimistic that perhaps some of the proposed enhancements for NOTIS serials control would be in place when the time came to initiate serial functions.

During this period, the GTS Serials Department continued to use OCLC's Serials Control Subsystem (SCS) for periodical check-in and claiming activities. We were hopeful that some sort of electronic transfer of SCS records into NOTIS could be arranged between OCLC and NOTIS before the date for serials implementation arrived. We wanted to avoid another manual input of check-in records such as had been done during our conversion to SCS. 2 However, with the excitement caused by the success of our online catalog, and with the importance placed upon the public display of current receipt and holdings information, the library administration asked in the summer of 1986 that we begin to bring up serials control. This request came much sooner than had been anticipated by the serials staff, and certainly before any kind of tape download of SCS records had been defined.

Periodical Conversion to Acorn

In contrast to the local data records (LDRs) used for check-in on OCLC's SCS, the NOTIS system provides for a public display screen that clearly indicates to the user the most recent issues of a periodical that have been received by the library (figures 1-3). Library administration, public service staff, and faculty were all anxious for such easy access to this important information. Therefore, highest priority for the implementation of serials control within GTS was naturally assigned to the current periodical collection. The urgency caused by this high priority meant that a procedure had to be formulated whereby approximately 6,000 periodical check-in records could be manually input into Acorn as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

This challenge provided an excellent opportun- ity for the serials support staff within GTS to become directly involved with Acorn. Most staff members were anxious and ready for actual hands- on Acorn experience which, up until this time, had been afforded to only a f e w support staff in select areas. A "crash" project was begun in October 1986 to manually input into Acorn order/pay/receipt (OPR) records for currently received GTS periodicals since the public display of current periodical receipt is derived from these records. Support staff were

8 SERIALS REVIEW FALL 1989

Journal of advanced transportat ion. ISSN: 0197-6729 CODEN: J A T R D C OCLC no: 5121625 Frequn: t Regulr: r

Hld lib: T I C T Copy: 1 Repr: Subsc Stat: a Loan: N O T L O A N A B L E

1 C L N O 2 L O C N 3 F U N D 4 R M K S 5 D E F N 6 N E X T 7 D T R D 8 CRHD 9 R T H D

10 P U R C 11 CLMS 12 B N D G

TF1300 b .H53 SCIP 95-06-2400 Continues: $t High Speed ground t ransportat ion journal $w (OCLC) 1752055 vvol . p n o . e O O 3 O O 6 O O 9 O O O f m g [ p 3 ] v 20 p 3 d 860930 840516 b 9 v 19 p 1-3 v 2 0 p 1-2 v 13-18 y 1979-1984 A 1 095269 o 18940 t 40773 m b 3 c 12262 d 6m e 40773 i 40773

Figure 1: OCLC's LDR FOR PERIODICAL. No.6 = next issue due; no.8 = current holdings (usually unbound issues); no.9 = retrospective holdings; none of this information was available to the public, and was often difficult for staff to interpret.

asked to devote at least one hour each day to this activity, and more if it did not seriously in terfere with their p r imary responsibili ty. This process proved to be a beneficial learning experience, es- pecially for serials acquis i t ion/receiving s taf f who knew that they would eventually be working with these records on a daily basis.

At this point , the chief source for our data input was a pr in tout of current ly received per iod i - cal titles ext rac ted f rom an inhouse acquisitions

database. To the b r ie f b ibl iographic information that is sys tem-suppl ied on the OPR, we added the vendor code (a unique fou r -d ig i t numeric code used in GTS to ident i fy vendors) , fund number , order number , and location. As the OPR was entered into the database, its unique Acorn record number was noted on the printout . The printout was then taken to an OCLC terminal where the Acorn record number for each title was t ransferred to its equivalent L D R on the SCS. The appearance of

L T V U D O N E AAH6732 NOTIS ACQUISITIONS

V U SERL LC 80642232 ISSN 0197-6729 S /STAT c F R E Q t S /T p Journal of advanced transportat ion, v. 13- spring 1979- - - <Durham, N. C.,

Insti tute for Transportat ion> Insti tute for Transporat ion, 1410 Duke Univers i ty Road, Durham, N.C., 27701

PO#: 001AAH6732 09/25/86 OR DUN IT: OP RECUNIT: OP SCOPE: 2 VENDOR: 3371 ACTINT: 0180 POP: x LI : 9506 L2 :2400 VA:

C2C2

NV: NO: SOURCE: DIV 0 0 1 C C N 001 NOTE: ***095269***

001 BN E$: FC: CUR: usd AMT:

004 R v.22.'no.1 (1988.'Spr.)-v.22:no.2 (1988)

REF: 976682;SCIP

MED: PCS: 0.00 E#: 00 MD 01/06/87 AD: none

20.00 C#: 01 XPM: z L3/4: MD 02/17/89 AD: 08/16/89

Figure 2: OPR FOR PERIODICAL. 004 R = receipt statement for current issues received; displays to public as in Figure 3. ]Italics added for emphasis.]


A C O R N S E A R C H REQUEST: T = J O U R N A L OF A D V A N C E D T R A N S B I B L I O G R A P H I C R E C O R D - - NO. 1 OF 2 ENTRIES F O U N D

Journal of advanced transportat ion, v. 13- spring 1979- <Durham, N. C., Instiute for Transporta t ion> v. ill. 25 cm. Three t imes a year. Continues: High speed ground transportat ion journal ISSN 0018-1501 Vols. for 1979- publ ished in cooperat ion with the Advanced Transi t Association.

SUBJECT H E A D I N G S (Libra ry of Congress; use s= ): High speed ground t ranspor ta t ion--Per iodica ls .

LOCATION: SCIENCE periodicals (non-circulat ing) CALL NUM B ER : TF 1300 .H53 1 L I B R A R Y HAS:

v. 13/14 (1979/80)-v.21 (1987/88) 2 C U R R E N T ISSUES/VOLUMES:

v.22:no.1 (1988:Spr.)-v.22:no.2 (1988)

Figure 3: PUBLIC SCREEN. 1. System supplied message generated from Volume Holdings Record. 2. System supplied message generated by receipt statement of periodical OPR (Figure 2). [Superscripts do not appear on screen display, but are used for emphasis.]

an Acorn n u m b e r on the L D R indicated that an OPR was in place for the title, and that it was ready for migra t ion to our new check- in system. When the next issue of the title was received, it was then sent, along with a pr in tout of its LDR, to an Acorn terminal for check- in . The N E X T field on the L D R was deleted at this t ime in order to prevent fu ture issues f rom being received there.

At the Acorn terminal , using informat ion f rom the L D R pr intout , a receipt s ta tement was created on the OPR for all issues of the current volume that had already been received, including the p iece - in -hand . Any relevant notes on the LDR were t ransferred to the OPR. The action intervals on the OPR were formula ted upon the f requency of the title and the delay per iod that had been previously established on the LDR. Claims for missing issues were also made or reissued at this time.

Volume Holdings for Periodicals

After the t ransfer of the appropr ia te in forma- tion to the OPR, the L D R pr intout was then routed to a volume holdings clerk who created a volume holdings (VHLD) record for each periodical now under Acorn control. The V H L D record displays to the patron, and is generally considered to re- f lect the bound volumes (or holdings in whatever final format) held by the l ibrary for a particular title. We had mainta ined s um m ary level holdings on our LDRs, and these holdings were t ransferred

to Acorn. As the V H L D record was put into place, the manual serial record for that title was noted with its unique Acorn number . This essentially meant that the complete holdings for the title were now online, and that the manual record was being phased out. This notat ion will also serve as a means for ident i fy ing those titles with established V H L D records when a s t ructured projec t is under - taken in the fu ture to input holdings for all of the titles in our serial record. We hope that the M A R C f o r m a t for volume holdings will be functional in NOTIS by the t ime this projec t is begun.

Results

The process by which GTS implemented serials control for cur rent periodicals p roved to be e f f i - cient for the major i ty of our titles. We were able to keep incoming material f lowing at a fair ly steady pace except for a period when two vacancies oc- curred at the same t ime in our receiving area. During this t ime, we did exper ience some backlog of material .

The most significant procedural problem arose with titles where some of the informat ion necessary for OPR creation was not readily available. Frequently, we did not have on hand the appropr ia te vendor code for a title. We then had to turn to two d i f fe ren t manual indexes to retr ieve the in fo rma- tion, input it into the Acorn vendor directory, and then create the O P R - - a cumbersome and t ime- consuming procedure. In these cases, we were


usually able to keep the material moving, but we did accrue a backlog of L D R printouts f rom which we input OPRs as t ime permit ted.

Overall , the implementa t ion process was effect ive. It p rovided for the creat ion of receipt records s imultaneously with the migrat ion f r o m one system to another. With the arrival of each day 's mail, more and more titles were moved to Acorn check - in and control. The public service s taf f were exci ted about the num ber of records that were now displaying current issues and volume holdings in fo rmat ion to the user. It was no longer necessary for them to go, or to send patrons, to the "current shelves" to determine the latest issue received; it was no longer necessary to t rek to the serial record to determine l ibrary holdings.

The day finally arr ived when we were check - ing in more titles on Acorn than on the SCS. We were then able to start our receipt procedures at the Acorn station and finish at the OCLC ter - minal.

CONVERSION OF NONPERIODICAL SERIALS TO ACORN

The approach within GTS to Acorn control for our approx imate 6,000 current ly received nonperiodical serials, including monographic series, was somewhat d i f fe ren t than for periodicals. Most titles within this category had cont inued to be received on our manual serial record since we had never ful ly implemented the check - in process for them on the SCS. Rather than define a p ro jec t to create an OPR for a title in advance of receipt , we made a decision to establish a check- in record at the t ime of the next receipt. Initially, we felt that a t tempt ing to create OPRs for all titles re - ceived in the daily mail would h inder considerably the check - in procedure. Therefore , we decided to give preferent ia l t rea tment to reference mater ial and to those titles whose vendor codes were easily recognized. Other titles were ei ther checked in manually, or put aside until there was enough t ime to look up the necessary vendor codes in order to create OPRs.

The basic procedure devised two years ago is still in e f fec t in the GTS Serials Depar tment as we cont inue to chip away at the nonperiodical titles remaining to be conver ted to Acorn serials control. All incoming titles are searched on Acorn to see if an OPR exists. I f so, the piece is rou- tinely received and routed. I f not, all cards for each title f i t t ing the above cr i ter ia are pulled f rom the serial record. An OPR is made, adding appro - priate in fo rmat ion taken f rom the serial record pay card, and adjust ing the act ion interval to coincide wi th the f requency of the title. The

p i e c e - i n - h a n d is received. Necessary claims are also made or reissued.

Volume Holdings for Nonperiodical Serials

The serial record holdings cards are then routed to the volume holdings clerk who creates a V H L D record on Acorn, using as specific a level of holdings in format ion as the serial records provide. The clerk checks the OPR to see what the current piece is, and adds it also to the newly established VHLD. We use the same p rac t i ce for noting Acorn numbers on serial record holdings cards as we used in our periodical holdings conversion.

Volume holding records are also made whenever a title is worked on for any reason, such as recataloging, reclassif ication, authori ty work, and so on. Whenever a title is sent to the b indery, a V H L D record is e i ther c r e a t e d or updated. This approach for adding V H L D records enables us to speed up the appearance of holdings for a great many titles wi thout yet having in place a more formal procedure for their conversion.

ACQUISITIONS AND FUND A C C O U N T I N G IN GTS

In the summer of 1986, the responsibili ty for serials acquisitions was delegated to the Serials Depar tment . (Unti l this t ime, serial orders had been placed in a central ized acquisitions depar t - ment.) The supervisor of the Acquis i t ions /Receiv- ing Uni t places all new orders for serials, using Acorn to produce the order slips and to control expected receipt dates. With the addition of this funct ion, we now have integrated online control within the depa r tmen t for all major aspects of our serial operat ion with one e x c e p t i o n - - f u n d accounting. NOTIS provisions for fund accounting are not yet being used within GTS. Invoices are posted in a f ree text note s ta tement at this t ime so that an online payment record is evident. H o w - ever, in order to take advantage of a program for invoice tapeloads present ly being tested by NOTIS and several ma jo r vendors, steps are underway in GTS to provide for fund accounting on Acorn.

C U R R E N T S T A T U S

It is now almost three years since the GTS Serials Depar tment began its implementat ion of NOTIS serials control. All o f our current ly received periodicals are under Acorn control with summary level V H L D records in place. The same is true for approximate ly eighty percent of our nonperiodical


serials. We f ind that we no longer need separate routines and workf low for the receipt of periodicals and nonperiodicals since both types of material can now be controlled on Acorn by essentially the same procedures. Thus we are beginning to consolidate receiving activities and restructure staffing within the Acquis i t ions/Receiving Unit.

Initially, i tem records were not created for serials. We are now making item records at the point of receipt for most nonperiodical serials.

There cont inue to be some frustrat ing times when it seems as if no automated system will ever be able to take the place of our easily accessible, easily interpreted, and easily annotated manual records. However , the frustrat ing moments are becoming fewer as NOTIS/Acorn becomes an established way of life for the s taff responsible for serials control within GTS.

SERIALS CONTROL IN T H E MEDICAL CENTER LIBRARY

In the Medical Center Library , implementat ion of serials control was a high priori ty. Periodical li terature is the backbone of medical collections, and the prospect of online tracking of journal issues was very appealing to the public services staff. Because the Serials Section in the Medical Center Library still did things manually when NOTIS was brought up, our experiences were quite d i f ferent f rom those of GTS. Other differences resulted f rom the broader responsibilities of the Serials Section in the Medical Center Library. We wanted to use the system to help us wherever possible, including binding control and fund accounting that were not relevant to GTS Serials at the time of their migration to NOTIS. In addition, the size of our collection af fec ted our implementation experience.

DATABASE CREATION FOR SERIALS IN THE MEDICAL CENTER LIBRARY

The Medical Center Library had not used the OCLC database to catalog serials, and this fact caused a major d i f ference in our implementat ion strategy. Because Medical's holdings symbol wasn't attached to any serial records, our titles were not included on the OCLC tapes loaded to create the database for Acorn.

Our first dilemma, then, was how to convert our approximately 4,000 serial titles into machine- readable records for the online catalog in the most expedient , cos t -e f fec t ive way. We considered two methods- -cont rac t ing with an outside vendor to create a tape for us or doing it ourselves by

transferr ing records one by one f rom the OCLC database. The fo rmer was selected, because the latter would have caused serious problems with staffing and accessing OCLC terminals. In January 1986, we chose SOLINET to do the conversion project because they of fe red us a good price, were willing to work f rom a list of titles with only br ief bibliographic information, and had the capability of inputting our holdings into MA RC format.

They used two lists of titles generated f rom a local serials database originally designed to produce a union list of serials in the Vanderbil t Li- braries, a One had our approximately 1,600 current titles, and the other had our 2,400 inactive ones. The entries in the lists contained br ie f bibliographic and holdings information. Before we sent them to SOLINET, our s taff proofed them, using the shelf list to annotate the existing enumerat ion in the holdings statements with chronology.

SOLINET searched our titles on their LAMBDA database and created records if the bibliographic informat ion matched. Since many of our titles had been done using latest entry cataloging, SOLINET agreed to create successive entry records if they could be ident i f ied in their database.

In addit ion to the creation of bibliographic records, SOLINET merged our holdings into the bibliographic record in 84X, 85X, and 86X fields in the recent ly released US MARC Format for Holdings and Locations, as implemented in their online system. They input Level III (summary) holdings along with other informat ion such as the receipt code, type, general retent ion policy, and method of acquisition (f igure 4). We expected NOTIS to develop a way to display that holdings information to the public. And finally, for all titles converted on their database, SOLINET added the Medical Center Library 's holdings symbol to the same records in the OCLC database.

From samples of our titles, SOLINET estimated a seventy- f ive percent hit rate, which proved fairly accurate. Almost 3,500 records were created, but some of those were the result of recataloging latest entry titles into two or more successive entry ones.

MEDICAL TITLES ON ACORN

In the meantime, we began to catalog all new titles on OCLC and to add them directly into the Acorn database. That way, the staff gained experience working with the system on a small scale and wouldn ' t have to add those records later. This was a positive experience, but, as we worked with a few titles, we became impatient to have all our titles online.

SOLINET completed the tape of the current titles in the spring of 1986, but we did not load


LTMC MORE ACK0588 NOTIS C A T A L O G I N G C2C2

MC# ACK0588 FMT S RT a BL s DT 08/26/86 R / D T 11/04/87 STAT mc E / L E V DCF SRC d PLACE nyu L A N G eng MOD OA a REPRO S/STAT c DT/1 1961 D T / 2 9999 CONT b S /T FREQ a R E G r MED G O V T TPA u IA u CIA u ISDS 1 CONF 0 SLE 0

010: : 014:0 022/1: 035/1: 035/2: 0 4 0 : : 0 4 2 : : 050/1:0 060/I: 082/1: 212/1:1

]a 61017057 : ]a 981306-I ]b GASL

: ]a 0065-2776 : ]a (OCOLC)00981306 : ]a 0012873 ]b MULS ]a ODaU ]c ODaU ]d NSDP ]d DLC ]d TJM ]a nsdp ]a ]c : ]a QRI80 ]b .A2 : ]a W1 AD647 : ]a 615.3705 : ]a Adv immunol

222/1:00: ]a Advances in immunology 245:00: ]a Advances in immunology. 260:00: ]a New York, ]b Academic Press. 300/1: : ]a v. ]b ill., diagrs. ]c 24 cm. 362/1:0 : ]a v. 1- 1961-

LTMC DONE ACK0588 NOTIS C A T A L O G I N G C2C2

504/1: : ]a Includes bibliography. 570/2: : ]a Editors: 1961- W . H . Tal iaferro and J. H. Humphrey. 650/1: 0: ]a Immunology ]x Periodicals. 650/2: 2: ]a Allergy and Immunology ]x periodicals 700/1:10: ]a Taliaferro, William Hay, ]d 1895- ]e ed. 700/2:10: ]a Humphrey , John Herbert , ]e ed. 841." ." ]a y ]b 8601304p 8 O001aaeng0860130 ]e 3 852/1.'20: ]a T N J - M ]b TJMQ ]h x 853/1:03." ]6 8 ]a v. ]i (year) 863/1.'3 ." ]6 8.1 ]a 1- ]i 1961-

Figure 4: BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD. Bibliographic record loaded into the database from the tapes created by SOLINET. 84X, 85X, 86X fields contain our holdings information in the US Marc Format for Holdings and Locations. [Italics added for emphasis.]

the database immediately. We hoped that a program would be written to extract the holdings informat ion f rom the 85X and 86X fields and display it to the public. After waiting for a few months, we reluctantly decided that, if our holdings in for - mation was to appear in the online catalog in the near fu ture , we would need to key it into the VHLD record manually. After acceptance of that bitter fact, the tape of current titles was loaded in August 1986, and the tape of inactive titles was loaded two months later.

COMPLETING SERIALS CONTROL FOR MEDICAL TITLES

As soon as our serial titles were on the database, the work necessary to implement online serials control began. Because our entire library staff was anxious to have holdings information online as soon as possible, our procedures were dif ferent f rom GTS. Not only did we need to start creating OPRs immediately, we also needed to input holdings informat ion into the VHLD. In addition, we wanted to adapt the system for b indery control and utilize the fund accounting module.


A C O R N S E A R C H REQUEST: T - - A M E R I C A N J O U R N A L OF G A S T R O E N T E R O L B I B L I O G R A P H I C R E C O R D - - NO. 1 OF 1 ENTRIES F O U N D ( C O N T I N U E D )

The Amer ican journal of gast roenterology ... ( C O N T I N U E D )

LOCATION: M E D C T R journal stacks (non-circulat ing) CALL NUMBER : NO C A L L N U M B E R . Shelved by title. L I B R A R Y HAS:

v. 21 (1954)-v.34 (i960), v.39:no.2 (1963)-v.39:no.6 (1963) * Unbound v.40 (1963)-v.42 (1964), v.47 (1967)-v.51 (1969) v.52:no.l (1969), v.52:no.3 (1969) * Unbound v.53 (1970)-v.58 (1972) v.59:no.1 (1973)-v.59:no.5 (1973) * Unbound v.60 (1973)-v.83 (1988) C U R R E N T ISSUES/VOLUMES:

v.84:no.l (1989:Jan)-v.84:no.2 (1989:Feb)

Figure 5: PUBLIC SCREEN. Example of the display to the public when notes were added telling whether volumes were bound or unbound. [Italics added for emphasis.]

Orders

Similar to the "crash" projec t in GTS, our acquis i t ions/account ing assistant manual ly created the OPRs for our current ly received titles. H o w - ever, we took our data f rom the Kardex . As she t ransferred the per t inent order and processing informat ion, she placed the Acorn record numbers on the K a r d e x card, so the recording assistant knew which titles could be checked - in online. Titles not conver ted were tagged, and the serials l ibrarian ei ther t ransfer red a record direct ly f rom OCLC into Acorn or created an original record. The work to create the OPRs began in September 1986 and was comple ted in February 1987.

Receipts and Item Records

As soon as we completed the order in fo rma- tion for a title, the receiving assistant entered all current receipts on the OPR and all bound volumes in VHLD. Af te r these two procedures were completed for a title, we made no fur ther entries on the Kardex . For current ly received titles this phase of convers ion was f inished by the end of May 1987.

In addit ion to entering receipt statements, i tem records needed to be created for circulating serials. I tem records contain the bar code assigned to each piece and are used to record circulation information. Our bar codes came in sets of two. During the summer of 1985, through a systemwide project , we had placed one bar code on the items and the second one on labeled sheets of paper. Af te r the bibl iographic records were loaded into the database, we created the i tem records and read the bar codes into the system f rom the sheets of

paper. Noncircula t ing serials were not barcoded.

Volume Holdings

Unlike GTS, we input volume holdings in for - mation s imultaneously with the creation of the OPRs, whereas they waited to input volume holdings in format ion until af ter all their current data was entered on OPRs. It was very important to our l ibrary to have the public display of holdings as soon as possible and, since the V H L D does not link direct ly to the OPR, we could proceed with input of V H L D data independent of OPR work.

The Systems Off ice funded some of this project, since they fel t somewhat responsible for the delay of our tape load. In October 1986, two par t - t ime t empora ry persons began enter ing our holdings f rom the printouts that had been sent SOLINET (which contained both enumera t ion and chronology). They checked the shelf list and K a r d e x only to resolve questions or conflicts.

We used Level IV (detailed) specif ici ty for the input of holdings for inactive titles, while we assigned Level III ( summary) specif ic i ty for the current titles. Enter ing holdings in Level III for current titles was a t empora ry measure. It let the public know when our holdings started, and then, as we were inputt ing our receipt entries on the OPR f r o m the Kardex , we would complete the summary holdings informat ion in the V H L D with the latest volume bound, thus making our entries detailed, or Level IV. This pract ice meant bound volumes were placed consistently in VHLD, while unbound issues were on receipt lines in the OPR except when the issues were too numerous or too old. In those cases a note was added to the VHLD: * Unbound (f igure 5).


A C O R N S E A R C H REQUEST: T - - A N A T O M I C A L R E C O R D B I B L I O G R A P H I C R E C O R D - - NO. 1 OF 1 ENTRIES F O U N D

The Anatomica l record, v. 1- Nov. 24, 1906- <New York, etc.> A. R. Liss <etc.> v. ill., plates (part col., par t fold.), tables, diagrs. 25-27 cm. Monthly , May, 1908- I r regular , 1906-Feb. 1908 Has supplement: Anatomical record. Supplement 1983- ISSN 0749-3002 Issues for 1906- include the proceedings and abstracts of papers of the American

Association of Anatomists ( former ly the Association of Amer ican Anatomists) ; 1916-60, the proceedings and abstracts of papers of the Amer ican Society of Zoologists.

Organ of the Amer ican Association of Anatomists , 1940-<Jan. 1980>;and of the American Society of Zoologists, 1940-60.

LOCATION: M E D C T R journal stacks (non-circula t ing) C A L L N U M B E R : NO CALL N U M B E R . Shelved by title. L I B R A R Y HAS:

v.1 (1906)-v.220 (1988) C U R R E N T ISSUES/VOLUMES:

v .221:no. l -4 (1988) *sent to bindery 1 /26/89 v.222:no. 1 (1988:Sep)-v.222:no.4 (1988"Dec) v.223:no.1 (1989:Jan)-v.223:no.2 (1989:Feb)

Figure 6: PUBLIC SCREEN. Example of the display to the public of notes added when volumes are sent to the bindery. [Italics added for emphasis.]

All of our conver ted titles had holdings of either Level III or IV specif ici ty by m i d - J a n u a r y 1987. This was almost six months before we completed all o f our OPRs.

Bindery Control

NOTIS does not have a developed binding control module , al though i f all i tems were barcoded they could be checked out to the bindery. The s taf f at the Medical Center L ib ra ry chose not to use that opt ion and, instead, the serials s ta f f adapted the OPR to show which i tems were at the bindery and when they were sent. We began doing this as soon as a title was checked- in online. Doing this meant that in any given bindery ship- ment some volumes were noted online while others were entered on the Kardex.

The procedure is quite simple, yet is very effect ive. The b indery assistant collapses the re - ceipt in format ion and adds a note to the receipt lines when issues are sent to the bindery. The action date is set for the day we expect the vol - ume to return. I f an i tem is not back in the l i- brary on t ime, the expired action date list contains the record n u m b e r and prompts us to check the record to f ind the problem. When materials re - turn, we remove the receipt line complete ly f rom the OPR and add the bound volume to VHLD.

Public Service s ta f f and patrons are very fond of this adaptat ion that provides the "sent to the bindery" notes online (f igure 6).

Online Fund Accounting

Vanderbi l t Univers i ty served as the alpha test site for N O F A (NOTIS Online Fund Account- ing) beginning in the spring of 1986. Unlike GTS, Medical Serials began "selective use" of this component in 1987 as soon as all OPRs were created. However , not until fiscal year 1987/88 did we use it for all invoices.

N O F A gives us online access to financial i n f o r mation for each title. This is a great advantage and, with the online posting of the 1989 invoices, most titles will carry a t w o - y e a r payment history° However , there have been numerous procedural problems to o v e r c o m e - - a s well as some system ones-- -so, unlike our other conversions where we no longer keep paper records, we still maintain manual records of invoice payment .

Foremost among the system problems is the inabil i ty to make changes on an invoice once it is approved for payment . This means that the most innocent typographical error results in the need to create addit ional statements and even "dummy" invoices to provide correct ion and explanation. Because of this, our procedures for posting


and approval are more detailed and rigorous. On- line invoices are scrutinized for errors by two other people before being approved for payment. Since there is limited space for explanation and notes, more codes were developed and utilized. At the present time, an online invoice can only accept seventy-one postings (pay statements) against it. As a result, when posting a large invoice, we must divide it into several smaller ones before posting can begin. Most of this translates into more time, but we feel the online tracking of funds is worth it.

Current Status

As time permits, we are working on inactive titles not conver ted by SOLINET. The circulation staff identif ied titles in the card catalog that are not on Acorn, and, in October 1988, we started to convert those titles by t ransferr ing records f rom OCLC and adding volume holdings manually. Those items not found will be input into Acorn as original records by the serials librarian. We hope to complete this project in mid-1989.

In Retrospect

At the height of our most intense conversion activity, we had so many projects going at the same time that it was diff icul t to keep them all straight. We had only three terminals for four fu l l - t ime s taff members and two par t - t ime temporary persons. Even though we had access to a terminal in another area of the l ibrary, we had to assign terminal time and adhere strictly to the schedule.

We felt some concern that our procedures were ineff ic ient because several d i f fe ren t people worked with a title before all the pert inent information was added. On the contrary, it was ad- vantageous to have the most knowledgeable, ex- perienced persons input the data with which they were most familiar. Also, this method served as a check and balance system and distr ibuted the work load more evenly.

Staff were expected to per form their regular duties in addit ion to the conversion project . We took shortcuts and eliminated tasks wherever possible. To ease the pressure a little, we were able to o f fe r them the option of lengthening their work week by two and a half hours.

The end result was that all current medical serials were controlled online through Acorn by 1 June 1987. In addition, n ine ty - f ive percent of all titles owned were online with holdings in Level IV specificity. All this was accomplished in nine months by regular s taff members with the excep- tion of approximately 600 hours o f work done by

temporary s taff who input holdings information and attached bar codes.

COOPERATION AMONG PROCESSING CENTERS

The three processing cen te r s - -GTS, Medical Center, and L a w - - h a d up to this t ime worked fa i r - ly independently. Since NOTIS allows either a shared database or shared records, Vanderbil t spec- ifically chose the former , keeping in mind the long history of independent operat ion of the processing centers. With the shared database, i f two centers own the same title, the database will show two records, each showing one of the holding libraries. This fact caused obvious concern about the implica- tions for the public as well as for those who were creating the database.

The original subcommittees established during the system selection process had more or less dis- banded af ter the contract with NOTIS was signed. However , a Technical Services Implementat ion Group (TSIG), composed of the heads of Technical Services within each processing center , along with a representative f rom Public Services, was organized as time for the NOTIS installation drew near. That group, in turn, recommended the establishment, or in a sense re-establ ishment , of three committees: acquisitions, cataloging, and serials. Thei r specific charge was to review system functions and Northwestern practice, and to recommend minimum standards and input conventions for the appropriate records and fields.

Serials Subcommittee

The Serials Subcommittee consists of a serials l ibrarian f rom GTS, the serials librarian in the Medical Center Library , the research and develop- ment l ibrarian responsible for the libraries' union list of serials, and a representat ive f rom Technical Services in the Law Library. Regular meetings were held beginning in June 1985. At first, dis- cussions were of a general nature since no one had any experience working with the database. Each processing center wanted to maintain its ac- customed autonomy, but everyone realized the need for standardization in certain areas.

There was agreement that the bibliographic records used should be authenticated CONSER records when available. We decided that abbrevia- tions used in any records should be those listed in the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, second edition, Appendix B, and that The American Na- tional Standard for Serial Holdings Statements, ANSI z39.44 should be followed. In terms of holdings, each processing center determined the level of specifici ty with which to report them.


As implementat ion progressed, the meetings provided a good mechanism for the exchange of informat ion and a fo rum to discuss common problems and concerns. The committee recommended notation codes to be used in the records, generally accepting codes already in use in libraries, but insisting that all of them be recorded in one list so records f rom any processing center could be correctly interpreted. The committee also developed standards for entries in volume holdings and receipt line entries, and communicated with NOTIS on various serial issues.

As the three processing centers implemented the serials component , the committee became an even stronger voice for common concerns and goals, such as level of staffing, indexing of vendor records, cumbersome methods of handling title changes, and better statistical reports. Even though the committee now meets only as needs arise, the comradery and singleness of purpose remain among the committee members. Overall, the committee proves an effect ive way to promote cooperat ion and to assure communicat ion among the processing centers.

CONCLUSION

In summary, the d i f ferent ways that GTS and Medical Center Library approached the installation of the serials component of NOTIS illustrate that there is no one "right" way to accomplish the fo r - midable task of "going online." Fortunately, the NOTIS system allows for f lexibil i ty, so each of our processing centers was able to adapt the system to its own unique situation.

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS IN ORDER OF USAGE

1. OCLC: Online Computer Library Center.

2. NOTIS: NOrthwestern (Universi ty) Totally Integrated System; system used at Vanderbil t Uni - versity Libraries.

3. GTS: General Technical Services; processing center for all Vanderbil t libraries except Law and Medical Center.

4. SCS: Serials Control Subsystem; part of the OCLC system, now defunct.

5. LDR: Local Data Record; record on the OCLC Serials Control Subsystem where check- in occurs.

6. OPR: Order /Pay /Rece ip t ; record of the NOTIS system that contains, as its name implies, all order, payment , and receipt data per t inent to a title.

7. VHLD: Volume HoLDings; record of the NOTIS system that contains the informat ion regarding the holdings of a title. Data recorded in this record displays to the public.

8. MARC: MAchine-Readab le Cataloging.

9. SOLINET: SOutheastern Library NETwork; a regional OCLC network.

10. LAMBDA: Local Access and Management of Bibliographic Data and Authorit ies; SOLINET members' regional database.

11. NOFA: Notis Online Fund Accounting.

12. TSIG: Technical Services Implementation Groupl group within Vanderbil t Libraries to oversee the implementat ion of the technical services aspects of NOTIS.

13. CONSER: Cooperative ONline SERials program.

* Acorn is not an acronym. It is the name selected for the automated informat ion system at Vanderbi l t University.

REFERENCES

1. Peggy Steel, "Automated Serials Control Using NOTIS," Serials Review 9, no. 4 (Winter 1983): 64-73.

2. Sylvia Martin, "The Birth and Death of OCLC~s Serials Control Subsystem: Its Impact on the Vander- bilt Universi ty Library," Serials Review 15, no. 1 (Spring 1989): 85-86, 96.

3. Jean Acker Wright, "'Serials As a Project ' at Vanderbilt , an Early Library Computer Utiliza- tion," in Projects and Procedures for Serials Ad-- ministration, comp. and ed. by Diane Stine. (Ann Arbor , MI: Pierian Press, 1985), 99-108. []


Documents

Implementation on online serials control: Two approaches within the same library system