Improving Cataloging Workflows at LMU Walter Walker, Loyola Marymount University

Faster, better, cheaper, pick two Dilemma increasing cataloging productivity Without more staff With more and more work With continued catalog record quality Looking for ways to get more books cataloged faster by fewer people, without sacrificing the ability of our users to find books in our catalog.

How I tried to do this Productivity goals Macros and templates Modeling work behavior Training according to rules and procedures Reviewing work for accuracy Adapting to changes in technology

Loyola Marymount University Private university in Los Angeles 9,223 student enrollment William H. Hannon Library on main campus  478,802 books  30,000+ media items  100,000+ e-books

LMU Cataloging Department Adding 17,000-19,000 books each year 3 professional librarians 3 paraprofessional staff

PromptCat Started OCLC’s PromptCat service in 2003 Early years 2 vendors, firm orders only LC-only, then any record, then LC-only Small minority of new books, but grew Quick check of each PromptCat record Correcting significant errors

Changes in PromptCat Process Switch to any available OCLC records, then back to LC-only Changes in vendors Approval plan books included Increase in books going through PromptCat 68% of our new books in 2011 About 25% of them with brief “fallout” records

Changes in Our Dept. Cataloging librarians Library committee service Professional development Creating metadata for digital collections Information Commons desk service Cataloging staff Outreach activities Roving reference Rare book cataloging

New Library Building

The Basement Storage for older, less-used books in closed-stacks Cataloging staff process around 17,000 books into numbered totes for transfer from main stacks to the basement each year Large gift book collections

What to do? Stop checking PromptCat books entirely Oversize books need to be relabeled Labels with 2 call numbers Multi-volume sets without volume numbers Many records with errors

Problem Categories 1. Non-English books 2. Books with accompanying materials 3. Books in art 4. Books in photography 5. Music scores 6. Books published before RDA records 8. Multi-volume sets

More Problem Categories 9. Incomplete physical description fields 10. Untraced series 11. Books classified in Z 12. Serial records 13. Multiple call numbers 14. Oversize books 15. Lacking barcodes or date due slips because of illustrations

Formula 1. Non-English books 2. Accompanying materials 3. Art books 4. Photography books 5. Music scores 6. Books < RDA records Language field not equal to “eng” 300 |e > “1” “Art” local heading “Photography” local heading Call nos. M1-M9999 Date one field < 1980 “rda” in 040 field

8. Multi-volume sets 9. Incomplete physical description 10. Untraced series 11. Z classification 12. Serial records 300 |a has “v.” 300 has “p. cm” or “p.|ccm” Has field Call nos. Z1-Z8999 Bibliographic level “s”

Academic Subject Headings Based on LC classification numbers – i.e. “Biology” is QH1-QH999 and “Dance” is GV1580-GV Automatically added in 690 fields as records downloaded into catalog Manually add interdisciplinary headings twice a year

New PromptCat Procedures Receiving assistant downloads PromptCat file I create a list in our III catalog of the records that fall into problem categories #1-#12 above List given to cataloging assistant “SEND TO CATALOGING” processing instruction inserted in each order record on the list Cataloging assistant reviews problem records

Problem categories #14 (oversize) and #15 (unattached barcodes) Multiple call nos. (#13) found during authority processing Brief “fallout” records (non-LC) copy-cataloged Rest of books sent to Circulation and made “available”

Results Started following in April 2011 Usual 4-8 weeks new book backlog eliminated Books received through PromptCat increased Majority going directly to the Main Stacks after receipt

New Books

PromptCat Receipts

Category Breakdown

Conclusions and Discussion Over 70% of PromptCat books sent directly to shelves 81% of reviewed PromptCat records edited Some records with errors being missed, but can fix when noticed Other problem categories can be added to formula

RDA records Increasing number Training staff to review and edit them By Spring 2013, will drop from formula

Middle Way Between loading un-reviewed records into catalog and reviewing everything Time of increasing workload for staff and decreasing prospects of additional positions Books less important as e-books increase This approach can be used by other libraries

Walter Walker Loyola Marymount University