Hyper-Streamlining Approvals at the University of Iowa Michael Wright Head, Acquisitions & Rapid Cataloging University of Iowa michael-wright@uiowa.edu Michael Walmsley Director of Sales, Central U.S. YBP Library Services mwalmsley@ybp.com

Why Did We Need a Change? New department, new leadership, opportunity to do some updates in very traditional dept. 35 year old approval plan; selections limited, attempts at updates met with mixed success Workflows needed to be updated Complaints: new titles taking too long to get to shelf (sometimes 3 months)

Why didn’t we need a change? Staff were nervous; dept. had been very stable Change would mean new job descriptions, new responsibilities, new routines for staff Significant Training Involved New vendor database Different approval methodology Fears that selectors wouldn’t go along (even though they were expressing dissatisfaction) So we went forward with caution and a few predictions of ...

Utter ruin

Nothing got ruined. But, Went forth cautiously, discussing monographic approvals as part of a major planning process Discussed possibilities of change with selectors As part of planning process, recommendation came to move forward with a virtual plan from YBP. But the details were missing.

Began a Dialogue with Vendor It was clear from the beginning that there were several services at YBP that could help us make improvements: Profiling methodology that could accommodate our collecting interests Duplication Detection capabilities in GOBI EOCRs (Electronic Order Confirmation Records GOBI as an efficient and comprehensive selection tool Depth of staff to handle the workload (loading 3200 standing orders).

How Did We Get There? Had backing of University Librarian, AUL for Collections (and director of Central Tech. Services) Baby steps (trial plan with Health Sciences and Psychology subjects) Selectors agreed to try the virtual plan, based on the success of the above plans (and after politely being told they had to…)

About those selectors 22 subject area selectors They had long had been provided with monthly, detailed financial reports We felt that having selectors not just select, but order, was key to the success of the program

Where we are Today “Empowered” selectors love the new plan All slips, no automatic book shipments Placing their own orders Automated checking for duplicates Selectors monitoring their funds Only 7 duplicates in last 9 months Titles getting to the shelf faster Ordering activity is consistent throughout the year. No bottleneck at the end

Where we are today (cont’d.) Staff redeployed to new work (cataloging digital objects, electronic resources work, serials acquisitions) as planned Happy public services staff (items often on shelf in two weeks) About to begin shelf-ready pilot We’re very pleased with the way this worked!

And instead of ruin, it’s all new again!

Hyper-Streamlining Approvals at the University of Iowa Questions? Hyper-Streamlining Approvals at the University of Iowa Michael Wright Head, Acquisitions & Rapid Cataloging University of Iowa michael-wright@uiowa.edu Michael Walmsley Director of Sales, Central U.S. YBP Library Services mwalmsley@ybp.com