A Multidisciplinary Perspective for the for the Design of a Collection Management Model 13th of March, 2008 Carlos E Montano D Head Librarian, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez

The Library System Young system, with less than 15 years of service Serves around 20,000 users among students and faculty members 250,000 volumes distributed in one central library and three specialized libraries Archive management for the university recently added to our range of activities BIVIR is a comprehensive virtual library with access to the most important third party databases Centralized Technical Processes Strong and wide renowned Information Literacy programme

The Paradigm of Complexity, from Edgar Morin Nothing is simple, we decide to simplify If nothing is simple, a problem must be approached from many perspectives A Multidisciplinary vision is more accurate to describe the problem Once we reflect on the problem, we can only approach to it, and new reflections will bring new visions

Defining the Problem Designing a Collection Management System to face – Cataloguing, classification, preservation, evaluation, selection, discard, and acquisitions (purchases, donations and exchanges) – ISO 9001 certification requirements – Fiduciary needs – Addition of Archive Management for the university – Knowledge management functions and the new kind of information to manage: multimedia, management documents and dynamic forms of information sources (forums, , etc) – Curation of special documents for Special Collections section and the Historical Archive

Disciplines immersed Library Sciences Knowledge Management Organisation Management Industrial Engineering (Logistics and Ergonomics) Information Technology Management Higher Education Archive Sciences

Background to the multidisciplinary scope In 2003, the Library System was required to certify ‘essential’ processes under the norm ISO 9001 The same year, a group of students leaded by a faculty member of Engineering Department, applied logistics, manufacturing and ergonomics to the analysis selection, acquisition and to cataloguing processes.

The Goal… To minimize delays in cataloguing was the main atask, but then it was extended to the selection and acquisition processes. To adopt the ‘new philosophy’ of continuous improvement, removing waste, and adding value to the user. Improve the general conditions in all the operations.

What happened? Many of the team’s suggestions were taken and the processes were certified in 2005, and every year since then. The addition of information technology tools for selection and acquisition Design the appropriate items to make the activities more fast (bar codes, security stickers, etc) Time to process an item: 8 minutes But also, many other suggestions were filed waiting for a better chance…

What was left behind? Selection and distribution of new furniture and equipment Study of the sequential activities y the appropriate movements

The 2008 CM model to face the challenges Operations Systems and methods Structure Strategy Philosophy SELECTION ARCHIVES INFRAESTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY PRESERVATION ORGANIZATION (C&C) EVALUATION

The re-organisation of the processes

The performance indicators Usability Availability Pertinence Quality Integrity Effectiveness Coverage … among others

The performance indicators, an example

26300 HEAD LIBRARIAN COLLECTION MANAGEMENT LIBRARIAN SELECTION LIBRARIAN PRESERVATION LIBRARIAN EVALUATION LIBRARIAN CAT AND CLASS LIBRARIAN ASSISTANT STUDENT ASSISTANT ASSISTANT IIIB IV B IV C VI B V A JEFATURA DE DESARROLLO Y ORGANIZACIÓN DE LAS COLECCIONES HOMOLOGACIÓN DE LA ESTRUCTURA ORGANIZACIONAL DE LA UACJ (DIRECTIVA Y OPERATIVA) UACJ Nivel

Conclusion We have witnessed the wide range of problems discovered and solutions using a multidisciplinary perspective We could find a way to face the challenges and respond to the effectively The high value of the learning experience for the librarians