2. Managing the Acquisition of E-resources
April 30, 2014
Robert Graves, Library Systems Administrator
Harriet Rykse, Digital Information Resources Librarian
Should really be changed to any type of resources since we modified the form to include print also.

3. Western Libraries 23,000 full time undergraduates
2,800 full time Masters students
1,900 full time PhD candidates
1,400 full time faculty
We serve:
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

4. Acquisitions (FY 13/14) 21,000 firm and approval orders
2015 e-books purchased through DDA
5281 active print serial subscriptions
696 orders and 144 cancellations using the form
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

5. Why change our process? Multiple ways of requesting resources
Electronic requests sometimes “fell through the cracks”
The collections librarians had multiple options for requesting material – paper prf, , through vendor, using a webform
Staff responsible for ordering and payment were not responsible for linking access – led to occasional missing links
Looking for a “one stop shop” for all requests - ultimately for any format but decided to start with electronic.
Recognition that our current systems weren’t working – we were accepting orders for monographs and serials in multiple different formats ( , online form, print, direct through Coutts) and the final work of linking access was sometimes missed because the appropriate people weren’t alerted
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

6. Timeline ER&L 2011 – learn about CORAL
Fall 2011 – Roll out for e-resources
Spring/Summer 2011 – created workflows and began implementation of CORAL
Quick overview of how the product developed over time
- will look at each step more closely
ER&L- Electronic Resources and Libraries
CORAL is a full ERMS – we only adopted the workflow piece.
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

7. Timeline Summer 2012 – Cancellation form added
February 2013 – Recommender function added
December 2012 – Print requests added
March 2013 – Added an alert when no steps available
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

8. Spring 2011 - Developed Workflows
Serials
Aimed to keep it limited to the minimum number of workflow steps – therefore based mainly on whether the request is for serials funds or monograph funds. All consortial requests and resources that have one time with ongoing access fees flow into the serials stream.
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

9. Spring 2011 - Developed Workflows
Monographs
Insert workflow
Limited as much as possible to two variables (acquisition type and resource type) to minimize the number of workflows required. Adding resource format would greatly increase the number of workflows.
In retrospect – should have mapped out exactly which combinations we could end up with to ensure that we had a workflow for each combination.
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

10. Began local implementation
Spring/Summer 2011
Began local implementation
Harriet
Tried to tie the workflow to the Acquisition Type (we have 4 – Free, onetime, ongoing, content fee plus ongoing) and Resource type (we have 8) this potentially requires 24 separate workflows (not counting the cancellation requests which creates it’s own set of workflows) unless you choose “any”. If we also tie to resource format the number would be even higher
Rob
- workflows and tasks (called “routing” in CORAL)
Installed open source version of CORAL
Requirements: Apache, PHP, MySQL
Code done in object-oriented PHP and Javascript (jQuery)
Plugged in easily with .htaccess and our corporate authentication
Setup workflows
Configured with new fields (cc, on behalf of, spreadsheet, attachments, consortium, others??)
Have two systems – live and development sites
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

11. Spring/Summer 2011 System Requirements
Separate modules for different sections of CORAL
Apache, PHP 5, MySQL 5
Object-oriented PHP & JavaScript (jQuery)
Plugged in easy to our existing corporate authentication
Harriet
Tried to tie the workflow to the Acquisition Type (we have 4 – Free, onetime, ongoing, content fee plus ongoing) and Resource type (we have 8) this potentially requires 24 separate workflows (not counting the cancellation requests which creates it’s own set of workflows) unless you choose “any”. If we also tie to resource format the number would be even higher
Rob
- workflows and tasks (called “routing” in CORAL)
Installed open source version of CORAL
Requirements: Apache, PHP, MySQL
Code done in object-oriented PHP and Javascript (jQuery)
Plugged in easily with .htaccess and our corporate authentication
Setup workflows
Configured with new fields (cc, on behalf of, spreadsheet, attachments, consortium, others??)
Have two systems – live and development sites
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

12. Rolled out for e-resources
Fall 2011
Rolled out for e-resources
Training for acquisitions staff
Training for collectors
Training in how to use the workflow – receiving alerts when something is in your queue to be completed and steps to take was performed in the summer so that acquisitions staff and the electronic resource support staff new how to handle the requests coming in. These staff members were also key in helping us test the system to make sure it worked as we expected.
When the form was rolled out to collections librarians, first demonstrated then added them as selectors. As new librarians begin collections work, the supervisor has to request that they be given rights to request resources.
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

13. Managing the Acquisition of E-resources
Rob –
When the request form has been completed the resource is added to this list of requests “in progress”
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

14. Managing the Acquisition of E-resources
Rob - After a resource has been requested
Shows how an individual resource looks after it has been requested. Notes can be added after the request has been submitted.
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

15. Managing the Acquisition of E-resources
Rob - View of the task list
The screen capture shows an example of the workflow steps and what each “group” of staff needs to do. Some of the steps the alert is sent to more than one person. Other steps – only one individual has responsibility. We tried to limit the number of steps that had a single person with responsibility – to avoid delays during time away from the library.
Introduce tweaks to form
- Show “change workflow”
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

16. Managing the Acquisition of E-resources
Rob
Note that this is page 2 of the request form.
On the actual request form – these tweaks:
field to indicate if it was a consortium negotiated resource
field to add an “on behalf” fund for serials acquisitions. Automatically appears when “ongoing expenditure” is selected for acquisition type
Added field to include s for additional people who may need a copy of the request (carbon copies)
Added auto-complete in the resource type - if “other” is selected a text box appears
Added file attachment feature
Added
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

17. Managing the Acquisition of E-resources
Rob
Ability to see task by hovering over the icon in the resource list (don’t need to open request and go into tasks to see what the next step is); also ability to see step when in your own queue
Ability to filter resources by library based on who submitted (since individual is linked to a specific library – if the individual changes libraries the resource will appear in the wrong library list)
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

18. Cancellation form added
Summer 2012
Cancellation form added
Harriet – wanted to continue moving to a paperless system AND continue moving to a “one-stop” acquisition (and de-acquisition) experience. Thought it might be possible to modify the form to submit cancellation requests. Introduced the form to the collectors in summer of 2012 – used for both print and electronic cancellations
Tweaks to form
Holdings staff alert added to cancellation form
Cancellation form carbon copy field added
Rob:
Needed to replicate resource structure (database tables, scripts)
- Cancellations are similar to resources, but different enough that we couldn’t piggy-back on what already existed in the database/scripts
Added ability to keep track of steps in workflows for cancellations
Added workflows for cancellations
Added cancellations to general listing and queue
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

19. December 2012 Print requests added
Harriet –
The only paper form we were still using in acquisition was for paper requests. Also still had different ways of requesting depending on serial or monograph purchase. Our final piece was to modify the form so that print requests were included
New fields added for print resources – consulted with acquisitions staff: author, publisher, year, series title, language, # of volumes, # of copies, edition, location code
Added fields to form – fields specific to print resources grayed out unless proper format is selected
Added new workflows for print resources
Roll out required training again for acquisitions staff (minimal). Resources that are strictly print monographs have very limited workflows as our current process still requires a print copy to be made and shared with the appropriate staff.
Librarians were introduced to the new form in December 2012.
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

20. Recommender Function added
February 2013
Recommender Function added
In the past the librarian with signing authority had to sign the paper prf form when something was purchased using a fund they had responsibility for. Auditors agreed that authorization for expending the funds is provided when the individual with signing authority submits the electronic request. In Taylor and Weldon the serial funds can only be expended by the department head. In other libraries library assistants will complete the form and then the librarian with signing authority will submit. Needed to devise a way to allow a staff member to save a completed form so that the librarian with signing authority could submit it – a recommender function.
The “save” button can be used to save changes for later or to allow one person to enter data and a librarian with signing authority to submit request.
Recommender function – Library affiliations set up so that a form can be saved by one person and submitted by another at the same library. Affiliations also allowed for filtering by library
Save only rights for cancellation and request forms set up so that individuals with no signing authority on any fund can complete the form and the librarian with signing authority can submit it.
Rob –
How it was implemented:
Needed to keep track of an individual’s library
Save button already built into system.
Added list for saved records by library in person’s queue
Added “Save Only” permission – users can’t submit, just save resources
Keeps log of who entered data and who submitted it
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

21. Recommender Function added
February 2013
Recommender Function added
Only users with add/edit permissions can actually submit resources
Save permissions only allows user to save resources for review by person with signing authority
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

22. “No workflow” alert added
March 2013
“No workflow” alert added
Workflows can get complicated
Need to account for each possible variation
Occasionally a possible workflow is not accounted for
Notifies administrators if resource is added but not in a workflow
Rob
A very important piece –
As we added different formats and different functions the number of workflows increased and we found occasionally that a resource would not fit into any of our established workflows and therefore no alert was sent out to anyone. We found these because we do monthly reviews of outstanding requests – but didn’t want to potentially leave a resource for a month before finding it.
This allowed us to be aware that a workflow had been submitted that had no tasks attached.
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

23. Advantages & Disadvantages
Creating a Fork:
Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Freedom to develop what we need when we need it
Can’t upgrade to CORAL’s new versions
We don’t need a full ERMS
Need to code enhancements ourselves
In-house IT available
Talk about why this was needed
Already have a commercially supported ERMS, so we wouldn’t need the support structure of CORAL
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources

24. Questions?
Harriet Rykse – Robert Graves – CORAL:
Managing the Acquisition of E-resources