Princeton is implementing Horizon, merging their Geac (circulation) and NOTIS (catalog) databases. Implementation teams are at work, with project implementation as of Labor Day 1997. An RFP has been issued for recon. The computer infrastructure is being upgraded. Sorters and shelvers have been added to the technical services worker spectrum. An integrated database administrator has been appointed. Technical services now provides microcomputer support.
The University of North Carolina is part of the LC/Ameritech digitization project on "Documenting the American South." They have digitized 50 texts with 500 as the goal. The items selected emphasize African American women and are represented by OCLC records. Following Marcia Tucker's retirement, serials will be merged with acquisitions and preservation. They are experiencing a 68% increase in productivity, and credit vendor support, quality control, and added technology with the increase. They have also added staff in technical services for microcomputer support and technical instruction.
Illinois is implementing DRA Taos. They are rebarcoding, have installed new ergonomic furniture, and are restructuring technical services. A visiting professor is analyzing technical services. They are out of space and will be remodeling.
Northwestern has moved the card catalog to a storage area. They have implemented Windows NT, technical services is moving, and migration to a new system (Endeavor has just been selected) will occur in summer 1998.
UCLA is also implementing DRA Taos and will call the new system Orion II. A group has worked on protocol configuration and workflow, preparing both generic and ideal workflows. They will lease new workstations, projecting an 18-month to 3-year lifespan. They are also implementing Windows NT. Each unit has a technical specialist. Production norms for quality and quantity have been developed, with Rapid Cat having minimum quotas. It is necessary to move 150,000 items per year from the University Research Library to remote storage. The UC campuses are cooperating on EAD-based digital projects; UCLA is working on an Asian-American relocation documentation project. They have also developed a CD travel guide to Los Angeles.
NYU report: HICUP, WLN authority cleanup, NYHS, Mellon electronic resources, technical support staff in technical services, strategic planning
The University of Chicago is in the midst of vendor selection for a new library system and for recon. They are moving to a major approval plan for about 25,000 titles per year, after mostly relying on firm orders. They are pursuing end processing from vendors but will do FastCat in acquisitions. They are discussing where technical expertise should reside: technical services or systems. They participate in collection development arrangements with other CIC libraries. Their part in the LC/Ameritech digitization project is 5800 lantern slides, mostly graphics and medical images.
Ohio State finds circulation via OhioLink growing exponentially. Sorting and distribution of materials is happening less in the mailroom and more in the various libraries. The HVAC system is being renovated. They are compiling an inflation index of acquired materials, in anticipation of staff size continuing to shrink and materials received continuing to rise. Throughput workflow is being analyzed. The system allows labels to be printed from serials checkin.
Columbia has implemented BIBCO with about 60% of original cataloging at core level, based on cataloger decision of level. They have also joined CONSER this year. Marcadia and OCLC batch match are being used to find copy. The shelflist is being scanned, with about 1.1 million titles to be converted. They have implemented BNA table of contents service but have not yet analyzed how it's going. They are experimenting with metadata (APIS papyrus metadata output as MARC; Digital Scriptorium in Access converted to XQL converted to MARC (relational database with downward inheritance between text and image)). The metadata is being created by subject specialists, not technical services. Ejournals are being selected and cataloged.
Stanford is receiving shelf-ready materials from Yankee. Standing order titles have not joined that workflow yet. All staff has been trained for NACO. All new materials are classified and shelved upon receipt. Preservation and conservation emphasis is placed on special collections, with an increase in digital means of preservation. With changing tasks, they are working on fair job design (that is, if several tasks all at the same grade are added to a person's or group's responsibility, the sum of tasks is taken into consideration).
Wisconsin is finding increasing angst among staff members.
Duke is still working on reclassifying from Dewey, with $5 million as the price to complete. They have analyzed what sites people are using from public Internet service and find Duke sites comprise most of the top 20, indicating that the Internet access is mostly replacing other means of using Duke resources. They have had little abuse of public Internet access. They have about 800 links in the OPAC.
Yale is upgrading its mainframe and anticipate that they will (have to) get about three more years out of NOTIS. The air conditioning in Sterling Memorial tower is being upgraded. An Oracle-based financial system is being implemented across campus. They are adding computer skills and recon support to filing staff capabilities. They will do CJK recon inhouse. A visual resources partnership has been initiated with IBM, with Beinecke and Art & Architecture libraries participating.
The Library of Congress has appointed Beacher Wiggins as director of cataloging. They will be implementing core as the new base level for original cataloging. The LC core generally includes a few additional fields (e.g. 043, Dewey class number, 2nd class number for classed-together items, 504) and the cataloger will determine if and when other fields should be added to an individual record. The ten original LC/Ameritech digitization libraries will be joined by more in November. LC received ten responses from its RFC for a new system; the RFP will be ready soon. The Wade-Giles to pinyin migration will occur in 2000 at the earliest. Both it and the reformatted LCCN (four digits for the year) will depend on the new system being implemented. They are working on guidelines for cataloging electronic resources.
Cornell expects to select a new system by the end of 1997 with implementation in 1999. A position of Assistant University Librarian for Library Technologies will be added. Selection for off-campus storage (new facility being completed) will be based on circulation. BIBCO was implemented on April 1st; even with full NACO work, productivity has increased. WLN is being used for ongoing authority processing, with post-cataloging authority work undertaken by an authorities unit.
Minnesota has established teams in technical services, with each team having a technical expert user. Serials processing continues to be a problem area. Core-level records are being created for special collections and archives.
Michigan is doing a lot of work with metadata and finding much greater flexibility than with MARC. They implemented full workstations and experienced immediate increased productivity.
UC Berkeley is using Academic Book Center for shelf-ready materials, and are investigating the same with Yankee. GLADYS on the web is called Pathfinder. Staff standards and training for both central and branch workers are being discussed by the staff members.
The National Agricultural Library is now experiencing real budget cuts. They have no good user data which is aggravating analysis of the situation. They are moving toward access to materials, rather than ownership of all needed resources. They are trying to integrate indexing and cataloging operations.
The University of Texas at Austin is part of a UT system consortium called Knowledge Management Center. TexShare consists of 53 libraries, and is adding community colleges and independent colleges (ca. 160 in all) for common access to indexes, etc. It has been funded at $1 million for next year. UT Austin is part of the LC/Ameritech project and is digitizing 8200 photos of the border region, with EAD finding aids. They anticipate selecting a new system in the coming year. They had 2.5 million hits on their digital catalog in April 1997. Eighty percent of the students have a computer at home, which presents a significant impact on photocopying at the library and some impact on in-person use of library facilities and services.
The National Library of Medicine has seen a slight decrease in interlibrary loan. They are pursuing a new system and are not gaining on it. There are significant data integration issues to be resolved, and a 5-year implementation position has been added. They have developed guidelines for electronic resources (selection, description, access) and are moving to implementation thereof. In the face of increasing problems with carpal tunnel syndrome, etc., a consultant was hired to look at each staff member in situ; renovation in light of those findings will be undertaken as possible. A Support Our Staff group is undertaking a skills survey which will lead to a training needs assessment.
Indiana will implement Horizon next summer, and will upgrade NOTIS now anyway. They are doing recon inhouse. Most of the staff now has Pentiums. They are doing a cost study to find the cost of processing an item.
Harvard is in the process of selecting HOLLIS II. They are looking at workflow scenarios. They have just opened a state-of-the-art preservation facility. They will move 360,000 serials to remote storage in anticipation of HVAC renovation in Widener. Interlibrary loans between Harvard libraries has been implemented!
The University of Washington is part of statewide network. Usage of locally-mounted databases is down 12-16%, with web resources seen as "it." They are moving from UNIX to NT. A group of local technical experts has been formed, with about 50 members. Same story as elsewhere: reorganization, retreat, change, customer- and self-management.