Tweaking an existing workflow Comments by Carl Ziebell

Tweaking existing workflows Know your existing workflow (obviously) What can you change? Look at the technology available to you and see if there are ways to improve workflow (Productivity / Accuracy). What are your perceived outcomes of that change?

Tweaking existing workflows Implement the change. Do the actual outcomes match your perceived outcomes? (Evaluation)

Three Workflow Questions Is there a way I can check my student’s copy cataloging work before it goes into my III OPAC? Why do we need to download records from OCLC twice? When a customer requests a book via Interlibrary Loan, is there a way we can speed it through cataloging?

Question One: Is there a way I can check my student’s copy cataloging work before it goes into my III OPAC?

Question One: OCLC - Local File Solution Worked with I.T. to set up a shared file location that could be accessed through the Catme/Connexion cataloging system. Devised a strategy to organize the shared file system in a way that everyone could understand – with a little training. Advantage: I could now check my student’s work from any Ripon Library Workstation running OCLC software before importing it into the OPAC. This is a way to check student work before it is imported into ROSLIN. Multiple people can access a shared file at the same time. Only the record is locked during editing. Files are organized by Project Type / Year and Month. “West-2008-06”

Question 2: Why do we need to download records from OCLC twice? In most cases, we only have to download a record once.

Question 2 -- Example 1: Why did it need to be streamlined? 1. Time and ease 2. Duplication of efforts, resources and workflow. 3. OCLC charged a per search fee, so there was a cost savings involved.

Question 2 -- Example 2: By adding the “Save record in Local File” step to Acquisitions, time, redundant effort, and money was saved.

Question 3: When a customer requests a book via Interlibrary Loan, is there a way we can speed it through cataloging?

Question 3: There are a number of ways to accomplish this. (The option we chose is below.) When a resource request comes in via ILL, the librarian involved decides if we should order this item for Ripon’s collection. If yes, the order goes to the Acquisitions department and is put at the head of the workflow line. It is quite fast. Some of the books that students were requesting via ILL were books we should also have at Ripon. How to we get the books through cataloging quickly. One way was to order a book and give it to the student before cataloging. Sounded good, but it didn’t work well for us. Rushing it through cataloging has been a better choice for us, and the volume has been manageable.