ACQUISITIONS IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE presentation for EUUG conference 2004 by Nick London (Principal Systems Officer, Notts Libraries)

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire2 The Nottinghamshire Consortium 2 separate public authorities + schools service (ELS) Jointly, one of 10 largest public systems in UK Went live on Unicorn July 2002 Modules used : circ, cat, acq, opac(iBistro) (limited EDI from March 2004) Upgraded to U in June 2004

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire3 Notts public libraries in figures TOTALCountyCity Population served1,015,000748k267k Public service points Unicorn workstations Loans per year6,576,0005,009k1,567k Total stock1,789,0001,072k716k Acquisitions per year (copies)243,000187k56k New titles per year33,000---

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire4 Distinctive Features CONSORTIUM LARGE SCALE MULTIPLE COPIES SELECTION PROCESS RESOURCES MANAGEMENT  3 independent contracts with vendors  Large no copies ordered/received  Distribution to 80+ libraries  100+ copies of popular titles  Standing orders  Heavy reliance on vendor’s lists  Focus on new short-run titles  Purchase decisions at local level  Admin of acquisitions at centre

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire5 Implications for Unicorn (1) Licensed vendor contracts (3 x a/c + variable discounts) Reliance on vendor’s lists and bibliographic data (bulk loading of bib. records) Local autonomy in bookfund management (many requisitions for same title at different times)  Multiple licensed vendor records  No ‘Selection list’ wizards  No use of ‘Smartport’  Many orders for same title  Many, many fund IDs:  No full bookfund mgt on Unicorn

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire6 Implications for Unicorn (2) Central admin of acquisitions (division of labour) Multiple copies & standing orders High volume of orders placed & received/loaded  order, receive, cataloguing functions done by separate teams  Access to order info for local staff is difficult  Increasing use of order maps  Many order/line nos. for same title  Holding Codes heavily used

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire7 Holding Codes + Fund IDs Requirement: a)Librarian wants a separate fund ID for each branch b)Acquisitions team need to identify copy defaults at time of order placement c)Acquisitions staff need minimum keystrokes & minimum decision-making Solution: 2,400 FIDs/HCs (120 ‘branches’ x 20 stock types) Format: 123/99 branch code stock type code

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire8 Fund IDs:

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire9 Holding Codes:

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire10 Fundings & distributions :

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire11 Order maps:

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire12 Standing orders: genre fiction

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire13 Invoicing We don’t do it! (yet…) Some other UK public users do Key factors for future development: Ease of creating invoice record from received order Co-operation & support from Finance dept.

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire14 Problems (& some solutions…) Fund management limited »Change to centralised/high level fund management Fund IDs & Holding Codes »Custom report automates order inputting Order status for front-line staff & customers »Enhancements to Orders folder in Item Search & Display wizard Access to cancellations »More cancellation reasons + IS & D wizard enhancement

Acquisitions in Nottinghamshire15 Problems (& some solutions…) Finding records where order/line no. is not known »Receive & Modify wizards have improved, but still a problem Receive & Load as separate processes »Unicorn 2005?? Items appear ‘on-shelf’ when on delivery vans »Custom fix to charge all loaded items to ‘NEW-STOCK’ location Stock rotation defaults at order stage »Sirsi Ltd customisation; new core function “Collection Exchange”