Cataloging and Metadata Services Annual Report 2013-2014 1. Major activities, accomplishments, significant changes and issues, grants and gifts Cataloging and Metadata Services made major progress in training for and cataloging under the new cataloging code, Resource Description and Access (RDA): serials cataloging began the previous fiscal year and monographic cataloging began this year. Adam Schiff, Principal Cataloger, led RDA training for staff in CAMS, other cataloging units in the Libraries, and the Law Library. He also began RDA NACO training for library catalogers, including the East Asia Library. 2013/14 was the first year of operations on the consortial version of Ex Libris Alma library system. The library was in the initial cohort of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, which migrated in late June, 2013. It has been a decidedly mixed year, with progress and a number of remaining problems. While the first staff training took place before migration, additional training was given in July and review sessions were held in the spring. New procedures were created for Alma overlay, inventory, and work orders. All previous procedures were reviewed, some were retired, and about thirty were updated for Alma (and some still remain to be done, chiefly for special formats.) Basic cataloging operations have been put in place, although productivity is low for reasons beyond the need for staff to gain experience on a new system. New title cataloging is down almost 35% with respect to 2012/13, but this comparison is not useful because the latter part of that year was affected by migration, in particular, by access projects where staff checked and updated tens of thousands of records in OCLC to ensure that critical bibliographic data were preserved. For a better measure of the impact of Alma, we compared monographic cataloging in 2013/14 to the average of fiscal years 2002-2012, where we have readily available data comparable to our current statistics (see chart on p. 2). By this measure, in the first year of Alma we achieved 48% of the average productivity we had in Millennium. (Although we do not have exact figures, when we went from Geac to Millennium in 1993 cataloging productivity increased about 25%.) Despite low productivity, backlogs did not grow, most likely because ARCS was as impacted as we were. Issues affecting productivity include the high number of clicks needed to navigate and to perform basic operations, the slowness of Alma (e.g. opening and closing the Metadata Editor), basic functions that require long workarounds (e.g. relinking inventory), lost functionality when breakages occur after monthly upgrades (relinking), and time-saving functions that have never worked as they should (e.g. Release All Records in the Metadata Editor). The result was a significant negative impact on morale, since staff had difficulty getting their work done. Significant time was invested in cleanup projects after migration, particularly in the Database Management Section. Projects included resolving holdings records without item records, correcting item records when a title has two or more call numbers in the same location, cleanup of locations with both Dewey and LC call numbers, and resolution of empty locations.
In addition to the basics, a great deal of time was spent working with Ex Libris to create important functionality that was not present at migration. A prime example is management of local packages of records, e.g. e-book sets. While Alma has a central knowledge base in the Community Zone, which does a good job of controlling packages established there, when the library has a local set, the ability to create and maintain such sets was lacking. We worked intensively with Ex Libris, including visits by developers, and by March the necessary functionality was installed. The upshot, however, was an inability for ten months to load new sets or additional records to existing sets, which had a significant negative impact on users. When we were able to load records, we added approximately 80,000. Another example of missing functionality was the ability to load Marcive records, which we were unable to do for six months, resulting in delays and the need for manual cataloging on OCLC. 60000 Monographic Cataloging 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Major issues were not resolved during the first year of operations: Batch uploading of holdings records to OCLC has not been fixed enough to be usable, OCLC loading to the Network Zone does not handle merged records, leading to thousands of records that will not load, Inventory links for bound-with volumes are not robust and are not recognized by all system functions, Network Zone functionality is not fully built out and not always integrated into new features. It is worth noting that a large amount of staff time was devoted to Alliance committees and task groups related to Alma and Primo implementation, including efforts by Diana Brooking, Karen Highum, Joe Kiegel, and Steve Shadle. Details are listed in Section 5.
2. Major activities and initiatives anticipated for next year Complete RDA NACO training and present RDA series training. Complete the transition from AACR2 to RDA cataloging. It is our intention to switch completely to RDA cataloging for new bibliographic records by the PCC deadline at the end of the calendar year. Offer staff training on the Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME), which is the replacement for the MARC format. Evaluate BIBFRAME and begin to submit comments to the Library of Congress. Work on remaining Alma cleanup projects, such as linking IZ bibs to the Network Zone. Finish revising division procedures for Alma. Implement Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT) for music and literature. Continue to work with Ex Libris to improve Alma. Continue to participate in development of cataloging policies and procedures at the Alliance level. Update job descriptions to reflect RDA and changes to subject assignments. 3. Staff roster as of June 30; appointments, promotions, transfers, resignations, and retirements during past year. Appointment: Junghae Lee, Library Specialist 2 Retirement/40% Reemployment: Janet Heineck Reclassification to Library Specialist 2: Vincent Wilhite Reclassification to Library Specialist 1: Amy Entze Lili Angel Diana Brooking Su Burton Phyllis Chan Amy Entze Pam Freeman Cate Gerhart Theo Gerontakos Janet Heineck Lijana Holmes Heather Johnson Joe Kiegel Helice Koffler
Junghae Lee Kristin Lindlan Laura Lins Caroline Marsh Mary Mathiason Julie Moede Huong Ngo Vera Otmar Barbara Petite Linda Pitts May Rathbone Adam Schiff Steve Shadle Dana Shemorry Laura Tuck Sujatha Werake Vincent Wilhite 4. Key statistics not reported centrally 2012/13 2013/14 Comparison Cataloging 2012/13 2013/14 % Change New Titles Cataloged Original 3,728 2,993-19.7% Complex Copy 16,907 11,554-31.7% Serials Cataloging 1,839 1,197-34.9% Quick Cataloging 10,645 7,635-28.3% Minimal Level 4,461 1,067-76.1% Total 37,580 24,446-34.9%
Added Copies ** 3,047 846 n/a Added Volumes ** 924 482 n/a Rush Materials ** 1,613 1,137 n/a NACO Headings 3,856 3,595-6.8% SACO Headings 867 292-66.3% ** Represents combined CAMS and ARCS activity for fiscal year 2012/2013. 5. Personnel and Staff Achievements. Please enter on the attached spreadsheet: A. Staff honors, awards, degrees and significant milestones B. Appointments and elections to offices and/or committees of organizations outside the University of Washington C. Appointments to University of Washington groups outside the Libraries D. Publications, presentations, performances, and exhibits