Library Technical Services Workflow Overview
- Andrea Payant
- Melanie Shaw
New Materials
The Acquisitions Department is responsible for purchasing books, media, and other information objects for the library. They place the orders, receive them from the publishers or distributors, create order records for the items, and tattle tape the new materials for security purposes. When the Acquisitions Department has finished their part of processing the new materials, they send them to the Cataloging Department for further processing.
Gift Materials
The library rarely accept gift books. These books usually need approval to be accepted by the library. These books would be tattle taped by cataloging staff and then marked with an X in pencil on the top–edge or the tail edge to indicate that the item has been tattle taped.
“X” marked on top-edge
All materials dropped off for cataloging are entered into our unit’s material tracking database in Airtable. Information about each item is recorded in various columns (or fields) and tasks are time stamped after completion.
To catalog new items, the staff members search for bibliographic records (or bib records) using a bibliographic database (OCLC). Adjustments, if needed, are made to the individual records, or in some cases a record can’t be found in the database and must be created from scratch. The cataloging process is done according to general cataloging rules and the needs and specifications of our library. After creating or editing the bib records in OCLC, they are imported into the Integrated Library System (ILS) which is currently the Innovative Company’s system called Sierra. Sierra is the database we use to format and control what the patron sees in the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC or simply Library Catalog).
When bib records are imported into Sierra, they are used to replace, or overlay, order records created by the Acquisitions Department. Even though bib records have been imported into Sierra, item records still need to be created and attached to the bib record in order for the library catalog to display the proper location information to patrons. After items records are complete, physical processing must be done. Physical processing entails labeling so that it can be identified on a shelf, and property stamping the item so it can be identified as belonging to the University’s collection.
Processed items are then quality checked. This is done by searching for the item in the library catalog to make sure that all the information displays correctly for the patron. Once the items are quality checked they are transferred to Circulation.
Everyone on staff, including students, are expected to track their work by keeping statistics, which are used to measure activities of the department and to identify useful information about cataloging operations.
After materials have been cataloged and processed in the Cataloging Unit, items are then sent to Circulation. Circulation staff members scan the barcoded item in order to check it in (making it available for check out). Each item is also given a Radio Frequency Identification (or RFID) tag for tracking purposes. Then, the items are organized and taken to be shelved in their respective library locations.
Items can be checked out at the main circulation desks, where barcodes are scanned to associate and check out an item to a specific patron. Or, items can be checked out at the self-service stations, where the RFID tags and barcodes are used to associate and check out an item to a specific patron.