Members of the California Digital Library are always looking for ways to get closer to the people and tools we connect through our digital services. Although we communicate through email and phone calls, nothing can replace true face-to-face contact. So with much excitement, Alison Ray and Leslie Wolf of CDL’s Resource Sharing team headed down to UC Santa Cruz for two days to get some hands on experience at the “brick and mortar” library.

We were welcomed with open arms by the UC Santa Cruz interlibrary loan staff:

From left to right: Katie Elstad, Josh Alper, Mandy Stevens (sitting), Tara Gooden, Sarah Troy, Jesus Espinoza

UC Santa Cruz interlibrary services unit blends the borrowing and lending functions; every staff member is trained in both functions. This cross-training within the department fosters communication between staff members and also with their resource sharing partners.

In addition to the UC resource sharing consortia, UCSC is also part of a regional cooperative library system: Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Library System (MOBAC). Being part of a local regional group gives UCSC more options to efficiently fulfill requests for their patrons. UCSC is a net lender in the MOBAC consortium, especially for CSU Monterey Bay and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

Working side-by-side with the UCSC library team showed us that interlibrary loan isn’t just about software — it’s also about the manual processes involved in managing a physical collection and delivering items to users.

Leslie Wolf helps pull materials from shelves.

The ILL unit runs with great efficiency, but the staff couldn’t do it without the support of trained student workers. They know just what to do every day by checking the whiteboard in the staff room (see photograph below). Tasks that are currently in process are labeled with a circle; completed tasks are marked with an X. The photograph below was taken early in the morning. By the afternoon, every task had an X by it. It’s not that easy — new student workers take approximately one year to become independent in these tasks.

Student workboard in the morning.

UCSC is also supported by mentors from other campuses — power users who are expert in the ILL software (called VDX). The UCSC ILL team praised their mentors for teaching them techniques to save time and effort. Their mentors are always available for a question, a problem, and a solution. The team cited Jenny Lee (UCLA), Scott Hathaway (UCSB), and Debbie Cox (UCSD) as invaluable mentors to UCSC.

As eager as we were to learn about their process, the UCSC team was eager to learn more about CDL‘s plans to continuously improve its services. They report that the in-person interaction was very valuable and everyone gained from the visit. Working together, we were able to identify processes and local settings that could be changed to help the unit run more efficiently.  UCSC was happy in return to share “real-world” examples of the process that CDL supports. It was a great exchange of information.

Our visit made us realize once again that we are all part of a team whose goal is to get the right resources to students, faculty, and other partners when they need them the most.

A description of the presentation follows:

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is an important service that is highly valued by faculty, students, and staff at UC Irvine. Providing access to information resources quickly and efficiently is an ongoing goal of the UCI Libraries. Internal factors such as budget cuts and reduced staffing and external factors such as the ease and affordability of on-demand purchases made the time ripe to investigate and improve interlibrary loan services. A series of pilot projects involving staff from Access Services, Collections and Acquisitions were conducted to measure the cost of services, decrease time to delivery and improve workflow. These pilot projects included purchasing items on demand, using staff expertise in other departments to assist in processing foreign language ILL requests, using existing technology to enhance workflow, and using short-term loans available from publishers through patron initiated acquisitions. Our objective is to show how a number of smaller projects can make a big difference. Attendees can expect to learn strategies to help change workflow using existing staff and resources, manage staff expectations and to hear about our victories as well as our defeats.

The session features speakers Kristine Ferry, Head of Access Services; Gerry Lopez, Head of Document Access & Delivery; John Novak, Acting Head of Collection Development; and Keith Powell, Head of Acquisitions.

Kudos to our UC Irvine colleagues for their original work in this area; we’re looking forward to their next steps.

Join us for a UC- only OCLC webinar, “Transforming Discovery and Resource Sharing with OCLC: FirstSearch, WorldCat Resource Sharing and More.” The webinar will provide an opportunity for a focused conversation with two senior managers at OCLC.

Mindy Pozenel, Director, OCLC WorldCat Discovery Services, and Katie Birch, Portfolio Director, OCLC Delivery Services, will tell us about the new services from OCLC that provide opportunities to create and share at Webscale.

Built on the OCLC WorldShare Platform, OCLC WorldShare Interlibrary Loan will replace WorldCat Resource Sharing and help library staff and users quickly and easily obtain the resources they need from libraries worldwide. Plus, new discovery features in WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local give staff the expert features they require. 

The event is scheduled for Thursday, September 20 at 11:00 – 12:00 PDT.

Here’s how to join the conversation:

1. Share this information with your colleagues
2. Mark your calendar for September 20 at 11:00 – 12:00
3. Do you have a specific question about any of these topics? Send it to us in advance no later than September 13 to leslie.wolf@ucop.edu
4. Attend the webinar using the instructions below
5. If you can’t attend, the recorded session will be available the day after the presentation.

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Meeting information
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Topic: Transforming Discovery and Resource Sharing with OCLC:  FirstSearch, WorldCat Resource Sharing and More
Date: Thursday, September 20, 2012
Time: 11:00 am, Pacific Daylight Time (San Francisco, GMT-07:00)
Meeting Number: 711 617 468
Meeting Password: (This meeting does not require a password.)

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To start or join the online meeting
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Go to https://oclc.webex.com/oclc/j.php?ED=182194127&UID=481787282&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

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Audio conference information
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To receive a call back, provide your phone number when you join the meeting, or call the number below and enter the access code.
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-877-668-4490
Call-in toll number (US/Canada): 1-408-792-6300
Global call-in numbers: https://oclc.webex.com/oclc/globalcallin.php?serviceType=MC&ED=182194127&tollFree=1
Toll-free dialing restrictions: http://www.webex.com/pdf/tollfree_restrictions.pdf

Access code:711 617 468

There may be some LBL bibliographic or item records that may look a bit different.  LBL’s catalog and local practices are different from Berkeley’s, and while items added in the future will be handled according to UCB conventions and policies, users may run across migrated records that look different. Retrospective cleanup is not planned.

Thanks to all at UCB, LBL and CDL who contributed to the successful completion of this project.

CDL is continuing to monitor all issues that resulted from this transition and is in ongoing contact with campus ILL units.

As a result of the move, UC will be well positioned to work with OCLC on software upgrades and on implementing a new software solution when VDX is retired in 3-5 years.

After the migration of VDX to OCLC servers, OCLC will assume primary responsibility for maintaining the infrastructure that supports the VDX and My ILL applications. CDL will continue to manage customer service for these services and to maintain the integration of VDX with Request.

Moving VDX to an OCLC-hosted environment will allow UC to manage the service with fewer resources, implement upgrades much faster, and be well positioned to move to the new OCLC service, WorldShare ILL, when VDX is retired in 3-5 years.

The Council of University Librarians, in consultation with several All Campus Groups and SOPAG, has endorsed CDL’s plan to move the management of UC’s VDX application from in-house at CDL to hosting at OCLC. The completed implementation is targeted for mid-June of 2012.

This change will allow CDL to continue its responsibility for VDX production services while sharing some of the system management duties with OCLC.  Looking to the future, UC will be well positioned to work with OCLC on implementing a new software solution when VDX is retired in 3-5 years, as OCLC has previously announced.

 What will change for UC?

•  CDL will continue to provide first level triage of all of the ILL units’ user support tickets, but OCLC will now have the ultimate responsibility for ensuring timely and satisfactory resolution of all tickets.  CDL will continue to work very closely with OCLC here.
• OCLC will now have primary responsibility for all software upgrades. CDL, along with campus participants will test and certify the upgrades before they are put into production.

 What will change for ILL units?

•  ILL units will use a new “Windows” login to access the VDX application at its new host location. (The current “Web” login will not change.) CDL will communicate separately with the ILL units to provide detailed instructions and ensure a smooth transition to the new “Windows” login.
• The two campuses that run special reports, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara, will receive their data by a slightly different method. CDL will work with OCLC and these campuses to ensure they receive the data they need.

 What will change for our end users?

•  Nothing. This change will be transparent to our end users.

 Moving forward

•  CDL has begun working with OCLC to develop a timeline and project plan, which we will share within the UC libraries when it is finalized.
• CDL will be asking the CDL ILL Operations Team and each of the campus ILL units for assistance in testing during April 2012. We will keep you updated on our progress and let you know well in advance the dates when we will ask for your help to test or review the rollout.

As of November 7, the University of California Libraries will begin using a new courier service for our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) intercampus deliveries, Accurate Courier Services.  Based on a charge from CDL and SOPAG, the Resource Sharing Committee (RSC) wrote an RFP which resulted in the choice of a new vendor being selected for the service.  Accurate serves hospitals and medical facilities, as well as libraries and other customers.   SOPAG and the CoULs signed off on the RFP results and agreed with the choice of the new courier.

The new service is also being used by Link Plus, a library network in California and several western states. The possibility of a widening shared network provides potential opportunities for reduced costs and increased ease of use with the new service.  The effectiveness of the new service will be evaluated in the upcoming months.

Here at CDL, we’ve been working hard all summer immersing ourselves in all things mobile. And we’re excited to share with you our findings and next steps for mobile support and development for some of CDL services.

To re-cap, our mobile investigation was conducted as a three part harmony:

1. Rachael Hu, User Experience Design Manager, and Alison Meier, UC Berkeley iSchool intern, conducted a user research inquiry to understand how UC students, faculty and staff were adopting and utilizing mobile devices in their academic workflow. The final report and detailed project findings and comprehensive resource listings as well as other project deliverables can be found on the CDL mobile research wiki project page (https://confluence.ucop.edu/display/CMDUR/Home ). In addition to the main report are separate reports on Discovery and Delivery and Digital Special Collections.
2. Holly Eggleston, Electronic Resource Analyst and Resource Liaison Coordinator, with the cooperation of the Resource Wranglers Team, drove the effort to test, investigate, and formulate CDL’s mobile activation and support strategy for CDL Licensed Resources.  For details about supported resources, known technical issues and considerations for campuses who are implementing mobile, please see http://www.cdlib.org/services/collections/mobile.html .  
3. Lena Zentall, Discovery and Delivery Project Manager, spearheaded an effort to develop Discovery and Delivery mobile strategy for their services, such as UC-eLinks and Request. Findings from the user research inquiry as well as a detailed mapping of the inter-relation of these services with CDL licensed resources helped to formulate next steps for mobile accessibility.

We plan to communicate our harmonized findings and next steps to UC campuses and beyond throughout the fall. Stay tuned for more information. But in the meantime, please take a look at the CDL mobile research wiki.

We hope you find the information as illuminating as we did…

The My ILL Requests system has been upgraded! The new interface includes a new look and feel, with many features that were requested by ILL patrons in the last ILL User Satisfaction Survey (conducted by the Resource Sharing Committee – Interlibrary Loan Advisory Group).

Examples include:

* The list of ILL requests loads immediately after logging in
* The list of ILL requests now shows 10 requests per page instead of 5
* The link to electronic documents appears in both default and details display
* More information is displayed about the status of requests

Complete information about the changes to My ILL Requests is available in the “My ILL Requests – New look, new features in 2010″ document at http://www.cdlib.org/services/d2d/ill/request/. Please feel free to adapt the document for instructional use on your campus.