- Email: [email protected]
Relocation, reorganization, retrenchment
426
Conference Report / 24 (2000) 403– 441
then a fax request is sent and finally a call is made, if necessary. Sometimes a response never comes at all. Generally any royalty fee charged is modest and many charge no fee at all. The copyright clearance center charges Preservation a flat fee of $20 for its processing of the permission request. They usually only spend a couple of hundred dollars per year on permissions. The worst problems occur when other copyright holders own different parts of the work and permission must be sought from all of them. The scanning process began as a preservation function in 1995 and many of the titles were added to replace some of 145 titles lost in a flood. One hundred six OP titles have been added. Some of the criteria for whether a borrowed book is suitable for the scanning project are: the tightness of the margins, whether there are color plates or not, the condition or fragility of the paper, the size of the volume, and whether the loan period is long enough for doing the scanning. If necessary, the library asks if the volume can be unbound for scanning and rebound at Penn State’s expense. Acid-free archival quality paper is used for the copy. A notice of reproduction is added to the volume and to the bibliographic record. Some editing may be done for legibility. The image of the book is store as an uncompressed TIF file. On average over the life of this project, 45% of the titles added are new titles and 55% are replacement copies. The average cost is $64 at about $0.28 per page and the library has found that the process has been proven to be cost effective. Judging by the response of the audience, other acquisitions librarians will want to investigate this option as another method of library material acquisition. Lee A. Krieger University of Miami Richter Library 1300 Memorial Drive Coral Gables, FL 33124 E-mail address: [email protected].
References [1] Fennesey, E.T. On the street – out of print searching on the World Wide Web. Against the Grain, 11 (April 1999):62, 64.
Relocation, reorganization, retrenchment The good news and the bad news; you have to/get to move your library or your library unit. You just got the news that your department is moving. Now comes the hard part. How do you prepare for the move, keep your regular work operations going, and maintain your composure? Three librarians told of their experiences and how they handled being faced with “Relocation, Reorganization, Retrenchment.” Each librarian faced a different scenario involving their unit in a move. Suzanne Kiker (Unit Head Monograph Acquisitions, University of Florida, Gainesville) was faced with a renovation of the area where her unit resided. It was decided that relocating the department outside the library during the renovation was not feasible due to moving costs, difficulty with telecommunications, transportation of materials, and the need to interact with other library staff. The Acquisitions staff would stay in the library during the construction. Thus began
Conference Report / Libr. Coll. Acq. & Tech. Serv. 24 (2000) 403– 441
427
“The Best of Times, the Worst of Times.” Priority number one was accomplished when space to accommodate staff with special needs was found. The spirit of cooperation showed itself when other departments of the library willingly allowed staff to share their workspace. With the staff spread out in different areas of the library it was a good opportunity to look at the workflow and try to modify or reduce steps. This was also a chance to try out new procedures, and reassign responsibilities to different people, many of whom welcomed the new and different duties. The end result was an improvement in the working environment for everyone. Although noise, frequent small moves to accommodate the construction, and a multitude of small problems arose each day, there were many good things that came out of the experience. New challenges, a chance to work with new people and to learn about other areas of the library were high points. Deborah Jensen (Serials Librarian, Boston Athenaeum) shared her war stories about a full scale move for her library. You may recognize the historical landmark Boston Athenaeum as the exterior of the law firm on the TV show Ally McBeal or from the film Civil Action. Either way the Boston Athenaeum was ready for a full building renovation. Almost everyone and most of the functions would be moved to a new location to allow for building renovations that would increase shelf space, provide a new reading room for special collections, increase the area for preservation work, and upgrade a fire suppression system. The last time a major renovation was made to the building, the entire staff was sent to Europe. This time there was no European trip but all the staff were kept employed. The special collections and fine arts were packed and sent to storage for the duration of the renovation. A small reading room was maintained in the storefront area of the regular building but all offices and the bulk of the library collection were moved several miles away to an old Army building. Location was an important factor for both the library staff and the patrons of this private library. With a small staff everyone is involved in getting the move ready, from the large overall planning, packing and unpacking the items, and down to the detail level of who cleans out the refrigerator and packs the kitchen supplies. Actual library space shrank rapidly as the reading rooms were used as staging areas for the packing. Everyone knows hammering is distracting but unless you have experienced it you will never know how noisy saran wrap can be when used to pack items. Although the staff was very involved with all aspects of the move, professional movers were called in to do the actual packing and moving of the contents. Some universal guidelines to remember for any move: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Indecision is the key in inflexibility; Delays will happen; A move will take more time than estimated; Orphan tasks that need to be done will always show up that have not been assigned to anyone.
Some things to make the transition easier: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Keep yourself involved so you have input; Be kind to your staff; Set policies; Be flexible; Make sure staff expectations are realistic.
428
Conference Report / Libr. Coll. Acq. & Tech. Serv. 24 (2000) 403– 441
Special care and attention were given to the needs of the library members who would face major disruption in their routine use of the library. During the entire relocation process the Library was never closed and many of the activities normally sponsored by the Athenaeum were continued, including afternoon tea. Now the staff can sit back, reflect and plan the library’s move back to the newly renovated building. The final speaker, Kathie Goldfarb (Department Head Cataloging, Florida State University Libraries) was given the option of permanent relocation of her Technical Services Unit. She took that option and enthusiastically endorsed it as a win/win situation. Most libraries are constantly looking for new space as new books, computers and user space are increased. In the case at Florida State University the Technical Services Unit was totally moved out of the main library and then relocated a second time. The libraries at Florida State University currently occupy several buildings on campus and adding another separate library was looked upon as a workable solution to overcrowding in the main library. When faced with a possible permanent move the three most important things to consider are location, location, and LOCATION. The question of who should move is obviously answered by, those areas that have the least contact with the “public.” The Technical Service units fit this category. Several aspects then needed to be addressed to ensure the unit functions and workflow could still be easily maintained. Important considerations included: 1. transportation of people – within walking distance of other libraries, an understanding of the time needed to move from one location to another; 2. communication – telephone, e-mail, computers; 3. methods of transportation for books and materials – special tubs for books, interdepartmental envelopes, large mailing bags, fax machines, campus courier system; 4. workflow considerations – procedures for rush materials, quick processing for date sensitive materials, newspapers, periodicals; 5. building design – one floor, loading dock, open environment, meeting rooms Although the total floor space is not much more than the units had before the move the physical layout of the new location is much better. The move initiated staff discussions about the workflow process. And the end result was a better workflow and a building design that follows that workflow. Goldfarb says that if she had to do it again she would involve the staff in the planning of the move to a higher degree, include separate “Administrative Offices,” and would investigate the use of “teleconferencing” to save travel time. All three speakers were living proof that moving your library unit can be successfully accomplished and if the librarians in the audience were any indication there will be a lot of moving going on in the coming years. Jane K. Olsgaard Science Bibliographer Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 E-mail address: [email protected].
Conference Report / 24 (2000) 403– 441
then a fax request is sent and finally a call is made, if necessary. Sometimes a response never comes at all. Generally any royalty fee charged is modest and many charge no fee at all. The copyright clearance center charges Preservation a flat fee of $20 for its processing of the permission request. They usually only spend a couple of hundred dollars per year on permissions. The worst problems occur when other copyright holders own different parts of the work and permission must be sought from all of them. The scanning process began as a preservation function in 1995 and many of the titles were added to replace some of 145 titles lost in a flood. One hundred six OP titles have been added. Some of the criteria for whether a borrowed book is suitable for the scanning project are: the tightness of the margins, whether there are color plates or not, the condition or fragility of the paper, the size of the volume, and whether the loan period is long enough for doing the scanning. If necessary, the library asks if the volume can be unbound for scanning and rebound at Penn State’s expense. Acid-free archival quality paper is used for the copy. A notice of reproduction is added to the volume and to the bibliographic record. Some editing may be done for legibility. The image of the book is store as an uncompressed TIF file. On average over the life of this project, 45% of the titles added are new titles and 55% are replacement copies. The average cost is $64 at about $0.28 per page and the library has found that the process has been proven to be cost effective. Judging by the response of the audience, other acquisitions librarians will want to investigate this option as another method of library material acquisition. Lee A. Krieger University of Miami Richter Library 1300 Memorial Drive Coral Gables, FL 33124 E-mail address: [email protected].
References [1] Fennesey, E.T. On the street – out of print searching on the World Wide Web. Against the Grain, 11 (April 1999):62, 64.
Relocation, reorganization, retrenchment The good news and the bad news; you have to/get to move your library or your library unit. You just got the news that your department is moving. Now comes the hard part. How do you prepare for the move, keep your regular work operations going, and maintain your composure? Three librarians told of their experiences and how they handled being faced with “Relocation, Reorganization, Retrenchment.” Each librarian faced a different scenario involving their unit in a move. Suzanne Kiker (Unit Head Monograph Acquisitions, University of Florida, Gainesville) was faced with a renovation of the area where her unit resided. It was decided that relocating the department outside the library during the renovation was not feasible due to moving costs, difficulty with telecommunications, transportation of materials, and the need to interact with other library staff. The Acquisitions staff would stay in the library during the construction. Thus began
Conference Report / Libr. Coll. Acq. & Tech. Serv. 24 (2000) 403– 441
427
“The Best of Times, the Worst of Times.” Priority number one was accomplished when space to accommodate staff with special needs was found. The spirit of cooperation showed itself when other departments of the library willingly allowed staff to share their workspace. With the staff spread out in different areas of the library it was a good opportunity to look at the workflow and try to modify or reduce steps. This was also a chance to try out new procedures, and reassign responsibilities to different people, many of whom welcomed the new and different duties. The end result was an improvement in the working environment for everyone. Although noise, frequent small moves to accommodate the construction, and a multitude of small problems arose each day, there were many good things that came out of the experience. New challenges, a chance to work with new people and to learn about other areas of the library were high points. Deborah Jensen (Serials Librarian, Boston Athenaeum) shared her war stories about a full scale move for her library. You may recognize the historical landmark Boston Athenaeum as the exterior of the law firm on the TV show Ally McBeal or from the film Civil Action. Either way the Boston Athenaeum was ready for a full building renovation. Almost everyone and most of the functions would be moved to a new location to allow for building renovations that would increase shelf space, provide a new reading room for special collections, increase the area for preservation work, and upgrade a fire suppression system. The last time a major renovation was made to the building, the entire staff was sent to Europe. This time there was no European trip but all the staff were kept employed. The special collections and fine arts were packed and sent to storage for the duration of the renovation. A small reading room was maintained in the storefront area of the regular building but all offices and the bulk of the library collection were moved several miles away to an old Army building. Location was an important factor for both the library staff and the patrons of this private library. With a small staff everyone is involved in getting the move ready, from the large overall planning, packing and unpacking the items, and down to the detail level of who cleans out the refrigerator and packs the kitchen supplies. Actual library space shrank rapidly as the reading rooms were used as staging areas for the packing. Everyone knows hammering is distracting but unless you have experienced it you will never know how noisy saran wrap can be when used to pack items. Although the staff was very involved with all aspects of the move, professional movers were called in to do the actual packing and moving of the contents. Some universal guidelines to remember for any move: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Indecision is the key in inflexibility; Delays will happen; A move will take more time than estimated; Orphan tasks that need to be done will always show up that have not been assigned to anyone.
Some things to make the transition easier: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Keep yourself involved so you have input; Be kind to your staff; Set policies; Be flexible; Make sure staff expectations are realistic.
428
Conference Report / Libr. Coll. Acq. & Tech. Serv. 24 (2000) 403– 441
Special care and attention were given to the needs of the library members who would face major disruption in their routine use of the library. During the entire relocation process the Library was never closed and many of the activities normally sponsored by the Athenaeum were continued, including afternoon tea. Now the staff can sit back, reflect and plan the library’s move back to the newly renovated building. The final speaker, Kathie Goldfarb (Department Head Cataloging, Florida State University Libraries) was given the option of permanent relocation of her Technical Services Unit. She took that option and enthusiastically endorsed it as a win/win situation. Most libraries are constantly looking for new space as new books, computers and user space are increased. In the case at Florida State University the Technical Services Unit was totally moved out of the main library and then relocated a second time. The libraries at Florida State University currently occupy several buildings on campus and adding another separate library was looked upon as a workable solution to overcrowding in the main library. When faced with a possible permanent move the three most important things to consider are location, location, and LOCATION. The question of who should move is obviously answered by, those areas that have the least contact with the “public.” The Technical Service units fit this category. Several aspects then needed to be addressed to ensure the unit functions and workflow could still be easily maintained. Important considerations included: 1. transportation of people – within walking distance of other libraries, an understanding of the time needed to move from one location to another; 2. communication – telephone, e-mail, computers; 3. methods of transportation for books and materials – special tubs for books, interdepartmental envelopes, large mailing bags, fax machines, campus courier system; 4. workflow considerations – procedures for rush materials, quick processing for date sensitive materials, newspapers, periodicals; 5. building design – one floor, loading dock, open environment, meeting rooms Although the total floor space is not much more than the units had before the move the physical layout of the new location is much better. The move initiated staff discussions about the workflow process. And the end result was a better workflow and a building design that follows that workflow. Goldfarb says that if she had to do it again she would involve the staff in the planning of the move to a higher degree, include separate “Administrative Offices,” and would investigate the use of “teleconferencing” to save travel time. All three speakers were living proof that moving your library unit can be successfully accomplished and if the librarians in the audience were any indication there will be a lot of moving going on in the coming years. Jane K. Olsgaard Science Bibliographer Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 E-mail address: [email protected].