Annabelle Pau

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From Lais to LC an account of experience on
HKU Libraries reclassification exercises

• Annabelle Pau Peter Sidorko

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Part 1Reclassification at HKU Libraries

• The why?

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The previous practice

• HKU Libraries
• DDC
• Others
• Moys for Law
• Black for Dentistry
• Sequential numbers for microform
• Degree code for HKU theses
• Cutter system for HK gov doc,
• In-house classification schemes.

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The previous practice

• Fung Ping Shan Library
• Lai Yung Xiang (Modified)
• Modified DDC
• Doo Ding U Classification Scheme
• Sequential number for microform, etc

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The why?

• International standard for classification
• Collocation of materials
• Saving on Resources
• Conforming with local libraries

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Views of cataloguing staff

• The general sentiment was that the current FPS
  Classification Scheme, being a hybrid and mixture
  of elements from several schemes, is difficult to
  apply and often results in a great deal of
  inconsistency in application. There was a
  general agreement that the current status cannot
  continue.

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Views of FPSL cataloguing staff

• Among the existing classification schemes, which
  do you consider the most appropriate for FPSL?
• 1st choice Library of Congress Classification
  (12)
• 2nd choice Lai Yung Xiang (23)
• 3rd Choice Chinese Library Classification (30)
• DDC scheme was ruled out because of its
  extremely inadequate treatment of Chinese
  language materials
• lowest scores indicate top choice

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Views of Cataloguing Department

• If FPSL decide to adopt another classification,
  should the rest of the University Libraries also
  change?
• Re-classifying to achieve uniformity 11
• Maintaining separate classifications 3

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Views of Dept/Section Heads(Main Library and
Branches)

• If FPSL decide to adopt another classification,
  should the rest of the University Libraries also
  change?
• Re-classifying to achieve uniformity 6
• Maintaining separate classifications 3

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Decisions

• Given the current situation and condition of
  classification in the FPSL, it would be in the
  best interest of the Library to reclassify its
  collection.
• In spite of its imperfections and bias, the
  Library of Congress Classification emerges as the
  top candidate to replace the FPSL Classification
  Scheme.
• While, in principle, the staff favors a unified
  approach to classification for the entire library
  system, should the issue of re-classifying the
  rest of the library come up in the future, it
  should be carefully re-examined in view of the
  FPSL experiences and any new developments in
  bibliographic control and technology and take
  into consideration users reactions to the
  prospect of re-classifying the entire collections
  at the point of decision making.

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Part 2Reclassification at HKU Libraries

• The how?

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FPS re-labeling project

• Result of consultants recommendations
• Special committee formed in 2002 for the
  implementation of the project
• After considering various factors, it was decided
  that
• Reclassification of FPS materials started with
  the re-labeling of items of which LC numbers can
  be downloaded from external sources
• Materials in closed stack and remote storage were
  given lowest priority in re-class.
• All items required manual re-class remained
  un-touch until all items with LC numbers
  downloaded were done.

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Project progress

• Project became Operational Priority 4.1 after the
  2004 annual library retreat with the setting up
  of project team
• Large scale de-selecting and relocating exercise
  was carried out prior to start of project
  because
• No decanting areas for the re-labeled materials.
• less used FPS materials have to be relocated to
  vacate shelf space for subsequent reshuffle of
  shelving for the re-labeled materials.

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Project scope

• 159,730 items with LC numbers downloaded were
  waiting to be re-labeled on 5/F 6/F of the FPS
  library when the project officially kicked off in
  September 2004
• These items included
• FPS general collection
• FPS Large Book
• FPS Large Reference
• FPS Taiwan Collection
• FPS Reference Collection

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Logistics planning

• Factors which affected logistics plan and work
  flow of the re-labeling project
• Space available
• Human factors
• labor available
• peoples prefer way of operation - smooth
  workflow enable efficient productivity in a
  labor-intensive work environment

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Space available

• No extra floor space can be used as decanting
  areas for the re-labeled materials
• Workflow designed must ensure the least moving
  around of items for the convinence of users,
  helpers and shelvers

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Work area of the Re-labeling team
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Labor available

• When project team set up we hired 3 temporary
  helpers specifically for the project
• Retrieval and re-labeling of items mainly 3
  helpers
• Re-shelving, compacting and shuffling of
  re-labeled materials relies on Access Services
  Department colleagues
• Design of workflow need to consider reducing any
  duplication of retrieving re-shelving efforts
  of the 3 re-labeling helpers and ASD colleagues

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Logistics

• Re-labeling team decided that basic logistics for
  relabeling to be
• Items came off shelves in Lais
• Items went back to shelves in LC
• Former Systems Analysis, Mr. William Ko, first
  retrieved from INNOPAC all items that got LC
  numbers downloaded
• Sort them in alphabetical sequence and
  transformed to EXCEL format
• ALL A class items finished re-labeling before
  moving onto B class and so on and so forth.

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• Each LC class were again sorted in original Lais
  sequence within each EXCEL files before label
  printing
• Facilitate re-labeling helpers to retrieve items
  from shelves efficiently which was arranged in
  original Lais sequence before any re-labeling
  done

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With very large LC class such as P class (50387
items in total) more analysis within each sub
class e.g. from P, PA to PZ need to be done in
order to enable ASD colleagues to have a clearer
idea on what to expect in shelving and reshuffle
of items
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• Large .txt files contained original barcode range
  3 helpers being assigned each day which were
  converted to text format
• Small .txt file contained the re-labeled item
  barcodes scanned by helpers each day
• Every day scanned barcode from the 3 helpers will
  be saved as .txt file and merged together as one
  file called SMALL.TXT with date as file name
• Original barcode range assigned to them were
  converted and named LARGE.TXT again with date
  stamped

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• Script which William put on INNOPAC compared the
  two .txt files and identified those missing or
  out on loan items on INNOPAC needed re-labeling
• Script marked those items identified in LARGE.txt
  but not in SMALL.txt on INNOPAC item message
  field to alert ASD colleagues about any missing
  or returned items to be returned to re-labeling
  team
• Script also replaced ORIGINAL Lais number with
  LC in call number field with item barcode found
  in both large and small.txt

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• Items not found on shelves and scanned by
  re-labeling helpers (e.g. those out on loan or
  missing) but contained in the original EXCEL
  files (LARGE.txt) will then be marked with an
  item message Return to Annabelle by the script
  items would be shipped for re-labeling upon its
  returning to library

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These item messages would then be removed or
leave blank by the script on INNOPAC after label
changed and barcode scanned as .txt files.
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Statistics

• Statistics of FPS items when project team
  disbanded on 15th of November 2005
• 155,528 FPS items relabeled since project started
  September 2004 an average of 3500 items being
  re-labeled on a 5 days working week basis in not
  more than a year
• 1, 887 FPS items NOT on loan NOR can be found on
  shelves (missing?)
• 895 FPS items with NO barcodes i.e. title call
  nos. found on spine labels and on INNOPAC but no
  barcodes were being supplied in the barcode field
  of the III item records
• 36,027 titles or 43,236 volumes of FPS items
  needed manual re-class

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Recommendations on follow up actions

• For the 1,887 items in category C were to declare
  missing after searching done
• ASD colleagues searched if items really missing
• If confirmed considered whether replacements
  are necessary
• If not replacing TS colleagues need to
  remove/suppress bibliographical records from OPAC
  so as not to confuse users
• For the 895 items without barcode
• Replace the barcode on items
• Update the records on INNOPAC
• Recommend to be followed up by TS.
• For the 1,036 items out on loan either
• To call back all 1036 items for re-labeling OR
• To re-label each one as they come back each day
  if they cant be back before re-labeling team
  disband

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Achievements

• Thorough stock take of CJK materials
• Relegate of less used materials
• Great uniformity of the CJK collections
• An easier classification systems for users
• Re-labeling project finished way ahead of the
  original estimated time because of faster
  processing speed (In the original project plan it
  was estimated each day 7 trolleys of books were
  being done i.e. _at_90 books x 7 630 books)