MeLCat Workflow How Are Libraries Handling the Load

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MeLCat Workflow How Are Libraries Handling the
Load?
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• 251 libraries live on MeLCat (February 2008)
• Academic 42
• Public 181
• K-12 24
• Special (government, tribal, cooperative)  4
• 7.86 million Bibliographic records in MeLCat
  (February 2008)
• 26.2 million Items in MeLCat (October 2007)

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MeLCat Fulfillment Statistics

• 2005
• Requests  87,548 Fulfillments 74,253 Fill
  rate 84.8
• 2006
• Requests 208,069 Fulfillments 184,464 Fill
  rate  88.6
• 2007
• Requests 388,071 Fulfillments 345,216 Fill
  rate 88.9
• 2008
• Requests 57,353 Fulfillments 52,329  Fill
  rate 91.2   

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Questions to Ask

• Centralized or de-centralized workload?
• Staff training all, some or few?
• Locally duplicate borrowing requests?
• Timing?
• Packaging?
• Why? Does it work for us?

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Borrowing Actions

• Variations
• Receive
• Create local request
• Notify via local system
• Pickup/Checkout (both)
• Checkin (both)
• Package Ship

• Basic
• Receive
• Notify
• Email
• Phone
• Pickup/Checkout
• Checkin
• Package Ship

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Lending Actions

• Basic
• Print requests
• Retrieve items
• Checkout (both)
• Package Ship
• Bookband or page?
• Loan period variation?
• Checkin (both)

• Variations
• Print requests
• Retrieve items
• Checkout (both)
• Package Ship
• Bookband or page?
• Loan period variation?
• Checkin (both)

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Other Management Actions

• Patron Notices
• Overdue and Cancellation Notices
• Reports
• Library (aka Institutional) Overdues
• Too Long Reports
• Renewals
• Cancellations

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Centralized or De-Centralized?

• More than physical locations, also applies to
  staff or departments.
• What actions can be centralized?
• Packaging, patron notices, reports, lending
  actions.
• What actions can be de-centralized?
• Packaging, print requests, borrowing actions.

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Staff Training?

• All
• All circulation staff trained to use
  INN-Reach/DCB client for all borrowing and
  lending tasks.
• Some
• Some staff trained for limited use of
  INN-Reach/DCB client.
• Few
• Only select staff use INN-Reach/DCB client

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Duplicate Borrowing Requests

• Hold pickup notification include phone in
  patron exports to appear on paging slip.
• Convenience vs. confusion.
• NCIP (please attend next session!)

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Packaging?

• High enough volume that items can be packaged
  together if going to same location/library.
• Identify items as MeLCat loans
• Paging slip, bookband, removable stickers.
• Identify items loaned using the short loan period.

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Timing?

• MeL Delivery schedule
• Add specific actions to current routines
• Retrieve MeLCat requests with local requests
• More frequently print and retrieve requests.

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Why? Does it work for us?

• Why keep a paper trail of MeLCat activity?
• Why duplicate borrowing requests on local system?
• Why continue to apply former or current ILL
  procedures to MeLCat? Do they translate?

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Questions?

• MeLCat List
• melcat_at_lists.mlcnet.org
• MeLCat Help
• melcathelp_at_mlcnet.org
• Jackie Licalzi
• licalzij_at_mlcnet.org