Libraries today frequently struggle with identifying the best strategy to maximize resources, systems and staff. As collections shift from print to electronic resources, the need for new ways to manage workflows becomes more critical. With the introduction of new web-scale management systems and the looming question of when to migrate away from the traditional ILS, librarians must determine how much automation is desired vs. required – and how to balance the value of technology and human interaction.

1. Let It Flow: Effectiveness of Unified and Intelligent Workflows in the Library
Charleston 2012 #Charleston12
Anne Prestamo, Oklahoma State University
Cyril Oberlander, SUNY Geneseo
Phyllis Kaiden, Serials Solutions

2. Outline
Introduction
OSU: Today’s Reality, Tomorrow’s Ideal
Geneseo: Let Recommendations & Work Flow
Unified intelligent workflows
Imagine! What else is possible?

3. The Pain
Workflows
System Maintenance
Assessment

4. Posing the question:
• How can library systems
transform decision making?
• What are libraries doing
today?
• Conversations with 60
libraries.

5. Intelligent Workflows at 2 Libraries
Cyril Oberlander,
Director, SUNY Geneseo –
Let Recommendations and
Work Flow
Anne Prestamo,
Associate Dean, Oklahoma
State University – Today’s
Reality, Tomorrow’s Ideal

6. Oklahoma State University
Buy vs. Borrow
Today’s Reality
Tomorrow’s Ideal

7. Guidelines
Buy books requested via ILL, UNLESS:
• Items already owned by the OSU Libraries
• Publication date is older than the current fiscal year & the 4 previous
years
• Items priced at $150.00 or more
• Blocked publishers/plans - standing orders or other plans as identified
by ACQ staff (i.e. best seller plan)
• Excluded formats
o Audio-visual materials such as DVD's, CD's, audio books, etc.
o Non-English language books
o Textbooks as designated by OCLC or Barnes & Noble
o Workbooks, or manuals, e.g. lab manuals or solution manuals
o Software manuals
o Music scores
o Journal or serial volumes
o Dissertations or theses
o Conference proceedings

8. ILL Request via ILLIAD

9. Buy vs Borrow Workflow
Patron
request
YBP Receive ebook
YBP Yes
Purchase link and send
ebook?
Process to ILL
ILL Staff No
search ILS
Amazon Catalog Book
Amazon Yes
Purchase and send to
book?
Process ILL
Yes
Owned? No
No Notify Patron
Borrow
(ILLiad)
Yes
Meets Buy
criteria?
No

10. Let recommendations and work flow
Getting It System Toolkit (GIST) & Decision Making Streamlining
GIST Team, SUNY Geneseo
Tim Bowersox, bowersox@geneseo.edu
Cyril Oberlander, cyril@geneseo.edu
Kate Pitcher, pitcher@geneseo.edu
Mark Sullivan, sullivm@geneseo.edu
GISTLIBRARY.ORG

11. Economic Transformations
Monograph Spending/Sharing & ILL
Association of Research Libraries 2008-2009
ILL
Cost #
Titles
With
# ILL
Titles / rights
Student
Purchased
2009 over 11 Million ILL requests (ALA)
2010 ~ 9.6M OCLC ILL requests (OCLC)

12. Decision Engines are key to innovation = Collection Building Profiles + Automation
Workflow must understand our profiles & criteria, gather & incorporate valued
data to help us make decisions quickly – so we can innovate services.
• What criteria are most important to you for determining collection decisions?
• How do you leverage data & services to make workflow streamlined & automated?
Accept this Buy or Evaluate
Gift Borrow this Book
? ? ?

13. GIST uses Conspectus
as your customizable collection building profile
The OCLC Conspectus is a subject
hierarchy consisting of divisions,
categories, and subjects.
Subject
Collecting Division
Level
Range 0-5 LC & Dewey
Consortia
& Regional
Holdings
Factors you profile to make
a Decision Engine

14. Decision
Engine using
Conspectus
Yes/No or
If/Then
What
matters?

15. Getting It System Toolkit

16. GIST for ILLiad – buy & borrow workflow in 1 platform
Acquisitions Manager
Order, encumber, and fulfill—
Acquisitions all within ILLiad.
Automated &/or Manual
Transfer
GIST for ILLiad Webpages
GIST allows ILLiad to route patron requests automatically GIST ILLiad tables
using your buy vs. borrow criteria.
View availability and price data
Interlibrary
in one place.
Loan

17. GIST Webpage End user sees data that matters and helps our decisions…
Features
• Amazon Reviews
• Discovers full-text from
Google Books, Hathi Trust,
Internet Archive & more
• Discovers Local holdings &
links to local catalog
• Pricing options for end-users
• Custom user questions
• Worldcat group holdings
data
Automation & Strategies…
• Route requests with Full-Text
to special queues
• Route requests with no
consortia holdings to
purchasing evaluation
queues
• User (status specific)
purchase requests
• Other ideas…

18. GIST ILLIAD Addons – staff open request & opens service + auto-searches
Acq + ILL Staff access any web services for purchasing, cataloging, downloading, etc.
• Amazon
• GOBI
• OCLC Connexion
• & 20+ more…

19. GIST Acquisitions Manager Automated
Conspectus built into ILL & Acquisitions workflow customizable
Acquisitions Addon collection
building profile
for Acquisitions
& ILL
Purchase Addon

20. GIST Acquisitions Manager: adds funds, conspectus, and more…
GIST Toolkit
Service
Delivery

21. GIST Gift & Deselection Manager It’s FREE!
open source standalone system for Gifts & Collection Evaluation

22. Gift Automation @ 3 second processing
Features Included:
• Auto-Wish list
detection (default
Caldecott &
Newbery Awards)
• Recommendation
automated by your
OCLC Connexion Donor Letter Conspectus
(auto-searched) (automated)
• Detects Hathi &
Google Books full-
view
• Review by subject,
email, print
• & much more…

23. GIST Deselection Manager: evaluate item by item

24. GDM: Batch Collection Evaluation or Deselection
1. Import ISBN &/or OCLC# using an ILS report (e.g. 0 or low use
report as a simple delimited file)
2. Run Batch Processing – GIST exports Excel file.
3. Review GDM data: Free full text, price, accepted by Better World
Books, regional holdings, & more.
4. Sort by values, make decisions, then…
5. Batch remove from OCLC using Connexion
(or convert records for full-text holdings?)
Practical Uses
• Batch collection evaluation for weeding, what is rare,
digitized, regional holdings, etc.?
• Book and journal duplication analysis
• Identifying works to digitize
• Identifying materials for special collections

25. Conspectus + Recommendation + Automation
Your profile + Item/Request + Data
Accept this Buy or Evaluate
Gift Borrow this Book

26. Decision Making Engine: Automate your recommendation work flow
Why? GISTLIBRARY.ORG
To empower us for our future…
by unlocking the talent and time of people in our libraries
We/Libraries need…
• Strategic options
• Platforms that enable us to focus our time and talent to transform and provide
new services to help the future of higher education;
• Publishing Services – academic content distribution models
• Digital Scholarship & Digital Projects – academic R & D, & distribution
• Data Management – academic content distribution models
• Project Management - academic R & D, & knowledge management
• Instructional Design – transforming learning environments & assessment
• and more
We/Libraries need to make every decision count…
• SUNY Geneseo and other development partner libraries are working with Serials Solutions
and applying our expertise to help develop a new library system.
• SUNY Geneseo & IDS Project also works with Atlas Systems, Copyright Clearance Center,
OCLC, other vendors and other libraries to develop library systems and solutions.

27. imagine…
What else could you be doing with your time, money & resources?

28. A Unique Solution
Unified, intelligent workflows
Knowledgebase
Assessment
Interoperable
Developed and supported by Serials Solutions

29. Serials Solutions Knowledgebase
Metadata for Rules,
New Content Normalization,
Types (e.g. Standardization,
A/V) Cataloging
Industry
Ulrich’s Authority Data
(all) (e.g. LCNA,
LCSA)
KnowledgeWorks New Business
metadata (e.g.
(all)
KB standard licenses)

30. Assessment
Print COUNTER
Print Usage
Holdings Recommend -
KB ILL acquire
Hathi Trust Intota Collection Analysis
Reporting/Dashboards
Impact
Factor
Accreditation
BIP/RCL/ Recommend -
Google Ulrich’s deselect
PubTrack
30

31. Interoperability
Campus
systems
PDA Consortia
Vendors Intota Discovery

32. Decision Support Engine
Components
Conditions Actions Rules
Rule: If <condition> then <action>
If database cancel-date = today then deactivate titles
and alert Collection Development

33. OSU Buy vs Borrow Workflow - Current
Patron
request
YBP Receive ebook
YBP Yes
Purchase link and send
ebook?
Process to ILL
ILL Staff No
search ILS
Amazon Catalog Book
Amazon Yes
Purchase and send to
book?
Process ILL
Yes
Owned? No
No Notify Patron
Borrow
(ILLiad)
Yes
Meets Buy
criteria?
No

34. Automatically check for
ownership?
Automatically know if a
request meets Buy Criteria?
Automatically place the order
What if your
with preferred vendor? system
Automatically add record to
our catalog? could:
Automatically notify patron of
availability?

35. Data + Actions + Rules = Intelligent
Buy vs Borrow rule
If requested item not owned by library and
Publication date > (current year minus 5) and
Cost < $150 and
Format = (allowed formats) and
available from preferred vendor
Then place order with vendor and
Notify selector and patron
Else borrow and notify ILL and patron

36. OSU Buy vs Borrow Workflow - Future
Patron
request
YBP Receive ebook
YBP Yes
Purchase link and send
ebook?
Process System adds to ILL
ILL Staff No System to catalog;
search ILS acquires interoperates
material, Amazon with vendor Catalog Book
Amazon mediated or
Yes
Purchase and ILL to and send to
System book? unmediated
receives
Process fulfill patron ILL
Yes workflow request
Owned? request and No
assesses buy
No vs borrow Notify Patron
Borrow
(ILLiad)
Yes
Meets Buy
criteria?
No

37. What can you imagine?
Survey of ideas
What have you done?
What else is possible?
Enjoy the chocolate!
• Anne Prestamo, Oklahoma State University, anne.prestamo@okstate.edu
• Cyril Oberlander, SUNY Geneseo, oberland@geneseo.edu
• Phyllis Kaiden, Serials Solutions, phyllis.kaiden@serialssolutions.com