Technical Services Program Review
Cataloging First Time In
Report of Findings as of October 30, 2000 - Part 4
4. First Time Cataloging Work Flow in the Cataloging Department
The work flow of the Cataloging Dept. for cataloging monograph titles which are new to the UM,CP Libraries has been diagramed in flow charts numbered 2-21. The flow charts describe the source of new monograph materials and the steps needed to catalog the materials and get them ready for final processing. Flow charts 3-7 show the preparation of the bibliographic record in depth from its initial search in Victor and OCLC through the process of creating an original record, including the steps of contributing the record to the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). The preparation of the bibliographic record is not repeated, but referred to, in the flow charts for the cataloging of a particular type of material or collection. A discussion of the work flow follows and includes mention of UM,CP documentation for many cataloging processes.
The cataloging work flow begins with materials arriving in the Cataloging Dept. from many different sources. The Acquisitions Dept. staff, in addition to processing the PromptCat materials, spends much time sorting new monographs and delivering them to the various queues in the Cataloging Dept. Most materials are sent directly to the Rapid Cataloging Unit (flow chart #2) but some go to the Monographs Unit (top of flow chart #4) or to the Music/AV Unit (flow charts #10-11).
Materials come from the Acquisitions Dept. as new purchases or gifts. New purchases are by purchase order, standing order, Blackwell of North America (BNA) and other approval plans, PromptCat titles with cataloging records needing completion, and gifts as single pieces or gifts in collections. Gifts make up a large portion of new monographs requiring cataloging. Those marked "routine" are brought to the Cataloging Dept. for cataloging; those marked "backlog" are sent to the backlog queue in McKeldin's basement. The exception to this is "routine" music scores and sound recording gifts which go the backlog queue due to lack of staff with music expertise to catalog them. Otherwise, the specific processing of gifts is not a part of this study. At one time, Federal government monographs for which no record was received from the monthly GPO tape load were cataloged by the Cataloging Dept. This material is now being cataloged by a separate group using Marcive records and is being studied by a separate program review group. Materials for the many collections which the Cataloging Dept. catalogs arrive packed in boxes or on book trucks sent directly from the collection itself.
The largest queue in the Cataloging Dept. is the Rapid Cataloging routine processing queue (flow chart #2). New monograph purchases, monographs received on standing order and approval plans, and routine gifts are placed in this queue. The Rapid Cataloging routine queue takes daily management. All new materials brought to the routine queue are checked and put in order by the date of receipt. Order by date within the month is not strictly kept because of the time it would take to make an exact arrangement. Approximately, 15-20 new shelves of purchased materials arrive each week for the routine queue. In the past, this amount was much higher, but with the arrival of PromptCat, a large portion of new materials received are now processed in the Acquisitions Dept. The arrival of PromptCat has removed the "easy" titles to catalog from the Rapid Cataloging Unit. Time not spent cataloging PromptCat titles means that some materials in the basement backlog can be processed. These materials tend to be more difficult to catalog since the cataloging copy often needs work. The recent influx of money for purchasing new materials has also kept the routine queue very full and has provided some respite from the cataloging of gifts.
The Acquisitions Dept. brings many materials directly to several other queues in the Cataloging Dept. Materials which are rush, reference, for reserves, mixed format, require special handling, Hebrew/Yiddish (flow chart #9), music scores and sound recordings (flow chart #10), audiovisual materials (flow chart #11), juvenile materials (flow chart #12), Chinese, Japanese and Korean language materials (CJK) (flow chart #13) are placed by the Acquisitions Dept. staff directly on specially marked shelves or book trucks or placed in a locked cabinet, or, in the case of electronic resources (flow chart #14), are given to the electronic monograph resources coordinator. The Acquisitions Dept. staff bring PromptCat materials to the Rapid Cataloging Unit when there is a problem with the record upon its load into Victor. These are given a high priority for completion since a record is already in Victor. These receive the same work flow as other regular materials.
Many uncataloged titles in the Marylandia, Special Collections, and Rare books collection (flow chart #15) are given directly to the special collections cataloger in the Monographs Unit (note: this position is now vacant). New titles for these collections which are purchased via the Aquisitions Dept. go to Rapid Cataloging first for searching and cataloging. If good cataloging copy is not found, then the material is given to the special collections cataloger.
Books for PALIB were formerly placed in the Rapid Cataloging queues, searched for copy, and sent to the Music/AV Unit only if the cataloging record needed major editing. Due to the lack of staff in the Rapid Cataloging Unit, all PALIB material since April 2000 is now searched and cataloged in the Music/AV Unit.
Materials from the Rapid Cataloging queues are searched by paraprofessional staff (flow chart #3). They search OCLC for a cataloging record and evaluate its quality according to written guidelines (see http://www.lib.umd.edu/TSD/CATDEPT/RAPID/copycat_pol.html). They update on OCLC those records which are complete according to the guidelines and complete others according to written documentation for the specific type of material, e.g. juvenile materials. It is possible for a new title to visit more than one unit in the Cataloging Dept. on its way to being cataloged for UM, CP Libraries. Each additional step adds time to the cataloging process. The work flow of materials between the Rapid Cataloging Unit, the Monographs Unit, and the Authorities Unit is detailed in flow charts #3-7). If no cataloging record is found by Rapid Cataloging staff, the title is sent to the Monographs Unit for original cataloging and authority work. If a cataloging record was found on OCLC but does not have a series and needs major editing, it is sent to the Monographs Unit for completion. The monographs catalogers verify all headings in the Name Authority File on OCLC. If copy was found and required a series check according to the copy cataloging guidelines above, the title is sent to the Authorities Unit next, even if it also needs major editing such as needing a call number. The series check is needed not only to verify the form of the series but to determine whether the title is to be classed separately or classed together. Records which receive a series check in the Authorities Unit also have all other headings verified as well. Analytics for analyzed monographs found through the series check or received on standing order are added by the Authorities Unit Library Technician (flow chart #16). After the authority check, non-analytic titles are returned to Rapid Cataloging for updating on OCLC as long as the rest of the cataloging record is complete. However, if the record needs major work, such as building a call number, the title is sent for completion by the professional catalogers in the Monographs Cataloging Unit who also verify the series and other headings. The verification of headings, whether it is done in the Authorities Unit or by the monograph catalogers, may require the creation and/or revision of name, series, and/or subject authority records for the Library of Congress authority file. Authority records are revised and contributed by the Authorities Librarian before the bibliographic record is entered into the UM online catalog. The authority control process is being studied in depth by the Cataloging Revisits Program Review Group.
The complexity of the work flow is expanded by the number of different UM,CP and UM,CP affiliated collections, such as the Maurer Library and the Library of American Broadcasting (LAB) (flow chart #17), the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (CES) (which seems to have been a one time project only), University of Maryland University College (UMUC) (flow chart #18), and juvenile materials for the College of Information Studies Library (flow chart #12), which are cataloged in the Cataloging Dept. Many of these collections require special handling as well as additional processing such as differing barcoding procedures. Many of these collections are shipped directly to staff in the Rapid Cataloging Unit or in the Monographs Unit. Some are shipped in special boxes which are used over and over again. The size of the shipments and the need to unpack and pack materials necessitates processing these materials as soon as they arrive for there is no space to store them in the routine queue. The complexity of the work requires that the same staff member be responsible for processing a certain collection. In some cases, no written documentation exists for procedures for each collection. Instead, bits and pieces exist in barcoding documentation. The only written documentation found described cataloging and processing for the Maurer collection and juvenile materials. There is no documentation for cataloging UMUC and LAB titles.
Some materials require additional information in the bibliographic record to identify the donor or name of a collection. These materials are usually not part of a collection which has its own Victor branch and location codes. These are materials which have been donated to the UM Libraries and selected for its general collections but which require identification of the donor or the fact that it is part of a gift collection. These require the addition of a 599 note to the bibliographic record noting the name of the donor or the name of the gift collection. The request for a 599 is indicated on the gift slip and it may or may not be accompanied by a book plate. Documentation listing all 599 notes used by UM,CP is available on the Cataloging Dept. web site at http://www.lib.umd.edu/TSD/599.html. Also, in the past, the 653 field has been used for requested subject headings which are not controlled.
The Cataloging Dept. also catalogs UM,CP masters theses (flow chart #19) and Ph.D. dissertations (flow chart #20). These require original cataloging. The masters theses are cataloged in the Rapid Cataloging Unit since they are not assigned subject headings. Ph.D. dissertations are cataloged in the Monographs Unit since they are assigned subject headings. Call numbers are not assigned on the basis on the subject of each individual thesis or dissertation. Instead, a general call number is assigned to each with the name of the author of the work added to it to distinguish one from another. The description part of the cataloging is fairly routine with the authority work on the names and the assigning of subjects to be the most difficult parts of the cataloging. Shipments of theses and dissertations are received two to three times a year and are processed as soon as they arrive and until the shipment is finished.
The Cataloging Dept. also catalogs preservation photocopies or other reformatted materials which have been created to replace damaged materials (flow chart #21). Often the cataloging record for the original piece can be used to create a cataloging record for the preservation copy whether it is in print, microfilm, etc. This work is performed in the Monographs Unit. Recent work flow changes now follow the routine of withdrawing the damaged piece first before the replacement is cataloged.
The acquisition and cataloging process is complicated by the fact that some materials are ordered as serials yet are cataloged as monographs and vice versa. The seriality of some monograph titles is noted here in order to be as complete as possible in describing the cataloging processes a monograph title might need. There are cataloging and work flow issues of seriality when processing some open monograph records, analyzed or not analyzed. Legal materials and loose-leaf services are often cataloged by Serials Cataloging Unit staff. Electronic databases are usually ordered as serials, which means there will be a serial temporary conversion record (TCR) in Victor, although currently electronic databases are cataloged as monographs. Monograph catalogers received training in the linking of a temporary conversion record to a monograph bibliographic record but few feel comfortable with the process. Most take this work and the updating of summary holdings to serial acquisitions staff to complete or to the paraprofessional staff member in the Authorities Unit who works more frequently with the Victor Serials module.
The Victor database itself also adds to the complexity of the work. The presence of the global file as well as the local file for UM,CP and the local files for which UM,CP catalogs, such as UMUC and at one time, CES, means that bibliographic maintenance is required in each file. Monograph catalogers consult the global file and UM,CP file when performing bibliographic file maintenance for authority controlled headings, correcting and/or reporting changes to the Catalog Management Dept. so that it can forward the changes to other USM libraries whose symbol also appears on the global record. PromptCat records which need completion in the local file also must be corrected in the global file. Most other global maintenance is performed when recataloging a title and thus is studied by the Program Review Cataloging Revisits Group.
Monograph adds (added volumes and added copies) may be discovered at any point in the cataloging process. Most added volumes and added copies which come through the Acquisitions Dept. are placed on Monograph Adds shelves in the Rapid Cataloging area. Added volumes to analyzed monograph titles go to the Authorities Unit. Music and audiovisual adds and monograph analytics are performed in the Music/AV Unit. Added copies and added volumes which are encountered during the course of searching Victor may be added at that point and not placed on the Monograph Adds shelves. The addition of added copies and volumes encountered during the process of cataloging a new title is reflected in the flow charts. Work flows which identify monograph adds from the point of ordering are not studied here since this falls into the scope of work for Cataloging Revisits Group.
A key step in the cataloging process requires assigning a barcode to the materials. Most materials will have two identical barcodes attached to the piece except for those receiving Special Handling have a single barcode attached to the yellow Special Handling flyer in the piece. Containers may be needed for mixed format materials. Several years ago procedures were worked out so that the Preservation Dept. makes a supply of containers for holding diskettes, cdroms, etc., which are ready to use when needed. Barcoding procedure are found at: http://www.lib.umd.edu/TSD/barcoding.html.
After updating the bibliographic record with the barcode number in the 949 (949 instrucions are found at: http://www.lib.umd.edu/TSD/TEST/CATM/949doc.html) or creating an item record for a new volume being added, most monograph materials are sent to the End Processing Unit (EPU) (flow chart #8) for labels, except for those requiring Special Handling which will have the label attached to the flyer. After updating the record, the cataloging and holdings records are revised when the records appead in Victor the next day. Corrections, if needed, are made and the material is sent to the End Processing Unit. After the record appears in Victor, Victor says the material is not on shelf for ten days. Newly cataloged material can be hard to track on its way to the shelf. Processing dates on the bibliographic record, summary, and item records can help to give an idea when a title was processed. But it is difficult to find a title more than a few days after it has left the Cataloging Dept. and especially after it has left EPU.
"Parking Lot" Ideas
There are several "parking lot" ideas which emerged during the flow charting process (the "parking lot" ideas are identified in the flow charts by the shaded areas):
- There is a need for a title search in Victor before beginning the OCLC search for a cataloging record. Victor is a very complete database now that retrospective conversion is almost 100% finished. Group members are not sure that all cataloging staff routinely search the title in Victor as part of the cataloging process. This is often needed to detect duplicates since UM's UMC symbol does not appear on some OCLC monograph master records even though the record is in Victor. Often a title is found to be already in Victor although a search by Acquisitions staff did not find it. Many staff are more comfortable with number searches (ISBN, ISSN, OCLC number, call number) and perform these regularly. However, many staff are not comfortable with performing title searches in Victor. They need to be instructed in the structure of the title field. Often records are updated for a title and its specific part when a record for the title as a whole is already in Victor. Training in searching Victor should be provided, especially for new staff.
- There is a need for some materials to be examined for preservation treatment before time is spent cataloging the material. Procedures to make this process a smooth one still need to be worked out. The need for a review of the physical condition of the material is present in the flow charts, namely, at the initial sorting of new material into the queues where obvious damage is most likely to be noticed and later when the material is examined more closely at the time of searching for a cataloging record. A conversation with the Head of the Preservation Dept. revealed that she was instructed not to accept material for repair/preservation unless it could be checked out to her Dept. Cataloging Dept. staff are unaware of this "policy." This needs to be studied further.
- There also is the question of whether to add duplicate copies. The purchase order form and the gift selection form have areas which give instructions about what to do with duplicates but it is felt that selectors do not mark this area with consistency. Duplicates which are identified by Rapid Cataloging staff are generally taken back to the Acquisitions Dept., whereas those discovered by the original cataloger are often brought to the selector's attention. However, it is felt that most duplicates are not questioned at all.
- Another "parking lot idea" involves questioning whether an order is complete or whether the library received what was ordered. Cataloging staff should match the order to the book and to the cataloging record found in order to ensure that everything is complete.
Conclusion
The biggest surprise of the flow charting process is the conclusion that the arrival of Victor changed cataloging processes very little. The flow charts show the use of Victor as a tool in the cataloging process. It is a file or files by which new titles are checked against for inclusion in the file or for uniformity in access points. Nothing in the charts indicates that a cataloging process had to be modified because of a specific use of a module or entry of data into Victor. Indeed, when Victor was first installed a few minor adjustments occurred in the daily loader program to accommodate the cataloging process. Those adjustments were made so that the correct version of the record was entered into Victor (i.e., the "update" version of the record should be loaded and not the "replace" version). The flow charting exercise as completed by this program review group demonstrates that staff concerns that the program review process should occur after the installation of UM's new integrated library system are not supported by the data.
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© 2001 University of Maryland Libraries
Last Revised: Jan. 8, 2001
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