Operations, Spotlight

Working in Collection Services, my journey at DUL so far!

Kristina Thomas, smiling in front of a brick wall with a window

Tell us about your journey in Duke University Libraries.
I am so happy to have been able to work in Collection Services as a full time staff member for the past five months. I’ve worked at Duke since 2021 and served as an intern in Rubenstein Library in Technical Services. I got my start working over in Smith Warehouse, particularly in Consumer Reports. Starting as an intern in Rubenstein Smith, I got to get a lot of experience working in Special Collections. I felt grateful to be able to establish connections and work with my then supervisor, Richard Collier Jr., who I learned a ton from. I was still in school then, still navigating what I believed my library career would look like but was happy to be able to get an internship, establish a working career in Duke University Libraries. After the internship ended, I was then hired to work in the Library Service Center at Duke. I worked there for about two years. That job was essential and played an important part in my library career because I really got to network and expand within the library. I took on many roles at the LSC for the learning experience which broadened my interests within the library. Starting at the LSC, I felt a bit lost because I was nervous about sticking to my original library career plan. Leaving the LSC, I felt a lot more confident and began to reject the idea of putting so much pressure on myself. I got to learn a great deal about academic librarianship and networking through the LSC and I believe that helped prepare me for the next chapter, the next job.

How did your time in MADS help acclimate you into Collection Services?
When we agreed to begin the partnership between MADS (Metadata and Discovery Strategy) and the Library Service Center, I was excited. I was happy to go work over in Smith and excited to work more in the background of academic librarianship. In MADS, I got to work with a really knowledgeable group so I was learning new stuff all the time. Having mostly worked in the LSC and on the circulation side of DUL, I got to work and learn more about a different sector of the library. It really opened me up to another part of the library that I had been pretty unfamiliar with. It was important for me to learn about metadata and cataloging because it increased my interest in this division. It was a really great experience for me and working with Jacquie Samples and the rest of the MADS crew was an awesome learning experience. I was always excited to learn more because I wanted to become more well rounded as a librarian. I’m grateful for my experience with MADS. Through this partnership, I also got to meet a lot of people in this division so, when I started working full time here, I was already really comfortable being in Smith Warehouse.
The coolest experience about working in MADS was being able to play an active role in something really important, the Alma migration! I was able to work with different librarians and learn more about a new software that is beneficial today because I work in it everyday in my current position!

What is your current position and what do you do?
In November, I got hired back at Smith as a full time employee, working in the Electronic Resources and Serials Acquisitions (ERSA) department. In this position, I mostly work in Alma and do some work in OCLC. My job is to mostly focus on binding periodicals in serials cataloging. These periodicals come from various collections here in DUL (Lilly, Perkins, EAC, Divinity) and include binding materials, writing accurate descriptions and cleaning up these records before the items are sent to the LSC. I get to work with a really great team, including my manager, Bethany Blankemeyer, who along with the rest of the team, has been extremely helpful. Everyone is so knowledgeable and I got to learn a lot about the life cycle of a serial and other items in acquisitions.
I also work on invoice processing in Alma and recently, started learning and working more in copy-cataloging in monographic sets and series. I have other interests as well, such as learning more about the electronic side of acquisitions given that I work with print materials. A cool part of this job is getting to learn more about other parts of this department. Everyone really encourages this and supports learning and professional development so I feel really grateful to be a part of this team and coming back to Smith Warehouse felt right. I feel really comfortable here because I got to get to know lots of people during my time in DUL, being at Smith.

What’s next? What do you hope to achieve?
I’ve realized that it’s not always necessary to put so much pressure on building your career and sticking to an original plan. Life is full of shifts and changes. I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going to end up but working in this division has been such a great experience. I’m happy to go to work everyday and not only be surrounded by a good team but also by so many opportunities to grow within Duke, to continue networking and really continue learning about academic librarianship. I hope to keep working here, in this division, and hope to continue to accept any learning opportunity. I also hope to continue to work with such good people, both in my department and division.
I’ve gotten to take on some challenges in DUL and it’s helped shape me as a librarian so I also hope to continue that!

Operations, Spotlight

A Day in the Life: Ellen Maxwell

My job title is Resource Description Specialist in the Resource Description Department of Collection Services; that’s a fancy way of saying I’m an original cataloger for monographic resources.  Although I catalog print materials and participate as part of a small subteam that provides records for the Library of Congress electronic Cataloging-in-Publication Program (eCIPs), my main focus is creating bibliographic records that describe A-V resources (concentrating on visual), for physical (DVDs, Blu-ray discs, videocassettes, film reels, etc.), as well as digital (streaming) formats.

I catalog a wide variety of works in many different formats and languages, so every day brings something new and interesting.  Because my job is specialized by format rather than language, I often have to rely on the language expertise of my library colleagues to help me describe the works that come my way.  This is especially true when those works are in languages I can’t read, and I am so grateful for all of the help with Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean materials my colleagues so willingly provide.  When needed, they also help tweak the Library of Congress subject headings I’ve assigned, or suggest additional subject headings if I have missed important cultural cues or historical context.

Sometimes it’s necessary to go further afield for help in simply identifying the language(s) of a work.  In the case of a streaming video entitled “Bad Press” that has title screens in Chinuk Wawa, Navajo, Cherokee, Osage, and Mvskoko, my colleagues were able to recognize some, but not all of the languages, so I tracked down the film’s directors who were able to identify the remaining languages, and I also contacted the director of the Osage Nation Language Department who graciously provided a transliteration of the Osage title.  If you want to take a look, you can find the film on Warpwire (authenticate with your NetID and password to view the film). Here are those five title screens:

White text over a movie still, the title screen for "Bad Press" White text over a movie still, the title screen for "Bad Press" White text over a movie still, the title screen for "Bad Press" White text over a movie still, the title screen for "Bad Press" White text over a movie still, the title screen for "Bad Press"

Since accessibility is an overarching goal of cataloging, it’s incumbent upon me to accurately describe all accessibility features available in the materials I catalog, using principles of inclusive description.  I need to include the language(s) of the dialogue, language(s) of subtitles and/or captions or audio description, and whenever possible, include the title and names of cast and crew in the original language script.  I also utilize controlled (standardized) vocabularies for accessibility genre headings, currently “Video recordings for the hearing impaired” when subtitles or captions are present, or in less frequent cases where audio description is available, “Video recordings for people with visual disabilities”.  These vocabularies change over time to mitigate harm; there are discussions underway to change “Video recordings for the hearing impaired” to “Video recordings for the hard of hearing”, but these changes have to go through official channels, and take time.

Sometimes we receive titles that are unusable in their current physical form, such as videos that were sent by the vendor as files on a thumb drive.  Since we can’t circulate thumb drives, those files need to be converted so they can be streamed on Warpwire.  The good folks in the Duke Digital Repository accomplish tasks like this with amazing skill, speed, and good humor!

A DVD case with a DVD for Basic Instinct inside, packaged with a pen that looks like an ice pick.Some of the most fun and challenging materials I work with are the accompanying materials included with A-V box sets; the packaging can be spectacular, but publishers definitely do not have libraries in mind when they include that stuff!   The accompanying booklets are easy enough to deal with, but what do you do with the ice pick-shaped ball point pen that accompanied the collector’s edition of “Basic Instinct”…

…or the wave drum included in the new Grateful Dead box set “Friends of the Devil: April 1978”?

The box set of Grateful Dead video materials, which includes an open book with text and photo, 19 discs, multiple colorful boxes and disc cases, and a wave drum decorated with Grateful Dead imagery.

For answers to those types of questions, I consult my colleagues at Lilly Library who have to figure out not only how (or even if) those materials will circulate, but how to house them.  This can have a direct bearing on how I describe those materials; sometimes it’s not so simple to determine what is the main item and what is the accompanying material?  Sometimes I have to ask, for example, is this a DVD plus book, or book with accompanying DVD?  What does the publisher consider to be the main item?  How will this material be used in the library?

Well, that’s about it.  As you can see, my job is never dull, and I get to describe and make accessible a wide variety of titles in many different formats and languages, and I have the opportunity to collaborate with a lot of wonderful colleagues all over the library.  I’ve worked in a number of different departments over my 35 years at the Duke University Libraries, but have found my library home in Resource Description.

Operations, Spotlight

A Day in the Life: Amanda Gordon-Serials Management Associate

Amanda Gordon
Amanda Gordon

Hello! My name is Amanda Gordon, and I am a Serials Management Associate in the Electronic Resources and Serials Acquisitions (ERSA) Department. While relatively new to Duke University Libraries – my first day was December 2nd, 2024 – I’d love to tell you a bit more about myself, how I got to Duke, and what my position entails…or at least what I know of it so far!

I was born and raised in central Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in Art History, Classics, and Classical Humanities in 2015. It wasn’t long after that I met my husband, and we moved to Florida together where I got my first library job. I had always had a fondness for libraries, and it proved to be a good fit – whether it was in public services positions, as I started out in, or in a collections services position. Before I came to Duke, I had spent the last six years in downtown Raleigh working as the Library Technical Assistant I for Campbell University’s Law School Library. It was in this role that my eyes were opened to all the behind-the-scenes work and moving pieces that go into keeping a library running, and what it takes to keep it running well. I loved the task- and detail-oriented nature of it and knew then that collections work (particularly in higher education) was where I wanted to stay!

In my new position here at DUL, I put to work many of the same skills and knowledge I’ve spent the past ten years developing – organization, record keeping, and customer services – to facilitate the work of the Serials Management Team. My day largely centers around what comes through my e-mail and as the initial “filter” on the dul-serials inbox, I could be replying to vendor communications (such as renewals or pricing updates), reviewing title notifications (such as format changes or cessations), claiming missing materials, or collecting and saving invoices. I also help to process many of those invoices for payment, along with any credit memos or rate adjustments, and help to create or close orders as needed. Thankfully, I spent the last six years of my career working in Alma, easing my transition in accomplishing some of these tasks! Beyond that, I’m happily at the disposal of my team, helping with projects or record clean-up, and continue to take on responsibilities as I learn the ins and outs of the job.

Outside of work and in my spare time, I like to game (PC) and read (my husband works for Barnes & Noble – our apartment is near bursting with books!) and enjoy a good true crime show. I also love food – a typical evening is spent at least in part in the kitchen, cooking and chatting over a glass of wine. If I’m going out, go-to spots are often centered around tapas or sushi! My husband and I also make a point to travel at least twice a year, once to Wisconsin to visit family and the other to a new destination of our choosing. We went on a cruise to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas for our honeymoon in 2023 and really enjoyed ourselves – so much so that we went on a second last year and have another planned for this fall!

As I continue to settle into this role, I hope you’ll stop by my cube sometime to chat – whether it’s about trips you’ve taken, restaurant recommendations, or what your own position entails! I’m excited to get to know everyone better and am so happy to be here and working amongst such a friendly, knowledgeable group of people. I look forward to what I hope will be a long and fruitful career within DUL’s Collections Services!

Collections, Operations, Projects

Collection Strategy & Development (CSD) announces new collection diversity analysis practicum

Headshot of Melina Flores, a woman wearing a dark blue sleeveless top, with long dark hair.

The Collection Strategy & Development (CSD) department of the Collection Services division is pleased to introduce a new collection diversity analysis practicum project and our first practicum student on this project.

Melina Flores joins us from UNC SILS where she is in her final year of the 4+1 Dual Degree program. Flores has earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Science and will graduate with a Master of Science in Information Science in the Data Science and Data Analytics Concentration in August. Flores has an impressive resume that showcases her database work at the UNC University Development Office, and policy, leadership, and outreach experience through fellowships with the Parr Center for Ethics at UNC, and the Líder Fellowship with Carolina Leadership Institute and appointments to the UNC Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG), and the UNC SILS chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA).

A generative AI picture with a circle of graph bars and other representations of data.
(Copilot, 2025)

The Collection Diversity Analysis Practicum Project is an exploration of the diversity of materials in the academic library collection through data analysis. Students working on the project will select a scoped subset of the collection to analyze in depth to see how our collection compares to the universe of available and relevant resources in that subject area.

One of our goals in CSD is to build a library collection of diverse resources that contains a multitude of perspectives. This is not a new concept in academic library collection development. Academic libraries in the United States began collecting comprehensively in the 1870’s when priorities in higher education shifted from delivery of a classical education to the production of research. Under the classical education model, students were expected to read only assigned texts, and libraries provided those texts. The change in the academic model required that students and faculty have access to a wide range of resources in order to engage in independent research and study. Libraries shifted to purposefully build comprehensive collections to satisfy these priorities. (Jones Jr., 1989; Weiner, 2005) Practices and perspectives about how to define this wide range of resources continue to evolve.

Shelves of orange-brown book spines with white library spine labels.Assessment of diversity in library collections has a history dating to around the mid 1990’s when diversity was thought of as multiculturalism and coalesced around race, ethnicity, and gender. Definitions of diversity in the library collection continued to expand to include other markers like sexuality, socioeconomic status, and ability status. (Ciszek & Young, 2010) Diversity in the library collection is a complicated moving target to quantify across the broad range of library types, subjects, and formats.

We aim for diversity in authorship, subject matter, perspective, source, and format. We consider all markers above and also the intersection of identities, perspectives, and formats (and keep our minds open to other markers we may discover as we work through the collection). Our working definition of diversity will change based on the scope, subject area, and institutional focus, including which markers to assess for, and how they are expressed in a work. Markers of diversity in a children’s picture book collection are different than those for an academic library mathematics collection.

Even across peer research libraries we can’t evaluate diversity on the same rubric because we all collect according to the research and teaching interests of our respective universities. We create a diverse network of collections by collecting deeply in our priority areas and then sharing those collections with other libraries through inter-library loan (ILL). In addition to these institutional foci, we each broadly collect works that tell many sides of the story, include many voices, and present many perspectives to students, faculty, and researchers.

A photo looking down the aisle between two long library shelves full of books. We want to measure what matters, and this project explores ways to measure diversity in the library catalog given the above limitations and other complications like time, budget, publishing context, and metadata. A large-scale diversity audit of the whole collection is challenging because each subject area will have different metrics, context, and metadata. This project seeks to conduct smaller, deeper audits of tightly scoped parts of the collection.

There are three components to the project:

  • Research: Extensive review of the literature and past work on library collection diversity in general and on diversity in the context of the scoped section, including how peer libraries collect and the publishing context.
  • Assessment: Conduct an in-depth assessment of that section and compare that to the research of what a diverse collection in that section could look like.
  • Recommendations: Make recommendations of what needs to be done to get there, and share the results of the project in some way – a report, presentation, poster, video, blog post, etc.

As with any data analysis project, actually analyzing data is only part of the work. Understanding the context and figuring out what questions to ask and how involves substantial background research and asking a lot of people a lot of questions. Flores will take a deep dive into current work in her chosen section, to include interviewing faculty and library staff, reviewing syllabi and publications, and researching collections of other libraries. Flores will also learn some basic project management skills, conduct data description and analysis, make actionable recommendations, and share the work with the library community. We hope that this project is the first of many.

Ciszek, M. P., & Young, C. L. (2010). Diversity collection assessment in large academic libraries. Collection Building, 29(4), 154-161. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/01604951011088899

Copilot. (2025). Data and academic libraries [Image]. Generated by Microsoft Copilot.

Jones Jr., P. A. (1989). The history and development of libraries in American higher education. 1989(7), 4. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.50.7.561

Weiner, S. G. (2005). The history of academic libraries in the United States: a review of the literature. Library Philosophy and Practice, 7(2), NA-NA.

 

Metadata, Operations, Technology

The Ebook MARC Record Working Group

Introduction

The Ebook MARC Record Working Group has been an enjoyable, interesting, and especially productive Collections Services collaboration with the numbers to prove it. The working group formed in early 2023 to plan and prioritize a series of projects to improve DUL’s ebook MARC record policies, workflows, lifecycle management, and documentation.

The Duke libraries jointly hold over 3.29 million ebooks in their collections, and managing ebook records is a workflow that depends on multiple departments within Collections Services. This includes ebooks acquired monographically (via GOBI, international publishers, and other suppliers) by Monograph Acquisitions, ebook packages acquired by E-Resources & Serials Acquisitions, the oversight of bibliographic record quality and several specific local record projects by Resource Description, and the batch loading and systematic processing of ebook records by Metadata & Discovery Strategy. Because ebook workflows are so collaborative by nature, bringing colleagues from each of these departments together into regular meetings made communicating and creating a shared understanding of workflows, handover, and issues much more manageable and successful.

Ebook Working Group Members

  • Leeda Adkins (Metadata & Discovery Strategy)
  • Heather Baker (Metadata & Discovery Strategy)
  • Stephen Conrad (Monograph Acquisitions)
  • Alaina Deane (Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions)
  • Jessica Janecki (Resource Description) – Co-convener
  • Xiaoyan Song (Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions)
  • Abby Wickes (Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions) – Co-convener

Ebook Working Group Advisors

  • Virginia Martin (Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions)
  • Jacquie Samples (Metadata & Discovery Strategy)
  • Natalie Sommerville (Resource Description)

Setting the stage

When the working group formed in early 2023, DUL was several months away from the exciting announcement that we would implement Alma in summer 2024. We were still using Aleph and the Ex Libris 360 knowledgebase with 360 MARC services for ebook access management, with the expectation of one day implementing FOLIO. The working group was charged with mediating a number of ongoing issues among these systems and the vendors and publishers supplying ebook records with various contexts and caveats. The library relied on the 360 knowledgebase and 360 MARC as often as possible, but this was not always a viable approach. Some vendors would not partner with Ex Libris, or the metadata was unacceptably slow to be added to the 360 services (especially for current content.)

Because of these limitations, some ebook records were managed locally in Aleph by intention or necessity. Additionally, Aleph contained many legacy ebook records that were redundant or inaccurate. There was very little institutional knowledge or documentation of these local records, or whether the ebooks had eventually become available in the 360 systems. Since Aleph is a legacy system that was not designed for e-resources, it could be difficult to uncover these ebook records proactively without knowing what to look for. This led to problems with duplication or stale, outdated, and inaccurate information in older local records. The working group would often only become aware of a batch of local ebook records if a patron found an ebook catalog result with a broken link or other incorrect information that was a barrier to access.

Getting to work

Charged to investigate an array of known issues from the group’s advisors, the working group began assessing where to start:

  • Document, at a comprehensive level, Duke University Libraries Collections Services workflows, for eBook MARC record workflows that intersect with all aspects of the lifecycle (transforming, loading, auditing) of all eBook records from any source. Documentation should be accessible to all library staff.
  • Codify policy of acceptability for eBook records supplied by Ex Libris and other vendors, articulating clearly what is an acceptable level of completeness, what local changes to records are in scope, and circumstances under which DULCS will not load title-level records.
  • Assess and investigate feasibility of migrating legacy and on-going loads of vendor-supplied records to 360 MARC.
  • Determine timeline for making eBooks available through local loads, including developing a policy regarding acceptable lag time for availability of 360 MARC records.
  • Identify issues that are tangential but outside the scope of the Team and make brief recommendations as to who/how they might be addressed.

After reviewing this list and some of the ongoing problems known to each department, the group prioritized documenting workflows, codifying a policy for managing local ebook record access when 360 MARC was not an available option, and systematically identifying and cleaning up local ebook records in Aleph with the goal of transitioning as many as possible to 360 MARC and clearly documenting ebook records that could only be managed locally.

Accomplishments

To make progress on these three goals, the working group met approximately every other week to identify records for cleanup, identify workflows for documentation, and consider nuances for a local load policy. These regular meetings had the additional benefit of leading to a broader shared understanding of each department’s role in the ebook workflow, including the opportunity to learn about minor problems in one department that could surface for other departments, such as unexpected delays with 360 MARC loading that might lead to patron confusion on AskTech. Routine communication also made highly complex, interdependent problems much easier to tackle. The working group’s policy is available for review in Box, the documentation progress is available in the Collections Services wiki, and the group’s ebook record cleanup project work resulted in the removal of almost 250,000 duplicate or error-ridden local records, as well as the addition of over 33,000 records that were never available in the catalog. (Please note, this includes ebooks as well as primary source material from several Gale databases the working group was also asked to review.)

Alma and future projects

The ebook record cleanup was a major benefit when implementing Alma in July 2024, since so many older local records were removed from Aleph and did not migrate old problems into the new system. The established communication and broader understanding of issues was also an asset during the early months of Alma when the library experienced some growing pains with e-resource linking in the Books & Media catalog and while setting up and establishing new workflows, such as GOBI import profiles. Although the working group will revisit the local record policy in light of inevitable workflow changes in a new system, we are optimistic that much of the core philosophy of managing local records will still be applicable. Now that the library has been working with Alma for a few months, the working group is taking advantage of enhanced functionality for some additional project work. Creating sets and running jobs is an extremely helpful and powerful tool that the group is already considering for a project to identify and review certain sets of local records that migrated from Aleph, and creating local collections will be a much more robust way to manage local records than tracking them in a spreadsheet. Alma will present innumerable learning opportunities for everyone at the library, but the Ebook Working Group is here for it.

Community, Operations

Collections Services Staff Recognition Awards and Lunch

Last month, Collections Services celebrated our second ever mystery-themed Annual Staff Recognition Awards, complete with a taco bar and cupcakes. There were five categories of awards, highlighting everything from collaboration to coaching, and two winners in each category. Our winners took home literary mugs and gift cards.

Taco barSmallcakes cupcakes in box

The awards were as follows:

Nancy DrewNancy Drew Newcomers/New Skills Award

For the colleague who has demonstrated excellence and adaptivity this year in learning a NEW skillset (ahem, Alma)? Or for the NEW(ish)-to-DUL colleague who brings energy, curiosity, humility and a sense of adventure to their work. Who enhances the working lives of those around them through their fearless determination to learn the mysteries of Collections Services and get the job done no matter the stakes. Who perhaps is one of the few who can really pull off a neckerchief!

Nominees: Henry Hebert, Fouzia El Gargouri, Zhaneille Green, Zhuo Pan, Yaoli Shi, and Emily Sutton

Winners: Zhaneille Green and Yaoli Shi

 

Dr. WatsonDr. Watson Collaboration & Outreach Award

For the colleague whose advice is sought out before any major undertaking. Whose quiet confidence means they never seek the spotlight, but you know, deep down, they deserve top billing. They’re a success in their own right, but their presence on a team virtually guarantees a break in the case. But, please, no pipe smoking in the library!

Nominees: Nancy Bachelder, Sara Biondi, Jessica Janecki, Yan Song, and Emily Sutton

Winners: Emily Sutton and Jessica Janecki

 

Miss MarpleMiss Marple Creativity & Innovation Award

For the colleague who cannot let sleeping dogs lie. Who finds solutions before others even realize there are problems. They use their shrewd intelligence and capacious memory to divine out-of-the-box remedies for any genre of CS conundrum. The real culprits—likely the shadowy villains Mr. Inefficiency and Dr. Poor Communication—cannot rest with them on the case: no workflow is safe from their keen eye.

Nominees: Leeda Adkins, Dennis Christman, Alaina Deane, Fouzia El Gargouri, Jessica Janecki, Amelia Rodarte, and Yan Song

Winners: Alaina Deane and Dennis Christman

 

Benoit BlancBenoit Blanc Leadership & Coaching Award

For the colleague whose guidance gets you through every riddle and puzzle you face at DUL. Despite the challenges of wacky vendors suspects, they never fail to empower less seasoned sleuths along the way to ingenious conclusions. With the patience of a saint and charm of a southern gentleman, they inspire us through their mentorship to tackle even the most impossible cases.

Nominees: Bethany Blankemeyer, Bronwyn Cox, Rachel Penniman, and Abby Wickes

Winners: Rachel Penniman and Bronwyn Cox

 

Jessica FletcherJessica Fletcher Slow Librarianship Award

For the colleague who approaches every new task with the intellectual curiosity of a mystery writer. Through twists and turns, they barely break a sweat, as though they’re taking a relaxing bicycle ride along a picturesque coastline. It’s almost as though they’ve embraced the pace of a sleepy New England town, despite it looking like a literal crime scene around them. #cottagecore aesthetic encouraged but not required.

Nominees: Leeda Adkins, Bethany Blankemeyer, Jessica Janecki, and Jianying Shou

Winners: Leeda Adkins and Bethany Blankemeyer

 

Blue gift bags with prizes for winners

Winners

Congratulations to all of our nominees and winners!

Operations, Spotlight, Technology

Alma in Practice: Teams Leads of Collections Services

In the Collections Services division, there is a small, but mighty group of staff members who lead and encourage other staff, are an important part of planning and operationalizing workflows, and who do all this while also doing front-line work.  This group is composed of six team leads whose responsibilities span acquisition of print and online resources, managing discovery of and access to that large constellation of resources, and preparation of materials for library shelves.   What better way to end the three-part Alma series than by sharing team leads’ reflections on implementation and go-live.  Two common threads throughout the reflections team leads shared for this post were gratitude for the deepening of relationships within and across teams, as well as the importance of maintaining an iterative mindset as we all try out new workflows and functionality in Alma.

 

Challenges and opportunities are two sides of one coin.  Implementing a new system came with a lot of opportunities, but was not without challenges. Let’s focus on challenges first, and then we will talk about the opportunities that team leads leveraged before and after going live in Alma.  To facilitate going live, the previous system, Aleph, had to sunset on June 10 as described in a previous blog post.  Focusing on what could be done during the space between two systems was a significant pivot from the normal production-oriented approach to work, especially during the month of June when Collections Services is normally sprinting toward the end of Duke’s fiscal year.  Staff with acquisitions responsibilities had to end the financial year much earlier than usual in order to sunset Aleph.  Staff in other departments were also busy trying to wrap up data migration and cleanup projects before Aleph sunsetted.  Focusing on what staff could do, rather than what they could not do was a challenge facing team leads during this pivot point.  Other challenges were present, too, and required team leads to lead through uncertainty.  Notable among these was an  electronic resource migration issue caused by corrupted data.  At one point, it was not clear whether the issue could be addressed systematically (thankfully, it could be), or whether frontline staff were facing an extensive project post go-live.  Alma’s multiple functional options coupled with limits on what could be tested pre-go live also caused uncertainty.  Some decisions on workflows and practices were made immediately before going live in Alma and could really only be tested after the new system came up.  After go-live, it took time to develop clarity on the relationship between downstream and upstream work in the Collections Services lifecycle and to understand more fully how Alma handles certain data types like data about item records for physical resources.  Work, in general, took a little more time to do as team leads and a small group of Alma early users worked to get other staff, including student assistants, up to speed.

Now, on to the rewards side of the coin.  Team leads cited a variety of rewarding experiences pre- and post-go live, many of them closely tied to the challenges that were discussed above.  Staff working on describing resources that are new and unique or distinctive to Duke University Libraries collections were able to leverage the larger ecosystem in which they work.  Because a substantial portion of this work occurs in the OCLC WorldCat system, these staff members were able to continue creating catalog records during the period between Aleph and Alma. Though there were limitations on Alma testing and decision-making prior to going live, a certain amount of training and practice was still possible, and teams made headway on developing workflows, decisions, and documentation.   Team leads noted how nice it was to reap the benefits of training and practice once Alma went live and it was possible to perform daily tasks.  Team leads and other Alma early users were also ready onboard other staff.  It was evident from the ebb and flow of physical materials through Collection Services spaces that operations had successfully resumed– from receiving a recently-ordered resource into our workflows to describing it, to printing the all-important spine label that allows library users to find books on the library shelves.  Check out a recent video from Duke University Libraries that shows how the Littlest Blue Devil finds a book in the stacks.  Teams working with electronic resources were also able to resume daily tasks and work to provide the best user discovery experience for the Libraries’ millions of electronic resources while staff in other library units worked to sync the Books & Media Catalog with Alma.  The biggest reward during this period of planning for go-live, getting up to speed in Alma after going live, and resuming operations was the colleagues we work with every day.  Team leads cited gratitude for their teams, for the generosity of colleagues in answering questions, and for the opportunity to learn more about how different workflows in Collections Services overlap.

Against the backdrop of generally increasing proficiency in navigating Alma’s interface and options, team leads have many aspirations for the first six months in our new system.  A number of these cluster around best uses of Alma.  Team leads are eager to make the most effective use of  Alma functionality as possible.  They want to maintain an open mind about changing workflows and processes in a way that uses Alma’s built-in functionality to its best advantage.  One team lead described go-live workflows as “Plan A” workflows that will evolve as we use and familiarize ourselves with the system every day.  Alma presents new opportunities for tracking movement of physical items across library locations effectively, using batch processing to update call numbers, leaning further into functionality for reporting and updating sets of data.  It also presents a new opportunity for a truly integrated system that can manage both print and electronic resources. This integrated functionality and how best to leverage the new possibilities for electronic resources management is top of mind.

Threaded throughout all team leads’ challenges, rewarding experiences, and aspirations is the desire to continue building on the communication and teamwork that has marked Alma implementation in Collections Services.

Collections, Projects, Technology

Introducing the E-Resources Access & Troubleshooting FAQs

Earlier this year, Amelia Rodarte and Zhaneille Green began a project to create an E-Resources Troubleshooting FAQ knowledge bank. They decided to make a resource for Duke University Libraries (DUL) front-facing library staff who troubleshoot e-resource access issues of varying complexities.

E-Resources Access and Troubleshooting FAQ Homepage

 

How did we start?

We conducted research to see what DUL troubleshooting resources existed, what type of tools other academic institutions used, what existing literature stated, and what the previous findings of DUL access and discovery working groups were. We also wanted to hear from our colleagues, so we sent out surveys and conducted interviews, which helped us decide on the type of questions and issues that affected our patrons and library staff. After synthesizing our research, qualitative, and quantitative results, we selected the best available tool for our project.

Our tool of choice was the previously untouched Springshare LibAnswers FAQ tool. It allowed us to create an internal staff knowledge bank  of questions and answers to solve common and uncommon e-resource questions and issues. We’ve also assigned topics and keywords to each FAQ so users can search for what they need.

IR Troubleshooting Meme

Why make it?

In the world of e-resources, our access can be affected by who owns what, how long we’ve licensed a resource, whether we keep any access to a resource if we stop renewing the license, etc. We created this resource because while Duke University is affected by the usual suspects, it also has its own e-resource access nuances.

 

Currently, the FAQs with the most views are:

You will notice that all four cover general access information and specific access nuances. Our entire list of FAQs is a mix of e-resource information and Duke-specific access issues. We wanted to demystify some aspects of e-resources for our colleagues. For example, some librarians might not be aware that DKU patrons lost access to specific resources after licensing negotiations.

Use Cases

Here are some different ways DUL library staff can use our FAQ resource for:

  • Troubleshooting e-resource access issues
  • Adding it to new staff orientation packets
  • Referring to it for current information on access changes

Where do we go from here?

We have a maintenance plan to update our FAQs. Amelia and I plan to review our FAQ list every six months. We will also keep adding new FAQs and updating the current ones when needed throughout the year.

Where can you find it?

You can find the E-Resource Access FAQs at Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions – Collections Services.

Metadata, Operations, Technology

Alma July Update

Remember the late-May post about sunsetting the system that runs the back end of the catalog and multiple discovery portals at Duke? That post concluded with a promise to provide late-July reflections from members of the  Collections Services division on work that led up to sunsetting our previous system, Aleph, and launching our new system, Alma.

Screenshot of the Alma ILS with an arrow pointing to the total number of bibliographic records.

Well, July passed in a flurry of go-live activity. This activity happened on the heels of much work  leading up to flipping the “on” switch for Alma on the morning of July 10, 2024. By noon that day, Duke University Libraries was once again open for business with a new system. Collection Services staff were already busy at work in Alma by that time and have been busy this month ensuring that access to electronic resources continues to work reliably, advising on data syncing between Alma and the Books & Media catalog, populating the system with budgets for ordering library materials, updating catalog records singly and in batch, and scanning items into system process types that allow for granular tracking and routing— among many other things! The unifying feature of all this work is that it took and will continue to take teamwork across the whole Collections Services division. Stay tuned for the next Alma post that will close the loop on the late-May post and present staff reflections on work time during the period between Aleph and Alma, what was most rewarding (and most) challenging immediately before and right after go-live, and what we hope we learn about Alma during the first six months with the system.

Activism, Music

INSIST! Juneteenth edition, 2024

Recently, while reading the fascinating oral history of ‘60s girl groups, ‘But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’, I was quite taken by a brief chapter on The Shirelles concerning a monumental concert fundraiser in Alabama that has largely been forgotten. As the Summer heat bears down this Juneteenth, let’s take a look back at Salute to Freedom ’63 for this installment of Insist!Black and white advertisement for the Salute to Freedom event

Birmingham, Alabama, August 5th, 1963. In a city and time rife with tension and conflict, only two weeks from city segregation ordinances being repealed, and only months since the Birmingham Campaign for civil rights, the Salute to Freedom event was a major happening and endeavor. One of many events put on by national civil rights organizations as fundraisers for the upcoming March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Birmingham event was absurdly laden with talent and prominence. Martin Luther King, Jr (then head of SCLC) and James Baldwin were there, along with Joe Louis and Dick Gregory. And included on the musical slate, none other than Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Johnny Mathis, Clyde McPhatter, the Shirelles and Ella Fitzgerald (though it isn’t clear if she actually performed).

With an event of this stature, and with divisions in the area so stark, attendance and interest and scrutiny were sure to be high. Local press and authorities effectively ignored and stonewalled the event, while volunteers drummed up promotion and ticket sales. Initially planned for the large auditorium downtown, permission was denied at the last minute, forcing the event to be held five miles out of town on the football field at Miles College, on a makeshift stage. Only one major hotel would allow attendees as guests. Cab drivers refused service. Birmingham police wouldn’t work the show. Even still, the event was able to occur, on a 98 degree day, with upwards of 16,000 attending, many even walking miles with their own chairs.

Image from "March on Washington: Rare Photos of a Star-Studded Fundraiser, 1963" from life.comMartin Luther King Jr. (seated, at right) watched the Shirelles perform during the Salute to Freedom benefit concert in Birmingham, Ala., August 5, 1963. Credit: Grey Villet/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
Image from “March on Washington: Rare Photos of a Star-Studded Fundraiser, 1963” from life.com

Salute to Freedom ‘63 ran late into the evening, and at one point during Johnny Mathis’s performance, the rickety stage partially gave way, injuring several people onstage. The show carried on but the difficulties were far from over. The performers, who were traveling together on a chartered plan from New York, were delayed several hours returning due to a bomb threat at the airport. National press barely covered the event, with the old gray lady only running four lines about it, primarily concerning the stage collapse. Though never published, there are thankfully a few terrific photos courtesy of LIFE magazine: March on Washington: Rare Photos of a Star-Studded Fundraiser, 1963.

Just over three weeks later, on August 28th, was the March on Washington. Then only a couple of weeks later, on September 15th, Ku Klux Klan members bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, killing four young girls. John Coltrane composed his stunning ‘Alabama’ in response to the bombing. We’ll conclude this Insist post with a live clip of the tune: