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:

Metadata, Operations

Aleph Sunsets

Screenshot of the catalog record for "Blue Window"

The library catalog, article finders, online journal and database tools, bento search results, library accounts—these tools all provide a way for library users to discover and obtain the constellation of resources available to them at Duke and beyond. But did you know that these tools also provide a window into a complex system that underpins selection, purchase, description, maintenance, and circulation of library resources?

Screenshots of the record for "Blue Window" in Aleph and AlmaFor twenty years, the libraries at Duke University have used Ex Libris’s Aleph integrated library system to manage library resources in a variety of formats and languages across the acquisitions, description, inventory, and delivery lifecycles. This requires the system to store, interpret, correlate, ingest, and output a variety of data types. Aleph has helped the libraries at Duke successfully steward existing resources and acquire upwards of 1 million new resources since 2004, including a proliferation of eBooks, eJournals, databases and streaming media. On July 10th, we will be sunsetting Aleph and implementing Ex Libris’s Alma system. Alma builds on the functionality and data models of an integrated library system and incorporates these into a library services platform that streamlines and aligns processes for selecting, acquiring, describing and delivering print and electronic resources. Much planning, careful data mapping and cleanup, and lots of collaboration among subject matter experts from across the libraries at Duke has brought us to the cusp of going live with Alma. Stay tuned for a follow-up post in the later part of July in which members of the Duke University Libraries Collections Services division will reflect on the work that led up to go-live and talk about the early days of working in Alma.

Metadata, Projects, Technology

The MADS and LSC Workflow Partnership

What is the MADS partnership and how did it start?

Kristina Thomas

MADS, which stands for Metadata and Discovery Strategy, is a department that works in Collection Services in Smith, Bay 10. I work in the LSC  (Library Service Center) as a Senior Library Assistant, where I’ve been for a little over a year. In the LSC, which is off campus, it can be a bit difficult to work with librarians a lot. We’re an offsite storage facility and we don’t see many of them. Dracine Hodges, who is the Associate University Librarian for Collections Services, and Jacquie Samples, who is the MADS department head, developed the idea of the workflow partnership. They worked with the LSC manager, Marvin Tillman, and the Associate University Librarian and Director of Financial and Facility Services, Jameca Dupree, to begin a workflow partnership that would help both the LSC and the MADS department.

As an employee at the LSC, I go over to Smith once a week. I work closely with the MADS team, particularly Jacquie Samples and Heather Baker, on record cleanup, checking records in CaiaSoft and Alma research/implementation. It’s good for our departments to work together because, over at the LSC, we do have a lot of experience in CaiaSoft. It’s also helpful for me because I’ve learned a lot about Aleph and Alma, the new software that DUL is migrating to. A full migration occurs in the summer of 2024. I have also been Alma certified and take notes/knowledge learned about Alma to my LSC coworkers. It’s been a mutually beneficial partnership as we continue to do record cleanup and transition to Alma.

How has MADS helped you become better in your position?

I’ve certainly become more knowledgeable during my time in MADS. I’m not accustomed to working in Aleph Cataloging and I had no knowledge concerning Alma. It was good to be on this team that directly works in Alma. It has helped to keep me on track as we continue the transition. I’ve also learned about several jobs that are completed by the MADS team in software that I didn’t have much experience in, so I’m getting to learn something else that is newer territory. I’ve also worked on record cleanup, assigned remote storage IDs and looked at collection codes, all in Aleph Cataloging. During my time here, I’ve also become more comfortable working with people outside of the LSC in CaiaSoft and I’ve really accepted my role and become more confident in explaining the software and being able to confidently answer questions. Being offsite in the LSC made me feel a bit distant from the other libraries, so constantly corresponding with these librarians has been extremely beneficial for me. I’ve also learned a lot about Alma. I feel more prepared for the migration than I would’ve had this workflow partnership never happened.

What were your challenges and what did you feel most confident about going into this workflow partnership?

I would say that I felt confident about everything that I have worked on in the LSC. This includes all our CaiaSoft functions. I had already met Jacquie and we had an informative conversation, so I felt comfortable because I use CaiaSoft every day. I felt comfortable being able to answer CaiaSoft questions or check items in CaiaSoft and look for item reports. I also felt comfortable in Aleph Circulation as these are both software that are used daily in the LSC.

My biggest challenge was that I don’t work on the same jobs that the MADS team works on. I also didn’t have the same knowledge. They work with Metadata. MARC fields and the terminology are different, so I felt a bit out of the loop. They are, of course, also very knowledgeable in Alma and I was really starting out so I didn’t feel as if I could contribute very much. I now believe that it has become mutually beneficial because I’m learning that our workflow connects both of our software and examines the relationship between them. We can both answer each other’s questions. They were also extremely nice when it came to pacing and stopping to explain things or answer any questions that I may have.

What have you enjoyed the most about this workflow partnership?

For me, it’s a great learning experience. I’ve learned a lot about other software that I’ve become more accustomed to using. I’ve been able to learn a lot about what they do in Metadata. I’ve gotten to work on the other side of Aleph that I never worked in before. As a librarian, it’s good to have knowledge of software, even if you don’t constantly use it. I’m confident that this knowledge will be beneficial as I move forward in my career. I also believe that it has helped me with professional communication skills. As for the LSC, it can be a challenge to uphold communication with other librarians at Duke. We don’t come into contact with them that often so coming to Smith has strengthened that communication and it broadens my interests as well.

What do you hope to achieve going forward?

I hope to learn as much as I possibly can. I’d like to be a well-rounded librarian. It’s important to take the time to work with other groups of people and learn their perspectives. I hope to continue working with the MADS group as well as other groups and librarians around Duke, and even outside of Duke. It’s been a great learning and networking experience. It will help me continue to grow and learn as a librarian. I also hope that my interest and knowledge continue to broaden, and more workflow opportunities are available for me in the future.

As for this MADS group, I hope to continue working with them, even after the implementation of Alma. I hope to be able to continue communicating with them and that this partnership opens up more opportunities here at Duke where I get to work with more people.

Technology

Our New Collections Services Documentation Portal

Depending on how much you use the DUL Collections Services Documentation Portal (CSDP), you may or may not have been surprised to see this alarmingly yellow banner at the top of the page when recently visiting the space:

Yellow banner text from the header of the Duke Wiki that says: "DukeWiki spaces have migrated to https://duke.atlassian.net/wiki Please login with your netid@duke.edu"

Our old space migrated to a cloud environment in a (mostly) seamless transition to a space that looks and feels very much like the old pages. The layouts of both the “Open to All” and “Staff Only” pages should be familiar to users of the previous documentation portal, and hopefully users find the new spaces easy to navigate. The new public page can be found here, and the staff-only page is here. While the old wiki has a link directing visitors to the new space, it is a good idea to update any bookmarks as soon as possible in case the re-directing link disappears at some point.

The CSDP continues to be a valuable resource for Collections Services staff as well as external users, housing over 300 pages of documentation. The pages are regularly reviewed and updated, which means fewer errors due to outdated information, faster updates on improved processes, and easier training for new employees. Upkeep of the CSDP will be critical in the coming months as we transition from Aleph to Alma and update our documentation accordingly.

If you have not yet visited the new documentation portal, we encourage you to browse the pages. If you are Collections Services staff and encounter any issues, please use the online ticketing system to let us know. For users in CS logging into the DUL staff-only site, you will need to use the netID version of your email address to trigger the Shibboleth log in, not the alias version. It should be formatted as netid@duke.edu.

Overall, the transition has been successful, and we appreciate the contributions of CS staff as we look forward to this year of big changes in Collections Services.

Collections, Metadata, Spotlight

A Day in the Life: Mandy Hurt

Four serial items in various languages, including serials, periodicals and microfilm reels.

I’m the Serials Description Librarian and Coordinator in the Resource Description department of Collection Services. As one of only two serials catalogers working in the Duke University Libraries, and the only one as of now qualified to make CONSER level original cataloging records, I catalog serials across formats (print, electronic and microform) in English and a number of other languages of which I have at least a bibliographer’s knowledge. I volunteer with CONSER to catalog electronic serial titles for the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and spend a quarter of my time cataloging rare print serials for the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. For the Rubenstein Library, I’ve worked on such diverse materials as the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, the Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project collection and even cataloged Civil War General Orders, containing very important information like where new latrines were to be dug the next day.

What this all actually means is that I don’t have a typical working day. While all of my work relates to serials cataloging in some way, the content of the serials I work on spans a wide spectrum of subjects created throughout written history. As I don’t want to bore you with the minutiae of my work, and there is a lot of minutiae I could bore you with, I thought today I’d focus on my work with a particularly interesting collection, the Edwin & Terry Murray Comic Book Collection, part of the Rubenstein library’s holdings, which I’ve been working on for over six years now.

While the collection is primarily comprised of Marvel and DC comics you’re almost certainly familiar with, it also includes titles from the companies that predate Marvel and DC. (Their origin stories? Sorry, comic book joke.) There are also plenty of titles from smaller independent publishing houses and comics for much younger readers like those published for Walt Disney. Cataloging these materials takes quite a bit of online research involving not only official websites like Marvel and DC’s but also sites like Comic Vine, a labor of love undertaken by comic book fans and collectors.

Why does this work require so much research? Because comic books were originally ephemera, never intended to be collected and preserved. In the past, in part because they were discredited as acceptable reading material for young people by psychiatrist and anti-violent imagery zealot Fredric Wertham and his ilk, the comic books that were catalogued had brief records at best, listing little more than the title, publisher, place of publication and, if very lucky, the dates of publication. Volume numbering was often omitted or merely noted to exist (‘also has volume numbering’, etc.) and the records often had no acknowledgement of preceding or succeeding titles.

Three colorful issues of the "Captain Marvel" comic serialsComic book publishing has always been a commercial venture, so if a title fails to sell well, it’s cancelled posthaste. But fear not, intrepid comic book readers! The cancelled character may well be revived even decades later with different writers and artists and, perhaps, a different publisher. In the case of the early Captain Marvel titles pictured, the earliest dates from 1968 and the latest from 1975. These titles were published as separate runs with only the titular character and publishing house, in this case, in common. While it might seem unimportant to omit the volume numbering when you have a title that has 55 numbers published over 12 years, with all issues having the same volume number, that volume number serves as a clue to researchers that perhaps an earlier or later related title exists.

In addition to fleshing out the cataloging records for this collection by adding subject headings for the fictitious characters as well the genre (Arthurian romances, anyone?), we’ve made a conscious effort to credit the writers and artists who produced them, often creating Name Authority records for them for the very first time.

So, you can see why all of the research associated with my role is important and why I see myself as a sort of literary Indiana Jones some days. (Thankfully my fear of snakes is less of an issue than it is for Indy!) Of course, these adventures take place alongside my more general workflow, though calling even that work general isn’t exactly accurate since I’m never certain what language, subject and/or format I will see next. The life of a serialist is never boring, at least to a serialist!

[Blog note: check out this post from 2020 on the Edwin and Terry Murray Collection for even more comic goodness!]

Collections, Music, Spotlight

MonoACQ Mix-Tape

Like everyone reading this post (we assume), the Monograph Acquisitions staff returned from the holiday break ready to start the new year with a renewed sense of purpose, energy, and enthusiasm.

That said, it can be difficult to jump right back into the production line tasks that comprise a significant portion of the work we do in our department. To get back up to speed and keep ourselves churning away at these core workflows, most of us employ a reliable performance-enhancing substance. No, it’s not coffee. (Though that too, certainly – always and frequently.) It’s not drugs. (As we understand it, officially frowned upon by LHR.) No, it’s music that keeps us focused and on task.

MonoACQ contains a number of “heads” who pair distinct music with each workflow to motivate themselves day in and out. Below are some of our go-to soundtracks. We’ve included links to DUL’s holdings wherever possible:

Bill Verner:

Much of my work involves working with order and fund data pulled from Aleph. (And soon, ALMA!) Internally we report on orders and expenditures by category, invoicing and processing metrics, and copy cataloging productivity.

As anyone knows, staring at an Excel sheet can be dizzying at best, and soul deadening in moments of stark, macro-driven desperation. To stay engaged on these tasks, I like to blast Mariachi music straight into my ear holes. Aside from being music that I find lovely and for which I have nostalgic associations, it adds dramatic flair to running a comparison between column “B” in one report and column “S” in another. It’s like bringing a pivot table to a knife fight:

Valses Mexicanos by Mariachi Nuevo TecalitlanValses Mexicanos “Sobre las Olas”

Now, when I’m faced with a writing task (say, scrambling to get a blog post in by the promised deadline), nothing else will do but the propulsive groove of Booker T & the MGs. Funk and forward motion will get you there every time:

Stax Profiles: Booker T. and the MGsStax Profiles: Booker T. & The MGs “Chinese Checkers”

Imari Morehead: 

While I’m opening boxes I prefer to listen to music that will allow me to work at a certain speed to ensure maximum efficiency. In my experience, I am most efficient while listening to house music. House music is rooted in a variety of music including disco, funk, and European synth, thus I am constantly bopping as I work. House music utilizes strong bass lines, repetitive vocals, and elements of synth pop to ensure you have to fight the urge to dance while you work. 

House by Ron Hardy, Lisa Millett, Frankie Knuckles, Ralphi Rosario, Jonathan Key, Jungle Wonz, Farley Jackmaster Funk, DJ Source, The People, Farley Funkin' Keith, Robert Owen and Screamin' RachaelHouse “Liquid Love”

Daniel Maxwell: 

I have been working on reducing in size the large queue of Library of Congress shipments containing books from India which need copy-cataloging . While I am busy cataloging, I love to listen to an on-line streaming service from the Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust, which offers a large catalog of Classical Indian Music artists that have played at the yearly festival in London England that Darbar puts on every year.  The music is fantastic!  We have many of the artists that play at the Darbar festival in our music collection on cd or dvd, as well as streaming via Alexander Street Press: 

Eesha by Pandit Mukul Shivputra, Aneesha Pradhan, Mahesh Babu and Traditional Eesha “Raag Todi” – Teental Madhyalaya

Stephen Conrad: 

While there is a strong chance that on any given workday I’ve listened to at least 5 hours of Dub music, there is one task that all but demands the instrumental groove sublimity of Dub and that is paying invoices. The tediousness and precision of invoice payment requires nothing less than music full of echo, bass, space, effects, repetition and rhythm. YouTube is a great resource for endless Dub mixes but fortunately DUL holds some great examples too, including a top-notch compilation of Studio One dubs from the 70s courtesy of Dub Specialist. And perhaps my all-time #1 selection is Dub Landing Vol. 2, by the Roots Radics and mixed by Scientist and Prince Jammy, originally released in 1982, presented here in a 2-disc reissue complete with original tracks.

DUL offers a shockingly healthy amount of Dub to stream, including this release by the aforementioned Prince Jammy: 

Destroys The Invaders performed by Prince JammyDestroys The Invaders “Conspiracy On Neptune” 

Joanna Welborn: 

I find that I reach for different music based on of course, my mood, time of day, the weather, the state of the world as a whole… But also, that a lot depends on the task at hand. For instance, when I’m copy cataloging shipments of books coming from anywhere from Montevideo to Cape Town to Milan, I find I can really get into a flow state conducive to matching bibliographic records while listening to great ‘80s/90s hip hop like Eric B. & Rakim or KRS-One. Whereas when I’m say, really in my head processing invoices for the diverse materials coming into the Rubenstein Library collections, I may reach for something more ambient like the noisiness of The Dream Syndicate or the dreaminess of Alice Coltrane. And luckily the Music Library carries most of these artists if you want to see how they line up with your work day. 

(Sadly we cannot locate the Dream Syndicate’s blissful wall of feedback in DUL’s streaming databases, but below are cuts from Joanna’s other two picks. -BV) 

Paid In Full by Eric B. & RakimPaid In Full “I Ain’t No Joke”

A Monastic Trio performed by Alice ColtraneA Monastic Trio “Lord Help Me To Be”

Bronwyn Cox: 

I listen to a wide variety of musical genres, but when I need an extra boost of energy to crank out a cart full of copy cataloging, my go-to playlist is R.E.M., with particular favorites from Lifes Rich Pageant and Out of Time on repeat. A bulk of vexing e-book orders requires the somewhat disturbing and inappropriately funny tunes of The Smiths with Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now first up.  

(No streaming of these gems that we could find in DUL holdings, but we can’t deny everyone this hymn to directionless discontent! -BV) 

 Sara Biondi:

When I’m receiving boxes on boxes of Japanese-language materials, I sometimes find it helpful to remember that the books I handle today might become something else entirely tomorrow – it’s just a matter of putting them in the right hands at the right time. 

Take the story “Hashire, Meros” (“Run, Melos”) by Osamu Dazai from 1940 – it’s based on a German ballad (Friedrich Schiller’s Die Bürgschaft), which was based on a Greek legend (that of Damon and Pythias). And then a Japanese band called Wednesday Campanella grabbed it and made an amazing song with a video set in Mongolia. Friendship, and trust, and also traveling long distances are all things that we can understand across time and geography. Wednesday Campanella keeps me company while I cut open yet another shipment of books that has come a long way to be here. 

(We did not locate the track “Melos” in our streaming databases, but Wednesday Campanella is represented! Below, the cut in question. -BV)

Collections, Operations

Commercial Binding for Duke University Libraries

Stacks of commercially-bound books for the libraries with different cover colors.1.  How long has DUL been sending materials out to the Commercial Bindery (CB)?  Since everyone who knew the history of binding at Duke University Libraries (DUL) has retired, we had to do a little research to find this answer.  (Thanks to Rebecca Pattillo for finding this information in the University Archives files!)  According to the DUL Newsletter, v.5 no.2, published January 1958, DUL allotted a budget for binding as early as 1953.  The first mention of sending periodicals to the bindery was in 1957.  The Newsletter does not specify a binding company name but I have seen the stamp “Southern Bound” inside the back cover of books from the 1960s.  Evidently DUL sent some books to the Southern Library Bindery in Nashville, TN.  Some other materials were sent to Marking & Repair for in-house binding.  The Newsletter also cited sending monographs to the Joseph Ruzicka Bookbinding Company in 1985.  My former supervisor told me DUL sent books to Heckman in 1986 for a short period of time.  They returned to Ruzicka in 1987.  The company has changed names three times since then, with the current name being The HF Group.  We have trusted our books and other materials in their care since 1987.

2. Is the Bindery and Monograph Maintenance (BAMM) Section on a timeline for preparing materials for bindery?  The Commercial Binding Unit, now called Bindery & Monograph Maintenance (BAMM), is no stranger to meeting strict deadlines.  We used to send out materials every two weeks.  Since binding has decreased significantly in the last fifteen years, the CB set up a four-week turnaround time.  One student worker will be reviewing the returned shipment while the other two students are preparing materials for the next shipment.

3. How can you tell if a DUL resource needs to go to the bindery?  When covers are torn or pages are falling out, materials need to be commercially bound.  Occasionally materials are water damaged or new materials are accidentally sliced during the box opening process.  Sometimes accompanying materials such as posters or maps that are the same size or larger than the book, need a pocket.  These are all examples but not an exhaustive list of items that need to go to the CB.

4. What’s the size of an average bindery shipment, and what kinds of DUL materials are in each shipment? The size of a bindery shipment varies from 200 to 400 items. It depends on several factors: backlogs in Collections Services, special projects like renovations where materials are moving and being reviewed, how many physical books are being used by patrons and being returned, water damaged materials, and new materials that meet certain size criteria set up as guidelines within the Resource Description Department.

5. What happens to a book to get it ready for the bindery? What happens to that book at the bindery? Conservation Services staff pick up materials from Access & Delivery Services and refer them to BAMM at Smith Warehouse.  They get separated onto trucks according to types of material—paperbacks, hardbacks, sets, and serials, which are processed on different lots in ABLE.  Students or staff print new labels, assign new barcodes if needed, and add internal notes in Aleph, if needed. We also bind some new materials—monographs, periodicals, and music scores that are going to the stacks.

When our materials are received at the Commercial Bindery, they go to the check in department first where they create the shop work order according to our shipping record paper work.  They run duplicate code stickers which go on the binding tickets and in the back of the books to match the covers to the books.  They unpack and separate the books, periodicals, digicovers, music scores, etc.  They adhere the stickers and send the books down the assembly line.

A volume is being pressed.
The pressing process at the commercial bindery.

Then the collator checks for trim margins and decides if they should be adhesive bound or sewn. The books get measured and that information is sent to the lettering department.  They pull in our lots from ABLE, stamp the covers, and send them to page attachment.  After that the books are trimmed and the boards are cut.  The covers are matched with the books and they travel to the “casing in” department where the covers are glued to the boards.  The books are placed in the covers and sent to the press.  The final stop is inspection.  The shipping department counts the books and adds any extra charges as needed.  Then the books are boxed and returned to DUL.

6. How long does it take an item to go through the bindery process, from beginning to end? Depending on when we receive books and periodicals, some materials will be added to ABLE within one week, while others will be added up to 4 weeks ahead of time. Usually we unpack, review, and send the returned books out within a week

7. DUL materials come back from the bindery in different solid-colored covers. Is there a reason for each color? Do the cover colors ever change? Periodicals are assigned a cover color when they are set up in ABLE. Ideally that cover color will always be the same so they will match in the stacks.  Formerly we chose from a list of 24 colors.  Since library binding cover materials are in short supply, we now have 8 colors to choose from—black, brown, dark green, maroon, navy, red, royal blue, and tan.  Monograph cover colors are pulled randomly at the CB.  We only assign a cover color for sets—navy blue—so we don’t have to check the stacks for the previous color.  The Music Library also requested blue covers for the Miniature Scores collection and the pocketbooks which house scores and parts.

Cover image of a monograph sent through the bindery process
This monograph was sent through commercial bindery to protect the cover.

8. What’s the most interesting DUL resource that you’ve sent to the bindery? I have seen many interesting books come through for rebinding. Atlases amaze me just because of their size, and the world maps are very colorful and informative.  Some Government Documents are intriguing.  But the one book that stands out in my mind that came through recently for binding was “Afro-Atlantic Histories”.  I chose to send this book for a Digicover, where the original covers are digitized, mounted on boards, and bound with a clear cover.  You can see by the photo this book cover is stunning.  Also, the foredge was a rainbow of primary and secondary color plate sections surrounding the text and art work.  If you would like to see this book, it is displayed at Lilly’s Art Exhibition Catalog Collection.  You can also find more information on the National Gallery of Art webpage

9. Does Conservation play into the bindery workflow? If so, how? Most people don’t know that we also have a brittle books workflow. Conservation Services staff also refer books to BAMM for boxing.  These books are too brittle for rebinding.  We box them to extend their shelf life for patrons’ use for many more years.  We enter the title, author, call number, and measurements in Excel, and send the spread sheet to The HF Group Indiana office.  The books remain on the shelves at Smith.  It saves wear and tear on the books, and we don’t have to worry about them getting lost during shipping.    The HF Group staff member makes the KASEBoxes, acid free clam shell boxes (similar to pizza boxes) that protect materials, and ships them directly to Smith.  Student workers match up the books by the item number printed on the box with the corresponding book on the shelf.  They are double-checked by title and call number.  Then they glue a brittle book label inside each KASEBox to inform the patron how to handle the brittle materials.  The Item Process Status (IPS)  is changed if needed, and the boxes are sent out to the owning library or DUL’s offsite storage facility.

 

 

 

Operations, Spotlight

Zhuo Pan, Resident Librarian for Resource Description

Collections Services was pleased to welcome Zhuo Pan (潘倬, Pān Zhuō) on August 14, 2023 as Resident Librarian for Resource Description.  It has been a busy and engaging three months for Zhuo and the Resource Description Department and we are glad Zhuo was here to share them with us.  Zhuo received his Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Washington earlier this year, where he also served as a Library Data Specialist in the UW Libraries.  Zhuo received his Bachelor of Library Science from Wuhan University.  Though new to Duke in Durham, Zhuo is returning to the wider Duke University community.  He worked at Duke Kunshan University Library, both as an intern and as Library Assistant for Technical Services.   In his current position, Zhuo forms one-half of the inaugural cohort of DUL’s Residency Program, which seeks to enable recent graduates of an MLIS or related graduate program to gain experience in a highly specialized area of librarianship.

The cover of 法海寺壁画临本, with images of people in elaborate robes and a background of flowers.
Book cover showcasing figurative art with beautiful fabrics and flowers.

In his position as Resident Librarian, Zhuo describes materials to make discovery possible through the Duke University Libraries Catalog.  His work also contributes new and improved records to WorldCat, which is a catalog of library resources from all parts of the world.  Because catalogers must learn to use subject knowledge across a variety of disciplines and to apply complex international standards when creating catalog entries, gaining expertise is a long-term process and hinges on training and mentoring.  Zhuo brings to his current position experience both with hands-on cataloging at Duke Kunshan University Library, as well as experience with the international set of elements and guidelines for creating metadata for library resources from his position at UW libraries.  It has been gratifying to build on Zhuo’s knowledge and experience by working to describe books awaiting description.  During his first three months, Zhuo acquainted himself with internal workflows, policies, and the tools and documentation that support these.  He also spent significant time assessing and categorizing materials in the Chinese language cataloging queue.  This facilitated a training strategy focused on specific types of description, starting with literature, then transitioning to comics and graphic novels, and moving onto local history.  For a snapshot of Chinese language books cataloged in the last 3 months, check the catalog. Zhuo provided description for over half of new titles added during this period. The Monograph Acquisitions department, where books with records that are complete in WorldCat at the time of receipt are processed, provided description for the remaining  portion.

A black and yellow book cover with text in multiple languages.
This graphically eye-catching cover needs to be cut open (carefully!) in order for the book to be described.

Most recently, Zhuo has worked on books about art and photography.  This is an especially complicated area of description with many special requirements for noting creators and subjects associated with artistic works.  In addition, art and photography books often reflect their discipline, meaning they get artsy with how the physical book is presented.  This adds an extra layer of challenge to describing the physical resource.  Zhuo has come across books that are portfolios with loose plates of images, books with pages that fold out to create larger-format reproductions of photos, and even a book that is sealed in its entirety and needs to be carefully cut open before he can describe it.  Following are some photos of recent art books that Zhuo has encountered.  I particularly enjoyed working on the book that included parallel texts in Chinese and Russian languages with Zhuo since we each got to use our particular linguistic strengths to describe it.  This partnership is just one example of the myriad ways that original catalogers constantly work together to use combined expertise in resource description.  Here is looking forward to many years of working with Zhuo to provide timely and inclusive description of library collections.

A red book standing up on a desk, with the title 苏联人镜头中的新中国 = Новый Китай сквозь объектив Советского человека in black on the cover.
Parallel Chinese and Russian edition of the
photographic works of V.V. Mikosha.