Phase II: Experimental Guidelines

PDF version (103K) | Need Acrobat Reader?

The following procedures were developed from the recommendations of the CMI Operations Advisory Committee subgroups for Publicity, Usage, Bibliographic Control, and ILL/Document Delivery where relevant. These procedures are designed to address activities during the second phase of the Collection Management Initiative grant project during which experimental volumes are located in remote storage, control volumes are maintained on library shelves, and usage data is gathered for both print and electronic journals. Phase II officially began October 1, 2001.

Storage arrangements
Gathering usage data
Gathering user behavior and preference data
Bibliographic record changes
Publicizing participation in the CMI Project
Supplies
Documenting costs

Storage arrangements

Campus libraries that have designated experimental journal titles will have moved these volumes to storage before Phase II begins. Experimental volumes will be housed in an RLF or in a campus storage unit. It is recommended that campus storage facilities and RLF's shelve these materials separately from their other collections.

Unbound issues
Experimental unbound issues may be retained in the owning library but kept in a location off the open shelves or may be relocated to remote storage. The disposition of unbound issues is at the discretion of the owning library. The RLF's, for example, are able to handle unbound issues. If campus libraries do elect to send unbound issues to an RLF, they should expect to use standard procedures for depositing, requesting, circulating, and returning those unbound issues of CMI titles to/from an RLF.

Gathering usage data

Definition of use of experimental titles
Use of experimental volumes/issues is defined as each request by a library patron at the owning campus library for a study volume or unbound issue or for an article contained in a study volume or issue from the campus storage facility or from the RLF where the experimental title was stored.

Marking to identify volumes
If CMI volumes/issues are housed separately in the storage facility, it may not be necessary to mark these materials. However, if volumes and issues are to be marked, it is the preference of the RLF's that experimental volumes/issues be marked by the campus library before shipment. NRLF, for example, will not mark the experimental volumes/issues deposited there. However, if experimental volumes/issues requested by the campus, are not marked, it will be necessary to mark them in some way before checking them out to a library user. That way when the volume is returned, it can be identified as a CMI experimental title and returned to storage. For example, NRLF will put a sleeve on those volumes that they return to the campus during Phase II.

For those storage units and the SRLF that do plan to mark every volume and issue that are deposited as part of the project, it will be necessary to mark issues currently received during Phase II. If current issues are bound during Phase II, it will be necessary to mark the bound volumes when returned from the bindery.

Counting method
Methods for recording use of experimental volumes/issues will vary. For example, SRLF plans to identify CMI titles in ORION 2 so that use statistics can be extracted from local system. Other storage facilities will maintain a file of requests as the method of tracking usage of these materials.

Use will be counted by the RLF where it is stored unless an arrangement is made with the owning library to maintain and report these counts to CMI staff.

The campuses (Santa Barbara, Davis and San Diego) that store their experimental titles in local storage facilities will be responsible for counting each use of a volume or unbound issue of an experimental journal title.

Frequency of reporting data to CMI staff
Use data gathered by the libraries, the library storage units and the RLF's of the number of requests for experimental volumes/issues located in storage should be submitted to CMI staff periodically, frequency to be determined in consultation with CMI staff. Methods of reporting use data to CMI staff will be released later.

Gathering user behavior and preference data

In response to a request from a library user on the owning campus, RLF and campus storage staff will place a survey form in each study volume, unbound issue or photocopy. The purpose of the survey form is to determine why the user is requesting print when an electronic version is available. The survey form are is available via email and in the publicity section of this web site. The library user who requests the item will be asked to fill out the survey form and return it to the library, site to determined by the library. The survey will include a place for the requester to indicate if he/she would be willing to participate in a follow-up interview.

Bibliographic record changes

Campuses will have changed bibliographic holdings records for journal volumes/issues going to storage in their local catalogs to indicate that the CMI journal titles are currently located in storage or at an RLF.

Publicizing participation in the CMI project

The following tools are available in the publicity section and can also be distributed as email attachments:

• comment card to be placed at the shelves where experimental volumes were housed or at nearby public service desk
• project explanation to be available at public service desks
• opening day letter/email message explaining the project
  project explanation to be available at public service desks
• signage to post at the shelves where experimental volumes were housed
• press release for local newsletters, newspapers, etc.

The use of the adaptable text is at the discretion of the campus library. The opening day letter was written to be directed to faculty and others that the UL and librarians determine should be informed of the project. It is recommended that copies of the project explanation be kept at public service desks to inform both staff and patrons. Some libraries may also wish to put the project explanation on their campus web site.

Supplies

If at any time supplies of labels or use data slips run low, campuses may request additional supplies from CMI staff. There is no cost to campuses for these supplies.

Documenting costs

A form will be provided to aid libraries in recording the cost of carrying out the activities related to Phase II of the project.