Workflow Toolkit

Tim BowersoxIDS Librarian

SUNY Geneseo

Why adopt best practices?• You’ll get the most out of ILLiad…– Get the most for your money– Easy to customize!

• Which will save your staff time… – Less time spent processing requests– More efficient workflows = fewer headaches

• And save your library money…– Reduce borrowing & lending costs– Better use of staff time, equipment, & supplies

• While making your users happy!– Improved turnaround time

Why adopt best practices?

• ILL usage is increasing…– 21.29 % avg. increase in ILL usage over the past 3

years• But staff size is small– Avg. FTE staff: 2– Avg. student help: 2

• And turnaround time is not– Avg. article turnaround: 4.54 days– Avg. book turnaround: 7.67 days

Source: Sanchez, E. (2009). Higher Education Interlibrary Loan Management Benchmarks (2009-10 ed.). New York, NY: Primary Research Group, Inc.

InterlibraryBorrowing (+265%)

InterlibraryLending (+126%)

SerialsPurchased(+42%)

MonographsPurchased(-7%)

Workflow Toolkit

• http://toolkit.idsproject.org/ • Wiki repository of ILLiad best practices• Connected to Atlas Systems’ documentation &

video tutorials• Community-driven through discussions and

feedback– WebJunction portal:

http://resourcesharing.webjunction.org/workflow_toolkit/ – ILLiad-L listerv (Tip of the Week)

• Volunteer editors welcome!

Workflow ToolkitOrganized by ILLiad workflows

Workflow ToolkitLinks to relevant Atlas documentation, video

tutorials, & WebJunction Community

Workflow ToolkitSyndicated updates with RSS

Future Developments

• ILLiad 8– Updating existing best practices as necessary– New features will lead to new best practices– Sharing customized layouts

• Upgraded Member Library section– Better help for IDS workflows (ALIAS, etc.)– Central resource for documentation

• Becoming core tool for mentoring

How to use the toolkitHow to get most from the Workflow Toolkit

1. Review the Modules

• Go through each step• Read the documentation or view the videos if

you need a refresher• Look at the workflow tips…– Found something you don’t utilize?– Or something you could do differently?

• Review and implement the tips you need– Take your time!– Get help when you need it (other staff, listservs,

mentors)

2. Stay informed

• Subscribe to the Toolkit’s RSS feed– Find out when changes are made to the wiki

• Keep an eye out for the Tip of the Week– Every Friday during the academic year– Highlights a new or popular best practice

• Check out Atlas’ training page for new course offerings– Build your knowledge and skills

3. Share and contribute

• Have your own best practices? Or just some good ideas?

• Don’t keep them to yourself! Help the ILLiad community by sharing

• Visit the Workflow Toolkit’s Web Junction community– http://resourcesharing.webjunction.org/workflow_toolkit/– Share discussion or documents– Subscribe via RSS to easily see what others are saying

• Or post your thoughts to IDS-L & ILLiad-L

Tools You Can Use

A sample of the best tips from the Workflow Toolkit and why you should use them

Direct Request

• Borrowing Workflow• What is it?– If ISBN/OCLC No. present, automatically processes

and sends the request to lenders– Uses profiles to filter which requests can be sent

automatically• How does it help?– Fewer requests your staff have to process– Can help reduce turnaround time by 10-20 hours

Direct Request

• How-to:– Set up your Direct Request profile in ILLiad• Limit by request type, format, and language• Also limit to user type or department• Choose your custom holdings path• Can choose to stop if duplicate or you own the item

– Create a routing rule to send submitted requests to Direct Request processing• Routes all requests with an ISBN or OCLC number to

the Awaiting Direct Request Sending queue

Odyssey Trusted Sender

• Borrowing Workflow• What is it?– A.k.a. OdysseyAutoElecDel, allows Odyssey-received

articles to go straight to users– By default, staff must instead review each incoming

file before delivering to the user• How does it help?– Reduces staff time spent reviewing each article– Users get their articles much quicker– Within IDS Project: can save up to 5 hours on avg.

Odyssey Trusted Sender

• How-To:– Just open your Customization Manager– Search for OdysseyAutoElecDel– Set the Key Value to “Always”– Save your changes

Article conversion & Odyssey Helper

• Lending Workflow• What is it?– Convert ILL-friendly online articles from PDF to TIFF

with free tools– Send in batch using Odyssey Helper

• How does it help?– Improve your fill rate (but know your licenses!)– Less copying/scanning of print journals– Quicker article turnaround (for lending and doc del)

Article conversion & Odyssey Helper

• How-To:– Options for conversion• Microsoft Office Document Imaging – convert within

your browser by selecting this as your printer• MyMorph – save your PDFs and convert in batch to

TIFFs using this free software– Save your converted files to a central folder– Use Odyssey Helper (ILLiad v7.3 or higher) to send

the articles at once– Can also import TIFFs into Ariel if necessary

Deliver, don’t cancel!Supplying your online articles to users• Borrowing & Doc Del Workflows• What is it?– Users submit many requests for articles you have full-

text access for– Instead of canceling, download the file, deliver to

patron, and count as doc del fill• How does it help?– Better service to your users– Improves your borrowing & doc del fill rates– Provides doc del stats on what your users can’t find

Deliver, don’t cancel!Supplying your online articles to users• How-To:– Create a custom queue & routing rule that sends all

requests in that queue to Doc Del as Delivered to Web– Save PDF article under the TN to your ILLiad PDF folder– Use email routing in Borrowing that sends delivery notice

to user and places the request in your custom queue• Variations:– Full text sources on the Web (i.e. open access) can be

counted as borrowing fills, but delivered the same way– In Lending, use an email routing to deliver your ILL-friendly

online articles to libraries without Odyssey & Ariel

Effective Custom Holdings• Borrowing Workflow• What is it?– Assign lenders to groups that you arrange in paths

(for example, by price or distance)– Have as many groups & paths as you need

• How does it help?– Best way to prioritize free vs. fee lenders– Arranging by fee & delivery method can save you

loads of time & money– ILLiad can automatically generate lending strings from

these during request processing (saving more time)

Effective Custom Holdings

• How-To:– Gather libraries into groups• Reciprocal & consortia partners? LVIS?• Arrange others by fee and/or distance/delivery method

(i.e. libraries that charge $5 IFM for articles and use Odyssey)• Use the OCLC Policies Directory to easily gather

symbols– Arrange groups into paths• One path for articles, another for loans• Consider additional paths for A/V, direct request, etc.

Buy vs. Borrow:Saving $$ with purchasing workflows• Borrowing Workflow• What is it?

– Buying can sometimes be cheaper than borrowing– Loans can cost less (new or used) from Amazon and other

vendors– Articles can cost less pay-per-view from publishers than paying

copyright royalties• How does it help?

– Efficient workflow can save money without sacrificing staff time– Purchased items can be delivered faster than borrowed items– Just-in-time acquisitions opportunity for collection development

Buy vs. Borrow:Saving $$ with purchasing workflows• How-To:– Consider getting a purchasing card, or set up a queue

for Acquisitions staff to monitor– For articles: search Google for articles you will owe

royalties on to see if cheaper– For loans: search Amazon.com or other vendors for

cheaper new/used prices if borrowing will exceed $15-$20

– Create an ILLiad lender profile for “Vendor” and set it as a copyright-payer• Fill all of your requests with this symbol in the lending string• Allows for easier tracking of purchased items

Email Routing

• Lending, Borrowing, & Doc Del Workflows• What is it?– Kills two birds with one stone– Emails users or borrowing libraries using custom templates

and can change the status of requests– Can include request fields (such as title, username, etc.)

• How does it help?– Eliminate the retyping of common emails sent to users and

borrowing libraries, saving you time– Each sent email is logged, so you can see what you’ve sent

regarding each request

Email Routing

• Borrowing Examples– ALA ILL Request• Send an ALA request via email to non-OCLC libraries• Or send to National Library of Medicine

– Bill user for lost item– Send user pickup reminder– Recall notices– Denied Renewal Notices– Inform user of Web full text availability

Email Routing

• Lending Examples– Email your Serials department to ask permission

to send a journal volume– Deliver PDF articles to libraries without Odyssey

and Ariel– Recall notices– Propose a reciprocal agreement to a library you

had to charge

The “little” things that go a long way

• Disable Annoying pop-ups– CopyrightWarning in Borrowing– OdysseyReminder in Lending

• AutoBackgroundSearchOrder– Have ILLiad search WorldCat using Scan Title by default,

instead of less accurate Keyword search• IFM & Billing Manager– ILL Fee Management (IFM) reduces the handling of paper

invoices– Use Billing Manager to automate the generation of lending

invoices for non-IFM libaries• Odyssey Standalone (non-ILLiad libraries)

The “little” things that go a long way

• Dual Monitors– Have ILLiad open in one, your browser and other apps in

the next• CopyTitleToClipboard– More easily search your catalog and link resolvers

• Sorting Word Templates– Lending & Doc Del by Location, then Call Number– Borrowing pickup & return slips by order of check-in

(TRANSACT_2)• PrintDocumentsPath– ILLiad automatically opens your templates when printing

What do you want to see in the Toolkit?

What do you like about it?What don’t you like about it?What do you want to see in it?How would you improve it?

Thank you!

Tim Bowersoxbowersox@geneseo.edu

Workflow Toolkithttp://toolkit.idsproject.org

IDS Projecthttp://idsproject.org