Serials Holding Display Project at University of Southern California
Lynn Sipe, director of Collection Resources/IDOR
for the University of Southern California, has
successfully dealt with innumerable challenges
during his thirty-plus-year tenure.
At the time Advanced Information Management
(AIM) was called in to assist Lynn, he was facing
another one of those challenges. For this
problem, Lynn needed to produce a complete
electronic database listing of the University's
serial holdings. The new listing project was to
start around the timeframe of the seismic
retrofit of the seventy-year-old Edward I. Dohery
Jr. Memorial Library building.
Background Information
USC libraries have approximately 80,000 serial
titles, and about 16,000 of these are active.
When USC Libraries made their first switch in
1994, from the card catalog system to a
database-style, online system, some 300,000
records were not included in the transfer. Many
of the libraries' serials collection were part of
the 300,000 excluded records.
Later a contractor was hired to input the
missing records into the database, but the
contractor neglected the entire holdings
information.
Help Wanted
The entire USC library staff was stretched
with other projects, and this new project might
take years. One day, while reading the school
newspaper, The Daily Trojan, Lynn noticed a
help wanted ad placed by AIM.
Lynn, already familiar with AIM, just needed
to see that reminder, and he now knew how to
handle the listing problem. AIM has extensive
experience with all kinds of academic libraries,
including such libraries as UCLA, Stanford
University, Chapman University and Woodbury
University.
An Example of AIM's Experience
Linda McKell, president of AIM, recalls a
special project for Golden Gate University in San
Francisco. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake had
damaged the library, so the entire collection was
sent to a warehouse while the library building
was being repaired.
AIM provided a manager and pages to manage the
warehoused collection, and services continued in
the new location.
In Comes AIM
Lynn called his local AIM representatives. The
AIM staff met with Lynn and worked out an
approach, and then documented this information
into a simple agreement.
The Retrofit Project
The library doors were closed to the public in
December of 1999. The Doherty Library had always
been considered an artistic and historic landmark
on the campus. The contractor focused on
maintaining the beautiful painted plaster
ceilings and marble staircases. He took thousands
of digital photographs of the original structure
to preserve the architectural information.
Next the contractor inserted concrete shear
walls on all floors of the building. The
mechanical and electrical systems were
replaced.
September of 2000
The skeleton of the library building was
deemed safe enough for AIM employees to enter the
building. These employees could only work certain
hours and in certain locations in the
building.
AIM assembled a team of seven professionals and
paraprofessionals; Gerald Saunders was placed
as the project leader. The serials holding
display project began.
Gerald's Thoughts on this Project
Gerald knew this would be a daunting task. He
said, "Just the title changes in a single journal
since its inception 90 years ago meant that one
item record might stand for all the holdings or
that each change in title might have a separate
item record."
It was indeed a complicated task.
October of 2001
Not only did the Doheny Library open its doors
to the public, the Los Angeles Conservancy
awarded them its annual preservation award.
Included in the retrofit is a new public reading
room that integrates current periodicals,
micrographics and Global Express (interlibrary
loan) into a single unit called the Academic
Resources Gateway Office (ARGO).
January of 2002
Fifteen months after the listing project
started, Gerald accepted a full-time position
with USC as team leader for the Serials
Acquisitions.
Often temporary assignments are used as
"audition periods" to ensure a good fit with
employer and employee. AIM has found that nothing
beats the day-to-day work performance to
evaluate potential employees.
By the end of June, USC had hired two more AIM
employees.
And now...
The AIM team has completed 13,200 holdings
records for the areas of gerontology; science and
engineering; philosophy; architecture and fine
arts; music, cinema and television; reference;
and special collections.
Two more collections are in the process of
being completed. That leaves only nine more
collections.
Belinda Beardt
"Using outside help for special or periodic
projects is an excellent use of temporaries,"
said Belinda Beardt, Southern California Regional
Manager. "Even though academic libraries have
many reasons to use the services of a
professional library staffing service like AIM,
they also have their challenges in getting
through organizational red tape. It's been
amazing to see how Lynn deals with all the budget
line items and requirements."
Parting Words
Many librarians consider academic libraries as
a valuable resource for finding additional
information. Although academic libraries are
under physical and fiscal constraints, which
necessitate weeding collections down at times, it
is encouraging to know that Lynn and his staff at
the University of Southern California libraries
are doing an outstanding job of making USC's
unique store of information available. AIM is
excited to have been an integral part of this
special project.
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