Did the Ogden Branch Do
Their Picklist Yesterday?
Paul Keith
Who are you?
Are CPL locations…
• checking in new material in a timely
manner?
• searching for all items on their picklist
(pending hold requests) daily ?
• searching for missing, claimed, and “lost in
transit” material monthly?
81
locations
Are CPL locations…
• checking in new material in a timely
manner?
• searching for all items on their picklist
(pending hold requests) daily ?
• searching for missing, claimed, and “lost in
transit” material monthly?
Will this be
on the test?
flickr ucdaviscoe CC BY 2.0
Have you wondered if…
• People at my library are…
– checking in new material in a timely manner?
– searching for all items on their picklist
(pending hold requests) daily ?
– searching for missing, claimed, and “lost in
transit” material on a regular basis?
Are locations checking
in new (shelf ready)
material in a timely
manner?
Issue: Lost Circulations
3.53 days *
82 copies =
289.46 days
289.46 days /
90 days =
3.22 add’l copies
81
locations
but
purchasing
for 84?
Trapping Preference
• prefer first in queue
• prefer holds at assigned branch
• prefer holds at return branch
Can we measure this?
Getting people to look at the
report.• Calling outliers.
• Emailing district chiefs about outliers.
• Meet with district chiefs.
• Include district chiefs on monthly reports.
• Meet with branch managers.
• Include outliers on monthly reports.
• Include all branch managers on monthly
reports.
3.53
1
2.67
1
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Average Median
Days to Check in Shelf Ready Material
February 2018 April 2019
24% ↓
What’s a 24% difference worth?
• 6,000 circs per year
• 1,385 fewer copies per year
• $35,000 saved per year
Are locations
searching for items on
their picklist daily?
Sulzer’s copy
checked in at
Albany Park.
Sorter
Can we measure this?
Identifying what happens to
pending items• look for holds that become pending (6010)
between
– 4 pm day before
– 7 am day of
Identifying what happens to
pending items• what next happens to them?
– between 4 pm the day before and 5:30 am the
day after
– nothing (no transaction) or Polaris (userid = 1)
moves to another picklist
– something happens to hold at picklist
branch/item marked missing or ask me later
– something happens to hold elsewhere
Is there a better way
to speed up
transaction file
queries?
April 2019
24 – no
28 – partial
polaris.dbo.picklistsummary
Getting people to look
at the report.
Conversations
19
14
810
4 43
20
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Sep18
Oct18
Nov18
Dec18
Jan19
Feb19
Mar19
Apr19
May19
Number of Locations Doing Less Than Half Their Picklist at
Least 25% of the Time
3033
30
19
24
1922
27
15
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Sep18
Oct18
Nov18
Dec18
Jan19
Feb19
Mar19
Apr19
May19
Number of Locations Doing Less Than Half Their Picklist at
Least 2 Days in the Month
Are locations
searching for missing,
claimed, and “lost in
transit” material
monthly?
Collection Maintenance Reports
• missing, claimed, in transit more than 30
days
• how to indicate that location has looked for
the item if not found?
• introduced February 2018
• reminder July 2018
Can we measure this?
Report on Collection
Maintenance Reports • “When Locations Last Did Their Collection
Maintenance Lists”
• date last worked on or “Never”
• Number of items currently on list
• number of items on list with active holds
• first distributed in early April 2019
Surprises/Learnings
• People don’t follow instructions.
– Don’t add their branch abbreviation to items
not found. (Added these to report in April.)
– Add a made up branch abbreviation.
• SHERMA SHP
• Small branches (3) with more than 1000
items lost in transit.
Getting people to look
at the report.
Impact of the
collection
maintenance reports
themselves.
Oops!
48 46
36
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Apr 1, 19 May 1, 19 Jun 1, 19
Locations with Over 100 Items on at Least One Collection
Maintenance List
Next Steps
• central library
• automate more of the process
Using These Reports Yourself
• Number of Days Before Items are
Received…
– must use the Check In Shelf Ready Materials
dialog in EDI services
– change cataloging branch and you’re likely
good to go (CPL’s is 85)
Using These Reports Yourself
• Picklist Report
• Picklist Report for Subscription by Email
– alter first line if running at a time other than
5:30 am
• stored procedure to populate “picklist
summary” table
– assumes table already exists
(polaris.dbo.picklistsummary)
– Report Date (date), Branch (int), Outcome
(varchar(max))
Using These Reports Yourself
• Collection Maintenance Reports
– case statements in select statement
– code to sort LC call numbers
– ItemStatusDate > some date
– add branch abbreviation to non public note
• When Locations Last Did Their Collection
Maintenance Reports
– some CPL specific stuff throughout
Lessons Learned
• The data in your ILS can often “measure”
problems that you only know about
anecdotally.
• Expect surprises in the data.
• People care about what you measure.
• Beware of shifting goals?
Questions?
Paul Keith
Slides and SQL/RDL files:
https://www.chipublib.org/wiliugspring2019