PALCI E-ZBorrow Pilot Project Report August 8, 2003

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1 PALCI E-ZBorrow Pilot Project Report August 8, 2003 Rutgers University Libraries (RUL) participated in a pilot project with PALCI, the Pennsylvania Academic Libraries Consortium, Inc., between February 14, 2003 and June 30, 2003, for expedited delivery of books. The E-ZBorrow program uses Dynix s URSA resource sharing software and allows users to search the PALCI virtual union catalog of over 26 million items and place unmediated requests for books. Pre-Pilot Preparation RUL submitted a configuration guide to PALCI in November The Dynix programmer completed mapping catalog, library, and branch profiles to the Rutgers test server in January 2003 and Rutgers systems staff began preliminary testing. A Planning/Implementation Group composed of heads of campus public and access services, public services and communications staff, and systems staff met to begin planning for the pilot. The group discussed notices; library catalog groups for searching; addresses on the login screen; the user interface and user instruction; workflow issues; and interlibrary loan (ILL), Rutgers Delivery Service (RDS), and Shipping staff responsibilities on each campus. Training On January 30, 2003, Dan Iddings, PALCI s Executive Director, met with the Implementation/Planning group at Rutgers. He reviewed staff and patron login screens, administrative functions, statistics, contacts, and default catalogs. He then trained access services supervisors in the afternoon on how to process requests. Copies of the URSA training manual and a preliminary draft of Rutgers procedures were distributed for supervisors to use for training at local libraries. Dan Iddings later conducted training via the Web for staff at the Robeson Library. One month into the pilot on March 25, all RDS and ILS staff met in New Brunswick. A teleconference meeting with Dana and Robeson staff was held later in the week. Based on staff input from these meetings, Rutgers E-ZBorrow procedures were revised and posted to the Staff Resources web page. Multi-volume sets, lost PALCI books, provisional requests, different books with the same ISBN, and barcodes beginning with characters, were among the processing problems staff identified and discussed. Ongoing PALCI training, procedures, and coordinating issues are reviewed in monthly Access Services Committee meetings. E-ZBorrow E-ZBorrow was selected as the new name for PALCI s expedited book request service a month before Rutgers began its pilot. RUL uses E-ZBorrow consistently across our 1

2 website. We placed a direct link to E-ZBorrow on the RUL home page, and added links in IRIS and wherever ILL is an option. The Rutgers home page was presented at the PALCI users group meet in April as an example of how to make the service easy to find and intuitive for users. Rutgers set an E-ZBorrow record in February for placing/receiving the most requests during the first 2 weeks of participation. User Education & Response A user services web page with details about eligibility, how to place an E-ZBorrow request, guidelines for placing requests, borrowing conditions, renewals, fees, notification and delivery was made available on the RUL web site. Public services staff were asked to promote the E-ZBorrow service and encourage its use during the pilot. Reference librarians suggested E-ZBorrow as an alternative to recall when all copies of a Rutgers book were checked out, and as a potential source for items in Rutgers noncirculating collections (Jazz, Art, reference collections). User education about renewals was especially important for users who are accustomed to receiving term loans when renewing their books in Self Services. E-ZBorrow books are 2

3 eligible for one, and only one, 28-day self-renewal in IRIS Self Services. Some faculty and graduate students were initially surprised at the shorter due dates when they renewed E-ZBorrow books in IRIS. The reference and access services teams answered E-ZBorrow policy and procedural questions submitted to Ask a Librarian. Questions about specific E-ZBorrow requests were answered by the interlibrary loan AAL team and referred as needed to local library RDS and systems staff. Ask A Librarian was the source of a number of positive, unsolicited user comments about E-ZBorrow, including most recently this 7/7/03 message from a graduate student: I really like E-ZBorrow. I hope you can offer this service on a permanent basis. Thanks. Users regularly expressed appreciation for the fast delivery time. Ongoing Maintenance and Troubleshooting The Dynix programmer has been very responsive in addressing problems and answering questions. Requests for refinements to our filtering criteria, title level holds, additional PALCI users, and status fixes for individual requests were immediately addressed Systems staff also made ongoing adjustments in Unicorn as the pilot progressed. For example, changing the timeframe for PALCI items on Clear Hold Shelf reports, eliminating PALCI filled holds from RDS statistics, and monitoring PALCI requests that aren t cleared from the system for a variety of reasons. Miscellaneous administrative maintenance was required, including production of blue wrap around book bands for the 4 UPS locations, updating catalog groups and contact information, coordinating system maintenance, compiling statistics, and composing procedures. Statistics During the pilot (February 14 through June 30, 2003), Rutgers borrowed 2,834 items and loaned 1,530 items. (See statistics attached to this report). RUL borrowed primarily from Penn State, Pitt, and Temple, followed by Bucknell, Villanova, Lehigh, Drexel, and Carnegie Mellon. The majority of Rutgers lending was to Dickinson, Penn State, Drexel, Bryn Mawr, Pitt, and Temple. Impact on Interlibrary Loan Interlibrary loan staff began pre-searching ILL requests in the PALCI catalog in February Whenever titles were located and available from a PALCI library, staff placed E- ZBorrow requests on patrons behalf, canceled the ILL requests, and sent a message to patrons. This practice eliminated interlibrary loan to PALCI libraries, increased patrons awareness of E-ZBorrow, and promoted independent use of the service. 3

4 From March 15 to April 15, 2003, ILL staff logged the number of new ILL requests that were canceled before a request was placed with another library for the item, and the reasons for their cancellation. During this 30-day period, 142 requests or 57% of the initially denied ILL requests were converted to E-ZBorrow requests. ILL Requests Cancelled and Converted to E-ZBorrow Requests May 15-April 15, 2003 ILLs Converted to E-ZBorrow ILLs Cancelled % ILL Cancellations converted to E-ZBorrow Alex-NB % Robeson % Dana % Total % Staff expected ILL users to begin using E-ZBorrow in place of interlibrary loan during the pilot. Dan Iddings also predicted, based on other PALCI libraries experience, that we would observe a new population of patrons using E-ZBorrow. The number of books requested on traditional interlibrary has declined for the past four years. Last year s traditional ILL borrowing requests combined with the ½ year of E- ZBorrow borrowing requests, results in an increase in the total number of books borrowed from libraries outside of Rutgers (8,303) compared to the previous three years. This increase in overall borrowing might be attributed to the new, nontraditional ILL patrons using the E-ZBorrow service. Rutgers ILL & E-ZBorrow Activity Total ILL Books ILL Books ILL Books ILL Books E-ZBorrow 2- ILL & E-ZBor 6/ ILL and E-ZBorrow Books Borrowed 4

5 Turnaround Time The request histories of a random sample of completed E-ZBorrow requests were studied to determine an average turn around time. The dates created, dates shipped, and dates received were recorded, added, totaled, and averaged for 63 requests made to and by Rutgers. Average Turn Around Times (including weekends) -- A Sample of 63 E-ZBorrow Requests Made by Rutgers Patrons and 63 Requests Made to Rutgers Average # of days Created to Shipped Average # of days Shipped to Received Average # of days Created to Received Requests Filled by Rutgers (63) 3.1 days 4.6 days 6.7 days Complete Requests made by Rutgers (63) 3.2 days 5.5 days 7.7 days In this sample, the time it takes Rutgers to fill requests compares favorably with the average fill time of our PALCI partners. The average 7.7 days (including weekends) it takes for Rutgers patrons to receive books from PALCI libraries illustrates the benefits of unmediated requesting compared to mediated interlibrary loan requesting which takes longer. Quick delivery time is one of the most popular features of the E-ZBorrow service. Costs Membership costs were $5,000 for the pilot and $7,000 to join PALCI next FY. The Shipping & Receiving department at Alexander Library tracked the UPS cost for sending and returning books to PALCI libraries during the pilot. The average cost of shipping an E-ZBorrow book via UPS from Alexander Library was $2.28. E-ZBorrow Pilot UPS Costs, Shipping & Receiving Alexander Library 2003# E-ZBorrow Cost of E-ZBorrow items shipped items shipped FEB 50 $ MAR 352 $ APR 424 $1, MAY 509 $1, JUN 503 $1, Total 1838 $4,

6 Items are not always returned the same month they are borrowed but based on the average $2.28 UPS cost per item, it will cost approximately $ 9, in UPS fees to ship E-ZBorrow books borrowed and loaned Feb. 14- June 30, 2003 (excluding the cost of packing supplies (jiffy bags) and staff). E-ZBorrow Pilot Rutgers Total UPS Shipping Costs Based on an Average $2.28/item UPS cost 2003# Borrowed UPS $ Borrowed # Loaned UPS $ Loans UPS $ Total FEB 310 $ $ $ MAR 806 $1, $ $2, APR 776 $1, $1, $2, MAY 451 $1, $ $1, JUN 491 $1, $ $1, Total 2834 $6, $3, $9, Staffing E-ZBorrow processing assignments are handled differently on the Camden, Newark and New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses. The single-library, one UPS location model on the Newark and Camden campuses allows for a streamlined approach, which more fully integrates E-ZBorrow processing with the RDS workflow. Multiple pickup libraries in New Brunswick/Piscataway means staff (ILS) need to receive materials at the two UPS locations before they are delivered to a pickup library. Systems and ILS staff also coordinate various E-ZBorrow functions for the library system. Following is a brief description of some of the tasks and estimated time per week various staff spend supporting the E-ZBorrow service. This is by no means a complete picture of RUL staffing for E-ZBorrow. Rather, it illustrates the impact E-ZBorrow has had in a number of areas. 1) Systems Staff /System Administrator 1 hour per week RUL s contact with PALCI s executive director and the Dynix programmer about URSA system issues. Reports system glitches, requests fixes. Monitors patron E-ZBorrow activity and PALCI users in Workflows, system maintenance. 2) ILS-Alex / Library Assistant hours per week RUL s contact with staff at PALCI libraries, responds to their queries, fixes request statuses. Troubleshoots problems with RDS staff. Answers E-ZBorrow Ask A Librarian questions. Forwards provisional borrowing requests to RDS staff. 6

7 3) ILS-Alex / Voucher staff hours per week ILS-LSM / Voucher staff 10 hours per week Updates items requested by Rutgers patrons in NB-Piscataway and items filled by the NB-Piscataway in URSA software. Packs, unpacks books for UPS at LSM. 4) Shipping & Receiving / Utility Supervisor 2-3 hours per week Supervises student assistants and packs/unpacks and processes E-ZBorrow books at Alex for UPS shipment. 5) NB Libraries RDS Staff 17.5 hours per week (filled requests) Pulls and processes books loaned, troubleshoots problem requests, processes unfilled requests. Discharges and routes borrowing and lending requests. New Brunswick Libraries RDS staff logged the amount of time they spent on each E- ZBorrow borrowing and lending request during the pilot. Data for March-June from libraries with complete statistics were examined, and formed the basis of an estimate of for the total average RDS staff time spent per filled E-ZBorrow borrowing and lending request. Average # minutes per request spent pulling, processing and problem solving filled and unfilled E-ZBorrow lending requests 2003 MAR APR MAY JUN Douglass LSM Math Average # of minutes per request spent processing and problem solving borrowing requests 2003 MAR APR MAY JUN Douglass LSM Math Lending requests: 6 minutes to pull, process, problem solve, and send to Shipping minutes to discharge upon return = 7.5 minutes Borrowing requests: 1.5 minutes to make the hold available and place on Hold Shelves minutes to discharge and send to Shipping upon return = 3 minutes. 7

8 Applying these averages to the number of requests borrowed and loaned during the pilot results in approximately RDS hours for the entire 19-week pilot, or 17.5 hours per week time spent on filled requests. E-ZBorrow Pilot - RDS Staff time in New Brunswick-Piscataway Filled Requests 2003# Borrowed Hours (3 min/item) # Loaned Hours (7.5 min/item) Total Hours FEB MAR APR MAY JUN Total Travel The Unicorn System Administrator, Head University Libraries Access and Interlibrary Services, and Interlibrary Loan Supervisor attended the Eastern Pennsylvania PALCI E- ZBorrow Users group meeting in April, Personal contact and discussions with staff at PALCI libraries, updates from the executive director, procedures reviews, and an introduction to the new release of the URSA software were valuable and important for Rutgers continuing participation in E- ZBorrow. [PALCI E-ZBorrow Pilot Report.doc] JEG 8/8/03 8