{"id":1059,"date":"2020-11-13T07:59:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T12:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/assessment\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2020-11-13T09:25:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T14:25:36","slug":"working-together-for-improvement-the-digital-access-workflow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/assessment\/2020\/11\/13\/working-together-for-improvement-the-digital-access-workflow\/","title":{"rendered":"Working Together for Improvement: The Digital Access Workflow"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the library closed its physical doors in March, new doors of the digital sort opened up. Yet the disruption of access service for physical materials, lasting several months,\u00a0 has yielded a re-working of processes for how we get our students and faculty the resources they need for their teaching and learning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For this month\u2019s post, the heads of Charles Library Access Services, Acquisitions & Collection Development, and Learning & Research Services\u2019 social science unit (Justin Hill, Brian Schoolar & Olivia Given Castello) sat down with me to discuss recent improvements in how we provide patrons access to digital materials.<\/span><\/p>\n

It started with the<\/span> Get Help Finding a Digital Copy<\/i><\/b> service, initiated when we closed the library buildings. When a patron is searching the library catalog and discovers a physical item of interest, Get Help Finding a Digital Copy appears as an option.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The request is routed to a virtual reference staff member who reviews multiple sources to find and point the patron to that electronic version of their desired item. When the Libraries had access to the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service, over 40% of our print collection was available digitally. And of course, there are other sources for e-books, both open access and for purchase.\u00a0 Learning & Research Services (LRS) librarians, and other virtual reference team members, were busy fielding dozens of requests each day for these digital copies.\u00a0 This service continues to be incredibly popular.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did this success lead to a change in workflow?\u00a0 <\/span>As summer went on and emergency access options were expiring, the success rate for Get Help Finding a Digital Copy request fulfillment declined. LRS and Collections Management staff collaborated to design a new workflow that involved Acquisitions staff more directly in the fulfillment process. This allowed them to maximize the possible purchase options and improve the fulfillment success rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

At about the same time, the Access Services department was moving to provide all digital copies for course reserves. In the course of providing faculty with options for their course reserves, they also took advantage of this new workflow by steering the requests for e-books to Acquisitions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving to electronic course reserves opened up other opportunities, like introducing both faculty, staff and students to our services for scanning book chapters and sending them directly (and quickly) to the patron via document delivery.\u00a0 Even better, faculty will learn how to get their course reserves on Canvas so that students have ready access to the materials.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What made these collaborations between departments work?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n