Urgently needed materials offer Fondren Library staff an important opportunity to work together to demonstrate our service commitment to library users. The vast majority of requests are filled within 24 hours, and often less. In extraordinary circumstances, library staff may work together to shorten RUSH processing time to as little as an hour. Such circumstances require advance communication among the library staff involved, so that user expectations are raised only when very quick processing at all points can be guaranteed.
RUSH requests are generally delivered from hand to hand during normal University business hours. Cross-training and other appropriate means are used to back up essential functions during those hours.
RUSH processing of received materials: RUSH requests should be submitted using the online form at: http://library.rice.edu/services/request_items/rush-processing-form. The form goes to the e-mail accounts of six Technical Services staff members, so that RUSH responsibilities are always covered. The online request most clearly communicates information essential for finding the book, and is the best way to ensure speedy processing.
The Comments box should be used for any specific time parameters, e.g.: Need by 5 p.m. or cancel request. Please contact [contact information] asap to verify that this will be possible. Please contact [contact information] asap to share estimate of when book will be available. Please call Reference asap; user is here and needs to know when book will be available. Technical Services staff will call or write promptly to respond to such requests. In the absence of more specific instructions, any necessary e-mail messages will be sent to: ask@rice.libanswers.com. If the user does not want to fill out the RUSH processing form, the Reference staff member working with the user should do it for him/her.
Normally within one working day from receiving the item for cataloging, the cataloger hand-delivers the cataloged RUSH item to a staff member who will mark it. If the item requires commercial binding, it is marked and circulated first as if it were a hardback, then bound afterwards. If full cataloging would be time-consuming, minimal-level cataloging may be used to speed processing, with a note to Circ to return to the cataloger after it is turned in.
The staff member marking the RUSH item hand-delivers it to Circulation, where the user is contacted immediately.
If the item is at the bindery when the RUSH request is received, the Head of Preservation is notified of the request. When the relevant shipment is unpacked, the RUSH book is pulled, processed, and taken to circulation immediately.
RUSH ordering: Orders should be clearly marked RUSH (to be rushed throughout processing) or RUSH-order only, with the user's name, phone number, and e-mail address, then delivered to Acquisitions, where fund is checked and vendor assigned. Orders requiring processing within one working day should be e-mailed or placed in the Acquisitions RUSH basket. RUSH orders of exceptional urgency may be delivered directly to the Acquisitions Librarian or her designate. Acquisitions staff deliver regular RUSH orders to the RUSH order basket in Cataloging, where they are searched for duplication, entered in Sirsi, then ordered with the vendor, generally through expedited means such as fax or online order. The Cataloging RUSH basket is emptied several times per working day. Acquisitions staff may hand-carry urgent RUSH orders directly to a Copy Cataloger. Paperwork is returned to the selector on request. Under normal circumstances, a RUSH order should be fully processed within no more than 24 hours of its arrival in Technical Services, and usually much less.
When RUSH-ordered materials are received, they are flagged by the appropriate Acquisitions staff member and hand-carried to Cataloging and Metadata Services, from which point they are continually distributed to appropriate staff for cataloging. If an item is RUSHed but the requestor
does not want to be notified, both the record and the rush flag should read: "RUSH-no notify."