Rush Processing

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."