Procedures For Approvals
1. OVERVIEW OF APPROVAL VENDORS
Approval books are received from the following vendors:
YBP (Yankee Book Peddler) – Domestic publishers (multi-disciplinary)
L&C (Lindsay and Croft) – UK publishers (multi-disciplinary)
Harrassowitz – German language titles (with occasional English or Latin) (primarily fiction, social sciences, religion, history, and philosophy)
Puvill (Puvill Libros) – Spanish language titles from Spanish publishers (primarily philosophy, literary studies, and medieval history)
Latinam (Latin American Book Store) – Spanish language titles from Latin American publishers (primarily fiction, literary criticism, linguistics, some political history)
Abrams – (art and architecture)
Time Warner – (art and architecture)
Worldwide – (art and architecture)
Front – (variety of languages) scores, sound recordings, and some books on music
Records for YBP and L&C are received in the form of OCLC/PromptCat records. Vendor slips always remain with the books through the point of actual cataloging.
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2. PROCEDURES (BY VENDOR)
At the present time records for YBP and L&C are received in the form of OCLC/PromptCat records. These procedures are detailed below (sections 3 & 4).
The procedures for the remaining vendors are outlined in sections 5 & 6.
3. YBP (Yankee Book Peddler, Yankee)
3.1 New shipment
Notification of a new shipment of titles is received via email from OCLC/PromptCat.
This message includes the file date (roughly the same as the invoice date used in Acquisitions), the unique file name, and the number of titles.
The appropriate file is retrieved through the use of standard File Transfer Protocol (ftp), and is stored on the designated Senior Copy Cataloger’s H-drive.
3.2 Acquisitions workflow
Once Acquisitions personnel have received the physical shipment, the books are tattle-taped and placed on a book truck in loose alphabetical order (all titles beginning with letter ‘A’ together, all titles beginning with letter ‘B’ together, and so on).
Large books may be grouped together either at the head or tail of the truck.
A label is affixed to the book truck indicating Vendor, Invoice Date, Return Date, Create Date, and Review Date.
[example of label here?]
Invoice Date will be roughly the date of the ftp-file ;
Return Date is typically 4 months from the Invoice Date and indicates the time period during which items can reasonably be returned to Vendor as duplicates, defectives, or other ;
Create Date is the date on which the individual bibliographic records were loaded into Sirsi ;
Review Date, which indicates the date by which Collection Development librarians will have been able to look over the book truck to identify both inappropriate materials to be returned as well as materials for Reference, restricted access, etc.
All returns (duplicate and otherwise) will receive a salmon flag and will be left on the truck.
3.3 Loading
The file for each shipment is loaded into Sirsi upon instruction from the Acquisitions Receiving Coordinator, at which time an email is sent out to members of the Acquisitions, Cataloging, and Collection Development departments, with specific information regarding the shipment.
Also at this time, using the ‘view’ function on the Finished Reports screen, a list is made of those titles flagged by the system during the import process as possible duplicates.
The list is given to the Copy Cataloger responsible for pre-cataloging the book truck.
3.4 Title-by-title pre-cataloging
Book trucks are brought over to Cataloging the day after the Review Date posted on the label.
The vendor slips are pulled from the books and Sirsi is searched for titles.
YBP/PromptCat records can be identified as follows:
all manner of copy (DLC, CIP, GMC, MC, UKM) have a Sirsi control number based on the OCLC Number, prefixed with a small letter ‘o’.
In instances where no copy could be found, YBP/PromptCat will have provided a provisional record, with a Sirsi control number based on the ISBN, prefixed with a small letter ‘i’.
(The ISBN appears on the vendor slip for all approvals.)
The following note will appear near the bottom of the bib record for all YBP Approvals:
910 __ |aYBP/PromptCat
3.5 Duplicates
If a duplicate record is found a salmon-colored slip is placed in the book, with notes as needed (e.g. PO # if a STO already exists) and the slip is initialed by the Cataloger.
Vendor slip should always remain with the book.
A print-out is made for the ‘other’ copy, showing its status (in Stacks, on order etc.).
Book+slip+print-out are given to the Assistant Acquisitions Librarian for review and decision.
Duplicate records in Sirsi will not be deleted until ALL duplicates from a given shipment have been consolidated and are ready to be given to the Acquisitions Receiving Coordinator for return to YBP.
3.6 Series verification
If title is part of a series, series is checked in Sirsi to verify it is not on Standing Order.
If a new open set, series, or serial is found, add an all-caps 590 note to the bibliographic record:
590 __ [VOL #] CURRENTLY ON CD STO-DECISION SHELF
The book is then placed on the Decision Shelf in Acquisitions, with dated, initialed white flag indicating ‘new’ series and requesting a decision from the appropriate CD-Ref librarian. (Note: the CD-Ref librarian’s name does not need to be spelled out on the slip as it is his or her responsibility to review materials according to their assigned disciplines.) A book can remain on the Decision Shelf for approximately 1 month, after which it is returned to the appropriate cataloger, whether a decision has been made or not. The 590 note is deleted at the point of actual cataloging.
3.7 Provisional records
If the book has a provisional record, OCLC will be searched for better copy and, if found, new record will be imported to overlay the provisional (Sirsi control number needs to be changed prior to running overlay report).
3.8 Vendor slips & post-pre-cat disposition of books
Mark all vendor slips with DLC, CIP, GMC, MC, UKM or 0, along with Sirsi control numbers.
The pre-cat date is penciled on the vendor slip for MC, UKM, and 0-copy titles.
MC/UKM books are placed on truck(s) destined for Senior Copy Cataloging Unit, incomplete sets go to the Head of the Senior Copy Cataloging Unit, ‘no-copy/provisionals’ are set aside for future re-searching in OCLC, and DLC, CIP, and GMC books remain in the Cat1 Unit area, kept in the Approval queue by date order.
3.9 Reference Decision Shelf
A decision from the appropriate CD librarian is required for an approval book to be added to the reference collection. The book, with YBP slip, is placed on the Approvals Reference Decision Shelf in Acquisitions; and is returned to the appropriate cataloger after 1 month, whether a decision has been made or not. A 590 note is placed in the bib record indicating the book’s current location (see 3.6 above for correct wording).
3.10 BIC titles
Books destined for review by the Business Librarian are pulled from the shipment and placed on a shelf in Acquisitions. Once these have been reviewed the Approvals Receiving Clerk will notify the appropriate member of Copy Cataloging that they are ready. The Business Librarian will have noted, on the approval slip, whether the book is to be cataloged for the Business School or for Fondren Stacks. (Note: all Business books are loaded into ‘Fondren’ location and thus will require a change of ‘library’ and ‘current location’ prior to cataloging.)
3.11 OCLC Holdings
OCLC holdings are automatically updated by PromptCat 30 days after the shipment’s invoice date.
Therefore, in cases where a cataloger chooses to use an OCLC record that is different from the one provided by PromptCat, holdings should be deleted from the original record and updated for the preferred selection.
When a book has been cataloged, vendor approval slips can be tossed.
4. L&C (Lindsay and Croft)
L&C approval titles are supplied by OCLC/PromptCat via the same ftp procedure as YBP approvals.
All loading and pre-cat steps are the same as for YBP (see above), with the single difference that no BIC books are received from L&C.
The following note will appear near the bottom of the bib record for all L&C Approvals:
910 __ |aLindsay/PromptCat
5. Harrassowitz, Puvill, Latinam, Abrams, Time Warner, and Worldwide
Unlike YBP and L&C, these vendors do not provide records (records will only be in Sirsi if there is a duplicate item).
While mixed approval books are separated by vendor within a truck they are not alphabetized.
5.1 Duplicates
When searching Sirsi for duplicate titles use the standard author/title combination search.
Take special care when dealing with the possibility of dual US/UK publications (i.e., identical books but with different publishers, ISBNs, minor differences in title, inversion of authors’ names, etc.).
5.2 Series
Like YBP and L&C approvals, all series should also be searched in order to avoid duplicating titles to be received through Standing Orders.
5.3 Importing records from OCLC
Search OCLC for records and import using the approvalfondren template report in Sirsi.
5.4 Harrassowitz and Puvill records
Harrassowitz and Puvill create their own OCLC records:
040 __ OHX|cOHX|dYDXCP and 040 __ PL#|bspa|cPL#
These records are typically provisional in character and books with such copy are treated as no-copy and delivered to the Original Catalogers after 3 months on the “OXH/No-Copy” book truck(s) without better copy being found. If better copy is found in OCLC before the end of 3 months, the new copy is overlaid in Sirsi and the books are distributed to either the Copy Cataloging Unit (for DLC, CIP, and GMC books) or the Senior Copy Cataloging Unit (for MC and UKM books).
5.5 Provisional records
Create provisional records when no record is found in OCLC.
5.6 Vendor slips
Mark all vendor slips with DLC, CIP, GMC, MC, UKM, OHX, PL, or 0, along with the OCLC control number (or, the Sirsi control number for provisional records) and the date the record is created in Sirsi and place slips back into books.
5.7 Tattletaping
Mixed approval books are NOT tattletaped in Acquisitions before being delivered to Cataloging. Tattletaping is done either by appropriate Cataloger(s) or by students, if available, and is only done once all titles have been checked in Sirsi for duplicates and new records have been brought into Sirsi.
5.8 Distribution of books
After tattletaping, place DLC, CIP, GMC, and MC fiction books on truck for cataloging by Copy Cataloging Unit, all other MC and UKM books are placed on the Senior Copy Cataloging Unit book truck(s) and OHX, PL, and other no-copy books are placed on the “OHX/No-Copy” truck(s) for 3 months or until better copy is found in OCLC.
6. Front
Scores received on the Front approval plan are delivered to the Music Cataloging Librarian by the Receiving Clerk. The Senior Copy Cataloger follows the same procedure as with the other approval plans except that items are incorporated into his own workflow.
Sound recordings received on the Front approval plan are delivered to the appropriate Senior Copy Cataloger who will follow the same procedure as the other approval plans, with one exception: items with no copy will be given to a designated Copy Cataloger who will create a provisional record in Sirsi.