Dixie State University
Library & Learning Services

Technical Services
Annual Report 2018–2019

2019 Annual Review
Introduction

Department Name: Technical Services

College Name: Library & Learning Services

Department Head: David Zielke

Department Mission Statement (required for NWCCU):
In accordance with the vision statement of Dixie State University and the mission of the Dixie State University Library, Technical Services provides competent acquisition, processing, cataloging, and access for all library materials and resources (except Special Collections and Archives) necessary to facilitate research and enhance the curriculum and programs of Dixie State University.

Goals and Accomplishments

Report progress on goals identified in last year’s report.

LLS Goal 2: Expand Resources and Enhance Services

Strategy: Increase library materials budgets. See Appendix A

• Some progress has been made towards this goal. The library received an ongoing operating budget increase of $30,000 for Applied Sociology, Sports Management, and Mechanical Engineering. Funds from this increase were used to purchase various perpetual e-reference books for these areas, plus a bonus of free access to other e-reference books for other study areas.
• John Burns, our Electronic Database librarian, has negotiated with five of our library’s electronic database vendors for reductions of over $23,000 in annual costs.

Strategy: Re-evaluate and revise internal policies, procedures, and guidelines.

• Technical Services has started the revision of processing policies. The gift processing guidelines have been revised, and further guidelines received from the Business Office concerning the processing of gifts have been implemented.
• The placing of library materials orders from liaisons were changed to be paperless only.
• The processing of periodicals in Current Periodicals on the Mezzanine were addressed this year. Several other policies, procedures and guidelines for acquisitions, processing, cataloging, access, work in the bindery, and the annual inventory process still need to be re-evaluated, documented and revised.

LLS Goal 4: Remove Barriers to Access and Improve Efficiencies

Strategy: Create collection reports detailing titles, publication dates, usage, date of purchase, etc.

• Brookanna Alford created reports listing these items and made them available to the librarians.

Strategy: Redesign webpages for user experience

• Caleb Ames has completed some upgrading and redesign of the library’s webpage, other areas on the webpage will need further changes.

Strategy: Evaluate the outdated and obsolete library Integrated Library System

• The library ILS and its server were successfully updated 5-6 May 2019.

Strategy: Compare and analyze different ILSs capable of supporting the library

• Caleb Ames was able to successfully compare various possible ILS replacements and their costs. Ultimately, it was decided for now to upgrade our current ILS system, as it would cover the library’s immediate needs.

Strategy: Increase accessibility and discoverability of collections

• The library completed a MISO survey that in part covered the access and discoverability of collections.

2. Summarize department and faculty highlights. (Provide a brief account of this year’s significant happenings and department accomplishments. Include faculty recognitions, honors, publications, presentations, etc.)

David Zielke:
Attended the United States Patent and Trademark Office training for Patent and Trademark Resource Centers 7–10 April 2019. Because of budget freezes and other factors, the library did not receive notification of acceptance or denial of PTRC status, but was placed on hold last year. The library has been notified that those libraries who continued attending training were more likely to receive PRTC status this year, but will not be notified until after October 2019. He was nominated for Dixie State University Staff Member of the Year, but was not a finalist. Due to new definitions by ACRL, he reassigned all Perstacks items back to Stacks this year. He attended the Utah state STEM Librarians Boot Camp on behalf of the library, and attended the Utah Library Association Conference in May 2019. He served on the DSU Rank, Tenure and Promotion Committee for a third year, and has been assigned to become the first Chair of the new Intermediate Review for Rank, Tenure and Promotion Committee for 2019–2020. He has completed Diversity Advocate training for hiring committees and served on at least one hiring committee as the Diversity Advocate.

Brookanna Alford:
She has implemented the running of a report of every single item in the collection and how many times it was used (both checked out and in house). The list is divided up by liaison and make it available to the librarians, and they use it for weeding and collection development. She has also implemented the running of a list of every item that has been used in the last semester, and compare its total use against the previous semester’s list. This gives the library liaison’s a good basis for determining the number of items in a particular subject, how old the collection is, and how much items are being used. This information will also be useful to librarians preparing collection analyses for new programs.

Andrea Smerud:
She started working for Technical Services 16 February 2019 after our previous Acquisitions Paraprofessional resigned November 2018. She had previously worked in the library as a Circulation Supervisor. She has received basic training for her position, such as acquisitions, processing, and vendor networking. She has implemented a new way of sorting gift library materials for the liaisons for final decisions on retention, as well as tracking gift donations. She has completed a project for updating the library holdings in Current Periodicals, as well as updating the tracking of Periodical receiving, retention, and discarding.

3. Complete the table below for faculty (excluding adjuncts) as of May 2019, then provide adjunct information below the table.

Name and Degree	Tenure Status T = Tenured TT = Tenure Track NTT = Non Tenure Track	Rank	Faculty FTE	Released Time in Credit Hours
David Zielke, MLIS	T	Librarian	1	na
Caleb Ames, MSIS	T	Associate Librarian	1	na

Staff Information:

• Number of staff - 2
• Number of FTE staff - 2.0

Department Effectiveness

10. Please add any other performance data you might like to include here that will help inform an accurate snapshot of your department.

Acquisitions: Received, processed, and cataloged a large collection of music library materials previously kept in the Music Department. Over a thousand items were added to the collection, including several scores and audio compact discs. Also, several other gift collections were accepted by the library and processed through Technical Services. A student office area was created as a work space for our Work Study students.

Processing: Responsibility for packaging, processing, and labeling was transferred from Public Services to Technical Services to optimize work spaces and time, plus create clear area divisions in the library with appropriate oversite by librarians. Because of the transfer, Technical Services was able to be scheduled with work study students to help with the processing of materials this year. Their tasks included sorting, searching for duplicates in stacks, packaging and labeling.

Cataloging: Tracey O’Kelly from Special Collections has received significant training in cataloging this year, including her taking a six week cataloging course and attending with David Zielke an RDA update training webinar in May. This allows for cross-training of staff in key areas. The library has started weeding out the VHS video and audio cassette collections.

Access: The library’s web page has been updated, and the library’s Integrated Library System was upgraded twice to bring it up to the current release after several years of being out of date.

Bindery: Responsibility for the Bindery was transferred to Technical Services, and Interlibrary Loan processing was transferred to Public Services.

Inventory: Brookanna Alford completed an inventory of the entire physical library materials collection. Several disc videos and other items were identified as missing last year with a value of approximately $3,000 and these items were replaced and/or discarded this year.

Of 135,616 physical items:

• 257 items were in Repair, known to staff
• 323 items were in Lost, Lost—Assume Missing, or Lost—Claimed Returned, known to staff
• 58 items were listed as Missing, known to staff
• 86 items were Checked In, but missing from the shelves or drawers during inventory

11. Conduct SWOT Analysis—Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (Identify internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. Analysis of facilities, resources, administration/staff, budgets, outside influences, competition and stakeholder satisfaction.)

Strengths

• A trained and knowledgeable team that know their jobs
• Strong focus on providing the best assessment, acquisition, processing, cataloging, and access to all library materials
• Large efficient area available for sorting, processing, cataloging, labeling, and packaging of library materials
• Storage space available to hold library materials for possible discarded items sales in the future
• Excellent facilities and space available in the bindery

Weaknesses

• The majority of library materials needing original cataloging are not processed
• Staff have a wide array of responsibilities that often curtail completion of projects
• Lack of budget availability for bindery supplies and processing

Opportunities

• Expanding community connections and awareness to increase gift donations
• Partner with the Washington County Library System and the Washington County School District to form a Washington County Library Association

Threats

• Administration and faculty are often unaware of our services or why we spend what we do for specific types of library materials
• Amount of space in Technical Services is coveted by other areas in the library, building and university

Chair’s Response—Planning for the Future

12. Based on the above data, list specific goals your department will target to accomplish during the coming academic year. Note: In next year’s report, follow up reporting on these goals will be covered in #1 and #2 as in this report.

LLS Goal 2: Expand Resources and Enhance Services

Strategy: Increase library materials budgets. See Appendix A

• Is this goal being carried over from the previous year?
  • yes
• Action Plan:
  • Identify all new programs and require identification and purchase of all new library resources needed, including databases, monographs, serials, etc.
• Desired Outcome:
  • Increase ongoing library budgets for library materials
• Timeline:
  • Ongoing, for all new and continued DSU academic programs
• How does this goal align with departmental and instructional goals?
  • Main purpose of LLS Goal 2: Expand resources, which are necessary for instruction on campus for all programs
• What resources will be needed?
  • Additional funding from DSU

Strategy: Re-evaluate and revise internal policies, procedures, and guidelines.

• Is this goal being carried over from the previous year?
  • yes
• Action Plan:
  • Continue identifying, re-evaluating, documenting, and revising other internal policies, procedures, and guidelines in Acquisitions, Processing, and Cataloging
• Desired Outcome:
  • Have written documentation of said policies and procedures
• Timeline:
  • By Spring 2020
• How does this goal align with departmental and instructional goals?
  • Allows enhancement of services to students and other library patrons
• What resources will be needed?
  • Staff time

LLS Goal 4: Remove Barriers to Access and Improve Efficiencies

Strategy: Redesign webpages for user experience

• Is this goal being carried over from the previous year?
  • yes
• Action Plan:
  • Update all pages to implement a lightweight, responsive design that improves user experience for a variety of devices and network speeds.
• Desired Outcome:
  • Make library webpages easily accessible to any DSU student or other user.
• Timeline:
  • 2-3 years
• How does this goal align with departmental and instructional goals?
  • Enhancing the services provided to all library patrons
• What resources will be needed?
  • Time for Caleb Ames and others

Strategy: Increase accessibility and discoverability of collections

• Is this goal being carried over from the previous year?
  • yes
• Desired Outcome:
  • The library will take the results of the MISO survey and make an action plan based on the results. Possible additional surveys will be conducted as needed.
• Timeline:
  • Ongoing
• How does this goal align with departmental and instructional goals?
  • Enhances the services provided to all library patrons, regardless of ability
• What resources will be needed?
  • Time for librarians and others

TS Goal 1: ACRL Metrics Comparison to peers

• Action Plan:
  • Use ACRL Metrics to analyze and compare the DSU library to its national peers
• Desired Outcome:
  • Identify strengths and weaknesses in our library and university in offering sufficient resources for our academic programs and goals
• Timeline:
  • Ongoing
• How does this goal align with departmental and instructional goals?
  • Remove Barriers to Access and Improve Efficiencies
• What resources will be needed?
  • Time and funding from DSU

TS Goal 2: Assess accessibility of library resources and determine a baseline

• Action Plan:
  • Develop guidelines based on the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative and the Association of Research Libraries’ best practices and apply them to the DSU library’s online offerings.
• Desired Outcome:
  • Identify practical steps that can be taken to improve access for all the library’s users.
• Timeline:
  • 1-2 years
• How does this goal align with departmental and instructional goals?
  • Remove Barriers to Access and Improve Efficiencies and Enhancing the services provided to all library patrons, regardless of ability
• What resources will be needed?
  • Time for Caleb Ames

---