Survey: Processes for managing Course material provision.

Informal DALIANZ survey conducted in September/October, 2006

Pamela Leuzinger, UTS, February 2007

12 universities responded to a request posted on the Deputies and Associate Librarians in Australian and New Zealand (DALIANZ) listserv.

They were:

BondUniversityUniversity of Canberra

GriffithUniversityUniversity of New South Wales

La TroveUniversityUniversity of Queensland

MacquarieUniversityUniversity of Technology, Sydney

MonashUniversityUniversity of Western Australia

RMIT UniversityVictoria University

1. Summary of most interesting findings for UTS

  • Many libraries process reading lists even though it is labour intensive. The staff members responsible for checking the lists in the first instance vary from library to library but often the Reserve staff or Information Services (‘liaison’) librarians identify what needs to be ordered from reading lists.
  • Some libraries have developed an arrangement with Coop bookshops. The bookshop takes on the task of checking through reading lists and then orders any items not held by the Library, or additional copies, in accordance with a Library-defined formula. These libraries seem very happy with these arrangements.
  • Most libraries have advanced online systems in place to manage E-reserve items and print material housed in Open or Closed Reserve. Students can find their reading list online and identify/link to items in Reserve. However this does not seem to apply to holdings and availability of items in the general or other short-loan collections. The systems do not facilitate the labour intensive processing of reading lists.
  • UWA’s RLMS, with its involvement of academic staff in the process, seems to address some of the issues raised in this survey and a proposed upgrade will extend the system. Monash’s current project also looks promising.
  • This survey was regarded as timely.

2. Further discussion

UTS is interested in following up on system responses which go beyond e-Reserve systems e.g. those at UWA and Monash. We have also identified some overseas sites which look interesting. From our perspective, any system needs to take into account newlyemerging UTS systems which will require academic staff to lodge, and update, reading lists and course outlines into an accessible central database.

3. Course materials survey 2006 – detailed responses.

University
1)How, if at all, does your Library assist academic staff to keep prescribed course materials up-to-date?
Bond / Academics notify the Bond University Bookshop of prescribed course materials and this information is passed on to the library which then orders materials via the Bookshop.
Liaison Librarians check course outlines on the Faculty website and identify for purchase any materials not already identified through the process mentioned above.
Liaison Librarians may be notified directly by academic staff requesting Course Materials to be placed on Reserve.
Liaison Librarians contact academic staff before the semester to remind them to submit their reserve requests including prescribed textbooks.
New and updated versions of prescribed textbooks are ordered as they are identified.
Griffith / Faculty Librarians check reading lists to purchase new materials, and will buy the latest editions and advise academics.
Our Digitised Course Readings system provides some self-help services to academics who can search our database of existing readings, and update links to selected readings from their online courses in Learning@Griffith. Academics can request new readings to be digitised. Librarians collaborate with academics and educational designers to develop online courses and learning materials.
La Trobe / Library staff check bookshop reading lists annually before the start of first Semester, and if time allows, before the start of 2nd semester and order updated and new titles being used for coursework for the library. Academic staff often let the bookshop know of new course materials & forget the library.
Alerting services are provided by library vendors to Subject librarians and Academic staff based on the teaching & learning profile of the University
MQ / No formal procedure for prescribed course materials. Our Learning Resources (read "Reserve") staff order prescribed material if required for the Reserve collection, but the basic rule is that teaching staff are expected to provide the initial request, usually in the form or a reading list, or similar. Learning Resources staff forward order requests to Acquisitions staff, who, as part of the ordering process, will usually 'upgrade' a request to the most recent edition when they are placing actual orders. Additionally, as key texts held in the Reserve collection wear out, they are reordered, resulting in acquisition of the most recent editions, but this is not systematic.
RMIT / Direct liaison by the School Liaison Librarians. We have access to some of the readings on the course guides as they are online and can check those and the course outlines to note changes in teaching focus or themes. Time intensive and not always most effective way as not all of the course guide for each course is made available, and naturally not always easy to get direct contact w/teaching staff.
UC / This is mainly the Academic Planning Librarians task. Ordering staff also advise lecturers of newer editions available if it comes to their notice.
UNSW / We rely on the academics and the bookshop knowing the latest edition of any textbook. It is in the best interests of the bookshop to alert the academic to any more recent editions of any textbook they prescribe. In that way they can sell the Library multiple copies of the newest edition.
UQ / Liaison librarians make suggestions to academics if they feel there are later editions or better resources available.
Library expeditiously orders all materials recommended for purchase via UQ Bookshop (see below)
UTS / We order the latest editions of any prescribed and recommended materials we become aware of.
We have approval plans which also ensure the prompt receipt of latest editions in some key areas.
UWA / Training in the use of alerting services for academic staff
Library staff order the latest edition of newly requested items for reserve collections
Reminder emails sent to academics to review their reading list requirements
Academics can directly edit their online course materials list in the Library’s Reading List Management System (RLMS). The RLMS is a component of the Hive software and was produced by Harvest Road, a local Perth company, to our specifications.
2) If you process reading lists how does your system work? Specifically, how do you identify whether there are new items on reading lists submitted in subsequent semesters for the same subject? E.g. do you load reading lists into a database or onto spreadsheets?
Bond / BondUniversity provides access to all course materials/readings (print and electronic) via the library catalogue system. Students may search for course readings via the lecturers’ names, course codes or course name in addition to the usual access points (author, title etc.) in the course reserve subset of the library catalogue. They will also find many of these in the full catalogue, but do not have search access there via course codes or lecturers names.
When a list is received in the Library, all the resources on the list are checked against the Library's catalogue. If they are not already held and the item can be purchased from the University bookshop this is done in the case of prescribed textbooks. In the case of recommended reading, items may be purchased or a lecturers copy obtained if the item cannot be obtained quickly.
In terms of books and other hard copy materials in course reserve, records are not kept in the course reserve subset of the library catalogue – as they exist ‘permanently’ in the full catalogue database and are ‘derived’ and added back to the course reserve subset at the beginning of each semester or when requested.
Bond-continued / Electronic resources such as scanned journal articles and book chapters do not have catalogue records in the full catalogue. These records are not to full cataloguing standards and reside only in the course reserve subset. They are suppressed from display if they are not on a current reading list and unsuppressed if required in a subsequent semester. This process is very much based on the functionality in the library system.
Griffith / Readings and text lists are included in the online Course Outlines system and are checked when available, and new editions systematically purchased or digitised on request.
La Trobe / The library provides access to all Reserve lists via the Library Catalogue. This is managed by using the “Course Reserves” module of the INNOPAC Library System. Using the catalogue, students may access this material via the Reserve link under “subject code” and/or “subject name” and/or name of academic staff. Students also have the option to find individual titles using the main search functions on the catalogue – author, title (of article or book).
Reserve lists are created by their “type” (e.g. 3 hour, 3 day, 7 day, EReserve and Audio visual) and the specific “subject code” (each “subject code” may have a number of lists depending on the “type”)
Each semester, or as required, academic staff send their reading requirements using an online form, via the library’s web page, or email Reserve using a specific email account. This form is printed and placed in order of receipt within the following actions: “New”, “Update” and “Remove”. Priority is given to “new” material.
If there are no changes to the actual lists of readings, from semester to semester or from the previous year, then it is only necessary to update information such as, current date, name of the academic staff member teaching the subject and/or changes to the subject name and/or code.
Additional titles required for Reserve are retrieved from the main collection using the library catalogue. If the title is not held in the Library an order is placed. Material no longer required for a specific subject is removed from that “subject” list. If this material has been placed on multiple “subject” lists, however, the system will alert us that it is on another list and the material remains in Reserve.
The library always orders the latest edition where it can be identified even if requests are for earlier eds.
MQ / When a reading list is received, the list is annotated, item by item by Learning Resources staff, and given treatment according to need. New material is ordered, (number of copies dependent on course size - info. provided by academic), books and other hard copy items which are held are searched and placed in the Reserve and/or 3 Day Loan collections, chapters and articles are scanned or linked & made available via e-Reserve. This is all very manual, we don't load reading lists to a database or spreadsheet.
RMIT / The Bookshop orders for us based on a formula from the lists they receive from the academics. These are not checked against the catalogue or any prior list. Happy to do this as it means we then actually are guaranteed a copy of the prescribed & recommended, so even if duplication occurs the benefits outweigh the pains. Not perfect as Bookshop rarely gets all course lists. The only other way to see reading lists is via online course guides (but see above not always comprehensive) or wrestle it out of students hands.
UC / It is a new process each semester which means manually going through each list and identifying new items and newer editions this way. We do not load reading lists on to a database. They are either emailed direct to us by the lecturer or given in hard copy.
UQ / UQ Library provides access to all resources on a reading list via the catalogue. These resources are also linked through the course reserve module in our ILMS so are available by course code or course name as well as individually. When a list is received in the Library, all the resources on the list are checked against the Library's catalogue. If they are not already held or not held in the branch library, decisions are made as to whether to buy it, obtain it via ILL, create a print "photocopied article" and/or digitise it locally (if it is a book chapter or journal article), link to an article available through a subscribed resource, or obtain it by some other method (e.g. ask the lecturer).
Once all the checking, decision making, copyright investigation and preparation is done, all resources already catalogued will be linked to the required course reserve record, and all resources not catalogued, will be. Branch library staff create an abbreviated bibliographic record (call number, author, title, citation, book title (if a book chapter), and the digital link if available). These are then also linked to the appropriate course reserve record.
UTS / Reading lists are no longer processed because it is an unsustainable activity. Academic staff are requested to identify new items on reading lists and submit orders for them. We are hoping to move to a better system and this survey is a step in that direction.
Reserve staff review Closed & E-Reserve listings with academic staff at the end of each semester.
UWA / Provision of reading list is automated through our RLMS. This system allows academics to edit and manipulate their online course materials for each unit. Materials can be located in the catalogue or Hive, the digital repository and be made available to students via the RLMS from the academics desktop. The academic can request digitization of the material by library staff. Currently there is a bit of a mismatch in our system in that the academic is required to email their specific subject library to request the physical item be added to the reserve collection after they have added it to the RLMS, but future upgrades to the RLMS will generate an automatic email to subject libraries when new materials are added to a units list – this upgrade is on a wish list. This would make the management of reading lists a one stop shop for academics.
3) Have you found a better way to identify prescribed monographic course materials than processing reading lists?
Bond / Bond has found that working with the University Bookshop has been the most successful as they provide the library with booklists throughout the semester.
Griffith / An online repository of course outlines contributed by academics is helping the timely availability of reading lists for checking.
La Trobe / Working with the bookshop to get their lists helps supplement the reading lists as we can get some requests through in a more timely fashion. The bookshop suffers the same issue of late (or no) requests coming in as we do.
Monash / All our Student Reading texts are sourced firstly through the Monash Bookshop, where available, but the method of acquiring the titles varies between the branch libraries.
For some locations, the local Monash Bookshop receives the reading lists from the academics and, checking the web Voyager catalogue, orders the required number of copies for that branch, based on a grid formula which the library has supplied. The Bookshop then sends the lists of the titles and the number of copies they have ordered for us to the Information Resources Division, and the orders are loaded into the Acquisitions module of Voyager.
In other cases, local branch library staff or IRD orders staff receive lists, either from the Bookshop or branch library staff, and calculate the number of copies required for the location, again based on the library grid formula. IRD staff then load the orders into Acquisitions, and send an order through to the Bookshop.
On balance, some of the methods work better at some branches than others, but it is not a perfect arrangement, particularly where subjects are taught across several campuses.
On the whole working closely with the Bookshops saves time for the Library in checking and placing the orders.
Monash continued / Monash is reviewing it's Readings and Reserve service and while we have a draft project proposal, have yet to have our first meeting since the proposal. The issues are around defining the service (it has grown over the years, is highly regarded by academic staff and varies considerably amongst branches) and developing a systematic approach that is sustainable and can accommodate growth without increasing staffing demands quite likely by engaging technology, procedure and policy changes - a big project. Currently it includes electronic and print copy and is accessible by author/title etc, or unit, via the catalogue. More details at:

The discussion is interesting at this time, and if you have questions about details of what we've been doing, I'll ask the relevant people to respond.
MQ / No, mainly because at MU the academic staff are responsible for initiating the process. They provide the list - the library reacts. As recently as 4 years ago, the Coop provided the Library with a master list of course texts, but this ceased due to competition with other textbook providers, and a consequent reluctance on the part of the Coop to let the list out of their hands.