Tag: collection development

As selectors know, there is a new expectation that they more closely manage their serial budgets.  See Managing selector funds to Zero. We’ve had a number of discussions with selectors about what information would be helpful  as they undertake this new task.

Thanks to Jim Gordon (Acquisitions) and Kurt True (Systems), it is now possible to generate Serial Expenditures Reports for selectors to use in managing their serials budgets.

Instructions for how to access these reports are posted on the Collections Services staff-side website, at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Staff/CS/serials_expenditure_reports.html.

These reports are most useful after a critical mass of serial subscriptions is paid, so we plan to roll these reports out every January.  Jim Gordon will be watching subsequent payment activity and will issue updated reports throughout the remainder of the fiscal year – every 4 to 6 weeks.

This is the first year that we’re concentrating on selector management of serial budgets, and hopefully this tool will be useful in everyone closing the year with their serials budgets close to being in balance.  We understand that managing exactly to zero is impossible, so small surpluses or deficits are expected.

Best, Bernie

If you go to this OskiCat record, http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b18534775~S1 , you’ll find it’s for a UC Berkeley doctoral dissertation dated Spring 2011. Imbedded in this record is a link, UCB Dissertations. Freely available . This link launches a full text PDF of the dissertation that is served from a UC Berkeley Library server.

This record is the culmination of The Library’s collaboration with the Graduate Council to move Berkeley from print to electronic dissertations (and soon to include Plan 1 theses), and to make these freely available on a timetable set by the author. Systems reports that as of this writing, 948 dissertations are freely available, and 161 dissertations (15% of the total) are being held by author request in embargo (more on embargo below.)

Recently, the Graduate Council has approved a similar proposal to move Plan 1 masters theses to e-only. We expect the first e-theses to arrive next Spring.

Getting here

The process began in August 2009 when the Graduate Council passed a proposal requiring that dissertations be e-only beginning Spring 2010.

Library Systems and the Catalog Department developed a fully automated workflow that culminated in the appearance of e-dissertation records, including open access links, in OskiCat, Next Gen Melvyl, and OCLC. (Note: Three UC campuses are participating in a pilot to load e-Dissertations to eScholarship. Berkeley will begin this process when the pilot moves into formal implementation.)

The workflow devised includes ProQuest creating the metadata which Systems then programmatically uses to establish an OskiCat record. This has and will continue to save Cataloging a great deal of time and effort. (Kudos to Systems and Cataloging for this elegant solution.)

The original Grad Council proposal set a default author selection to a 2-year embargo before the full text would become available. UC Berkeley Library staff immediately expressed concerns seeing the embargo as an unnecessary in most cases barrier to open access. Between September 2010 and May 2011, Collections Council asked for feedback from subject councils and named a small group (Bette Anton, Jim Ronningen, and Charlotte Rubens) to draft a document setting forth The Library’s viewpoint. UL Tom Leonard took this document to the Academic Senate Committee on Libraries who in turn co-authored a letter to the Chair of the Grad Council asking them to reconsider the issue. In June 2011 we were informed that the Grad Council had decided to change their author form to remove any default, and to list open access as the first option on the form. (See the release forms now posted at http://grad.berkeley.edu/policies/pdf/dissertation_release.pdf)

Plan 1 Master Theses

As mentioned above, the Grad Division announced in September 2011 electronic submission of Plan 1 masters theses will be optional for the Fall 2011 semester, and will become mandatory in Spring 2012. (Note: depending on the academic program, masters candidates are identified as Plan 1 for those who are required to write and file a thesis, and Plan 2 who may qualify via exam or special project.) We’re happy to report that the first option offered to theses authors is also open access http://grad.berkeley.edu/policies/pdf/masters_release.pdf .

Thanks to all for a very successful team effort.

–Bernie

As I explained in our Collection Services early-bird on August 11, CBG and I are establishing a new expectation regarding how selectors manage each of their funds.  The new goal is to have each fund finish the year with an overall free-balance of zero.   That is, the sum of the free-balances in each fund’s serials, continuations, and monographs lines should come as close as possible to zero. 

Along with this new expectation, we also changed how serials are budgeted. In FY11 the serials starting budget for each fund was the sum of:

• FY10 expenditures;
• an allowance for titles last paid in FY08 or FY09, but not paid in FY10; and
• 8% for inflation.

This year in FY12, the serials starting budget for each fund was calculated as:

• FY11 expenditures; and
• 8% for inflation.

This year, we did not budget for titles last paid prior to FY11.  The circumstance of titles not being supplied and/or invoiced in a timely manner has become a persistent problem in recent years.  It is likely that some invoices expected in FY12 will not arrive in time to be paid during the fiscal year.  We expect the new serials budgeting calculation will reduce the amount of carry-forward in selector managed funds.  For FY11, about 30% of the selector carry-forward balance was held in serials and left a large surplus.  For FY12, serials have not been budgeted to include the additional titles paid during FY10 (but unpaid during FY11), which would add about 5% to the serials base budget.

The new method for budgeting serials sets the appropriation closer to what we expect to pay for in FY12.  Selectors overall base budgets have not been changed because of this new calculation. The result of budgeting less for serials means most monograph funds receive more funding than they would otherwise, although several funds are also adjusted for the incorporation of digital resources transferred from the DILIB fund. 

Having a goal of managing selector funds to zero and the new serials budgeting calculation should work to reduce our carry-forward amounts. If this method is successful, we can avoid having to tax carry-forwards to manage this problem.

We realize that managing exactly to zero is a goal and cannot be accomplished in reality. Therefore, ending the year with a small surplus or deficit will be considered a success. We will also continue to produce the new serials and continuations reports to help selectors see where they are with these expenditures during the year.

If you have any questions, please contact me or your fund group coordinator.

Best, Bernie