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E-Resource Workflows in CORAL

A while back, I read the book “The Checklist Manifesto.” It was a very worthwhile read that was very relevant to libraries and librarians. That has been in the back of my mind as I craft workflows for our electronic resources. The books main premise, as summarized by Steven Levitt is simply this:

No matter how expert you may be, well-designed check lists can improve outcomes.

Two small details from that book have stuck with me.

First, useable workflows are short. Long checklists seem doomed to fail – it is better to break those up into smaller, more manageable lists. Many of the books examples are drawn from the airline and health care industries; it would be crazy to craft comprehensive workflows in those situations. So they have checklists for particular situations that, if need be, direct you to other checklists. I’ve adopted and adapted that idea here.

Second, checklists can either be READ-DO lists or DO-CONFIRM lists. READ-DO checklists are like recipes; you read something and then do something. DO-CONFIRM checklists reverse the order; do the things that need to be done and then confirm they are done. I think too many library checklists are READ-DO checklists when I believe that DO-CONFIRM lists are better suited to this part of library resources. Why? Because the diversity of library resources sometimes demand different things and because, often, the order of steps isn’t vitally important. I could be swayed on this – but right now I’ve been happy with my DO-CONFIRM checklist.

In CORAL, workflows are set for Acquisition Type, Format, and (optionally) Type. All of these fields can be defined in the admin setting of the resources tab. I’ve decided not to really discriminate based on resource type or resource format. So, essentially, we have four basic workflows for electronic resources. They are as follows:

Active Trial/Electronic/[Any]

This is the starting place for all new electronic resources and is the basic workflow when setting up a trial.

  1. Resource information is complete in CORAL.
  2. Organization information is complete in CORAL.
  3. Collection decision has been made.
  4. Appropriate Access Points have been determined and recorded.
  5. Pay invoice; gather license; change Acquisition Type in CORAL.

Paid/Electronic/[Any]

If after the trial period we decide to purchase  resource, I will change the acquisition type to “Paid” – this will trigger a number of different CORAL workflows based on the resource type. Here is the basic and general outline.

  1. Resource and Organization information is complete in CORAL.
  2. A copy of the invoice is saved in CORAL.
  3. A copy of the license is saved in CORAL and has been parsed for ILL rights.
  4. Appropriate access points have been created.
  5. Access has been checked from both on-campus and off-campus.
  6. SUSHI (or alternative statistic measuring tool) is in place.

Free/Electronic/[Any]

I’ve decided to add all of the free resources that North Park provides access to in CORAL for a number of reasons. First, I’d like CORAL to be a centralized and complete inventory of all our electronic resources. Second, if we are providing access we need to commit to supporting that access. Third, because so many valuable information resources are moving forward open access models.

  1. Title information is relatively complete in CORAL.
  2. Applicable access points (Catalog, Database pages, Libguides, SFX) have been created.
  3. Check access points.

Additionally, a few of these resources are actually cancelled print+online titles that guarentee perpetual access. Because the workflows are identical, I’d added these to this category with notes detailing the acquisition history. They are identifiable by having a resource type of “ejournal (single title)”. NOTE: If we start adding many open access titles to our list, I might have to specify what sort of “free” we are talking about; free because of a past subscription or free because it’s open access.

Cancelled/Electronic/[Any]

Right now, our “Historical” Acquisition type is for cancelled titles are trials that we decided not to purchase. In addition to changing the status as “archives” we have a one step workflow for these resources.

  1. All Access Points have been removed, disabled, or deleted.

Additionally, I note why the product was cancelled and/or why we opted not to purchase the product.

So that’s it. I have other workflows for the more detailed processes (adding a title to SFX, setting up SUSHI, etc.) but those exist best as separate workflows.