Achieving More with Less: Acquisitions in Hard Times

The Acquisitions Team at Buckinghamshire New University (Bucks) has just enjoyed a year of shelf ready book acquisitions. This may sound neither ground breaking nor innovative nor something that should be hitting the headlines of the library and information world. However, our shelf ready automated acquisitions has been achieved without investing additional monies and has delivered considerable benefits of improved supply times, streamlined acquisitions processes and made better use of technologies.

We were invited to present a project paper at the Dawson Day in London on 26th May 2011 as part of Dawson Books’ theme of “Efficiencies Through Innovation”  On 10th June, we shared our project success with fellow Sirsi Dynix users at the COSI (Customers of Sirsi Dynix International) Conference in Birmingham. Both occasions allowed us to share our experiences with representatives from other academic institutions as we too have benefitted from professional networking in the course of our acquisitions project.

Background

In the spring of 2010, the Acquisitions team felt like the camel’s back that had just had the last load of straw laid on it. Our out-dated acquisitions workflow, an intensely manual and paper-based one, showed serious signs of not coping. Bucks had experienced the familiar scenario which so many institutions in higher and further education have faced or are currently facing. We too had undergone campus consolidation, staff redundancies, constrained budgets, a mountain of boxes of new books, processing delays due to a lack of staff and a changed workplace. Acquisitions needed a re-vamp in the face of all these changes.

The current harsh economic climate made planning necessary changes a real challenge. We knew shelf ready acquisitions would bring the time and resource saving benefits that we so badly needed. However, we also knew we didn’t have the financial resources to implement it. .We knew better use of the technical capabilities of our library management system, Sirsi Dynix’s Symphony, could deliver benefits. However, staffing restraints limited technical exploitation. The spring of 2010 was a very frustrating time.

Then, a series of events allowed the pieces of our dream for an efficient acquisitions workflow to fall into place. The appointment of Elizabeth Chamberlain, Systems and Research Librarian, in July 2010 gave us the expertise and knowledge of Symphony to support our project plans. Her connection with Brunel University allowed us to learn about the potential of EDIFACT book quotes ordering (quotes). This method of streamlined automated acquisitions didn’t need the investment of additional software to implement. In August 2010, we embarked on some developmental acquisitions work with Dawson Books, our major book supplier, to implement quotes ordering and shelf ready supply. In the autumn of 2010, Bucks became the first Sirsi Dynix user to run quotes ordering with Dawson Books.


New Acquisitions Workflow

At the same time as this developmental work, we also focussed on implementing a more streamlined acquisitions workflow which would make better use of technology, de-duplicate effort, remove delay, allow for a more paperless working environment and achieve this without the investment of additional monies.

We started by banishing the paper order form in preference for inputting bibliographic order data into vendors’ databases. We now utilise features in supplier databases for moving order proposals seamlessly . We run reports in Symphony to convert quotes or order proposals into firm orders which are then sent back to the vendors by EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). The EDIFACT reports we now run had been previously underutilized.

We reduced our subscription to OCLC to offset costs of taking MARC records directly from our book suppliers. Our Cataloguer uses the MARC import facility in Symphony to load MARC records. Although her workload has increased as a consequence of the new workflow with a focus on pre-order classification to achieve shelf ready, the majority of orders are now being received, loaded and MARC records edited the same day by the Cataloguing and Acquisitions Teams.

The new acquisitions workflow has quickly delivered improved supply times. In January 2010, a typical order would take, on average, 39 days from the order date to reaching the shelves. Already, by January 2010, this had been reduced to an average of 16 days.


Task Re-allocation

The new workflow has also brought massive changes to the Library Team dynamics by releasing Library Assistants from the workflow to do other tasks. By outsourcing the accessioning, labelling and processing to suppliers under the Joint Academic Consortia Book Agreement without needing to invest additional monies, benefits have been felt throughout the Library Team in terms of released time and an end to delays and task backlogs.

Project Phase 2

Now a year on after the start of our acquisitions project, we are embarking on the second phase. We already had our sights on further improvement for the future and are now watching these improvements bear fruit. We have just successfully tested EDI invoicing with Dawson Books which is saving us time inputting invoice data into Symphony. The EDIFACT book invoices report seamlessly uploads invoice data, which is then quickly checked and the invoice paid. This will be rolled out to cover all our book orders for the new academic year.

We are also in the midst of some more developmental work with Dawson Books to implement the automatic receipt and load of orders in Symphony. This will remove the time consuming task of receiving in orders one at a time and also loading items individually. Once tested, this will become part of the acquisitions workflow.


Conclusion

On reflection, we are now starting the new academic year with a tried and tested, robust acquisitions workflow that makes the best use of human and technical resources. We cannot underestimate the importance of professional networking, collaboration and sharing knowledge and experiences. Having expert staff in the right place, at the right time and asking each other the right questions underpins the success of our acquisitions project. We would also like to acknowledge the support and professionalism of Heather Sherman, Head of Technical Sales, and the Customer Services Team at Dawson Books for accepting the challenge of developing quotes ordering with Bucks. As we have faced change, the Acquisitions Team at Bucks has shown that more can be achieved with less.

Belinda Roker & Catherine Williams, Acquisitions Librarians
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