Library Technical Services

Technical Services Cost Study
December 2002

Frequently Asked Questions

TIPS FROM PAM

We hope this web page will make the Cost Study easier to live with by making information about it more readily available and easier to find. We hope this will be a dynamic site with all of us contributing information and ideas.

• At the top of the data sheet, please fill in Week of, Name, and Cost Study ID Code if it hasn’t been already. We have new Cost Study ID codes this time around. Your code will be the first letter of your department ("A" for Acquisitions, "C" for Cataloging), in upper case, and the first letter of your first name and the first three letters of your last name, in lower case letters. Yes, that makes me Cpsta, and makes Scott, Aswic.
• It is no longer necessary to fill in the first line on the front side, "Minutes Scheduled" each day, but do please record the number of HOURS you are scheduled in the "Weekly Totals" box. A full-time staff member will record 39 in that "Weekly Totals" box. Part-timers will record 32, 20, etc. -- however many hours they are expected to work each week. I apologize up front for asking for hours in a "Minutes Scheduled" row, but the data sheet IS in the process of being re-designed to catch up with changes in policy.
• We are now going to round our recorded time to the nearest quarter of an hour. This is up from the five minutes we rounded to before. DAILY totals can be recorded in minutes or hours, which ever is most convenient, but the "Weekly Totals" column must be tallied and recorded in HOURS, rounded to the nearest 15-minute increment. Please remember to total your time across the rows at the end of the week.
• For staff that perform tasks not preprinted on their data sheets, enter that information in the blank spaces available on the back of the sheet.
• General rule of thumb: Count activity under primary task! Yes, authority work done in conjunction with the cataloging of a book will be counted as cataloging time. Count authority work separately ONLY if the authority work is not part of your cataloging (the revising the NACO revisers do, for example).
• Authority work can be counted a number of different ways. As I said before, if it is part of the cataloging process, please count it with the appropriate cataloging code. If the authority work is generated by new titles cataloged but done as a separate task (NACO revising or CUL thesis authority work, for example), it should be counted as CA03 -- Authority work. Authority work generated from database clean-up will be counted as CM09 -- End authority work.
• Email can be a little more complicated, but not by much. Use SS04 -- General Reading for things that do not need a response, Cu-Lib, AUTOCAT, memos, that kind of thing. For email that consists of people asking for information or advice, that then falls under the code for "Consulting and Problems" (AC02, CA02, etc.).
• Breaks will no longer be counted as SS08 -- Other. When breaks occur within an activity, count the break as that activity. If someone has Received from 8:00 to 10:00, then takes a 20 minutes break, and comes back to Receive from 10:20 to 11:00, the time work from 8:00 to 11:00 is all counted as ACO6 -- Receiving. If the break occurs between activities, add the time spent on break to the time worked in the first activity. For example, if someone has originally cataloged from 9:00 to 10:30, takes a 20 minute break, then moves on to serial check-in patterns upon their return, the 110 minutes will be counted as CA06 -- Original cataloging.
• Serial check-in patterns! Both creating original patterns and assigning patterns will be recorded as AC05.2 – Record Maintenance-Serials.
• For those of you Catalogers who sort new materials, yes, it’s CA04.2 -- Misc. cataloging.
• Copy without a call number is counted as CA05.2 -- Copy Cataloging-Other.
• Selection from the Catalogers’ Review Shelves should be recorded as CA04.2 -- Other -Misc. Cataloging Related Tasks.
• Added volumes is recorded as CA08 -- Recataloging.
• General talking about library-related things which the talkees may not be directly involved in (i.e. talking about ALA, but you are not going) is SS08 -- Other.
• SS08 – Other should be used for time spent on personal things, personal phone calls, email, Web surfing, etc.
• Staff recording time worked in COLTS will use SS08 – Other, and supervisors approving time cards will use SS01 – Administration.
• Before you use too much "Other", please come and ask me about it. There are things that do correctly go into "Other", but some seem to be putting MANY things there that should more correctly be counted else where.
• Record time spent answering the telephone or taking a telephone message for another staff member under SS07 – Secretarial.
• Net Admins should record their time on their salmon-colored data sheets. Staff who are not Net Admins, yet find themselves caught up in computer configuring or troubleshooting will record their time under SS08 – Other.
• Photocopying as part of another task will be counted under the appropriate code for the primary task. Record it as SS07 – Secretarial if done as a separate task.
• Creating/editing HTML (or other) documents will be recorded under the appropriate code for the primary task. Use AC01, CA01, CM01, CV01, or SS01.
• Training time will be counted, for the trainer, under the appropriate "01" code for the task you are training in (AC01, CA01, etc.); for the trainee, count under the task you are being trained in (Receiving, Copy cataloging, etc.) If no appropriate task exists (like you are being trained to train others), count in the appropriate "01" task.
• The approving of non-migrated purchase records will depend on format. Use AC06.1 or AC06.2.
• Approving migrated purchase records from NOTIS, use AC05.1.
• A little good news for Acquisitions: the third level of counting detail for Receiving is no longer necessary. We will tally our time just at the AC06.1 – Receiving-Firm Orders, Continuations , Approvals and the AC06.2 – Receiving-Serials, Periodicals level.
• A little more good news for Acquisitions: AC07.1 – Payments-Firm Orders, Continuations, Approvals is discontinued. Paying a firm order, continuation, or approval will now be counted as part of Receiving under AC06.1 – Receiving-Firm Orders, Continuations, Approvals.
• Deleting bibliographic records, done as a separate task is CM04. Remember, deleting a bib record as part of the cataloging routine will be counted under the cataloging code.
• Assigning "Honor with Books" bookplates to books will be VP13.
• The reviewing of spine labels on shelf-ready books will be counted as AC06.1.
• CBT’s (Computer Based Tutorials) will be counted as SS05 – Training and Documentation.
• Barcode clean-up, CM06 – Database Clean-up Projects.
• Transfers, CMO7 – Holdings/Location Changes.
• Cost Study time will be counted as SS01 -- Administration. This is for supervisors working on the cost study as well as staff asking questions and tallying time.
• Parties -- attendance at work-related parties and the preparation they require will be counted as SS08 -- Other.

pjs, rev. 03/13/01, yes