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Academic libraries manage millions of titles outright, and link to millions more through aggregated/subscribed databases (1 database may provide access to thousands of serial titles over many years). Libraries purchase, license, and catalog these materials in various formats- print, audio, electronic/linked, music, licensed, serial/magazine- in order to make them available for circulation and access.
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(Select/Acquire): Libraries Select, Acquire/Order, Receive, and Pay for new library materials, using and reporting to account/"fund" structures and Budgets (budget construction is external to OLE). There are variations in the source of requests or orders, Order Types, Payment Methods/schedules (prepaid, deposit, leased). Libraries require Foreign Currency and may pay multiple PO's on single Invoice. Serials and Electronic resources (material format) will have different workflows and receiving requirements. KSI's: Ingest (60% of orders); EDI invoicing; work unit rules/templates; Many-to-One PO:Invoice; Foreign Currency. See Model
Library Cataloging
(Describe/Manage): Libraries must create detailed records that describe the library materials they own, lease, or access---during initial cataloging, maintenance, and updating over the "thing's" lifecycle. Cataloging activities or records may be initiated by Acquisitions staff and workflows for new purchases, or created and maintained by Cataloging staff. Often, "technical services" departments are responsible for prepping materials for the library- which includes creating Bibliographic, Holding, Item, and Authority records; plus actions in Shelf Prep, Bindery, Archiving, gift/Bookplating, special handling/special collections. Serials, in particular, will be cataloged differently from Monographs; Electronic resources will have URLs instead of Barcodes. See multiple document types, material formats, and cataloging record/format standards. Circulation metrics and counters on library collections and materials will need to be collected (to inform reporting and collection development). KSI's: Search, minimize click-thru's, templates, non-roman character handling. See Model.
Library Circulation
(Deliver): Libraries purchase and catalog materials for the sole purpose of making those items available to Patrons and other libraries or systems via circulation and discovery. Circulation policies are created based on time periods, borrower type, item availability, policy/rules, circ desks, locations, etc. Circulation activities can include checkout/checkin, Fast-Add cataloging, My Account Patron functions, fines/bills, patron notifications, slip printing, patron or system requests/holds, Course Reserves, InterLibrary Loans. KSI's: Speed of transactions/navigation; slip printing; discovery; My Account. See Model.
Electronic Resources Management- ERMS
(MER): variation to all of above that requires specialized negotiations/licensing agreements and workflows, purchasing, activation, pre-payment and access/cataloging for materials available electronically from 3rd party. Access for patrons is via Discovery Layer (library website) via URI/URL. Staff have to monitor access issues (technical, bad URLs for patrons) and terms (changes in agreements, addendums that can affect cost, access).
* Above does not cover Decision Support and Reporting. Libraries require financial reports, and lots of statistical analysis and queries on their collections-- OLE will need to provide or expose its data for external analysis.
Common OLE Terms:
OLE Glossary- OLE Glossary
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