Posted October 15, 2003
A library catalog is like a road map to an unfamiliar town. If you want
to get to 32 Acorn Street, you don’t just start walking, you look on a
map. In a library, if you want a particular item or information about a
certain topic, you look in the catalog to find out if what you're looking
for is in that library's collection and where to find it. A library's
catalog connects people with the materials they are seeking; it is essential
that the catalog be available, accurate, and easy to use.
The AFPL Catalog is Not Always Available
Because so many computers in the library are used for Internet, a
typical branch has a maximum of two machines dedicated to catalog use,
forcing many patrons to either wait their turn at the catalog or to
ask for help at the reference desk when they would prefer to search on
their own. The Internet brought a whole new group of people to the
library and this is a good thing, but our library system's failure to
purchase an adequate number of computer workstations to accommodate
the demand for Internet has penalized the traditional library
user interested in what's in the library's collection rather
than what's on the Internet. These library customers now have fewer
workstations available to them for consulting the library catalog, even
if they need only a few minutes to do that.
Frequently the library's catalog, which is also accessed via the
Internet, is not accessible due to hardware, software, or telecommunications
problems. When this happens, librarians can sometimes help patrons
by using the staff version of the catalog, if it is still operational.
If no machines are available, staff must rely on printed guides to
Dewey Decimal numbers or on the online versions of catalogs in
neighboring counties. The last two choices merely yield areas to browse
in rather than precise information on the availability of material in
our library system.
AFPL's Catalog is Not Always Accurate
AFPL consists of a Central Library, 34 branches and one overburdened
cataloger. In order to use new materials that have no existing record
in the system--at AFPL, we're talking about thousands and thousands of
items--branch staff must resort to on-the-spot, temporary cataloging.
Over time, this frequent practice hs caused AFPL's catalog to lose its
integrity: many items are cataloged incorrectly or inconsistently and
some standard titles have a confusingly large number of entries
attached to them. (Try a title search in AFPL's catalog for The
Souls of Black Folk or Gone With the Wind).
A further major weakness of AFPL's catalog is that temporary records
are accessible only by title and not by author or subject.
AFPL's Catalog is Not Easy to Use
The catalog used by the public gives minimal instructions, supplemented
by “Help Screens” with long paragraphs of information. Although users
accustomed to working with computers eventually learn to navigate
the catalog without too much difficulty, patrons new to AFPL--especially the ones familiar with
the more reliable and user-friendly catalogs of other library systems--
and patrons with little exposure to computers are largely at a loss.
This last group includes a great number of seniors who are
among the library system's most long-standing and loyal patrons.
The catalog used by reference and circulation staff--ironically called
the "CARL Solution" catalog--has another set of vexing problems:
- an inordinate number of unscheduled and sometimes protracted
periods of downtime throughout the entire library system.
- lack of accessibility at some terminals but not others.
- frequent mid-search lock-ups or crashes, forcing staff to
log into the system again and repeat their search--and to apologize
to impatient patrons. These interruptions in catalog accessibility
often cause longer waits for patrons standing in line or waiting on
the telephone for service.
- simple title searches that take as long as four minutes to
complete.
- the inability to limit a search to the holdings of a particular
branch--which is precisely how the great majority patrons want us to
search for an item.
In order to get around the problems posed by the reference catalog,
staff have been forced to devise a number of unorthodox and rather
clunky "workarounds":
- Reverting, via Telnet, to the antiquated DOS version of the catalog.
Once the staff member finally connects to this older version of the
catalog, he/she is able to perform most circulation functions very
quickly, and is able to limit searches to a particular branch, and
able to place books “in transit” to other locations--something that's
not possible with "CARL Solution". On the other hand, the DOS catalog
doesn't allow staff to update patron information or to connect to a
printer.
- Abandoning entirely the habit of searching by title and
searching by keywords instead (for example, KEYWORD=SOULS BLACK FOLK).
This method usually works, although it does not retrieve items
with "temporary" catalog records--of which there are thousands, and
probably tens of thousands, in AFPL's collection. This method of
searching by keywords also doesn't work when the title consists of a
single word or of common words, such as On the Road, or
The Shining. Alas, many sought-for titles fit this description.
- Resorting to using the patron version of the catalog at the
reference/circulation desk, since the public access catalog presents
fewer problems, is generally faster, and does not crash mid-search with as
much frequency. The drawback to this method is the lack of up-to-date
shelf status information, available only on the "CARL Solution" system.
Of course, another major disadvantage of this method is that it does
not allow staff to update patron information, to renew patron registrations, or to check out,
return, or renew materials.
- If staff are fortunate enough to have access to more than one terminal
for a patron's question about the collection, the following method
works best:
- Begin the search using CARL on one machine;
- Repeat the search on another machine using a different method or
system;
- Walk back and forth between the terminals while smiling at the
mystified patron and assuring him/her that you know what you are doing.
Change vs. Improvement
Changes in library technology should involve improvements in service to
library patrons: an increase in convenience, richness, and potential
for all library users. These technology improvements should be the result
of careful planning and judicious decisions. Unfortunately, AFPL
administrators have often instituted changes that fail to result in
substantive improvements for library users:
- Technology changes have sometimes been abruptly thrust upon
patrons and staff;
- Technology decisions have been driven by arbitrary or unrealistic
deadlines;
- New systems have been put in place with very poor staff training
prior to implementation;
- There has been minimal continuity in technical support management
and staff, many of whom have left the system or been re-assigned to
public service units.
AFPL suffers from the “one more technological fix and our troubles are
over” syndrome. The missing "fix" has had many incarnations: updated
software, more memory, new equipment, a new operating system.
Currently, staff await a migration to a whole new integrated
automation system called SIRSI.
Library employees are cautiously hopeful that this "new, improved"
automated catalog and circulation system, touted as the latest answer
to all our catalog- and circulation-related problems, won't be as
fraught with as many design flaws or with as much much chronic
dysfunction as staff and library users have been struggling with for
so many years with CARL. At the same time, most of remember vividly
that CARL itself was once acclaimed by a previous library administration
as "the answer to all our technology problems"--and all staff are
aware that we are planning for this major technology change
- minus a full-time technology manager on staff.
- minus a full-time technical services manager on staff.
- minus a "catalog editor" and with only one full-time cataloger on staff.
- minus an adequate number of technical services staff other than
professional catalogers to deal with day-to-day trouble-shooting of
problems with the catalog.
- minus an adequate number of computer support services employees.
The migration to SIRSI is largely being planned by already over-worked
and sometimes minimally-qualified or unexperienced public service staff.
It's no wonder that many library staff find it difficult to be optimistic: instead of looking forward
to the dawn of an improved environment for using the library, many of
us see an approaching "train wreck" instead. This is certainly more likely
if the flaws in the current automated catalog and circulation system
are not addressed by our valiant and well-meaning planners.
Do you have your own catalog- or circulation-related nightmares to
share, or features you want to make sure are part of the next
"technological fix" for library users who need a reliable way to be
linked with the materials they are looking for? Send us an email
(anonymously or otherwise), and we'll post the most interesting ones
to AFPLWATCH.
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