The following article originally appeared in the January 1998 issue of Kaleidoscope, the monthly CUL staff newsletter.

The new addition to the existing Annex will hold between 1.4 and 1.6 million volume equivalents. This relatively inexpensive, space-saving, warehouse-type facility will provide a preservation-grade environment for all the material stored there. The less-used items that were selected for transfer to the new facility will be sorted by size and placed in barcoded trays, which will be stored in thirty-foot-high rack shelving. Books, film, fiche, archival boxes, and other items, plus the trays and shelves, will all be linked by barcode association in an inventory control system. The shelving and retrieval of material will be done by a staff person operating a battery-powered mechanical lift. I have received several recent inquiries about workflow in general and about accuracy in particular, so I will focus on these in this article.

"Head and Hands": Paging, Record Processing, and Site Logistics during the Move

Paging

Campus library collections will be paged for transfer to the Annex by one or more of the following methods:

• Items will be paged from the stacks using Library Technology Department-generated pick lists whose entries were selected from NOTIS records by running a program that searched for the marker OS=Y (offsite = yes). The Annex Moving Project team will use this method for all collections except JGSM, ILR, Music, RMC (current Annex), and LMDC(current Annex).

• Material will be paged from the stacks by retrieving items containing colored flyers. Parts of the Physical Sciences and Wason collections will be identified for removal using this method.

• Items that are designated for transfer and have been segregated in special storage areas containing only material slated for the move to the Annex will be removed by simply emptying the storage shelves onto book carts. The sending unit will already have done all item ID checks. JGSM, ILR, Music, RMC (current Annex), LMDC (current Annex), Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Kroch Asia will use this method.

Record Processing

The Olin, Kroch, Mann, and Engineering units will each be sending over 90,000 items to the new Annex. Processing will take place on campus so that the materials from other libraries can be simultaneously processed at the new Annex with a minimum of interference. That will be possible because items arriving from Olin, Kroch, Mann, and Engineering will simply bypass the processing area in the new Annex and be delivered to the storage area for immediate shelving. RMC, LMDC, and possibly other material will move from the current to the new Annex between deliveries from Olin, Kroch, Mann, and Engineering. A minimum of four operations will be taking place simultaneously: large-collection transfers, small-collection transfers, current-to-new-Annex transfers, and Annex circulation to and from all points by hard and electronic copy.

The on-campus processing for Olin, Kroch, Mann, and Engineering will consist of an item ID check to see if the designated book, film, etc. has been paged; assembly and barcoding of book trays; item measurement against templates for placement into the appropriate-size tray (five sizes with two heights each; plus microfilm and microfiche trays ); entry of the items into an inventory control system database (twice, to check for accuracy); weighing of the filled trays; loading of the trays onto custom-made book carts; covering the carts with a heavy vinyl cover; trucking to the new Annex; loading two shackled book carts onto the order-picker forklift in the storage module; shelving the trays; and linking the records for the trays and shelves in the inventory control system. All other units will have only the item ID check done on campus. All further processing, as outlined above, will be done at the new Annex.

Site Logistics

Some collections will be moved without a hiatus in the daily transfer of their materials. Items from libraries such as Mann, ILR, and JGSM, where construction is, or will be, under way, may be moved intermittently. The availability or lack of a serviceable loading dock, the need for ramps to load book carts from the pavement to the van bed, weather, and other campus construction projects will all offer exciting challenges to the Annex Moving Project team. Some units will have ample space for record processing and tray assembly; some will not. The availability of elevators large enough for book carts and, where needed, pallets of unassembled book trays, varies from unit to unit. Also, in some units the route to the collections is circuitous. Finally, the building coordinators for all libraries must be consulted regularly to ensure the least amount of disruption to moving-project workflow due to exhibits, renovations, etc., in the buildings in which a specific library collection is housed.

"Head and Tummy": Ensuring Accuracy in the Selection and Recording of Items

NOTIS ID Check

At some point before transferring an item to the Annex, one must ascertain if the item designated for the move offsite is indeed the item in hand. Staff will receive a pick list compiled by unit librarians or generated by LTD. In the latter case, for example, the items would be paged from the stacks using the pick list and placed on book carts in call-number order. In the processing area the item's barcode would be scanned and the item record displayed on the computer. The NOTIS ID on the pick list would then be matched with the NOTIS ID on the computer screen.

Inventory Control System Checks

If there is a match, the items will be entered into the inventory control system database. The barcode on the end of the book tray will be scanned and a tray record created. The barcodes of the items will then be scanned into the tray record, and an item count will be written on the tray. All items entered into the inventory control system will be double-checked by two staff members.

After the trays have been filled and weighed, and a custom book cart loaded, a project supervisor will do a final random check from each of the three book-cart shelves.

Tummy Tools

Sometimes you have to trust your tummy (feelings) as much as your head so you can start a project with the correct attitude. Feeling confused and vulnerable can actually be turned into a force for empowerment. When the subject of how to ensure accuracy was first broached by the Moving Project team last June, we felt slightly intimidated by the sheer volume of moving one million volumes off site. As we started to whittle down the number of items that could be "acceptably" lost, only one figure made sense: none! How to do this? It was obvious that the particular group of regular staff and student assistants that are part of the record marking and move team love a challenge, have very high standards, own this project and are committed to it, and know how to ask for help. We started by looking inside ourselves at weekly staff meetings involving thirty people; our student assistants were encouraged and empowered to fully participate in these meetings. Given the chance, these young adults regularly come up with great ideas. We, as a group, have taken this vague sense of team spirit and actively nourished it into a living passion that has truly informed and energized us.

We will have a "dry run" to test our workflow procedures starting on December 17th. We have invited Cornell safety specialists of various disciplines to observe us in action so they can suggest procedures that are ergonomically safe and efficient. We already know from our own experience that after about two hours of constantly matching NOTIS IDs, they all start to look the same. Our next challenge will be to rotate the eight regular staff people who form the core of the moving teams in such a way that they maintain the alertness we need to ensure accuracy and safety.

As the time of the actual move rapidly approaches, we have full confidence in the ability of our staff to perform the work in a timely and professional manner.

John Marmora is the Moving Project Manager, Annex Expansion Project.