In this column last month, I talked about changes in the organization that were designed to separate central and local responsibilities and to improve our information control functions, particularly in relation to the website, discovery infrastructure, and collections. Shifting the coordinating functions for shared users services from RIS to the newly formed Shared User Services department has created an independent central unit that will work equally with all of the Directors to establish priorities for the website, discovery, shared reference services, and digital projects across the University.
This month, I want to follow up on a second round of organizational changes designed to similarly clarify central/local responsibilities and this time to also focus on the coordination of information related to collections. Previously, the AUL for Collection Development and Management (CDRM) did not have a direct reporting relationship with the units that acquired and managed collections. This reduced opportunities for coordination and accountability.
The changes announced in October will significantly improve the transparency of our practices and decisions by creating teams that are focused on different aspects of collections—acquisitions, holdings management, interlibrary loan, and collections processing.
So, what happened and who is affected?
- DTS has been redefined as Collection Services and Resource Sharing (CSRS). This new unit, reporting to the AUL/CDRM, will include ILL and provide an integrated view of acquisitions where ILL is considered a strategy for providing access to content. Shifting the ILL unit from RIS to CDRM has the added benefit of further clarifying central and local decision-making.
- To keep the efforts of the newly defined CSRS focused on the complexities of acquisitions, the Holdings Management Unit (HMU) will move from the department to report directly to the AUL/CDRM. In the future, we will look for ways to use the mountains of valuable information that is captured in CSRS to formalize an assessment function. When it is established, this function will work closely with the HMU which relies heavily on information about collection use for its operations.
- Not all of the DTS employees moved to CSRS. Some employees became a part of CTS, thus consolidating most of the physical resource workflow processing in that department.
With these changes, we have created an organization that aligns much better with the University’s structure and with our RCM budget requirements. We have created a single unit that is completely focused on managing the central components of collections from acquisitions to holdings management. And, while there are still some details related to access services and some committees that need to be addressed, the major universitywide functions of RIS have officially shifted to central units. Although RIS did an excellent job coordinating shared services, there was always ambiguity regarding decision-making within the unit. Hopefully, these changes will provide more clarity and allow New Brunswick Libraries, together with Special Collection and University Archives, to establish their unique identity.
