Franklin & Marshall College is a small undergraduate institution with a FTE of approximately 2,400 students. In the Summer of 2016 the library migrated to OCLC's Worldshare Management System (WMS). This change to a cloud-based library system gave us an opportunity to consider new ways of doing cataloging, circulation, and acquisitions. This presentation will primarily discuss the changes that were implemented to the allocation of funds for ordering materials and the impact of those changes, including the way we now approach collection development. Some Items that will be discussed:
Before WMS
- The way materials had been ordered: 76 funds just for book purchases; departmental allocations with monthly budget reports; funds for librarians; a midyear reallocation of unspent funds; approval plans; and DDA for ebooks.
After WMS
- The changes to the allocation structure will be discussed in detail: a smaller number of funds (16); no individual departmental allocations; 3 large book funds; one large fund for librarians; no midyear reallocation of funds; no monthly budget reports for departments.
We will also talk about the process that led us to consider these changes: new eyes looking at the acquisition process and the opportunity presented to us by WMS.
Initial assessment of the changes:
- Feedback from faculty, librarians, staff (this was a radical change for some of our staff and users)
- Is the new fund structure working?
- Have the changes been beneficial to acquisitions workflows?
- What's next?
- Even fewer funds?
- More subject-based approval plans?
- More DDA or EBS plans for ebooks?
Discussion:
- Sharing experiences with allocations, acquisitions workflows, and migration to new systems
