ReCAP Shared Collection - Policies and Workflows for Living Collections Exception Processing
Absent Items
The ReCAP Collection Development Working Group (RCDWG) reviewed the workflow documentation produced by the Absent Items Working Group and confirmed that the ReCAP Access Services Working Group plans to submit versions of these documents for review and approval, which we support.
However, since Harvard is required to make a good faith effort to replace absent items that are part of the ReCAP Shared Collection, we recommend a different workflow for engaging with collections librarians about these materials—one that is more proactive, transparent, and trackable, than simply reviewing lists of items generated via Alma Analytics.
RCDWG recommends a workflow to prompt, communicate, and track replacement decisions for ReCAP Shared Collection materials. The wiki tracking system for this workflow should ensure that:
Stakeholders receive real-time notification of issues.
Stakeholders can see the current processing status of each item.
The ease of system maneuverability incentivizes staff to quickly address issues.
Absent Item Replacement Workflow
Access Services will post newly identified absent ReCAP Shared Collection items on a Harvard wiki page to which relevant staff subscribe. ITS Acquisitions will purchase replacement titles that are readily available from a major vendor (e.g., GOBI) for $200 or less or forward the purchase request to the appropriate acquisitions unit. If the criteria are not met, the relevant collections librarian or appropriate acquisitions unit will be notified.
They may:
Purchase a new copy.
Provide a digital copy of the item.
Substitute a copy belonging to Harvard Library’s collections, with appropriate permission from the owning library.
Substitute a copy belonging to a ReCAP partner, with appropriate permission from that institution.
In all cases, decisions regarding replacement of absent ReCAP Shared Collection items will be recorded on the wiki. In addition, Harvard commitments to ReCAP Shared Collection replacement materials must be recorded in Alma item and holdings records.
Damaged Items
For damaged items, the level of damage should be determined using agreed-upon criteria. Development of these criteria and subsequent training for ReCAP partners is out of scope for the ReCAP SCSB Collection Development Working Group.
Damaged Items Workflow
When a ReCAP Shared Collection item is routed to Harvard for preservation, Collections Care will review items for repair.
If it is feasible to treat an item so that it can circulate as a “regular loan” (loan code 01), Collections Care will do so using their established conservation treatment procedures and technique.
If it is not feasible to treat an item so that it can be regular loan, Collections Care notifies collections librarians or the appropriate acquisitions unit via the wiki.
They may:
Permanently change item loan code to 02 (in-library use) or 62 (supervised in-library use) as part of the ReCAP Shared Collection.
Purchase a new copy.
Provide a digital copy of the item.
Substitute a copy belonging to Harvard Library’s collections, with appropriate permission from the owning library.
Substitute a copy belonging to a ReCAP partner, with appropriate permission from that institution.
In all cases, decisions regarding replacement of damaged ReCAP Shared Collection items will be recorded on the wiki. In addition, Harvard commitments to Shared Collection replacement materials must be recorded in Alma item and holdings records.
Rescission of Committed Items
A collections librarian may rescind a ReCAP Shared Collection item on rare occasions. This usually happens when no replacement copy is available for an absent or damaged item, where obtaining a replacement copy for an absent or damaged item would be prohibitively difficult or expensive, or when the item needs to be transferred to the ReCAP partner’s local restricted access repository for whatever reason.
Collections librarians will communicate rescission decisions to the appropriate department. The Harvard commitment to retain will need to be removed from Alma item and holding records and replaced with the rescission decision. In addition, the item will need to be withdrawn from SCSB and–if necessary–the appropriate storage facility.
Need for Communication
The RCDWG recommends using the Harvard Wiki to manage these workflows on a pilot basis for one year. A system that can document decisions is important, but a system that also facilitates timely, streamlined, trackable, transparent, and proactive communication among decision makers is crucial.
After the pilot period, it will be important to solicit feedback from stakeholders about how the wiki system is working to determine whether a more robust tracking tool, such as Jira or Trello, could better facilitate communication and decision making, and whether Alma has had any enhancements that could support the tracking workflow. Stakeholders include collections librarians not represented in the RCDWG, Access Services, ITS, local technical services, LTS, Collections Care, and Imaging Services.