AskTech Responsibilities By Department

Scope: This document outlines AskTech ticket responsibilities by department.

Contact: Natalie Sommerville

Unit: Resource Description

Date last reviewed: 12/06/19

Date of next review:

• ERSA Request – Other: ERSA, like other departments, receives and resolves AskTech Tickets that are general in nature or too infrequent to justify adding another categories.
• eResource – [TS-Error – User-Error – Vendor-Error]: In general, ERSA picks up AskTech Tickets for eResources and either resolves them or triages them to Monograph Acquisitions (eResource – MA Request), Resource Description (eResource – RD Request), or Metadata & Discovery Strategy (MADS Request - EZProxy) as appropriate. The final resolution of an eResource ticket determined how the ticket is categorized. ERSA Staff responsibilities for electronic resources are as followed:

• Serials Maintenance 1: ERSA handles initial vetting of AskTech Tickets for print serials and is responsible for post-cataloging maintenance, including claiming, cancellations,
  withdrawals, LSC transfers to general library collections, and a host of other Aleph corrections or changes commensurate with their level of expertise. ERSA triages tickets to Serials Description Librarians that require advanced level serials cataloging expertise. (See also Serials Maintenance 2.)

• eResource – MA Request: Includes AskTech Tickets for single title purchased eBooks that have been vetted by Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions and triaged to Monograph Acquisitions.
• Monograph Acquisitions Request: Includes all AskTech Tickets requests for monograph ordering, receiving, invoicing, etc. Responsibility for these AskTech requests are as followed:
  • Western European Language orders – Bill Verner
  • Japanese orders – Sara Biondi
  • Chinese Orders – Yaoli Shi
  • Slavic orders – Robin Lapasha
  • Arabic Orders – Fouzia El Gargouri
  • Monographic & Approval receiving – Stephen Conrad
• Monograph Maintenance 2: Includes post-cataloging record maintenance for monographs in non-Roman languages. Generally, these are tickets that have been vetted by Resource Description and triaged to Monograph Acquisitions based on language requirements. For a fuller description, see Monograph Maintenance 2 under Resource Description.

• Rush Request: Monograph Acquisitions will take the first pass for all Rush Requests and either resolve the ticket or triage the Rush Request to another department based on where the item is in the workflow. Rush orders for Non-Roman Languages will go to the person placing the order. Western European Languages will go to Bill. When in doubt about in process rush orders, assign to Stephen.

  Metadata & Discovery Strategy

  Primary Responsibility for AskTech Ticket Categories MADS Request – User Accounts  MADS Request – Other  MADS Request – EZProxy  Dennis Christman (Primary), Leeda Adkins (Backup)

• MADS Request – EZProxy: Includes issues with off campus access to eResources that have been identified by ERSA or Professional School Libraries and sent as an AskTech ticket to MADS.
• MADS Request – User Accounts: Includes requests for permissions or problems accessing Aleph or OCLC accounts, AskTech Ticketing System.

• MADS Request – Other: Includes requests for batch processing generally associated with batch loading of MARC records or changes to Aleph.

  Resource Description

  Primary Responsibility for AskTech Ticket Categories Monograph Maintenance 1 & 2  RD Request – LC Reclass  RD Request – Other  Shelf-Preparation Request  Secondary Responsibility (Triaged from other Departments)  Rush Request  Serials Maintenance 2  eResource – RD Request  Triager: RD uses self-selection model that includes all RD team members|

Resource Description employs a self-selection model and a team-based approach to responding to AskTech Tickets. All members of Resource Description will be set up to receive all AskTech Tickets, with each team assuming responsibilities for tickets in their target category. The following provides a brief description of each team's responsibilities. 

Shelf-Preparation:

• Monograph Maintenance 1: Routine post-cataloging record maintenance for monographs officially declared lost, reinstatement of discovered lost book, withdrawal requests, added copies, LSC transfers to general library collections, and item record changes to collection codes, Item Process Status, or Item Status.
• Rush Request: Shelf-Preparation is responsible for locating and expediting Rush Requests reassigned by Monograph Acquisitions for materials that have advanced beyond cataloging or shelf-ready materials that have advanced beyond box opening and delivery to Shelf-Preparation.
• Shelf-Preparation Request: Predominantly, includes requests for spine labels only, when no previous change to Aleph is required; also includes requests for barcode labels or other Shelf-Preparation supplies and inquiries relating to binding or preservation boxing.

Resource Description Catalogers:

• eResource – RD Request: Primarily includes AskTech Tickets that have been vetted by Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions and triaged to Resource Description. These requests may consist of corrections or updates to bibliographic records for eBooks, eJournals, streaming media, cataloging requests for eJournals, and MARC records loads.
• Monograph Maintenance 2: Includes post-cataloging record maintenance for monographs not included in Level 1 and covers such tasks as recon for on-the-fly records, resolution of duplicate call numbers, requests for changes or corrections to bibliographic, holdings, or item records, and the resolution of confusing bibliography, holdings, or item records.
• RD Request – LC Reclass: Used for requests to reclassify items from Dewey to LC, or to resolve a conflict between an item labeled in LC with a Dewey number in its corresponding Aleph record.
• RD Request – Other: For Resource Description AskTech Tickets that cannot be classified easily into another Resource Description category, e.g., general questions about Aleph or OCLC functionality, requests for changes in or questions about policies, workflows, or procedures, and those occasional unconventional tickets.
• Rush Request: Resource Description catalogers are responsible for locating and expediting Rush Requests reassigned by Monograph Acquisitions for materials that have advanced beyond copy cataloging and triaging into the Monograph Description Cataloging Backlog.

• Serials Maintenance 2: In general, this category is assigned to AskTech Tickets for print serials that have been vetted by ERSA and triaged to Serials Description Librarians. It includes serials records maintenance from the more routine title changes and frequency changes to unravelling confusing bibliographic, holdings, or item records issues.

  Shared Categories

  Referral – Non-DULCS Unquantifiable

• Referral – Non-DULCS: Used for AskTech Tickets that are referred to others outside of DULCS. Contacts for Professional School Libraries are:
  • Ford Library: Carlton Brown
  • Law Library: Sean Chen
  • Medical Library: Li Ma
• Unquantifiable: Used for those occasional AskTech Tickets that require no action and are for informational purposes only, e.g., IAS Summer Schedules.

Created By: Ros Raeford