University of Connecticut | Catalog and Metadata Services Service Goals
General Policy
All newly received library materials, general and departmental, purchased or donated, are treated according to a uniform set of priorities. The statements that follow do not apply to re-processing that may be required for materials already in the collection, i.e., transfers, recataloging, reclassification, or retrospective cataloging.The time frames listed below for Immediate, and Priority categories are firm times. We can guarantee that these time commitments will be met. The time frames listed for the Standard category in each case are a "best guess" of our usual turn around times and serve as a gauge we can use for measuring any backlogs we may have.
To ensure that library materials are available for use when they are needed, Selectors are encouraged to use the following priority categories. The general categories and their associated cataloging time frames are outlined below. See detailed descriptions under each type of material for specific variations.
NOTE: when notification is requested the item will be treated as standard priority unless it has been designated as a higher priority by checking the priority status on the processing slip.
If you have comments on this policy, please send them to Catalog and Metadata services Team Leader, Sandy Gallup.
Categories of treatment
1) Immediate:
This designation is for items that have been requested on an urgent basis. The item is cataloged immediately on receipt in Cataloging and walked through any further steps to its final destination.
2) Priority One:
This designation is for items where there is a known and immediate effect on service:
- a) All reserve materials, including video reserve
- b) Time sensitive notidies
- c) Materials that Selectors have identified as extremely time sensitive
3) Priority Two:
This designation is for materials with some time value (e.g. items for special courses, new programs or subject areas; widely reviewed items). These materials are handled immediately after Priority One items.
4) Standard:
All other materials
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Types of Materials
- Added Volumes
- Audio Cassettes
- Books
- Books - YBP Shelf Ready
- Check-in
- Computer Files (Web accessible)
- Computer Files (Not Web accessible)
- Dodd Center
- Donated and Unsolicited
- Federal Documents
- Maps
- Microforms
- Serials
- UCONN Theses
- Videos
- Immediate: added same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: added within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: added within 3-4 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate: cataloged same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: cataloged within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: cataloged within 3-4 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate: cataloged same day as received in Cataloging.
- Priority One: cataloged within 1-2 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Priority Two: 90% are cataloged within 3-5 days from date of receipt in Cataloging, 7%, mostly foreign language, non-US or non-trade imprints, are cataloged within 3-4 weeks; the remaining 3% needing original cataloging are cataloged within 3-4 months from date of receipt in Cataloging.
- Standard:90% are cataloged within 3-4 weeks. 7%, mostly foreign language, non-US or non-trade imprints, are cataloged within 3-4 months; the remaining 3% needing original cataloging are cataloged within 5-6 months from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Titles ordered for Storrs locations are shelved in Acquisitions and held one week for review by selectors. After the selector review period, cataloging staff sort the books. A 10% sample of the entire shipment is reviewed for quality control purposes and sent to Preservation within one to two days. Of the remaining titles, approximately 85% are routed directly to Preservation, while the other 15%, which need either local cataloging or local database work, are routed to the appropriate cataloging workflows.
Titles ordered for Regional Campus locations that are delivered to Storrs are shelved in Acquisitions. They are held from one to two days until the records are loaded into Homer. The quality control sampling and routing is identical to that which is done for Storrs locations.
- Immediate: (newspapers) shelved immediately after check-in
- Priority One/Two: checked-in within 24 hours
- Standard: checked-in within 48 hours
- Immediate: cataloged same day as notification of availability received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: cataloged within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: cataloged within 1 week from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate: cataloged same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: cataloged within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: cataloged within 3-4 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
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Cataloging priorities for the Dodd Center are set by Dodd staff in conjunction with the Cataloging Liaison.
Note: Due to their large numbers, Donated and Unsolicited materials, a.k.a. gifts, are treated in such a way as to avoid delaying the cataloging of purchased books. For this reason, selectors reviewing a donated book needed in timely fashion are encouraged to use the Priority categories.
- Immediate, Priority One and Priority Two: are cataloged the same as Books.
- Added copies and current 5-10 year, English language books: entered directly into the new book receipts workflow. If new book receipts are well ahead of service goals, books older than 10 years may be entered into the new book workflow.
- Standard category books that are older than 5-10 years: generally incorporated into the new receipts at a rate of 20 per week. If services goals are not being met, less than 20 per week will enter the new book receipts workflow.
Government documents cataloging is primarily done by contract with Marvice services for database records to load. Since GPO is transitioning to electronic publications, the cataloging will always be as immediate as the data loads.
- Immediate: added same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: added within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: added within 1-2 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate: cataloged same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: cataloged within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: cataloged within 3-4 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate: cataloged same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: cataloged within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: cataloged within 2-3 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate: cataloged same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: cataloged within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard:cataloged within 3-4 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate:cataloged same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One/Two: cataloged within 2-3 days from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Standard: cataloged within 4-6 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging
- Immediate: cataloged same day as received in Cataloging
- Priority One:cataloged within 1-2 days from date of receipt in Cataloging.
- Priority Two: cataloged within 3-5 days from date of receipt in Cataloging. A small percentage, mostly small press and esoteric titles needing original cataloging may take 3-4 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging.
- Standard: cataloged within 3-4 weeks from date of receipt in Cataloging. A small percentage, mostly small press and esoteric titles needing original cataloging may take 3-4 months from date of receipt in Cataloging.