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Investigation: Members of the Working Group shared respective inventories of receiving staff and expertise and discussed details of staffing, expertise and job assignments during in phone callsconversations.
Columbia has 11 FTE who receive material in the Monographs Processing Services (MPS) division. Eight of the staff members are responsible for the day-to-day receiving of material in the Monographs Acquisitions Services (MAS) department which is divided into two units: the Book in Hand unit (BIH) receives approvals, Collection Direct Accessions (CDAs), and gifts, and the Order & Receiving Unit (OAR) receives firm ordered material. One FTE in the OAR unit is assigned 35% cataloging duties. The remaining three staff members have regular cataloging responsibilities and assist with receiving firm ordered material whenever necessary. Cornell has 12 FTE that are cross-trained to receive and input (fastcat) approval and firm order material, and are dispersed throughout Acquisitions and Automated Library Technical Services (AATS). Both Columbia and Cornell's receiving staff have diverse language skills and expertise which allow them to handle a wide range of approval material for review, receive firm orders, and fastcat upon receipt. An overarching difference between the two receiving departments is the inclusion of Chinese-Japanese-Korean-Tibetan (CJKT) material in AATS at Cornell, and the separate technical services department for CJK at Columbia located at C.V. Starr East Asian Library. A comparison of current job assignments indicates similar tasks and responsibilities at both institutions with two main differences: Cornell's cross-training of staff to fastcat upon receipt and Columbia's use of shelf-ready for approval material.
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