Transcript Generation of Circulation Notice : A New Knowledge

6th Annual Hong Kong Innovative Users Group Meeting
Lingnan University - December 9, 2005
Automatic Generation of
Circulation Notices/Reports:
A New Knowledge Management Approach
Loletta Chan, Assistant Librarian (Circulation & ILL)
Li Yiu On, Assistant Librarian (Systems)
Hong Kong Baptist University Library
Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduction
Reviewing current practices
Knowledge Management (KM) approach
Implementation of KM approach
Conclusion
2
1. Introduction
3
Past Practices

CIR Staff
Email

Notices
• Notices without email
addresses
• Notices requiring a
hard copy
• Notices requiring
special processing
• Reports
INNOPAC
Mail Notices
Library Patron
Notices &
Reports
Acquisitions Section (ACQ),
Chinese Medicine Library (CML) &
Multimedia Learning Centre (MLC)
4
Types of Circulation Notices & Reports
•
•
Notices - to remind patrons to return library materials or
collect held items:
1. Pre-due date reminder
4. Lost book notice
2. Overdue notice
5. Hold pickup notice
3. Recall notice
6. Hold cancellation notice
Reports - to various counter staff (CIR, CML & MLC) for
the management of hold shelf:
1. HKALL paging slips & 5 related reports
2. Clear hold shelf report
3. View outstanding holds report
5
2. Reviewing
Current Practices
6
Why Review Current Practices?
1. Notices & reports generated by INNOPAC system:
– Not fully automated
– Require manual operation
– Tedious
– Routine operation: repetitive & time-consuming
– Knowledge is kept in the head of this skilled staff, no
information sharing
– Mainly rely on a CIR staff’s skill & knowledge to print
reports for various sections: CML & MLC
Individual Knowledge, Tacit Knowledge
7
Why Review Current Practices?
2. HKALL implementation (Sep 2005): more reports have
to be generated every day
– HKALL Paging Slips
W
O
– List of PAGED TOO LONG items
R
K
– List of RETURNED TOO LONG items
L
– List of REQUESTED TOO LONG items
O
A
– List of IN TRANSIT TOO LONG items
D
– List of RECEIVED TOO LONG items
3. Limitations of MilCir Auto Notices
8
MilCir Auto Notices
9
Advantages of MilCir Auto Notices
• New feature in Millennium Silver (2004)
• Good graphical user-friendly interface
• Able to save notice parameters & configure MilCir to
generate email notices automatically
• Able to specify different subject lines for different types of
notices
• Availability of pre-due date reminder
10
Limitations of MilCir Auto Notices
1. Can’t print hard copy of notice for user who doesn’t
have an email address
– MilCir will save all these notices in one file
– Format of the notices will be disorganized
(broken into 2 pages)
– A macro is needed to reformat and repaginate
the notices to a desired format for printing
11
Limitations of MilCir Auto Notices
Disorganized notice
Gromit Chu
11 Tai Po Road,
Tai Po, N.T.
Reformatted notice
Gromit Chu
11 Tai Po Road,
Tai Po, N.T.
12
Limitations of MilCir Auto Notices
2. Can only support sending notices via email (e.g. recall
notice)
3. Can’t handle notices that
require library staff to add
additional information
before sending e.g. Lost
book notice - ACQ staff to
add the item replacement
cost on the notice
13
Limitations of MilCir Auto Notices
4. Run special command before generating notices
– e.g. Run “Clear Hold Shelf” command before
generating “Hold Pickup” notices
5. Circulation reports cannot be generated by MilCir Auto
Notices
– Clear Hold Shelf report
– View Outstanding Holds report
– 6 HKALL management reports
14
3. Knowledge
Management (KM)
Approach
15
Given the above background,
we tried to apply the principle of
Knowledge Management (KM) to
re-engineer the process of
generating notices & reports
16
What is Knowledge Management?
•
“A deliberate, systematic business optimization strategy
that selects, distills, stores, organizes, packages, &
communicates information essential to the business of a
company that improves employee performance &
corporate competitiveness.” (Bryan Bergeron)
•
KM is a systematic approach to manage intellectual
asset (knowledge) that enhances organization
performance & competitiveness
17
Goals of our KM Approach
•
•
•
•
To enhance comprehension, awareness & understanding
To build corporate knowledge
To make the best use of existing knowledge
To define all steps & procedures clearly,
thus information can easily be captured, stored &
transmitted electronically
Share Knowledge with Others
18
System Requirements
A.Hardware: 1 – 2 PCs
B.Software:
1. INNOPAC System
• MilCir Auto Notices
• Related commands & printing functions
2. Macro Magic
3. Microsoft Windows Task Scheduler (MS Window
components)
4. Microsoft Outlook (MS Office components)
5. Microsoft Word
** Many people think that KM must be associated with high-tech.
This is not true. No high-end tools & special computer programs
are required for this project. The investment cost is low.
19
2. Macro Magic
Macro Magic website: http://www.iolo.com/mm/
20
2. Macro Magic
•
•
•
•
To automate command sequences for computer
applications
Record multiple keyboard & mouse actions & then save
them as a macro
When running the macro, these actions will be
executed in a recorded sequence
Advantages:
– Automated tasks are created without writing a
single line of computer program code
– Can be run by a computer layman
– Allow automated tasks to be rapidly developed,
easily modified & maintained at lower cost
21
3. Windows Task Scheduler
• Free window program
• To schedule when a macro to be run
22
4. Microsoft Outlook
•
To receive email notices & reports generated by
INNOPAC system
•
Use Outlook macros
– To organize & save
emails into different
folders
– To forward emails for
reformatting &
printing
23
4. Implementation of KM
Approach
24
Types of Circulation Notices/Reports
Sending Method
N
O
T
I
C
E
Type of Notices/Reports
1. Email ONLY

•
Pre-due date reminder
2. Email

•
•
•
Overdue notice
Hold pickup notice
Hold cancellation notice
•
Recall notice

•
Lost book notice

•
•
•
HKALL paging slips & 5 reports
Clear hold shelf report
View outstanding holds report
OR

Mail
3. Email
AND
Mail
4. Mail after special
processing
R
E
P
O
R
T
Generated by
Auto Notices
5.
• Email AND print copy
• Email AND print copy
• Email ONLY


25
1. Email Only (Pre-due date reminder)
Email
Auto Notices
Library Patron
26
2. Email or Mail (Overdue notice)

Patron with email address
Auto Notices
Library Patron
Patron
without
email address

Outlook

Mail


Task
Scheduler
27
3. Email & Mail (Recall notice)

Patron with email address
Auto Notices
a Bcc. of
Patron
email notices
without
email
address
b
Outlook

Outlook
Library Patron

Task
Scheduler

c
Mail

28
4. Mail Requiring Special Processing
(Lost book notice)
Auto
Notices
Library Patron
Mail

CIR
Email

Outlook

Task
Scheduler

Email
ACQ
(Add replacement cost)
29
5. Reports (HKALL paging slips)
CIR, CML


Task Scheduler

HKALL
paging slips

Outlook


INNOPAC
30
New KM Approach : New Role

Outlook
Auto
Notices
Mail
notices

Task
Scheduler
• Notices
without
email
addresses
• Notices
requiring
a hard
copy
Email
notices
Library Patron


INNOPAC
Notices
requiring
special
processing
ACQ
Reports
CIR, CML & MLC
CIR
31
Designated Work Schedule
No.
Time
Schedul
e
1
4:00
Mon-Sun
send dummy notices
2
5:00
Mon-Sat
auto overdue notices
3
5:00
Mon-Sat
auto hold cancellation notices
4
5:00
Mon-Sun
auto recall notices
5
5:30
Mon-Sun
Macro Magic reformat & organize email notices
6
6:00
Mon-Sun
Milcir auto notices log
7
6:00
Mon-Sat
print CIR overdue, recall and hold cancellation notices
8
6:00
Sun
9
6:45
Mon-Sun
10
8:00
Mon-Fri
send dummy paging slip
11
8:10
Mon-Fri
send paging slip (1st time)
12
9:10
Mon-Fri
clear hold shelf and print pick up hold notice
13
11:30
Mon-Sun
cancel hold dummy item
14
12:00
Mon-Fri
send dummy paging slip
15
12:15
Mon-Fri
send paging slip (2nd time)
16
14:00
Mon-Fri
HKALL reports
17
14:20
Mon-Fri
auto bill notice
18
15:10
Mon-Sun
Task
print recall notices
send email to CIR & MLC for hold items of location is, t & in-process items
make hold dummy item
32
Advantages of KM Application in
Notices/Reports Re-engineering
•
Cost-effectiveness
– Save staff time & cost to generate some 15 types of
notices & reports every day
•
Efficiency
– Reports in appropriate formats (electronic and/or
print) are directly sent to various sections for
processing
– e.g. Clear hold shelf report, HKALL paging slips 
CIR & CML
Paging slips for in-storage materials  CIR & MLC
33
Advantages of KM Application in
Notices/Reports Re-engineering
•
•
Systematization
– Over 15 types of notices & reports are automatically
generated in appropriate formats (electronic and/or
print) for various sections’ staff
– Steps, commands & procedures to generate notices
& reports are designed in logical & systematic
sequence e.g. clear hold shelf before generating
hold pickup notice
Security
– A backup copy of all notices & reports (email & print
copy) is saved in computer
34
Advantages of KM Application in
Notices/Reports Re-engineering
•
•
Accuracy
– All tedious & repetitive tasks are performed by
computer automatically
– No human intervention  No human mistake
Routine
– All tasks are performed at a pre-designated day &
time by computer
– No delay is caused by human factors e.g. staff who
take leave or work on night shift
35
5. Conclusion
36
Past Practice vs. KM Approach
Knowledge
Generation
Process
Past Practice
New Practice in KM Approach
• Ad hoc & passive
• carried out by CIR staff solely
• Well-planned & systematic
• Collaborative
• Individual knowledge
• Unwritten & manual operation
• Involve human experiences, skills
& intuition
• Corporate knowledge
• Written & performed by computer
program automatically
• Steps & procedures are clearly
defined
Sharing
• Among a few staff only
• Complicated
• Cross-sections (ACQ, CIR, CML,
MLC, SYS)
Storing
• Oral, discrete, unformatted, poor
organization & classification
• Difficult to retrieve, low re-use
value
• Well-formatted, organized &
classified
• Easy to retrieve, high re-use
value
Creation /
Acquisition
Using /
Organization
37
Implementation of the KM Approach
Re-engineer / Transform
Knowledge
Traditional Approach
KM Approach
Unmanaged
Managed
Individual
Corporate
Tacit
Explicit
38
Conclusion
Through better management of knowledge, we can achieve
2 goals:
– Better use in human resources (free from manual operation)
– Deliver quality library services
CEO of Hewlett Packard
“Successful companies of the 21st century will be those who
do the best job of capturing, storing, and leveraging what
their employees know.”
-- Ganesh Natarajan, p.6
39
Acknowledgment
Mr. Li Yiu On - Systems
Mr. Yip Wing Chung – Systems
Mr. Patrick Wong - Systems
Miss Karen Ng – Circulation & ILL
Miss Lydia So – Circulation & ILL
Bibliography
Bergeron, Bryan. Essentials of Knowledge Management.
Hoboken, N.J. : J. Wiley, 2003.
Natarajan, Ganesh. Knowledge Management : Enabling Business Growth.
New Delhi : Tata McGraw-Hill, 2000.
40