New employees could in effect shadow other staff members until they felt they had a clear idea of proper procedure in the various workflow areas. While we of course can t expect acquisition of exhaustive knowledge of every aspect of the department, we nonetheless feel that a general overview will provide new staff with a sense of who does what and of where their particular job fits into the whole picture, and ultimately save time and increase workflow efficiency. Possessed of the knowledge this type of training would provide, a new employee could more readily address problems that may be out of the scope of their primary responsibility, or at least know exactly who they should direct the problem to if they cannot solve it themselves. The Cataloging and Acquisition sections are obviously closely related, and ultimately united in the same goal of providing resources to patrons in a timely manner. Any shared information could only help to more efficiently achieve this goal.
Good communication is also an integral part of efficient workflow.
Initials on holdings screens immediately let another staff member know who has cataloged a title and therefore who to ask in case questions arise. If an item is to be redirected to another branch or another staff member within the department, it should include a clearly written note explaining where it came from, what needs to be done to it, or what problems it seems to have. An item that mysteriously appears out of nowhere with no explanation as to why it s there, can cause loss of time that could have more efficiently been used to solve the actual problem with the item, had it been known. This could also include names of staff responsible for the various functions. Finally, we think that the redirecting tasks such as labeling and tattle taping to the receiving units could expedite Resource Services workflow.