Attachment 01- SOW_Collection_Services_Contract_20170203.docx

Attachment 01

Performance Work Statement for Collection Maintenance Services Contract at the USDA, National Agricultural Library Beltsville, MD 2/3/2017

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The National Agricultural Library (NAL), part of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is one of four national libraries of the United States. The NAL collection consists of over 3 million physical items (stored in the fourteen-story Abraham Lincoln Building in Beltsville, MD) as well as extensive electronic collections. The NAL collection as a whole is a unique and valuable resource, and the centerpiece for all the services NAL provides. As a national library, NAL has a twofold mission regarding its collection: to provide access for current users and to preserve the collection for the use of future generations.

Document delivery serves as a primary means of providing access to the information in NAL’s physical collection, and remains one of the critical services provided by NAL. Because NAL has closed stacks, document delivery staff are the primary users of the physical collection and so are vital partners in maintaining and preserving it. Document delivery staff handle the collection and walk the stacks daily which gives them in-depth knowledge of the condition and needs of the collection. At the same time, they depend on a well-organized and maintained collection in order to be able to find and deliver materials in response to document delivery requests. Because these services are interdependent and require common areas of knowledge, it is efficient and beneficial to have them provided by the same people.

NAL requires a contractor to provide maintenance support for the physical collection and document delivery service for NAL users. The goal of this contract is to maintain the NAL collection in the best possible physical condition, to provide customers with quick and easy access to materials from the NAL collection, and to provide USDA employees with documents needed to support their work.

2. Scope of Work

The Contractor shall provide collection maintenance, document delivery and associated services as specified in the PWS. The government shall retain perpetual non-exclusive access rights to all intellectual property created during the performance of this contract. All products which are a result of this contract (including spreadsheets reports, procedures manuals, etc) become the property of the U.S. Government and shall be delivered to the COR upon request.

3. General Requirements

3.1. Use of Electronic Systems and Equipment

The use of electronic systems and equipment is critical to the success of this contract. This includes the government's delegation of responsibility for creating and maintaining records on NAL's Voyager Integrated Library System; in the Relais Enterprise document delivery management system, and authorization of access to the NAL network. It is vital that the contractor understand and support the need for security of all NAL databases and systems. Passwords shall be made available only to authorized contractor staff. These staff must protect passwords, complete all required computer security training, and comply with all NAL and USDA electronic communication. The Project Manager shall supply a list of all contractor personnel who have access to NAL passwords. The Project Manager shall also notify the COR, in writing, of any changes to the list within eight working hours of the change.

Since electronic systems and equipment are integral to the document delivery process it is vital that these systems be maintained for maximum reliability. The contractor shall monitor all systems and equipment which they use to ensure that it is operating properly, perform routine maintenance activities, promptly report any problems to the appropriate NAL staff and participate in testing of any new or upgraded systems which will be used by contract staff. Maintenance and monitoring of computer systems is crucial to the performance of this contract so the project manager shall be responsible for responding to the COR on all technical questions and issues related to the services provided.

In addition to standard office automation tools, the contractor shall use the following automated systems to receive and process document delivery and call slip requests. NAL may change or add systems to this list over the life of the contract.

A. Relais Enterprise: Relais Enterprise is NAL’s document delivery management system. All requesters must be registered in Relais Enterprise before they can place a request. All requests are received directly into Relais Enterprise and are processed, delivered and stored within that system. The Relais Enterprise record is the permanent NAL record for each request as well as the primary source of statistical data for document delivery so any processing of a request which takes place outside this system must be recorded as a note in the Relais Enterprise record for that request. NAL’s Relais system also includes webforms for submission of document delivery requests and registration of document delivery customers.

B. OCLC: NAL uses the OCLC WorldShare interlibrary loan system to receive interlibrary loan requests from other libraries and to send borrowing requests to other libraries. OCLC requests received from other libraries are loaded into Relais Enterprise and processed there. OCLC borrowing requests are generated from document delivery requests in Relais Enterprise but must be manually entered into OCLC and notes on their OCLC status must be manually recorded in Relais Enterprise. 48% of NAL document delivery requests are received through OCLC.

C. Docline: NAL uses the Docline system to receive document delivery requests from other libraries and to send borrowing requests to the National Library of Medicine. Docline requests received from other libraries and Loansome Doc requests received through Docline for USDA requesters are loaded into Relais Enterprise and processed there. Processing status of these requests (filled or unfilled) must be updated manually in Docline in addition to the regular Relais Enterprise processing. Docline borrowing requests are generated from document delivery requests in Relais Enterprise but must be manually entered into Docline and notes on their Docline status must be manually recorded in Relais Enterprise. 1% of NAL document delivery requests are received through Docline.

D. Voyager: NAL uses Voyager as its integrated library system. Call slip processing and circulation processing for loans are both done in the Voyager system. AGRICOLA, NAL’s online catalog in WebVoyage, is the primary resource for call number searching. All patron records created in Relais Enterprise are also exported into Voyager. Quality review and control of all tasks performed in Voyager and related automated files is critical since the contractor will be creating and modifying records that will be used by NAL staff outside of the contract.

3.2. Care and Handling of Materials

All of the collections of the NAL are valuable and most are irreplaceable or could be replaced only with great difficulty and expense. Therefore, all are to be handled with the utmost care to insure their preservation and future usability or conversion to another form.

A large amount of the collection consists of materials which are deteriorating, most noticeably, materials which were never bound or which were bound with soft covers. Most of these unbound materials are easily identified by their badly yellowing paper, their broken or torn pages and covers with torn or flaking edges. Similarly, many bound materials also have spines or covers coming off, broken sewing and loose pages, and yellowing, brittle, breaking or flaking paper.

The contractor shall meet the following standards for handling of all materials whether from the NAL collection or borrowed from other libraries.

A. Keep all parts of an item together. If pages or pieces are coming off of an item, the contractor shall ensure that they are kept together with the material they belong to. The contractor shall ensure that no parts of an item are left on the shelves or fall to the floor. The contractor shall pick up any fallen pieces and reunite them with the parts they belong to immediately and forward the entire item to the COR.

B. Ensure that the call number remains attached to the item. If any part of an item becomes physically detached (either purposefully or accidentally) make sure that the call number is clearly written in pencil on each piece.

C. Items shall not be bumped against the ends or edges of shelves, shelving units or other surfaces while they are being retrieved, reshelved or transported. When moving trucks on and off elevators or around corners, the contractor shall take care not to spill the contents of the truck or collide with walls or other objects.

D. After an initial overview session with NAL staff, during which examples of "unloanable" material will be displayed, the contractor shall be responsible for determining the "loanability" of NAL material. Any questionable items shall be brought to the attention of the COR and together with the contractor, disposition shall be made.

E. All contractor staff shall receive training from the COR on proper handling of library materials, use of equipment, and stacks behavior. Staff working in Special Collections areas shall receive additional training on handling Special Collections materials before beginning to work in the Special Collections areas. The contractor shall arrange with the COR for viewing of training at the start of the contract and whenever new staff are hired.

F. Audio- and videocassettes, slides, filmloops, motion pictures, slides and filmstrips shall be kept away from sources of heat including direct sunlight.

G. Audio tapes, video tapes, compact discs, and computer discs of all kinds shall be kept away from magnetic fields such as those produced by some electronic equipment.

H. Tapes and film materials shall be handled by the protective case only; the film or tape shall never be touched directly. Slides shall be handled by the edges only. Microfiche shall be handled by the header strip only.

I. Items consisting of multiple parts (kits, games, slide sets, etc.) shall be kept together and packaged appropriately to avoid being damaged. As containers deteriorate and need replacement, materials shall be kept together and forwarded to the COR.

J. Posters shall be rolled, not folded, and stored in storage tubes, unless otherwise packaged. Tubes shall be stored upright in tube racks.

K. The following materials shall not be used on any materials in the NAL collection.

1. Paper clips or staples

2. Rubber bands

3. Any adhesive substance or labels other than labels which have been provided by the COR specifically for use on collection materials.

L. The contractor shall exercise judgment and not deliver any items that are in a condition too delicate to be used. Some materials in the collection are wrapped in brown paper or boxed for preservation purposes. The contractor shall not unwrap or remove these items or move and deliver these items to fill a request, unless so directed by the COR.

M. The contractor shall use service copy microfilm only for servicing requests.

N. The contractor shall keep all equipment clean and undamaged. Any malfunctioning equipment shall be reported to the COR.

O. Contract staff shall wash their hands after eating or smoking before they resume working with collection materials.

3.3. Rules of the NAL Building

A. No food or beverages (other than water in closed spillproof containers) are permitted on any of the stack floors, on any part of the third floor or in public areas of the library.

B. Smoking is strictly prohibited in the NAL Building.

C. Ladders and stools are provided on each stack floor. Climbing the shelves to reach items shelved on higher shelves is strictly forbidden. The contractor shall be charged the repair cost for any damage directly attributable to staff standing on stack shelves.

D. The lights in the stacks are on timers to reduce the amount of light damaging the collection and conserve energy. The contractor shall make judicious use of the lights, turning them on for the least amount of time required to perform the task as they enter ranges and turning them off when they leave the area.

E. The blinds in the stacks are to be kept slanted at an angle to keep the least amount of light from penetrating. The contractor staff shall adjust properly any blinds that have been raised or opened and report to the COR any areas where blinds are repeatedly found opened.

F. All contractor staff shall receive training from the COR on proper use and maintenance of the compact shelving on the 9th floor. The contractor shall report problems with the operation of the compact shelving to the COR immediately.

G. During rain or snow storms or other weather which may affect the building contract staff shall monitor the stack areas to identify areas where water may be entering the stacks. The contract staff shall notify the COR immediately upon discovery of water in the stacks.

H. No earphones, radios or other devices are allowed in the stacks at any time. It is essential that all staff working in the stacks be able to hear the fire alarm or individuals calling for them in the event the alarm does not work. Additionally, no radios are permitted in any public access areas or in areas where telephone calls are made to or received from patrons.

I. Personal cell phones may be used only during lunch or other break periods.

J. Unauthorized (without visible ID or stack passes) persons in the stacks shall be referred or reported to the COR. Contractor staff are authorized to address such people for the purpose of verifying their stack authorization.

K. The freight elevator is to be used only for the transportation of materials and delivery of call slip requests.

L. Malfunctioning lights and timers in the stacks shall be reported to the COR.

M. In all cases of water, fire, smoke or any other potentially damaging event or dangerous situation, the contractor shall notify the Building Manager and the COR immediately. DO NOT attempt to take corrective action yourself.

N. If the fire alarm sounds, walk down the steps, DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS, and exit the building immediately according to the NAL building evacuation procedures.

O. All contractor staff shall attend an NAL safety briefing within the first month of their employment at NAL. The contractor shall inform the COR of the arrival of new staff so that a safety briefing can be arranged.

P. All contractor work performed onsite at NAL shall take place Monday through Friday between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. The contractor will not have access to the NAL building outside of those hours without special permission from the COR.

Q. The project manager shall work onsite during NAL’s core working hours of 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to ensure contractor staff supervision and facilitate cooperation with the COR and other NAL staff.

3.4. Statistical Requirements and Reports

The contractor shall collect, record, and submit statistical records of the work completed in performance of this contract. These reports are crucial as a tool for both the contractor and the government to maintain and preserve the NAL collection and assess the effectiveness of document delivery service.

All statistical reports specified in Attachment 3 “Statistical Reports” shall be submitted to the COR on a monthly basis using the spreadsheet formats provided in Attachment 3. The COR, in conjunction with the contractor, may create new or modify existing statistics reporting sheets as necessary over the life of the contract.

The contractor shall also provide a monthly narrative report describing any significant accomplishments or problems, which stack areas were cleaned and weeded, and any staff changes made during the month as well as any unexpected changes in volumes, technology/equipment problems or changes, suggested improvements, and requested supplies or equipment.

Narrative and statistical reports shall be completed and delivered to the COR no later than the 15th day of each month

The contractor shall be responsible for maintaining other statistics as needed to manage workflow and assess staff performance. The contractor shall have access to the Voyager and Relais system databases for the purpose of creating statistical and other reports.

3.5. Incoming Mail and Messages

The contractor shall process all incoming mail, both electronic and paper, and answer customer inquiries relating to NAL’s document delivery service, including inquiries about standard document delivery policies and procedures, patron registration, status of document delivery requests, renewal of borrowed materials, ILL transactions, or receipt of incomplete or illegible transmissions of materials. When document delivery related questions fall outside of standard document delivery policies or procedures or otherwise cannot be resolved by the contractor then the contractor shall consult the COR.

Mail, messages or calls related to NAL services other than document delivery shall be referred to the correct NAL service point. Misdirected mail shall be returned to outgoing mail with address information corrected if necessary

The contractor shall routinely receive and respond to the following types of mail/messages. All responses, whether written or spoken, shall be communicated clearly and courteously.

A. Traditional Mail (mailbags, loose mail, Fedex, UPS, etc.): Traditional mail is delivered twice a day.

B. Telephone Calls: The contractor shall answer telephone calls during NAL’s regular operating hours between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. The contractor shall ensure that all calls are answered promptly and that all callers are addressed clearly and courteously. The primary document delivery customer service phone number shall be continuously staffed during NAL operating hours so that all calls are responded to without going to voice mail. Calls received outside of regular working hours will be forwarded to voice mail, and the contractor shall respond to all voice mail messages on the next working day.

C. Electronic Mail (E-mail): The contractor shall review incoming e-mail in the document delivery unit mailboxes at least 3 times daily and respond to patron inquiries on the same day they are received or on the morning of the next working day if message is received outside of regular working hours. The contractor shall use both standardized reply messages and original message specific replies as appropriate to various types of e-mail inquiries. Contractor staff shall review incoming mail in their individual NAL email accounts at least once a day.

D. OCLC and Docline : Incoming shall be downloaded daily from OCLC’s WorldCat Resource Sharing system and the Docline Interlibrary Loan Request system.

E. Rush Requests: Although NAL does not provide rush document delivery service, exceptions to this policy shall be made for VIP patrons (such as members of Congress, the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Office of the President) and in cases where rush delivery of materials is required in response to a genuine emergency (for instance, requests from researchers or officials responding to a health and safety emergency such as an e-coli or anthrax outbreak). Patrons must call NAL to request emergency rush service. The contractor shall receive calls relating to requests for rush document delivery service and authorize rush processing as appropriate. The contractor shall consult the COR if they cannot determine whether a rush request should be authorized.

F. Interlibrary Borrowing (ILB) invoices shall be forwarded to the COR along with a copy of the corresponding document delivery request(s).

4. Collection Maintenance

4.1. General Collection Maintenance Requirements

The contractor shall meet the following general requirements for collection maintenance.

A. While working in the stacks, the contractor shall remain alert to the overall environmental conditions and report any unusual conditions to the COR. In particular, the contractor shall look for the following.

a. Leaks around windows or pipes

b. Water on floors or shelves

c. Unattended trucks of materials

d. Lights left on in unoccupied stack areas shall be turned off by contractor

B. All contractor staff shall attend annual training provided by the COR on responding to collection related emergencies.

C. Any time collection materials are seen to be in immediate danger due to environmental conditions the contractor shall take appropriate steps to mitigate the problem at the time it is discovered. Appropriate responses to environmental threats to the collection will be covered in the annual training described in item B above. Examples of mitigation actions include

1. Placing water absorbent socks around windows or other areas to contain water leaks.

2. Removing items contaminated by mold or insects from the shelves and forwarding them to the COR for treatment.

D. Check all the lights on the stack floors quarterly to verify that they are working properly. Report any non-working lights to the COR.

E. Search specific titles or areas of the collection at the request of the COR to verify that they are shelved accurately (for instance, verify that all current issues of CPC titles are properly shelved in the CPC).

F. Retrieve specific materials for special processing at the request of the COR and reshelve them after processing is completed.

G. Create or modify and shelve gussets, dummies, temporary shelfmarkers or moveable shelf labels in response to specific projects or normal processing.

H. Attach special identifiers (such as colored dots or labels to indicate shelving location) to materials in the collection as identified by the COR or suggested by the contractor and approved by the COR.

I. At any processing point (including shelving, shifting and cleaning) where the contractor encounters collection materials with missing covers or broken bindings they shall tie the item together with a string tie before re-shelving it.

J. The contractor shall create, delete or edit item records in the Voyager catalog (as described in Section 6.5.2.7 “Creating Item Records’) at the request of the COR.

4.2. Shelving

4.2.1. Receipt of Material to be Shelved

A. The contractor shall pick up materials for reshelving daily from the following areas

1. Designated tables or bins in rooms 305, 310 and first floor staff area.

2. Copy Center in the Main Reading Room

3. Tables in the first floor public areas

4. Tables, carrels and designated return shelves in the stacks

5. Acquisitions and Metadata Branch

6. All contractor work areas

B. The contractor shall pick up Special Collections materials to be reshelved from the designated Special Collections reshelving areas on the 5th and 13th floors at least once a week.

C. The contractor shall receive new materials for shelving from the COR daily.

4.2.2. Shelving Requirements

A. All materials from the general collection (6th-13th floors) shall be checked-in in Voyager prior to shelving.

B. All items shall be shelved in the appropriate order and in the appropriate part of the NAL collection (see Attachment 1 “Organization of the NAL Collection” for descriptions of the various parts of the NAL collection and how they are organized). NAL collections include the following:

1. General Collection (floors 6-13).

2. Current Periodicals Collection (CPC). Materials labeled “PRR” on the front cover or page of the item shall be shelved in the CPC. Only the 4 most recent issues of CPC titles shall be shelved in the CPC. Prior issues shall have the PRR designation scratched out and be reshelved in the General Collection at the time the new issues are added.

3. Reference Collections. Materials labeled “Reference,” “Directories” or “USDA” shall be shelved in the appropriate part of the Reference Collection. Superseded volumes or editions shall have the Reference designation scratched out and be reshelved in the General Collection at the time the new volume is added.

4. Microform Collections

5. Special Collections (5th, 12th and 13th floors). Access to the Special Collections areas on the 5th and 13th floors is limited to authorized staff members and controlled by card key. The contractor Project Manager shall be given card key access to the Special Collections areas and shall be authorized to admit other contractor staff as needed to work in these areas. Other contractor staff shall be required to sign in and out when working in Special Collections areas on the 5th and 13th floors.

C. The contractor shall forward the following types of material to the COR if found in the shelving workflow.

1. Rare books

2. Nursery and Seed Trade Catalogs

3. Items with call numbers or labels of other libraries, unless these are clearly canceled and NAL property stamp and labels supersede them.

4. Items without call numbers

5. Materials coming apart or in poor physical condition. These materials may be returned to the contractor for reshelving at the discretion of the COR.

6. Materials which are unusual or questionable in any way or which the contractor may be uncertain how to handle.

D. The contractor shall forward materials containing charge slips or request forms in them to the appropriate contractor service point to determine whether they have been correctly delivered and/or checked in.

E. All materials shall be properly supported on the shelf, using appropriately sized book ends (for bound volumes) or Princeton files (for unbound volumes) as necessary. Spaces left on the shelf during retrieval shall be closed to prevent material warping, breaking or otherwise being damaged.

F. All shelfmarkers placed at the time of retrieval shall be found and removed when the item is reshelved.

G. Shelfmarkers shall be filed in the general stacks to identify materials which are permanently off the shelf or shelved in another location.

H. Minor errors in previous shelving shall be corrected by the contractor as they are found. Single items which are not easily or conveniently reshelved at the time found out of place shall be pulled off the shelf and taken back to the sorting area to be reshelved in the regular reshelving process. Major areas of shelving confusion shall be reported to the COR.

I. Materials which users leave lying on empty shelves or spaces or on top of previously shelved materials shall be reshelved by the contractor.

J. When an item cannot be shelved, and the shelving situation cannot be resolved by a minor shift (as described in section 4.3), an overflow shelfmarker shall be placed where the publication belongs on the shelf and the material shall be shelved in a designated overflow shelving area as follows:

K. The contractor shall notify the COR of any areas of the stacks where weeding is needed including

1. Crowded areas of the stacks where new or returned items cannot be shelved.

2. Places where more than two copies of any publication are found on the shelf.

3. Places where more than four copies of any publication are found on the shelf. No more than four copies of any title or issue/part/volume shall be shelved in the NAL collection. Excess copies shall be delivered to the COR daily. Exceptions to the four copy limit will be indicated by shelfmarkers.

L. The following types of materials shall be labeled with colored dots to identify special shelving requirements. The contractor shall add these labels, secured with a piece of transparent tape, if necessary prior to shelving.

1. Oversize--coral dot on spine of book

2. Folio--green dot on spine of book

3. Software--one green dot and one yellow dot on call number label(s)

M. Publications labeled with incorrect call numbers shall be returned to the COR for correction whenever they are encountered during the shelving or retrieval process.

N. The contractor shall file loose-leaf updates to which NAL subscribes. They shall be identified by shelfmarkers in the stacks, by notes in holdings records in Voyager, from newly checked-in material picked up from NAL’s Acquisitions and Collection Development Branch, and as identified by the COR.

4.3. Shifting

The contractor shall make space for materials for which there is not space on the shelves, by performing minor shifting of up to one vertical section or the equivalent of eight (8) full shelves of materials. The contractor shall notify the COR if this minor shelf adjustment will not provide sufficient space for shelving.

In addition to the above routine shifting needed to shelve materials the contractor shall provide 200 hours of shifting per month in areas designated by the COR in order to reduce crowding in the stacks.

4.4. Repairing Collection Materials

A. The contractor shall repair the following types of items

1. Items with loose or broken covers that need to be tied with cotton tape

2. Items with torn pages that need to be repaired with Filmoplast tape

3. Items with broken Velobind or ring bind combs that need to be replaced

4. Loose documents that need to be stapled

5. Items with defective call number labels that need to be replaced.

B. The contractor shall spend a minimum of 60 hours per month systematically reviewing the collection on a shelf by shelf basis to identify materials needing the types of repairs specified above. The COR will designate which area of the stacks that will be inspected each month.

C. Materials will remain off the shelf for repair no more than 48 hours.

4.5. Re-Housing Collection Materials

The contractor shall prepare and shelve preservation storage boxes for collection materials designated by the COR. Based on the nature of the items to be boxed the COR will specify whether a standard or custom-built box is required.

The contractor shall

A. Create a record for each item (or group of items to be boxed together) in the Re-Housing Database

B. Construct the box

1. Custom boxes: measure the item, insert ID marker and shelve in rehousing room until custom box is received from vendor.

2. Standard boxes: Place item in box; insert spacers if needed.

C. Print title and call number labels for each box from the Re-Housing Database and label boxes.

D. Re-shelve the boxed items in their appropriate place in the collection.

4.6. Cleaning Collection Materials

The contractor shall clean materials and shelves in the stacks on an ongoing basis at the rate of at least 860 shelves per month. The COR will designate which area of the stacks shall be cleaned each month. The contractor shall

A. Remove books from the shelf.

B. Vacuum and wipe the shelf clean.

C. Vacuum book. If book is in delicate condition the contractor shall wipe it with an electrostatic cloth rather than vacuuming it.

D. Reshelve books according to the same standards outlined in section 4.2.2 “Shelving Requirements”

4.7. Weeding

The contractor shall spend a minimum of 60 hours per month weeding duplicate materials from the collection in order to increase shelf space for new materials. The COR will designate a specific area of the collection for weeding each month. The contractor shall

A. Identify materials to be weeded based on the following

1. Criteria outlined in Attachment 5 “NAL Copy Retention Policy”.

2. For non-USDA titles labeled USDA history, two copies shall always be retained: the one labeled USDA history and a second unlabeled one for circulation purposes.

3. Check whether any of the copies are signed by the author. When signed copies are found forward them to the COR as signed copies and keep one additional copy on the shelf.

B. Prefer unbarcoded items for weeding unless the barcoded item is in poor condition.

C. Discard duplicate serial issues identified for weeding as described below without prior review by the COR.

D. Forward all duplicate monographs identified for weeding to the COR for review. The COR will return those items approved for weeding to the contractor for discard.

E. Discard items approved for weeding

1. Delete the Voyager item record for the weeded item if one exists. If for reasons of physical condition an unbarcoded copy is being kept in preference to a barcoded copy then add a barcode to the copy which is being kept and edit the existing item record to replace the discarded barcode number with the new barcode number.

2. Stamp the item as “Discard.”

3. Place in designated recycling bin.

4.8. Disbinding Materials for Digitization

The contractor shall disbind volumes for digitization at the request of the COR.

A. Based on the size and nature of individual items the COR will specify whether they should be disbound using a book guillotine or manually.

B. Pages shall be disbound in a way that maintains maximum page margin, text integrity and relationship of text block to edge of page.

C. After disbinding is completed all parts of each volume (disbound pages and cover) shall be tied with a string tie and returned to the COR as a unit maintaining original page order.

5. Document Delivery

5.1. General Document Delivery Requirements

A. The contractor shall complete all document delivery requests within the following timeframes. The Relais system will assign a request type of “regular” (REG) or “borrowing” (BOR) to all requests at the time that they are received.

1. All “regular” (REG) type (whether filled or unfilled) shall be completed within two working days of receipt.

2. All “borrowing” (BOR) type requests shall be processed as filled or unfilled against the NAL collection and all unfilled requests shall be forwarded for borrowing within two working days of receipt.

3. All rush requests delivered to the contractor by the COR shall be processed within the time frame specified by the COR. Time frames for priority requests will vary and will be stated by the COR at the time the request is delivered to the contractor. See section 3.5 “Incoming Mail and Messages” for details on determining rush request status.

B. All document delivery requests shall be received and processed through the Relais Enterprise system. Any requests which are not received directly into Relais shall be entered into the system by the contractor after approval by the COR. The COR will provide training in the use of the Relais system prior to implementation.

C. If the Relais Enterprise system or any of the other automated systems supporting document delivery fail the contractor shall substitute manual processes as described in Attachment 4 “Downtime Plan for Systems Affecting Document Delivery” until the system(s) can be restored. Turnaround times may be relaxed during the time that equipment is not functioning properly. Temporary adjustments in turnaround time requirements will be determined by the COR on a case by case basis.

5.2. Patron Registration

Patron records will be created by the Relais system based on information submitted by patrons through a web-based form. The contractor shall edit, update and maintain patron records to enable requests to be placed and processed in the Relais Enterprise system and the Voyager Circulation and Call Slip systems. The contractor shall receive notice of newly created patron records by e-mail from the Relais system or from the COR.

Quality review and control of patron records is critical since the accuracy of patron records affects the patron’s ability to place requests, processing of the request by the Relais system and the accurate reporting of statistics. The contractor shall ensure that the following standards for the creation and maintenance of patron records are met and that an accuracy rate of 99.5% is maintained for patron records.

A. Only eligible patrons shall be retained in the Relais system. Records created for ineligible patrons shall be deleted and a standardized message shall be sent to the ineligible registrant directing them to request interlibrary loan service through their local library.

When patron eligibility is questionable or patron information is incomplete, the contractor shall contact the patron directly and ask for clarification. The following types of patrons are eligible for service:

· USDA employees

· Libraries or Information Centers

· U.S. Congress

· Onsite patrons requesting registration for call slip service. These patrons are only eligible for Call Slip service (onsite use).

· Exceptions as designated by the COR.

B. After reviewing and completing a new patron record the contractor shall export the record into the Voyager patron database and verify the record in the Voyager Circulation module.

C. New patron records shall only be retained when no previous record exists in the system for that patron. The contractor shall delete any duplicate patron records in the Relais system before they are exported to Voyager. When duplicate patron records are deleted the older record shall be retained and updated if necessary with any new or changed information.

D. All patron records (for both individuals and institutions) shall contain complete patron information. Records must contain the following minimum information to be considered complete.

· Patron name and complete mailing address

· Patron ID number

· Patron type

· Patron statistical category

· Patron billing status

· Patron e-mail address

· Patron phone number

· Patron delivery preference

· Patron department if patron is a USDA employee

All patron data shall be entered or edited in the Relais system in accordance with the data entry conventions outlined in Attachment 2 “Database Data Entry Guide for Relais Customer Records.”

E. The contractor shall reply to offsite patrons confirming that registration is complete and informing the patron of his or her patron ID number. If a new record has been deleted as a duplicate, the patron ID number from the existing record shall be sent to the patron. Patron registration confirmations shall be sent to the patron’s e-mail address. All patron confirmation replies shall be sent on the same day that the patron record is created.

F. Existing patron records shall be updated by the contractor in the Relais system when new or corrected information is received from either the patron or the COR. The updated records shall also be exported into the Voyager patron database.

5.3. Retrieval

5.3.1. Retrieval Requirements

A. All requests shelved in special locations or processing areas, appearing on the CPC list, or marked in the stacks by referencing shelfmarkers or gussets shall be searched in the appropriate additional locations if not found in the general stacks. Special locations or codes include:

1. CPC- Current Periodicals Collection (contains current year materials only)

2. Reference- Reference Reading Room

3. EMC- Electronic Media shelving area

4. Oversize - Oversize shelving area

5. Newspapers - Newspaper shelving area

6. Overflow - Overflow shelving area

7. Photolab

8. Indefinite or Extended Loan– refer to COR

9. Spec Coll- Special Collections (deliver requests to Special Collections staff for retrieval)

10. Preservation (deliver requests to Collection Management staff for retrieval)

11. ACQ- Acquisitions (deliver requests to Acquisitions staff for retrieval)

12. IND- Indexing (deliver requests to Indexing staff for retrieval)

13. CAT- Cataloging (deliver requests to Cataloging staff for retrieval)

B. All requests marked “Reserve” or “Hold” shall be processed as described in Section 6.5.2.3 “Holds.” If material requested is not currently charged out, the request shall be forwarded to Section 10 “Interlibrary Borrowing.”

C. The complete item requested (including any accompanying materials which may be shelved separately) shall be retrieved to fill the request. If accompanying materials are in a different format, each piece of the item shall be processed according to the guidelines for its respective format.

D. A shelfmarker shall be placed for each item removed from the shelf. The shelfmarker shall include date item was pulled, the puller’s initials, call number, volume, issue and year (if applicable), and the reason item was pulled (“L” for loan, “P” for copying or Reading Room use).

E. When the citation on the request does not match the physical item the contractor shall take all reasonable steps to find the requested item including

1. When year and volume do not correspond, check both the year and the volume number cited to locate the requested item.

2. When the pagination cited is missing or erroneous, check both the table of contents and the index to locate the material requested.

3. If the citation is missing issue information and only contains volume or year, check the table of contents or index for each issue of the cited volume/year or the cumulative index for the volume/year in order to find the requested item.

4. The entire article/section named in the citation shall be supplied to the patron even if the page numbers in the citation do not match those in the physical item.

5. If the requested material is in a foreign language or alphabet, the volume shall be searched for an English language abstract and the title/author shall be compared to the abstract or a transliteration chart to verify that the item found matches the item requested.

F. All requests which are not found on the shelf shall be assigned a Relais exception code of SLF (NOS processing) and researched as “described in Section 5.3.2 “Call Number Searching and Citation Verification.”

G. A follow up retrieval attempt shall be performed12 working hours after NOS processing on all requests for which a more specific exception code cannot be determined. For example: Monday afternoon NOS is searched again Wednesday morning. All second searches shall be performed after the contractor has performed a shelving cycle. If there are materials waiting to be shelved or in the Photo Lab, all NOS's shall be searched against these materials prior to a reply notice or borrowing request being generated.

H. When it is determined that the requested item cannot be filled from the NAL collection (because it is not held by NAL or the NAL copy cannot be located)

1. For regular type requests the contractor shall generate a return reply through Relais to the patron by assigning the appropriate exception code describing why the request cannot be filled.

2. For borrowing type requests the contractor shall identify potential borrowing locations and add them to the request’s routing list before submitting the request through Relais for borrowing. A “delay” message stating that the item is being forwarded for borrowing shall be sent to the patron.

5.3.2. Call Number Searching and Citation Verification

Requests which are received without call numbers or which cannot be located with the citation information given on the request shall be researched in order to find sufficient information to retrieve the requested item and/or identify a reason for its unavailability. The contractor will have access to the following resources for this purpose.

A. NAL’s online catalog (Agricola): for identifying/verifying NAL call numbers, locations, holdings and status information.

B. NAL’s Dictionary Catalog: for identifying/verifying NAL call numbers for items published before 1965.

C. NAL’s DigiTop (digital subscriptions), Navigator (database searching tool) and NALDC (NAL Digital Collections) for verifying citations and locating electronic materials. When requested materials are found in NAL’s digital collections the contractor shall send the URL to the patron in order to fill the request. URLs from DigiTop are licensed for USDA requesters only so can only be used to fill Borrowing type (BOR) requests. URLs from NALDC can be used to fill either BOR requests or Regular type (REG) requests.

D. OCLC WorldCat: for verifying or completing citation information.

E. Microforms List: to identify and locate items in NAL’s microforms collection.

F. When no call number can be found or the item requested is verified as unavailable at NAL

1. For regular type requests the contractor shall generate a return reply to the patron through Relais by assigning the appropriate exception code describing why the request cannot be filled. Valid exception codes are defined and listed for the user in the Relais system.

2. For borrowing type requests the contractor shall identify potential borrowing locations and add them to the request’s routing list before submitting the request through Relais for borrowing. A “delay” message stating that the item is being forwarded for borrowing shall be sent to the patron.

5.4. Copy Requests

The contractor shall ensure that all copies (whether photocopied or scanned) produced to fill document delivery requests meet the standards described below, and comply with the terms of the Copyright Law (PL 94-533) and Title 17 U.S.C.

A. Requests for copies of materials shall be scanned into the Relais system for delivery unless the quality or condition of the item prevents production of an acceptable scanned image, in which case they shall be photocopied, updated in Relais as “photocopy-no scan” and delivered by mail along with the Relais generated cover page.

B. Copies shall be limited to 75 pages or less for USDA patrons and 50 pages or less for non-USDA patrons. Requests for copies that exceed these limits shall be reviewed by the contractor on a case by case basis to determine how to process the request. Based on the nature, availability and copyright status of the requested item the contractor may make an exception to the copy limits, decide to loan the item in lieu of copying or determine that the request cannot be filled. Although it will not be possible to fill all such requests every effort shall be made to meet the requester’s information need as fully as possible. If the contractor is unable to come to a decision on a request, the request shall be referred to the COR. Factors to be considered in making these decisions include the following.

1. Is the item available electronically? Can the patron be referred to the electronic copy rather than being provided with a hard copy?

2. Does the item fall under copyright restrictions?

3. Can the item be loaned instead of copying it?

4. Who is the requester? What is their priority in terms of service level?

5. Where is the requester? Is it feasible for them to come to NAL and use the item onsite?

6. Can the table of contents or index information be provided in order to help the patron clarify their information need?

C. The following types of requests and materials shall not be copied or scanned unless previously approved by the COR.

1. Items which are too tightly bound or in such condition that the copy will not be legible.

2. Items which are so fragile that the document may disintegrate, tear or otherwise be damaged by handling during copying or scanning (See Section 3.2 “Care and Handling of Materials”).

3. Duplicate requests for the same article from the same patron.

D. The contractor shall produce hardcopy from microforms in response to document delivery requests. NAL will provide a reader/printer for the creation of hardcopy from microforms.

E. All pages for the requested article shall be scanned including noncontiguous pages, references, pages not cited on the request form, and journal title page/publication information page if cited on request form. Pages consisting entirely of advertisements which may be interspersed with the article shall not be scanned.

F. Only 1 article per request form shall be scanned. If the request form indicates more pages than the requested article contains the additional pages (other than title/publication information pages) shall not be scanned.

G. If it is determined feasible to scan or copy a publication which is tightly bound, the notice "materials tightly bound, best copy that can be made" shall be included with the filled request.

H. All materials shall be scanned or copied at their original size unless reduction or enlargement is specifically requested by the patron or the COR.

I. The official copyright statement (consisting of © or the word copyright along with the name of the copyright holder and year) for the document shall be included with all materials copied. The page containing the copyright statement shall be scanned along with the request and article.

1. The copyright statement may appear in any of the following locations:

a. First page of the article

b. Front cover or inside front cover of volume

c. Title page or verso of volume

d. Back cover (inside or out) of volume

2. If no copyright statement is found in the original item, a copy of the copyright legend shall be included on the copied pages.

J. The contractor shall identify requests requiring copyright clearance and submit copyright payment information for those requests to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). Copy requests filled from the NAL collection for USDA patrons for multiple articles from the same journal issue shall be submitted for payment through the CCC unless one or more of the following conditions applies

1. Request was filled from DigiTop or another licensed electronic source.

2. Article publication date is more than 5 years old (current year plus four).

3. Article is published in a US government publication or other public domain source.

4. Fewer than five articles have been copied from that journal during the current calendar year.

Reports generated from the Relais…