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Report to/Rapport au :
OTTAWA PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD
CONSEIL D’ADMINISTRATION DE LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE PUBLIQUE D’OTTAWA
July 8, 2013
Le 8 juillet 2013
Submitted by/Soumis par : Jennifer Stirling
Division Manager, System-Wide Services & Innovation / Directrice Services
centralisés et Innovation
Contact Person / Personne ressource: Line Gravelle
(613) 580-2424 x32312, [email protected]
Ref N°: OPLB-2013-0074
SUBJECT: Holds Analysis Project Report of Initial Findings
OBJET :
Premier rapport de constatation sur le projet d’analyse des
réservations
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Ottawa Public Library Board approve the following recommendations
relating to holds policies/procedures and circulation parameters:
1. Retain the existing unlimited holds policy;
2. Develop an educational campaign to improve customer management of
their accounts to promote and provide instructions on:
o The management of customer holds, with a goal to decrease the
number of expired holds to 10%;
o Account management options in order to decrease the likelihood of
customers obtaining fines;
3. Defer until Q4 2014, the discussion of the implementation a fee for holds
not picked-up;
4. Retain the 7-day holds shelf period and introduce a second holds notice
reminder and;
5. Remove the circulation restrictions on audiovisual materials (DVDs and
CDs).
OTTAWA PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD
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RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
Que le C.A. de la Bibliothèque publique d’Ottawa approuve les recommandations
suivantes portant sur les politiques et les procédures de réservation, ainsi que
sur les paramètres relatifs au prêt :
1. Maintenir la politique actuelle de réservations illimitées;
2. Mettre en place une campagne promotionnelle visant à permettre aux
clients d’améliorer la gestion de leur compte, en fournissant les
instructions suivantes :
o La gestion des réservations des clients, dans le but d’abaisser à 10
pour cent la proportion de réservations expirées;
o Des options de gestion de compte permettant de réduire la
probabilité que les clients subissent des amendes;
3. Reporter au 4e trimestre 2014 les discussions sur la mise en place de frais
pour les réservations non respectées;
4. Maintenir la période de sept jours de conservation en rayon des
réservations et mettre en place un second avis de réservation;
5. Supprimer les restrictions relatives au prêt de matériel audiovisuel (DVD et
CD).
BACKGROUND
At its August 7, 2001 meeting, the Board approved unlimited borrowing for physical
materials in all formats except for audiovisual items and an unlimited number of holds
on circulating materials of all formats. Holds are online requests to have library items
delivered to a customer’s chosen library branch. They also provide a queuing system for
delivery of popular items where demand exceeds available copies. The holds service is
a highly valued and well-used service for OPL customers. Circulation limits on items in
audiovisual (AV) collections were established to ensure equity of access to the
collection. When AV collections were first introduced, there were a limited number of
items available. The AV collection size has increased to 359,555 providing a robust
collection.
On March 18, 2013 the Library Board directed staff to complete an analysis of OPL
holds policy and parameters following discussion relating to recommended circulation
parameter changes for audiovisual items. OPL retained the services of consultant J.
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Huber & Associates to undertake a comprehensive review of the holds service delivery
chain. The service delivery chain includes the processes from a customer’s initial
placement of a holds request, through the back-end processes to manage and deliver
the items, ending with holds being picked up by the customer from the holds shelf in
their selected branch. The review report (“the study”) details the key findings from the
holds service delivery chain, and recommendations resulting from the study, ensuring
that the service excellence pillars of customer experience and operational performance
are balanced.
Holds Service Delivery Chain – Key Findings
A comparative analysis with other libraries reveals that OPL customers use the holds
service more than in comparator libraries. As a result, OPL is more reliant on holds as a
key determinant of circulation than other libraries.
Library
Ottawa
Hamilton
Winnipeg
Edmonton
Mississauga
Brampton
Calgary
Toronto
Montreal
* 2011 statistics
2012 % of Circulation From Holds
30%
22%*
19%*
15%
13-15%*
10%
9.2%*
9.0%
5.4%*
Customer Behavioral Analysis
Some of the current customer characteristics related to holds include:
1) 15.7% of active borrowers had holds, and 80% of customers with holds had
10 holds or less;
2) Approximately 14% of holds expired on the hold shelf (based on 2012 and todate 2013 figures);
3) Holds expiry is spread across a wide range of customers and not limited to
high volume customers; and
4) The average number of days on the hold shelf was 2.93; 58% lower than the
7 day maximum.
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Cost of Holds Delivery Chain
The holds delivery chain is the set of processes involved in the delivery of the items
requested by a customer from their initial request until the customer picks up their hold
from the holds shelf.
Using statistical data from the OPL’s integrated library system, timing studies, and
current labour rates, the following cost data analysis was extrapolated for holds in the
system in 2012.
Process
Fill A Hold
Return An Item To Its
Home Branch
Expired Holds
Cost Per Item
$ 0.54
$ 0.29
Annual Cost
$ 1,584,282
$ 509,960
$ 0.75
$
305,695
It should be noted that these costs are part of our existing operating budget envelope
spread across the library’s 33 branches and materials delivery services.
Materials Delivery – Key Findings
The inter-branch delivery of materials has a significant impact on the availability of items
for the public. With OPL’s vast geographic size, delivery approaches have to be
reviewed and optimized to promote materials availability. The study provided a
benchmark on average delivery times for the customer to receive holds and information
on the patterns of holds delivery throughout the system. Some key findings include:
1) The average number of days for a hold to arrive on shelf is currently 5 days.
2) An analysis of inter-branch transfers identified that 8 key branches fill 50% of holds
for the system (Main, Beaverbrook, Carlingwood, Nepean Centrepointe, Ruth E
Dickinson, Cumberland, Greenboro, and Hazeldean).
Expired Holds:
Expired holds occur when customers do not pick up their items from the hold shelf
within 7 days. To maximize collection availability (service turns), customer satisfaction,
and operational performance, OPL must decrease the number of expired holds.
Analysis indicates that 410,160 items (or 14% of all holds) were expired in 2012. It is
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important to note that this rate is in the mid-range of the 10-20% norm established by
the American Library Association in 2010.1
Although 14% is within the normal range of holds expiry metrics, this costs the library
approximately $305,695 per year, and decreases service efficiency and service turns.
The library needs to target a decrease in holds expiry to approximately 10% by the end
of 2014.
Reasons For Expired Holds
An evaluation of the data details that expired holds exist across all categories of use
(low, medium and high usage). In analyzing the data, it was determined there are three
basic reasons for expired holds in the system:
1. Lack of time:
Looking at the Imagine Data, one of the most commonly identified reasons for
expired holds was general busyness.
“With multiple kids and activities, it is sometimes impossible to make it into the library within
operating hours...As a parent working full time, with children in activities, one week is not
always enough from the time you see the e-mail and get to the library.”
2. OPL’s Check out Policies
OPL’s circulation policies allow unlimited check outs on physical items with the
exception of AV items – where there is a limit of 10 items that can be checked out at
a time. OPL allows unlimited holds for all formats. In this scenario, it is possible for
customers to receive more AV items through the receipt of their holds than they are
allowed to check out at one time, resulting in expired holds as anything over the 10
item limit is not able to be checked out.
3. Account Management
The customer feedback from the Imagine Campaign on holds provided evidence
that customers do not understand of how to manage their accounts – resulting in
items appearing when customers are not available or too many items appearing at
one time. This is highlighted in the following comment where a customer is unaware
of the existing holds suspension service:
1
Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries, by Valerie Horton and Bruce Smith, page 156
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“I sometimes find that several books will become available all close to the same time. It
would be nice to be able to suspend a HOLD for a few weeks to be able to catch up without
having to start from scratch again.”
Recommendations
1) Retain the Existing Unlimited Holds Policy
OPL policy supports unlimited holds. An analysis of the data shows that 15.7% of
active customers had active holds at time of reporting (April 2013), and 80% of
customers with active holds have 10 or less, and 96% have 49 or less. When
looking at the 1.5% of high volume borrowers with more than 100 holds, their
circulation accounts for approximately 3.0% of all circulation. Putting a cap on the
number of holds per customer could unnecessarily penalize these customers and
have a negative impact on circulation. In addition, the data indicated an average of
3.33 expired holds per customer across all borrowing patterns. Based upon this
analysis, customer hold caps are not recommended.
The distribution of customers that have active holds in the system is as follows:
Number of Holds
5 or less
6 – 10
11-49
50-99
100 or more
Percentage of
Requestors
66.8%
12.9%
16.4%
2.5%
1.5%
2) Develop an Educational Campaign to improve Customer management of their holds
and promote fines avoidance
Comments relating to holds in the Imagine campaign clarified that many customers
do not have the knowledge around account management that they require in order
to effectively manage their holds and decrease expired holds. An educational
campaign could be effective in changing customer behavior, thereby reducing the
number of expired holds, including a special outreach to customers who have had
items expire on the hold shelf in the previous year. If approved, this campaign will
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take place in Q3 2013 with a goal of decreasing the holds expiry rate to 10% by the
end of Q4 2014.
In addition, in order to mitigate the risk of customers obtaining additional fines due
to the increases in AV circulation, the educational campaign will also include
information on the mechanisms available for customers to avoid fines and properly
track information on item due dates.
3) Defer until 2014 the discussion of the implementation of a Fee for Holds not Pickedup
As part of Board discussion on March 13, 2013 staff were directed to evaluate the
potential impacts of the implementation of a fee for holds not picked up, citing the
program implemented at the Toronto Public Library (TPL) in 2012. Using the data
released in a recent TPL report analyzing circulation policies and practices, staff
have extrapolated these experiences using OPL data to analyze the potential
impact of applying a holds fee.
TPL reports the holds pick up fee to be successful and have seen their holds not
picked up decrease by 62%. They have also reported increases in holds fill rate,
and reported a decrease in time that materials remain sitting on the shelf. TPL has
also seen significant improvement in customer management of holds since the
introduction of the fee. TPL has not released details of the financial impact of this
fee, but has stated that the introduction of this fee has been successful.
The positive impact on hold expiry rates has been countered by a corresponding
negative impact on circulation. TPL details that “…the introduction of this fine has
had a significant impact on usage…” with a reduction in holds placed in 2012.2 TPL
estimates this decrease in holds placed equates to a decrease in borrowing by
400,000 items when the six months of available data is pro-rated on a yearly basis.
If OPL’s experience is analyzed against TPL’s experience, the introduction of holds
could result in a reduction in circulation of approximately 419,000 items (assuming
2012 circulation levels remain consistent in 2013) since OPL has a greater reliance
on holds as a percentage of circulation than Toronto.
2
Circulation and Collection Use (including Fees and Fines) Policy – 2013 Recommendations,
Toronto Public Library Staff Report, April 29, 2013
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/content/about-the-library/pdfs/board/meetings/2013/apr29/09.pdf
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Feedback from the “Imagine” campaign provided a strong voice of opposition to the
introduction of such a fee – which may be perceived as too punitive by customers
and may impact their future borrowing plans. It is recommended that such a
measure only be implemented if other mitigating options do not decrease the level
of holds expiry in the system and by implementing the educational campaign
immediately. An evaluation of the impact of the educational campaign will occur in
Q4 2014.
4) Retain the 7-Day Hold Shelf Period and introduce a second holds notice
Statistical data indicates that items are picked up on average within 2.93 days of
arriving on the shelf, and that 76% of holds are picked up within 4 days. The
introduction of a second notice at day 4 would provide a reminder for customers at
the mid-way point, providing sufficient notice for them to ensure pick up before hold
expiry.
An analysis of the circulation parameters of other large Canadian libraries has
confirmed that the 7 day hold shelf period is a best practice. The hold shelf period is
a system-wide parameter based upon calendar days. With the varied opening hours
of OPL branches, reducing the holds shelf period could be perceived as punitive to
rural residents as it would decrease the available days from them to pick up their
items, given closed days and staggered opening times.
Based on holds pick up time findings, reducing the holds shelf period would
increase the expired holds rate and negatively impact the customer
experience/satisfaction.
5) Remove the Circulation Restrictions on Audiovisual materials (DVDs and CDs):
The proposed changes eliminate the current limits on audio-visual items. In 2001,
the limits were established to ensure adequate access to a limited number of audiovisual materials. Since 2001, the AV collection has increased to 359,055 items. In
2012, all formats except DVD had decreased use. The decreased usage of these
collections is related to the societal changes in access to this type of content from
physical formats to digital downloads.
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The current AV limits have also been found to have a direct impact on our ability to
maximize self service including the customer usage of book drop returns and self
checkout stations. It is common practice for customers who are frequent borrowers
of AV materials at non-RFID locations to default to immediate staff check in of
returned materials. Staff check in ensures that previously checked out items are
removed from the customer’s accounts immediately; allowing customers to borrow
additional AV items up to the 10 item limit. By removing the restrictions on the
number of AV checkouts this will no longer be necessary.
Analysis of data (January to May 2013) indicated that 54,340 AV items on hold
expired. This represents 32.6% of all expired holds. Removal of limits on AV items
ensures that the circulation practices with AV are consistent with those of all other
physical items, and decreases the likelihood of customers leaving holds on the
shelf. The removal of circulation limits on AV items will also improve the customer
experience.
The library will undertaken mitigation measures to decrease the likelihood of
customers increasing their fines that could accompany this change. With the
promotion of account management through the promotional campaign customers
will be re-introduced to the account management features necessary to manage
their accounts effectively to avoid library fines.
Next Steps- Materials Delivery Analysis
An analysis was completed on the time required to transfer requested items from within
the library system to fill customer requests (known as “in transit”). Statistical data
examined the transport patterns of holds across the system and categorized each of the
33 branches based upon volume of outbound holds traffic (items) being pulled from
each branch to respond to customer requests and inbound received at each branch to
fulfill customer holds. With current processes it takes an average of 5 days for items to
be transported through the system and made available to the customer for pick-up.
The report brings forth recommendations to streamline customer holds and to prioritize
holds delivery throughout the system. Next steps will be to examine the delivery
process, as well as scheduling and sorting algorithms. A number of measures are being
evaluated with a goal to improve delivery/transit times to high volume branches to 3
days from the current 5 days within a year from implementation. A status update will be
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provided to the Board on the progress of this work by the end of 2013 with estimated
timeframes for implementation and reporting of results.
CONSULTATION.
Recommendations have been reviewed with OPL Management team and Senior
Management team. OPL has consulted with other libraries in Canada to review best
practices in this area. OPL hired consultant firm J Huber & Associates to undertake an
analysis of the holds service delivery chain.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal implications associated with this report.
RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
There are no risk management implications.
ACCESSIBILITY IMPACTS
There are no accessibility impacts.
TECHNOLOGY IMPACTS
There are no technology impacts.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no financial implications.
BOARD PRIORITIES
The recommendations support the OPL Board’s strategic direction A. Relevant,
Accessible and Customer-Centric Services and B. Effective use of resources and
technologies.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
1. Circulation Policy Parameter Changes, March 18, 2013
http://biblioottawalibrary.ca/sites/default/files/Board_Docs/130311/Doc%205%20
Circulation%20Policy%20Parameter%20Changes.pdf
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2. Holds Analysis Project Update, May 13, 2013,
http://biblioottawalibrary.ca/sites/default/files/Board_Docs/130513/Doc%205%20
Holds%20Analysis%20Project%20Update.pdf
3. Toronto Public Library: Circulation and Collection Use Policy (Including Fees &
Fines)- 2013 Recommendations, April 29, 2013
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/content/about-thelibrary/pdfs/board/meetings/2013/apr29/09.pdf
DISPOSITION
Pending Board approval, the following actions will occur:
Develop a promotional campaign to improve customer holds management.
Modify the circulation policies pertaining to audiovisual material (DVDs and CDs)
lending parameters.
Implement the second holds notification reminder for customers.
Return to the Board with updates on hold expiry target of 10% in Q4 2014.
Proceed with the evaluation of the materials delivery recommendations with
implementation and reporting timeframes to be provided as a status update by
the end of 2013.