[IUG] Summary: Housekeeping in Create Lists

["CASBURN Steven M" <stevencm at multcolib dot org>]

I thank everyone who responded to my question about how sites handle
housekeeping in Create Lists.  My summary of the ideas suggested:


How administrators can work with staff:

1.  Send a regular message (monthly or quarterly) to all staff who use
Create Lists, asking them to delete any review files they are using but
no longer need.  Or, send this message out only when the number of empty
files is low.  Or, rely on staff to police their own use.

2.  Create clear guidelines about what would make a review file eligible
for deletion-at-will and provide ways for staff to indicate that their
file should not be deleted.

3.  Notify staff at a sufficient interval before deleting their review
files.

4.  Train staff to code the names they give their review files so that
the creator, age, importance, and purpose of the file can be easily
determined (example: If Thad Tressel at the Marion campus creates a list
of withdrawn items on February 10th, the coded review file title might
be: "MAR withdrawn ttressel 02/10/07".)  Any files whose titles are not
coded can be deleted as needed.

5.  Create clear rules and procedures for when staff can delete review
files being used by other staff.  Or, reserve to yourself the authority
to do this.

6.  Allow staff to own particular review files for reports they run on a
regular basis.

7.  Assign particular ranges of review files to particular campuses,
branches, or departments.


How administrators can work with the system:

1.  Review files on a regular basis and delete according to a rule
(example: delete any file older than two months unless the word "SAVE"
is in the title).  Or, monitor frequently and delete for space as
needed.  Or, write a script to empty unowned files every night.

2.  Sites whose administrators have taken Advanced Systems
Administration training can break up, combine, and re-size review files,
so that the distribution of review file sizes matches the needs of the
site.  Most sites who discussed the issue said that they needed more
smaller files (100-5000 records) than Innovative had given them by
default, and that breaking up a few larger review files to create more
smaller files had worked well for them.

3.  One site breaks up into smaller files any empty large review file.
Another site keeps a hidden reserve of 100,000 records in case a large
review file needs to be created quickly.


Miscellaneous:

1.  Most sites who responded do not restrict the number of staff who can
access Create Lists.


Also, I recommend reading Elizabeth Thomsen's message about proposed
enhancements for Create Lists:

http://innovativeusers.org/list/archives/2006/msg06971.html


Steve


--
  Steve Casburn, ILS Librarian
   Address:  205 NE Russell / Portland, OR  97212   [Internal: 317/ADM]
   Telephone:  (503) 988-4549
   FAX:  (503) 988-5441
   E-mail:  <stevencm at multcolib dot org>



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