National Library of Australia - Gateways>

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 51| June 2001


Call Slips ONLINE—Save Time!

Jan Fullerton, Margy Burn with Rupert Gerritsen using the new e-CallSIip system

From left to right: Jan Fullerton, Director-General and Margy Burn, Assistant Director-General, Australian Collections and Reader Services with Rupert Gerritsen using the new e-CallSlip system in the Petherick Reading Room

First there was e-mail, then there was e-commerce, now there are e-CallSlips.

It is the end of an era in the life of the National Library of Australia. The paper call slips, long used by readers at the National Library have been replaced with electronic call slips. The pneumatic tube system, a source of fascination to users and visitors over the last 33 years has now assumed museum status.

The Library has the largest and one of the most complex closed stack collections in Australia. Over 2 600 000 monographs and 173 300 serial titles are housed in approximately 200 separate stack runs in five stack locations onsite and two separate offsite facilities 15 kilometres from the Library. Since 1968 readers have requested material from stacks by transcribing information from the catalogue onto call slips that were then sent to the Stack Services Branch via a pneumatic tube system. On their journey to the relevant stack area, the call slips were sorted and manually redirected by a stack attendant in the Tube Room. Call slips for material housed offsite were dispatched via fax.

The pilot program for e-CallSlips took place in the Petherick Reading Room, the Library’s facility for advanced researchers, and is now up and running in the Main Reading Room. e-CallSlips will be introduced progressively to the Library’s other reading rooms. The introduction of e-CallSlips has already had benefits for readers and staff in the reading rooms and stacks.

Petherick readers have enthusiastically welcomed the introduction of e-CallSlips that have not only eliminated the need for laboriously handwriting paper slips but also introduced the facility for offsite requesting and reservation of National Library materials at any time of the day or night! Material may be reserved as much as three days ahead of the required time and readers can also check the system to get a list of items they have currently requested.

The implementation of e-CallSlips in the Petherick and Main Reading Rooms represents a major improvement in delivery of material from the Library’s printed collections and provides a much more efficient means of transmitting and tracking requests for printed material. As e-CallSlips are generated from the Online Public Access Catalogue, difficulties associated with transcription errors and illegible handwriting are eliminated. A major advantage is that the system provides improved security for the Library’s collections. Over the past three months, much work has gone into training staff and finalising new procedures to allow a smooth transition to e-CallSlips.

In order to request material from the Library’s closed stacks clients must register using an online form available on the Library’s web site. Whilst at this stage onsite registration is only available, there are plans for offsite registration in the future. Completion of the registration process involves presentation of identification to library staff and the issue of a reader’s card used both to request library material and to photocopy.

John Sajler receiving the last paper call slip in the Library's tube room

The procedure for requesting material using e-CallSlips is quite easy. After selecting an available item from the catalogue, clients swipe their cards through swipe readers located at each computer terminal. Data from the bibliographic record including the call number, together with the reader’s registration details, is downloaded into an e-CallSlip. Requests are sorted electronically and transmitted electronically to a printer at the appropriate stack location.

The National Library’s stack retrieval operations are large and complex and the project team overcame a number of challenges to introduce e-CallSlips in the current ILMS environment. The readers have responded positively and we look forward to further improvements once the system is settled down. More information about e-CallSlips is available from Fran Wilson, Acting Director Reader Services email: fwilson@nla.gov.au or Lawrie Salter, Manager Stacks email: lsalter@nla.gov.au.
Fran Wilson

Above rigth: John Sajler receiving the last paper call slip in the Library’s tube room

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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au

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