YBP Profile Decision Tree

YBP Profile Decision Tree

When a title is compared to the library's profile, the following decision tree is used, with the aim to get as many decisions made as quickly (i.e. at the lowest decision point) as possible:

Series
Publisher
Non-subject parameter overrides
Non-subject parameters
Subject parameters (LC class)

Yankee starts with the assumption that they will ship a book to us. There must be something at one of the five levels of the tree to restrict the book to a slip or exclude it.

1. Series

This is the most powerful instruction. If a book belongs to a series that has been excluded on the LSU plan, it will not be shipped. Conversely, if we have told YBP to always send a book or slip for a particular series, that action outweighs all others. You can see our Series Instructions as report in GOBI. Follow the Standing Order Reports link under Management Reports.

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2. Publisher

If a publisher is excluded from coverage, we will not receive any of their books on approval (except for series that are set up at the above level). If a publisher is treated on approval, we can either allow book coverage or restrict to slips coverage only. When a publisher is restricted to slips, we will never see a book shipped automatically on approval. You can run two reports in GOBI: the Approval Publisher Profile (to see which publishers are covered) and the Library Imprint Exclusions Report (to see which publishers are not currently covered on the approval plan).

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3. Non-subject parameter overrides

At this level, YBP looks at those overarching non-subject instructions such as "send books for all medieval studies titles, regardless of LC class".

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4. Non-subject parameters

At this level are the normal non-subject parameters - what to do with textbooks, expensive books, different types of reference works, etc. A summary of the library's non-subject parameters can be found in the second half of the Memorandum of Agreement.

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5. Subject parameters (LC class)

Finally, if a book survives the first four levels, YBP looks at the LC class to determine whether or not titles in that particular LC class are allowed, restricted to slips, or excluded. Thus, while subject coverage is exceedingly important, it is shaped by all of the levels above. So if there's a perfect book on agriculture, but it's from a publisher not on your publisher list, it will not be shipped. If the publisher is OK, but it's very expensive, then it will be restricted to a slip.

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