SLK News

Z Targets Target the End User -

I’m guessing that over the last couple of months you have had occasion to hear or read about Z targets and the fact that July 1 is Z Day! In fact, in this issue of the SLK News, Patti Butcher has another article about the “Z Target” project.  The repetition is justified. Z Day is an important milestone. Beginning July 1, Z libraries and Z targets will make it possible for interlibrary loan and cataloging staff to work more effectively and more efficiently because Z targets make updates to the KLC easier, quicker and more timely.  Z-targets also make locating items at potential lending libraries more automatic, as Agent can check the shelf status for a needed item and, if need be, move immediately to the next potential lender. All of this is closely tied to new innovation and new technology; it’s also tied to the drive among libraries to explore the new and to look for better ways to improve on what needs to be done.
What Z targets also represent is a dedication among libraries to continuously work to make it easier to match the library user with the resource he or she wants. What Z-targets do from the user’s perspective is mostly behind the scenes and transparent, but what Z-targets do for the library user, in the final analysis, is allow libraries to increase efficiency in their operations, use resources more wisely, save public dollars and save the user time.

Z-targets are a step in the right direction as that direction leads to greater patron access to the resources held in all of our libraries. Z targets, along with the growing number of automated library catalogs, the new library courier service, and progress towards a more patron-centric interlibrary loan process, all lead to the ultimate goal of providing better service to library users.