How time flies

Believe it or not, it is one year today since the One Card consortium was born!  On 3 May 2012 the Mitcham Library Service switched over to Symphony and started the consortium ball rolling.  For a whole week they didn’t have to worry about sharing resources or items in transit so could concentrate wholly and solely on celebrating with their customers.  They looked pretty happy didn’t they?

 A week later they had a friend and partner in Onkaparinga and were thrown into the crazy world of transit slips and pallets of black boxes.
Twelve months on the consortium includes more than 40 library services and continues to grow.  As at the end of April there are more than 670,000 registered borrowers on the LMS, with over 2.4 million items available.  This is a huge achievement in only one year and should be celebrated by all libraries, regardless of where you are on the implementation roller coaster.
I asked Mitcham for a photo of their staff celebrating their first anniversary and this is what I got from the one and only Dave Slater.  I’m very glad to see that the sense of humour at Mitcham is still strong, even if they look like they’ve aged a little.

I’m sure each of the consortium libraries will celebrate in style as the one year anniversaries continue to roll around.

Jo Freeman A/Associate Director
Public Library Services

Far North Group Goes Live

As Geoff mentioned in a post last week, he is off doing some work for the State Library for the next few months so I have stepped up to fill the Associate Director role during his absence.  Hopefully I’ll be able to keep our many projects and activities moving forward, with lots of help from the PLS team.

I’m delighted that my first blog post is to welcome the following group of libraries to the LMS consortium.  Having worked with these libraries in the early project days on their change plans including very important things like item barcodes and new library cards I know how long they have been waiting for this day to come and how much effort they have put into their preparations.  It is great to finally have you on board.

• Pt Broughton
• Andamooka
• Leigh Creek
• Hawker
• Quorn
• Coober Pedy
• Woomera

I’m sure celebrations are well underway and I will happily share photos when they become available.  A special mention to our colleagues at the Quorn School Community Library who not only join the LMS consortium today but also celebrate their 30^th anniversary in the public library network.  What a great way to recognise this special milestone with a new library system (and cake of course)!

Port Broughton's launch

The crowd gathers for Leigh Creek's launch 

Leigh Creek's spread for the launch

One Card fans at Leigh Creek

The Enterprise pages for these libraries reflect the diversity of the group and can be seen here.  Just select the library you want to see from the list on the right.

The LMS Project Team now focus their efforts on the next libraries to go live which will be the Copper Coast libraries in the coming weeks followed by the LINK libraries in June.

Jo Freeman
Acting Associate Director, PLS

Beginning the design of a post-P2 world

Part of the LMS project includes a sub-project - finding a way to electronically select, procure, receive and pay for library materials.  In the office we call it the "post-P2" solution or project.  

The original business plan for the LMS set the post-P2 solution as being in place about 2 years after we commenced the LMS roll out.  There is some pressure to replace P2 because it is ageing, it is quite inflexible & also because it is costly to operate.  However the amount of work required to map a new model is considerable, so it isn't something we can do too quickly.

So we're just kicking off the P2 replacement project. We've already done considerable desktop research, talked to our library material suppliers, to libraries interstate, to SirsiDynix and to some current P2 library users to gather information.  This approach includes the recent invitation for staff to participate in a workshop at PLS today looking at the issues related to selection, procurement, receipt and payment for library materials. (Thanks to those who were able to attend.  The information we gleaned will be used as part of our planning.)  We will be following up this session with other opportunities for library staff to provide input into the project.

One option for a P2 replacement is for us to maximise the functionality of the Acquisitions module of the Symphony LMS - with some modifications to meet our business requirements.  To explore this option we have decided to meet with and discuss acquisitions processes with several current Symphony users who in some ways use acquisitions a bit like our consortium wants to - i.e. multiple library groups all using one LMS to manage their ordering processes while maintaining control of their own funds.

SirisDynix has indicated that the LA County public library system and the Stanford University libraries in the San Francisco region are the best library systems to examine.   Therefore Jo Freeman & Geoff Strempel will be visiting these libraries as well as meeting with SirsiDynix technical staff in Utah to work through what is possible. (With the engagement of new staff at PLS Jo is able to begin a transition process out of the LMS implementation team and into the role of project manager for the P2 replacement process. I will write more about our new staff soon.)

We are hopeful that we will bring home some information from the US that will allow us to begin moving the project forward.

What do we think we will end up with as a post-P2 system?  While we don't have any concrete ideas at this stage we do have some overarching principles that are informing our thinking. These are the principles that underpin P2, but will hopefully take advantage of the technologies of 2012 & beyond. 

We will be looking for the best possible system that meets the operational needs of libraries regarding selection and receiving of new items, while also ensuring that there are efficient mechanisms to managing orders and payment, while also maximising choice and discounts. There are some tensions between some of these principles, and so getting this balance right is an important part of our decision making.

We are hopeful that we will be able to utilise existing software from Symphony, supplier websites and accounting systems to meet these needs rather than writing any new software. These are the principles which will inform our decisions.  We will be working with library staff, suppliers and SirsiDynix to turn these principles into a reality within the next two years.

Of course we will keep everyone informed along the way, and provide ongoing opportunities for input as we progress.

Moving a few things forward

While one part of the LMS team is progressing the roll out for libraries, other staff area working on progressing a few other parts of the consortium that need resolution.

The roll out saw Lameroo & their Geranium branch go live last Thursday and is expected to see Pinnaroo go live tomorrow. These libraries run on the Bookmark LMS, so this has been our 1st conversion from a Bookmark system.   And as I have previously indicated, these libraries, along with Karoonda & East Murray have decided to use a shared public interface found here.  Karoonda uses the Amlib LMS, so this will be our 1st conversion from Amlib.  And given the number of Bookmark and Amlib libraries we have doing these ones now will put us in good stead for many others.

The other issues that the team has been working on include:

Fixing the "self registration" facility which allows customers to access the system before they get a library card.  (This was supposedly a feature of the version of Enterprise we are using, however it did not work without considerable troubleshooting work at our end and escalation of the problem within SirsiDynix for a resolution.  We were not alone.  We could see that others were struggling with this & it required changes to system code to get it to work for all libraries.)

The purpose of this facility is two-fold.  

1. Customers can register and reserve items without visiting the library to join up. And they will be notified when their reserved item/s can be collected. However the customers will then need to come into the library with suitable ID so that their temporary membership can be turned into a full membership.
2. Also, some libraries use this facility when people come into the library to commence their registration process. Because people know how to spell their name, their date of birth, their address etc they can fill in the self registration form much more quickly than library staff could enter the information.  Library staff can then access the self registration information in Workflows, confirm that the details match the ID that is produces and immediately turn the membership request into a full membership.

If you want to see the self-registration process Tea Tree Gully is now promoting "Register for a library card online" on the front page of their Enterprise site here.

Providing the 1st non-consortium library with access to Inter-Library Loans access to the resources of the consortium.  This library is Unley.  They have written a great blog about how it will work for them, so if you're interesting in this you can see it on their blog here.

This is a trial so that we can make sure it works before rolling it out to all libraries in the near future.  We will keep all libraries informed regarding when this trial will turn into a roll out.

And while talking about Unley and their blog, I would also point you to this post about Unley staff visiting Tea Tree Gully to learn about their implementation & what Unley can learn from the TTG experience.  I think that the points raised - along with a bit of humour, are worth reading.

Perhaps most importantly for the current consortium libraries, we're still working with SirsiDynix to get the "transit slips" working properly! When this is finalised the Symphony system will automatically produce a correct transit slip for all ILL items.  The slip will have both the library service and the specific destination library branch on it.  This means that the TOLL courier staff can sort by the library service name (e.g. Salisbury) and put items in the correct black box, and when the item arrives at the main library (Len Beadell library) staff can then ship the item to the final destination branch (e.g. Ingle Farm branch).  

The way that this transit slip mechanism has been configured will allow libraries to produce or not produce transit slips for items moving between their own local branches, while always printing slips for those items going to libraries beyond their own library service.

This option to print and not print, as well as printing both the library service and destination branch has been a customisation to the Symphony system that SirsiDynix has had to write, test and then retrofit into the current version of Symphony that we are running.  We have seen the customisation working in our Test system, but it is still to be configured in the "production" environment. So, we're close on this one, but not quite there yet. 

We are also working on getting Ezproxy working. Ezproxy is a product that will allow libraries and their customers to have direct authenticated access to our online databases from within Enterprise.   You can read more about the product and how it works from the vendor OCLC and on Wikipedia.  The PLS team is working with SirsiDynix and OCLC to get this working in one library first before we purchase licenses for all libraries in the consortium.

From our perspective, getting two of these changes into the system and progressing the other two has been considerable work, but also very satisfying because we know that they are all key to the future of the consortium and for libraries who are yet to join - but need access to collections for ILL purposes.

We will keep you posted as things progress further.  And I would also add that Karoonda is scheduled to come online next Thursday (23rd) and East Murray on the (30th).

Marion live today

The fourth of our libraries - Marion - commenced live operations today.

If you go here you can find Marion's very interesting Enterprise site. Marion has used the functionality of the site to great effect to provide detailed information about the library & many of its services including a link through to their online PC booking system. They have also linked out to existing parts of their Council website as well as providing access to a range of other online resources etc.

For the project team Marion is of particular significance as it is the 1st library that is migrating from a non-SirsiDynix LMS. Marion has been running on Libero. So doing a data conversion from a 3rd party LMS was one additional layer of complexity that the Marion, PLS and SirsiDynix teams have had to manage. The fact that it has been successful is good news, and augers well for the group of libraries in August which include both Bookmark and Amlib LMS conversions.

However this installation has been the most difficult to date.  Loading the Marion data yesterday had some unforeseen consequences for the libraries already on the system.  While the SirsiDynix tam worked overnight to fix the data errors we still have some legacy tidy up work to do. 

As scheduled, we now have a three week window to work on a few issues that have arisen while we have been loading these first four libraries. This has come at exactly the right time, as we now have a greater understanding of what the risks and issues are.  At this early stage we are considering a change to the methodology that SirsiDynix has been using to reduce the levels of "last minute" issues that each new load seems to create.  While we have solved a number of matters as they have appeared, we want to have an implementation approach which minimises the "fixing on the fly" approach. Having this window was always designed for this purpose.

And we're on track to then commence another 4 intense weeks with Salisbury, Tea Tree Gully, Playford and Port Adelaide Enfield coming on board weekly, commencing from 14 June. It is probably worth saying that while the libraries are going live each Thursday, work continues on data testing etc right up until the Friday before going live. Libraries then switch over to the Symphony "offline" module on the Monday or Tuesday and capture all of their circulation this way for the few days before they go live. On the Thursday there is a need to upload all of of the offline circulation data before live circulation can commence on the new system. So as you can see, while the go-live date is what the public sees, there is lots of activity behind the scenes leading up to this event.

The other part of the project that people don't see is is the long lead time before we get to this stage. The SWAP network - which is due to go live in September - is already meeting with a PLS assigned project manager, doing work on their rules, cleaning up their data and their training dates are already assigned. And we had a project commencement/ familiarisation meeting with Adelaide libraries on Tuesday because they are due to go live in November.

Alexandrina "live"

Despite some interesting last minute data glitches Alexandrina has joined Mitcham and Onkaparinga as part of the consortium today.  Thanks to some overnight work by SirsiDynix data consultants here & in the US what was problematic is all ok - whew!

If you go here you can find Alexandrina's Enterprise site, which has a slightly different look & feel to the others.  And I've had a sneak peek at the next few libraries' draft Enterprise sites.  We can expect that each library will have a slightly different look & feel to reflect  local preferences.  I am sure that the early adopting libraries will take a look as new libraries come online and revise their own sites over time too.  (This is not to say that the early sites need any work - just that people will find new features and ways of doing things over time.)

I'm conscious that we're taking library holdings out of P2 for ILL purposes as libraries prepare to join the consortium, and this will have an impact on the ability of some libraries to meet the needs of their customers.  Not being able to access the holdings of these consortium libraries is a temporary arrangement & I'll have more to say about this in the next few days.

We now have a consortium

Onkaparinga "went live" this morning. We therefore have the start of a consortium with 2 libraries (8 branches & a mobile) sharing a common database of customers and items. And this allows customers from each library to directly access each others resources. Small steps - but bigger things to come!!

Progress to this point has not been without its minor glitches and issues that have had us perplexed and acting quickly to overcome these challenges. And we know that there will be minor wrinkles going forward.

We've learnt a bit about data merging, and the need to ensure that necessary (but not obvious) changes are made to local catalogue records prior to loading and merging. These learnings will assist us in ensuring that as we add each new library we will minimise data issues.

I'd like to pay tribute to the good humour and dedication of staff in both libraries who have had to deal with a few unintended consequences as we've all learnt together about some of the intricacies of building this shared system.  While there may be a certain prestige in joining early, there has been quite a bit of experimentation and extra work done by our 1st 2 library services.  Future additions to the consortium will benefit from the work done and lessons learned over the last few weeks!

Onkaparinga has its Enterprise site up and running.  It is here.

I'm not sure if you've seen the banners that we have developed for each library.  To keep a consistent message and look we have re-used the artwork that has been used in the videos etc. 

We will provide every library branch with 2 banners per branch for a few weeks prior to and after "go live" day. These will be shipped to libraries as they approach their go live date.

We also have bookmarks which will be shipped to all libraries close to their go live. The artwork on the bookmarks is the same as the banners.

Alexandrina will go "off line" early next week so that they can go live on Thursday next week, with Marion going live on the 24th.

Mitcham's launch

So - they've done it.  Mitcham is "live" on Symphony - which is great.  But as I've said before - its a bit (but not quite) like having the 1st telephone.  The "consortium" only starts when you've got someone to talk to and share with.  

However for Mitcham while there is no-one else to share with yet, there is the excitement of a new system and a few other firsts.  If you've seen their new Enterprise site you will notice a new logo.   This had not just been prepared for Enterprise, but has also become the front side of their new library card...

and the cake that was prepared for the launch...  

By the time I visited this afternoon some of the side bits had been eaten, but they took the photo above before it got carved up.  This cake was one of 2 that was out in the library.  Staff offered cake & coffee to all customers as they came through the library as a way of celebrating and announcing the start of their new system.

Of course there were a few minor glitches - setting up the receipt printers, ensuring that the old web address for the Mitcham catalogue was now re-routing to Enterprise and ensuring that notices were properly configured so that they could print were the key ones.  But these were relatively minor issues.

A couple of Onkaparinga staff turned up - partly to lend a hand, but also to see how things went, as they will be going live next Thursday!  Then there really will be 2 parties in the consortium who can share their resources!

In a project like this there is a real tendency to rush on to the next stage, without stopping to celebrate and recognise the achievements of each step.  So I'd like to stop and just say a few "thank yous".  There will be other such opportunities along the way - but today I'd like to publicly acknowledge the staff of the 1st four libraries (Mitcham, Onkaparinga, Alexandrina and Marion) who have been / are the guinea pigs as we're rolling out the system.  It takes a special sort of nerve to go 1st & allow us all to learn from your experience.  And especially Mitcham, who have been the ones to go 1st.  With the privilege comes extra work and a capacity to go with the flow as we've been learning together.  

And likewise - I'd acknowledge the project management team from KDN - Dominic Novia who has shepherded Mitcham through to today, Frank Morello who is working with Onkaparinga ready for next week, and John Dunnery the program manager.

And of course there has been the incredible dedication and long hours put in by the PLS team who have gone above & beyond to get us to this point today.  To Lyal Mutton Jo Freeman, Jo Rivers and James Kemperman ad the principal PLS staff involved - thanks!! And along with these staff are Tricia Knightly who is working on lots of the P2 to Symphony issues and Diana Zaganjori who is doing lots of network upgrades to ensure that the system will run smoothly - great less obvious but vital work that needs doing -thanks.  Also to the rest of the PLS team who have contributed in various ways - again - thanks.

And so - its onwards to Onkaparinga and beyond...

Mitcham "go live" has commenced

The reality that we've been working towards is finally here. As you can imagine we're all both exited and a little apprehensive. 

Mitcham libraries have stopped using their Horizon LMS, and started using the Symphony "off-line" system this morning.  This allows the library to circulate items to customers and record these details.

While this is happening the Mitcham data up until yesterday is being loaded onto the server and it is being checked etc.  This process will be completed by Wednesday night, and then all of the circulation data from Monday - Wednesday will be loaded - to make sure that the circulation transactions are all in the new system. 

So when the libraries (Mitcham and Blackwood) open on Thursday they will be running "live" in Symphony.

SirsiDynix tell us that they could have allowed Mitcham to keep using Horizon until close of business today, but Mitcham took the decision to start the week using the off-line Symphony system. This suits their local business needs.  The usual pattern that we will follow is that libraries will use the off-line module for 2 days while the cut over between systems takes place.

During this time customers can still use the library's OPAC to view whether the library has items, but they will not be able to place holds and the "status" of items will not be accurate, as items that were on the shelf may have been borrowed.

In the meantime Mitcham staff have configured their Enterprise site. This is their public access "discovery layer".   As with the OPAC, the status of items in Enterprise will be incorrect, and customers will not be able to place holds. 

Mitcham staff tell me that their Enterprise site is still a work in progress & it will developed further over time. However they're happy for people to take a look at it.  It can be found at http://sapln.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/mitcham. This URL will change in the future to make finding it easier. 

We'll keep you posted on how things go in coming days & weeks!!

SWAP library consortium joins the LMS network

The SWAP library network was the first formal multi-council shared library system in South Australia, having cooperatively purchased their 1st LMS over 20 years ago.  The original SWAP members were the councils of St Peters, Walkerville and Prospect (hence the acronym - which also speaks of sharing resources).  Council amalgamations in the late 90's added the former councils of Payneham and Norwood, and more recently Campbelltown joined the network.  The total SWAP network provides a shared library service for a combined population of approximately 115,000.

While exploring the possibility of a Statewide network we met with and learned from the SWAP pioneers & I would like to pay tribute to both the founders of SWAP for showing us what was possible & to the current managers for their forward thinking - wanting what is best for their customers.

As pioneers of sharing the SWAP network has now decided to join the Statewide consortium.  All four councils will transition as a single entity in September.  They will bring to 14 the number of councils in the consortium, which will be serving a combined population of over 765,000.

New LMS Intranet site

We've been aware for some time that while we have been posting a number of LMS documents to the existing public libraries intranet site, they've often been difficult to find.  So we've created a new LMS intranet site with better grouping of all relevant documents & information.

It only went live today, and is obviously not completely populated with all relevant documents that we have produced.  These will be transferred to this site in coming weeks. Also, as new documents are developed they will be posted directly to this site.  We will not be posting any new LMS documents to the existing intranet site.

The site is intended to be a document repository & primary information source, for access by SA public library staff.  Documents posted on the site will be updated from time to time as required.

Below is a picture of the front page of the site,  Each of the coloured buttons on each side open up to documents related to the headings.  Hopefully this will make finding relevant documents much easier.  And of course, if the information you're looking for is not on the site please let us know & we will ensure that they are added to the site.

Access to the site can be made from here.  The login and passwords are the same as you will have been using on the existing intranet site. 

You'll also notice that the site carries a new logo for the SA Public Library network.  Jon Bentick is working on a style guide for this logo & it will be available for all libraries in the near future.

LMS Travelling Roadshow

We’ve just finished an intense 4 weeks of training, with SirsiDynix trainer Cathy Cusack running daily sessions in the PLS offices.  We filled 200 training slots and had over 90 different people attend various training sessions on aspects of the LMS – from configuring Enterprise to training in circulation.  We’ve also had a few “Web-ex” sessions where the trainer is remote & talks on the phone while controlling the screen and demonstrating system features. 

I am sure you can imagine the excitement that people are feeling now that they’re finally getting their hands on the system – albeit in a training environment.  We’ve also been able to provide access to a training database so people can leave their training & go back to work and continue their familiarisation with the system & show it to work colleagues.

As well as office based training we’re out covering the State at the request of various libraries to either meet with councils to discuss the business case for next year or to run awareness raising and training sessions. 

I’m currently in Woomera to meet with staff from 7 libraries in the mid to far North – all of whom are scheduled to join the LMS consortium later this year.   Staff from Woomera, Roxby Downs, Andamooka, Leigh Creek, Hawker, Quorn & Coober Pedy are all here with us.

The reason for the gathering is that teachers from a range of schools were having a regional T&D day & we’re here to run a “getting ready” workshop and answering a whole range of questions.  We are running through the high level project plan, doing an overview of the various components that we have purchased, and helping libraries with whatever they need to know.  We’re also handing out copies of the FAQ sheets that Jo Freeman has been working on.  These should be up on the website by early next week.  I’ll let you know when they’re published.

I say “we” because I’m travelling with JoAnne Rivers of PLS and Domenic Novia – one of our KDN project managers.  Part of the reason for this is that Dom is one of our 2 KDN project managers & we plan for him to show and step people through a project plan and answer all the questions about the responsibilities of libraries in the project from his perspective.  And Jo has great skills in library management systems, conversion from one system to another and general library operations, so she will answer all the technical questions that people have.

Also it will be an opportunity for Jo & Dom get to see a couple of remote libraries (Roxby Downs & Woomera) as well as meet staff, so that they have an understanding of local library resourcing levels and the skills of the people that they will be supporting remotely.

We will take a few pictures of the day & I will load them up soon.

As well as this Woomera trip I am booked to travel to a range of places including Streaky Bay (flying in through Ceduna) & Mt Gambier in the next few weeks.   The Libraries Board will also be touring the Mallee & Riverland in late April & I am sure there will be lots of LMS questions while on tour.  If you look on a map then Ceduna, Roxby Downs (where we flew in & out of today), Renmark and Mt Gambier pretty much covers the extremities of the State where there are public libraries.  Along with these places on the edge I’m also slated to meet with staff or councillors in various metro and near metro councils in coming weeks.

So – libraries are currently stretched out along a continuum everywhere from 2 months away from going live & currently flat out training, testing data etc, some are getting ready for coming on board later this year & so are doing awareness raising with staff, some are preparing budget bids for the 12/13 year while some have said, “We’ve already got lots on for next year, so we will be putting in budget bid to our council for the 13/14 year.”

Wherever you are along this continuum, if you need support whether just by phone or email, or you need someone to attend a staff workshop or a Council meeting give us a call & we’ll see what we can arrange.

Going Live

We're now at the stage where we can talk publicly about the network's plans for the first group of libraries which will go live on the LMS.  We're delighted to announce that we have 8 libraries organised, with planned "go live" dates, training well under way and much of their circulation mapping completed.  We still have work to do around data conversion aspects, but all of this is progressing according to our project schedule.

It is planned that a southern metro/country group will go live in May and then a northern metro group will go live in June.  The southern group of councils are Alexandrina, Onkaparinga, Marion and Mitcham, with Mitcham being the 1st library going live on May 3.  The northern group of libraries are Playford, Salisbury, Tea Tree Gully and Port Adelaide Enfield. We will be adding 1 library per week over these two months.

You will note that each of these groups form a geographic region, so customers in these libraries will be able to access some of their neighbouring libraries soon after their own library joins the consortium.

We also have a long queue of libraries who we are currently working with to slot them into an achievable timeline.  Amongst these libraries are: 

• a group in the Mallee - Pinnaroo, Lameroo, Karoonda & East Murray, 
• a group in the Far North - Coober Pedy, Roxby Downs, Andamooka, Leigh Creek & Woomera, 
• a few on the Eyre Peninsula: Ceduna, Kimba and Cummins
• And various others (apologies for refering to you this way - you're just not in a natural geographic cluster) the Flinders Mobile Library & Kingston

We do have a few libraries where we have already firm dates & these are Campbelltown in September and Adelaide in November. 

We also have a number of libraries that have told us unofficially that they either "have got council approval" or are "...about to submit a business case to council and things look good".  So we're expecting that we will have our diaries full well into 2013.

As you can imagine this is a considerable workload for our 2 project managers and our technical lead, along with our change manager (who is also currently our training coordinator) and the rest of the team.  We will therefore need to work with libraries to ensure that local plans and adequate local staff resources are in place so that that each library will join the consortium in an orderly and professional manner.

We're excited at the level of commitment and note that by the time we get to Christmas we expect to have councils that represent approximately 55% of the State's population participating in the consortium.  This will see a database of over 2M items available for direct public access.

As we firm up dates for the country libraries listed above I will provide updates.

Ratification of User Group policies

The PLS Standing Committee met on Tuesday and ratified the latest decisions of the LMS User Group.  The Committee commented on the thoroughness of both the consideration of the issues as well as the consultation process.  They were very clear that this level of engagement will contribute to the success of the project.

These decisions are now available on the intranet here .  These decisions provide a degree of consistency around a range of library policies.  However it needs to be reinforced that while we are looking to provide some consistency in customer experience there will always be scope for local variations which are required to meet local needs.  This balance of overarching consistency combined with local variations will become more evident as the LMS is deployed.

Some examples of the variations include the need to accommodate the policies of some libraries which have a "fines" regime and those that don't.  And of course, the fines policies of each council is different, so different rules for this need to be accommodated.

A couple of other issues currently occurring within the project include:

• Training for start up libraries
• Project Managers to support system roll out
• Communication with all councils about the roll out.  This will include a service contract, a timetable, a list of the suite of services and products included in the offer, and other relevant information

I will comment on these issues in coming days as we finalise the details of these and other matters.

A quick update

PLS continues to push ahead with LMS system configuration etc.  We are using the "rules" and parameters as agreed and lodged here, as well as other work being done by the Transitional User Group.  The most recent work of the User Group will go to the Standing Committee for consideration next Tuesday & it will be posted on the Intranet after that meeting.


We have handed over the configuration of the 1st 4 libraries to SirsiDynix, so that they can begin building the hardware and configuring the software to meet our specifications.  The system will be housed in a data centre Melbourne.  These libraries have been assigned a project manager, and are powering ahead locally, getting ready for implementation.


Training:  PLS will be hosting 10 days of training starting on Monday, with more scheduled in late February, March and May.  This training will ensure that staff will have a good understanding of the system, be able to train others at their libraries and also  be ready to test their data when we go through the data conversion process.


Telecommunications:  One of the necessities for the larger metro libraries is that we provide additional bandwidth to run the LMS rather than have the LMS traffic competing with the existing already choked public traffic line.  PLS has ordered an additional line for each of the metro libraries to ensure that LMS performance will be as required


Publicity & promotion: We continue to develop publicity information which will accompany both the awareness raising and launch of the LMS in libraries.  Some of what has been created can be found here.


Product development: We've also been encouraged to see that SirsiDynix continues to push ahead with its e-Resource Central platform.  The latest information about this product can be found here.  While the network is pushing ahead with the consideration of stand-alone digital content platform, we're keeping an eye on this development, as it is planned to seamlessly integrate both discovery and digital rights management (DRM) for all downloads to diverse devices.


And speaking of new and other software options, the "User Experience Group" is winding up its deliberations of a range of alternative "plug-ins" that may be useful for us.  Their report is due in March.  We will look at their findings and then need to do a cost benefit analysis of the various options and consider how to progress this.


That's about it for now.  I know that there are a few more things in the pipeline, but I can't announce them just yet.  But as soon as I can I will let you know of other progress.

New key staff join the LMS project team

I'm delighted to announce that PLS has appointed Jo-Anne Rivers to the role of Technical Lead for the LMS project.  Jo-Anne comes to us from LMS vendor Ex Libris where over the last 6 years she has worked as an LMS support librarian, a System Implementation project manager and a Sales Manager.  She has also worked in various library sectors including Public, State and TAFE libraries and has professional qualifications in Librarianship, Project Management and Management.

Jo-Anne's depth of knowledge and experience will be welcome additions to the team.  Jo-Anne will commence working at PLS on 13 February.  She will work closely with several professional project managers to lead libraries through their conversion and implementation of the new system.

We're also pleased to announce that James Kemperman has joined the LMS project team, taking a lead in understanding and exploiting the various "non-core" LMS products.  This will include the discovery layer Enterprise, the digital asset management product Portfolio, the Syndetics data feed, and other 3rd party products that are currently under consideration. James will also take responsibility for interfaces between the LMS and other products such as self-check and PC booking systems.

James joins the team with a strong background in IT, which has been strengthened by working within the public library network over the last few years.  James drove the development of the original technical specification which formed part of our LMS tender documents, as well as managing the development of the RFID Interoperability specification and the development of the Library IT Group and overseeing the "3rd party product" evaluation group.

I am delighted that these 2 high calibre people will be joining the LMS project team.  I am sure that their inclusion in the team will ensure the best possible outcome for libraries as they join the project.

So what does "AG" mean anyway?

I thought I'd provide an update on the work that the initial group of libraries are currently working on.  They are actively working together to develop their system configuration, rules and mapping. Much of this work is being based on the outcomes of the consultation that has been occurring across the network, while some of the minutiae is based on local library needs.

Because of the time constraints that exist there have been a few times when decisions have had to be made relatively quickly. One of the decisions was to review all of the shorthand codes that have been used for ages within the SA public library network.  And of course the use of the code "AG" for large print books came up, along with "CA" for teen materials. The Transitional User Group had to make a decision on Tuesday as to what codes would be used, so that the libraries configuring their systems could move forward.  

I am not sure that you will be surprised, and many will be greatly relieved that there was unanimous agreement to adopt LP for large print materials and T for teen materials.  While these codes will appear in the staff part of Symphony the customers will see the terms Large Print and Teen. There will be no need to actively change existing labelling unless people wish to do so, however we will be working with suppliers to ensure that catalogue records of the future reflect these changes. (It should be noted that every Large Print book has this in print at the top of the spine of these items. So removing the AG stickers could suffice in making the transition to the new if people wanted to do this.)

These are only small changes, but I see them as indicative of the opportunities that this project has provided for the network to undertake reforms of long outdated or idiosyncratic ways of operating that have grown up over time.

I would like to pay a particular tribute to Kathy Haese of the City of Onkaparinga Libraries who has been driving the configuration and set up of the system.  Kathy works part time at Onkaparinga, but has come on board in what are her usual days off to work with PLS to drive this part of the project.  She has been exceptional in both the intellectual capacity and rigour she has brought to the project, and has been outstanding in her dedication to getting things right and done on time. (Phone calls to me on a Saturday afternoon & emails late at night to clarify things are indicative of the effort she has put in on behalf of everyone in the network.)

Kathy has been working on an ad hoc basis to fill a position within the project team that it has taken us some time to fill.  However we are just winding up that process & I will inform you of the outcome in the next day or so.

LMS update

This is a short post to keep you informed about what is happening across various areas of the project.

Contract: Today we reached final agreement with SirsiDynix about the legal contract that will underpin the consortium. While this has taken some time, this has been more to do with time zone differences and the number of parties involved than in any gulf between us as we started on the project.

While we have not had a contract in place up until now SirsiDynix have been prepared to commit resources to the project to ensure that we can proceed as quickly as possible. They have appointed Mary Batley as their project manager for our project. Mary is based here in Adelaide, so that will make things easier.

System rules and configuration: As you're aware the Transitional User Group has been hard at work & their 4th paper is now out for comment. This paper covers borrowing suspensions, customer payment of fees, ILLs for non-participating libraries, management of the bibliographic database and default item prices. If you are interested in these areas your manager has a copy of the paper. Comments are due in by 13 January.

While the User Group has been hard at work nominated project lead people from the first 9 libraries have been working assiduously to set up their collection codes and borrower types with all of the attendant rules etc that go with this. I would particularly like to thank Kathy Haese from Onkaparinga who agreed to come & work at PLS for a few days a week to ensure that we keep this part of the project on track. Kathy's skills and time have ensured that much of the preliminary database configuration is almost complete.

Resources for the project: As you will know we advertised for the "Technical Lead" position & applications are due in by COB Friday. We hope to have this position filled and someone in place by the end of January - ready to join the 1st lot of training in early February.

We have also advertised for some project management support. We will be using some external, experienced private sector project managers to run the implementation. We have done this because the demand for such skills will fluctuate over the next few years. Sometimes we may need two project managers, sometimes one and perhaps there will be quiet periods where no project resources will be required. So using external resources allows us to flexibly alter our resource profile to match project requirements.

I will provide you with a further update in mid-January as we will be working on a range of issues between now and then.

I'm taking a couple of weeks holiday until 9 January, but know that a couple of LMS deadlines will need actioning during this time so will pop into the office as needs be during the holidays.  I trust that all who have some leave will have a great time & be ready to fire up for 2012 when you return to work.

LMS Specialist role advertised today

We've finally got approval to advertise for a contract LMS expert to join the LMS team.  The position went up on Seek this morning. You can either search using the term "Technical Lead" & location Adelaide, or you can click on this link HERE.

If you are working in an SA Council and would like to apply for this position there is a possibility that we may be able to arrange for a secondment to undertake this role whilst maintaining your status as a council employee with a right of return.  However this is not guaranteed.

We're looking for someone who will be working with a number of expert IT project managers.  Your role would be as per the job spec. It would involve working as part of the team using your expert LMS system knowledge to support smooth multiple implementations of the LMS in libraries of various size and complexity.

The successful applicant will not need to know anything about "Symphony" but will have good skills in LMS system administration and management, as well as good project management and teamwork skills.

Customer Experience using the new LMS

In my post of 14 November I mentioned that the LMS User Experience Group was meeting to look at the LMS from the customer side & consider whether this meets our needs or whether there are other functions that we need to enhance the user experience.  We noted during the evaluation phase that all vendors' products had strengths and weaknesses & that all could probably be improved by deploying the functionality of 3rd party product providers.

James Kemperman is leading this Group which includes a range of staff from public libraries.  The expectation is that the group will report back to the Steering Committee in March next year. The group commenced its deliberations by creating a list of features that members thought would be ideal to have in an LMS Discovery Layer.  The specification that the group came up with, and the response from SirsiDynix is loaded onto the Intranet as a .pdf here.  The really good news from this is that a significant number of the features that the group wanted are already available within Enterprise (the discovery layer).

Below is part of an email from James to library managers and others who have expressed an interest in the work of the group.  It gives you an idea of the range of additional products that the group is looking at in terms of additional functionality.  You can click on the links to go & see what these products do.

From James's email:

The LMS User Experience Group has been tasked to recommend to the LMS Steering Committee which 3^rd party products the consortium should consider purchasing to add further value to our customers through the new LMS. The LMS User Experience Group has met several times now and have put together the attached list of functionality and information. After analysing the functionality of the new LMS products (Bowker Syndetics, Sirsi Dynix BookMyne, Sirsi Dynix Enterprise, Sirsi Dynix Facebook application, Sirsi Dynix Portfolio, Sirsi Dynix Symphony with e-library) and comparing this to the attached list we have determined that we need to consider the following 3^rd party products under the remit of this group:

Products being considered by the LMS User Experience Group:

• Chilifresh - http://www.chilifresh.com/html/products.php

• EZproxy® authentication and access software -http://www.oclc.org/ca/en/ezproxy/default.htm
• Serial Solutions 360 Search - http://www.serialssolutions.com/discovery/360-search/
• Serial Solutions Aquabrowser - http://www.serialsolutions.com/discovery/aquabrowser/
• LibraryThing - http://www.librarything.com/
• Bibliocommons - http://www.bibliocommons.com/

Over the coming 4-6 weeks the group will analyse these products in order to determine the best products to recommend to the LMS Steering Committee.

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