e-Books - where are we up to?

Following a number of enquiries I thought that I would provide you with an update as to where PLS is up to on the path to providing State-wide access to e-Books.  The short answer is that we're nearly there, but I wanted to give you a bit more information about the process & outcome.

A working party in 2011 identified what the ideal solution would be for the network & PLS used this as the basis for considering what was available in the marketplace at the time.  The reality was that no company provided everything that the working party was looking for, and only one company provided the bare minimum expectation of having a mix of e-books and e-audio content from a single platform. In February PLS reported this to the PLSA Executive and gained the Executive's approval for PLS to pursue a contract with this single supplier. 

Given the decision to pursue a single supplier PLS needed to go through an approval process inside our Department. This process took several months, &  in May PLS gained the necessary approvals  to adopt this procurement approach.  Since that time we have actively pursued a contract with provider to deliver as much of what the working party was looking for as is currently possible. This has necessitated engaging lawyers to work on the contract with us to ensure that the best interests of the Libraries Board (the contract signatory on libraries' behalf) were protected. However, as you can imagine, the company also has its minimum expectations and also has contracts in place with publishers that it has to honour. 

After several contract iterations we have closed the gap between our position and the company's to the point where I am confident that we will have a contract signed in the near future.  The company tells us that from contract signing to product availability takes up to 3 months.  And while this seems quite a time, there is work to do in designing a delivery website and setting everything in place.

The next big question is; How will e-content be delivered?

At this stage the e-content will be available from a stand-alone website, that will require people to log in and download their e-content.

In the medium term we will be looking to deliver e-content through the One Card LMS, using the e-Resource Central product that SirsiDynix is developing.  This will provide authentication against the LMS customer database and also manage many of the download and Digital Rights Management (DRM) issues that seem to make e-content access complex.

As well as managing DRM this product will also show all e-content records in the discovery layer Enterprise.  And with the faceted searching customers can select to just search for e-books or to include them in a more general search.

It is likely that we will have e-Resource Central in place before all libraries are on the One Card system, so it is likely that we will have to run a hybrid access model, with some customers gaining access through their One Card membership, while others will still need to go to the stand alone e-content website.

As soon as we have a signed contract we will be delighted to provide more details regarding the company, the product, the range of titles that will be available & how the public will access the system etc.

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).

ILL Transition

I mentioned in my post about Alexandrina going live that we're conscious of the impact of the LMS consortium on access to ILL's through P2.  

The 1st 8 libraries which will join the LMS consortium have approximately 1.2M items between them.  While not all of these items were registered on P2,  removing the holdings of the first 8 libraries from P2 is bound to have an impact on what is available for ILL.  And as we plan to add the SWAP libraries (Prospect, Walkerville, Campbelltown and Norwood Payneham & St Peters) in September and Adelaide in November the P2 ILL pool will continue to shrink.

We're keen to restore access to these collections for all other libraries.  Therefore we are working with SirsiDynix to create the most efficient way that we can do this.

At this stage (and subject to some testing etc) we are looking to provide all library services in the State with access to the LMS.  We plan to do this by creating each library service as a branch on the system and providing each library service with a borrowing card which will be used to reserve ILL items for the local (non-participating libraries') customers.  

Because each library service is on the system this will mean that routing slips will be produced at the point at which the owning library starts the process of sending the items to the destination library. (The routing slip will include information about the destination library, the title of the item and its barcode. This will allow the libraries to treat these loans exactly like all other ILLs done on Symphony as well as providing TOLL with the slip which will direct them in how to sort the items.) 

We are also examining providing each non-participating library with access to a StaffWeb module on Symphony.  This will mean that when items arrive at the destination library they can be "wanded in" which means that the system can track that they have arrived at their destination.  The library will then use their local LMS to lend these items to their local customers.  And the return process will be the same in reverse - i.e. the item will be returned on the local system and then wanded in on StaffWeb, which will record that it has been returned and that it is on its way back to its owning library.  If we're really fortunate we may be able to get StaffWeb to print a routing slip for these items as well!

And as I intimated in an email the other day, this same system will be able to be used to track items which are returned to non-owning libraries.

As you can imagine there is considerable work to be done to proof this up and make sure that the system can work as we want it to.  Therefore we don't think we will have anything in place for a few months.  However, as you can see from this post, we're working on this & are serious about getting a solution in place as soon as we can.

While we are keen to put this in place soon, it should be noted that for non-participating libraries P2 will continue to be the 1st port of call for ILLs.  This is because ILL access is a reciprocal arrangement whereby libraries can both borrow from their neighbours as well as being prepared to lend their own collections.  It would be unreasonable if the rest of the State targeted the 1st 8 LMS libraries as their 1st place for ILL requests.  As part of the strategy for ensuring that requests are placed on P2 as well as on Symphony  the number of ILL requests that non-participating libraries can place on LMS libraries will be restricted.  We are currently working to identify the right level of this restriction.

I will keep all in the network informed as we progress towards a workable solution for the ILL transition.  And of course I am happy to take comments and questions about any aspect of this proposed solution.

BookMyne Mobile App & Facebook

We've been busy setting up the mobile App BookMyne for each library branch as they come online.  This App is available on an iPhone as well as a newly released Android version (thanks for the update James).

BookMyne allows customers to use their mobile phone to search the catalogue & place holds. It also allows customers to see items they have on loan, manage their holds and get reminders before items are due. Along with this is information about each library - opening hours, email address, phone number etc.  

I thought about dropping a few screen shots into this post, but that would make it look too much like some training notes, so I've resisted this option. There are a bunch of other features in the App, but rather than describe them here or add screen shots I'd recommend that library staff either use their iPhones or borrow a friend's and explore how it works. You can also see more about BookMyne on the SirsiDynix website.

I would comment that this App is a "work in progress", which needs further development.  You will note that it can't do "library service" just individual branches. This is OK for some libraries that are not multi-branch services, but it does not work as I would prefer for a significant number of our libraries.  So I am impatient to see further enhancements to the App, but from my perspective it is a great start.

We've also set up the back end connection between Symphony and Facebook.  This allows libraries to then put the library search option into their Facebook site.  Mitcham has aleady done this.  You can see it here.   And it is on the Libraries SA Facebook site too.  It is the icon that looks like this:

If you want to know more about how this works you can find information here.

James Kemperman is the expert in our office who is working on these applications as well as Enterprise set ups.

Statewide Enterprise site

While we have been rolling out specific iterations of Enterprise for each library service we are also building a State-wide version as well.  Below is a screenshot of the site.  It can be found here. 

We're keeping it simple - with some news on the right hand side about who is "on" and who is coming next.  Its a bit difficult to read on screen, but you can make out that Mitcham and Onkaparinga are listed 1st, then a line that says "Soon to com onboard" with the next 6 listed in their correct sequence.

If you click on the arrow to the right of the 1st box - which currently shows a choice of "Everything" you will see that each library will be listed here once it has gone live.

At this stage we are using this site as a bit of a testbed to look at how facets work and what the relationship is between fields in the MARC catalogue records and how they display in Enterprise. But longer term it will also be a good place for libraries & even the public to come and search the State-wide catalogue.  Of course if people use this site they will miss all of the local information that will be on their "home" library site.  But it does have a purpose.

Enterprise look & feel

I should have mentioned yesterday that Enterprise can be configured in a whole range of ways - both in terms of layout as well as colour schemes.  Below are some links that you may want to check out to see how others have set up their systems.

I really like the "buttons" that Mitcham has put down the left hand side of the screen - linking off to a range of other services and options.  By making them as big and as colourful as they are means that people can understand what they are before clicking through.  And the addition of some local information sources such as the Messenger newspapers and SA Community provides some real local information.

I haven't asked, but I am sure that the Mitcham team would be happy to share these icons with anyone who also wanted to use them on their site when they set it up.

Here are a few sites: 

Livingston Manor - a small public library in New York State.

http://rcls.ent.sirsi.net/client/livmanor.  This library is using the same blue background and NY Times best seller list as Mitcham, with their only customisation being the addition of their opening hours.  However you will note that they have included the option of seeing the instructions in Spanish - in the "select language" choice on the top right hand set of options.

Wells County Public Library - In Indiana USA. 
 http://welc.ent.sirsi.net/client/default They have used the same blue fading to white screen, but are not using any side panels. They have chosen to put the various links into the bar along the bottom of the screen. Not my favourite idea, but perhaps it was an easy change to make.

University of Reading - UK

http://rdg.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/main  This site looks very different.  Enterprise has been used to provide seamless access to three different collections that the University has had for many years.  Rather than combining all the collections into one catalogue they have used Enterprise to access all three separate existing catalogues. This is one of the powerful features of Enterprise - the ability to access disparate sources of information, not just a single library catalogue. 

They have not used the site to advertise any other information such as opening hours, etc.

Carnegie Mellon University - well known US university with a campus in Adelaide.

http://search.library.cmu.edu/client/default This site looks quite busy - but it does create a "one stop shop" in terms of accessing so many other services provided by the library.  It also uses a photo as their header.  They have a news section as well as some instructions about how to use services.

Hopefully providing access to these sites may get you thinking about how you may wish to customise your site when the time comes.

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!!

A single database - how will it work? Part 2

Following on from part 1 of this topic I thought I'd add some information regarding how we will manage a range of issues related to a single customer database & what this means.  Rather than re-writing information that is already available, can I point you here? This is the information that has been considered by the Transitional User Group and approved by the PLS Standing Committee. It covers the following areas:

• Single membership
• Assigning membership
• Library cards
• Joining requirements
• Minimum standards regarding communicating with customers
• Borrowing rules - consistency and local flexibility
• Exceptions to making collections available to State-wide access
• Placing holds/reservation - State-wide access with local prioritisation
• Administration of the customer database.

I believe that this is a comprehensive list that will answer most questions.  However if there are still issues that you consider need decisions or further explanation please let me know.


Also - I would like to bring to your attention something that was posted in the comments section of my previous post.  I was talking about how a single bibliographic database would work & Tania Paull posted a link to one of the SWIFT libraries which she had previously managed.  I'm re posting the link to the site here, but would also say take a look at Tania's comments about being able to set the search to default to see local collections, but allow customers to see and search other individual libraries or the whole consortium.  The link is http://swft.chrl.sirsidynix.net.au

A single database - how will it work? Part 1

A number of people have asked about how we will create a single database for all items and another for all customers.  This "part 1" post is to give a high level overview of how things will work regarding the items or "bibliographic database".

Our network has had an agreed cataloguing standard for many years.  This standard gets updated from time to time through consultation with cataloguers across the network.  We then provide this standard to our suppliers who catalogue to this standard. This standard is primarily based on international and national cataloguing rules, standards & conventions, with some agreed local state-wide variations.

Over years of having standalone databases libraries will inevitably have created some additional local variants to our agreed standard.

The challenge is now to merge these databases, attempt to keep local information which adds value, to strip out some of the variants that add no value, and continue to use agreed standards where possible.  To achieve this we have developed a process which we are in the process of implementing.

We will purchase the Libraries Australia authority headings to load into the database.  We will also add the SCIS subject authority headings as they are used by a number of libraries.  Having these embedded into the system will hopefully keep us on track to keep developing a consistent database.

Mapping for consistency:  We are currently working with the first two groups of libraries to ensure that where libraries have used MARC tags in unique ways that we either map the data in these fields to the correct locations or ignore it when we harvest records.  In some cases where libraries have added unique information such as additional local history information we will endeavour to retain this information.  To improve the probability that this occurs it may require that this data is mapped to new data fields in the conversion.

As the first two groups of libraries include a number of large libraries with sizable collections we expect to have a very large database by the end of June.  From there, as libraries join the consortium their Item records will be added to existing Bib records wherever there is a match.  And where there are unique titles these will be added as new Bib records.

We do have the ability to match records, keep all of the original record, but also add data from specific fields where they need to be retained.  We will use this feature when adding some of the local history and other data I mentioned earlier. 

I can also add that each Item record (i.e. the unique record for each item) will have that item's DDC call number.  This means that if some libraries want to include 1 or 3 or 6 numbers after the decimal point then each library can choose their option and it will be displayed that way locally.

I know that many people will want much greater detail regarding the match & merge process.  This blog is not the place to go into the finer details of why we will be using specific MARC tags etc.  This information will be posted on the network's Intranet site in the near future. 

In the meantime please feel free to ask questions or make comments.  Depending on how detailed the answers need to be they may be answered here, or posted as part of the Intranet paper.

And look out for Part 2 of this post where I will tackle what it means to have a single customer database!

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.

So what is included in the LMS?

I've been visiting a few libraries and groups of libraries lately & one question has been "So exactly what is included in the LMS package?"

Now that we are days away from signing a contract I think we can point you to the range of products that are included in the offer.  And rather than me try to explain all of the products and how they work, it is probably easier to point you to the SirsiDynix website and let you read what they say about their products.  I acknowledge that much of what you read will be "sales speak", but at least it will give you a sense of what is included. 

Under the "Products" tab take a look at Integrated Library System and choose Symphony.  As well as the screen of information and various links to other pages on the site here are also a number of .pdfs that you can download.  Going a bit further to the Patron Discovery section you will see a range of offers - most of which we are buying.  We will be getting:

• Enterprise (the name of the discovery layer)
• Portfolio (the digital asset management system which is searchable in Enterprise)
• E-Library (the name of the standard OPAC) &
• Bookmyne (a mobile App that works on both iPhone and Androids).

You may also want to check out eResource Central - which gives an update about SD's intention to provide direct access to a range of e-content including e-books directly from SD and discoverable and downloadable directly through Enterprise.  I had a detailed conversation with the company's Chief Technology Officer Talin Bingham about the plans for this product - it looks awesome!  You can see a link to some information about eResource Central here.

If you go further down on the "products" tab to the Management & Productivity section you will also see a range of products.  Of these we will be getting:

• API & Web services (we will get access to an API library which will assist in integrating many other products should we choose to use this feature)
• Director's Station (a powerful reporting tool)
• Staff Web
• Web Reporter (another reporting tool that runs differently to Director's Station.  Both have different features, so we have bought both so that people can use the one that best suits their needs)

We will also be getting the Social Library product which provides a native Facebook application - i.e. create a Facebook page which integrates catalogue searching, "liking" items management of loans and hosds etc.  The link to information about this product is here.  Burdekin Public Library in QLD is the 1st library in the world to deploy this App & they tell me that it has driven lots of addtional traffic to the library & resulted in ongoing increased new memberships too. 

As part of the subscription we will also be getting Syndetics Enriched Content.  This is both the cover art and the reviews that you can see attached to most records in Enterprise.

I think that is about it for now.  I hope you will enjoy searching the SD website and looking at the features of the variously named products that will be available through this project.