Integrated Online Library Systems

This book offers everything you need to know about selecting and implementing the best integrated library system (ILS) for your library, whether you purchase and install it yourself or hire a consultant to assist you. This is the book you've been waiting for. Integrated Library Systems: Planning, Selecting, and Implementing is an all-inclusive guide to acquiring a new ILS. Detailed and practical, the book covers every step of the process, from cost-benefit analysis, to evaluating software, writing the request for proposal, and implementation and training. You'll learn about different types of integrated library systems—standalone, turnkey, hosted, software-as-a-service (cloud computing), and open-source—and how to assess your facility and staff to find the best fit. The book also covers evaluation of software and hardware; third-party add-ons, such as RFID; and writing successful budget proposals and justification statements. There is even specific, headache-saving advice on working with sales reps, such as the warning not to ever accept the statement: "The vendor will not be held accountable to the contents of the RFP." Even if you're working with a consultant, this book will help you understand the process and make informed decisions.

Selecting and Implementing an Integrated Library System: The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make focuses on the intersection of technology and management in the library information world. As information professionals, many librarians will be involved in automation projects and the management of technological changes that are necessary to best meet patron and organizational needs. As professionals, they will need to develop numerous skills, both technological and managerial, to successfully meet these challenges. This book provides a foundation for this skillset that will develop and acquaint the reader with a broad understanding of the issues involved in library technology systems. Although a major topic of the book is integrated library systems (a fundamental cornerstone of most library technology), the book also explores new library technologies (such as open source systems) that are an increasingly important component in the library technology world. Users will find a resource that is geared to the thinking and planning processes for library technology that emphasizes the development of good project management skills. Embraces both technology and management issues as co-equals in successful library migration projects Based on the experiences of a 20+ year career in libraries, including three major automation project migrations Includes increasingly relevant subject matter as libraries continue to cope with shrinking budgets and expanding library demands for services Contains the direct experiences of the University of Washington system in the Orbis-Cascade Alliance project, a project uniting 37 libraries across two states that combined both technical and public service functions

Knowing about the open source alternative to integrated library systems and being able to make accurate comparisons can save a library tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year while more closely matching the library’s functional needs.

This report was commissioned in response to concerns expressed about the gap between institutional digital library initiatives and the products offered by library systems vendors. The study analyzes from the perspective of libraries the strategies, visions, and products that vendors of integrated library systems are offering as solutions. Case studies are provided of four different types of libraries that have installed commercially available systems to provide a snapshot of the extent to which these systems met the needs of the institutions. Vendor profiles are then offered for 12 companies, including a brief summary for each, and information on primary products and services, primary markets, overall strategy, product tools and features, adaptability to library needs, strategy for networked information, product development infrastructure, acquisitions and strategic partnerships, corporate organization and offices, and a financial statement. (AEF)

Libraries are increasingly demanding the ability to exploit their library systems (LIS) using application programming interfaces (APIs), Web services, or other technologies. This issue of Library Technology Reports explores how vendors of open source library technology are approaching this desire for customization plus an in-depth exploration...