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NISO Forum: Library Resource Management Systems: New Challenges, New Opportunities (Day Two)

NISO on the Road

About this Forum

Libraries have a dizzying array of options for acquiring, implementing, and modifying library resource management systems. The ballooning number of choices reflects the changing character of this marketplace. Commercial vendors now compete not only with each other, but also with widely-publicized open source offerings. When evaluating new and existing systems, libraries attempt to balance sometimes conflicting needs:

  • Maintain functionality for staff / Offer usable interfaces for patrons
  • Preserve local individuality / Profit from shared practices
  • Cope with shrinking resources / Crave more development input
  • Value external service and support / Appraise the advantages of internal creative freedom

Join NISO for a two-day forum in which we will consider these issues' consequences for customers, users, vendors, and developers. During this event, we will:

  • Explore the effects of changes to the library community on system suppliers' business models
  • Compare the benefits and disadvantages of commercial and open-source systems through real libraries' experiences
  • Examine the implications of placing library systems in the cloud
  • Address the need for interoperability between library management systems and other systems at work in the library
  • Consider how information standards can help all stakeholders cope with this shifting terrain

Attendees at all levels of system involvement and expertise will find thought-provoking discussion and ample opportunity to share ideas with the library, vendor, and developer communities.

To view the agenda from Day One of this forum, click here.

Event Sessions

Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Day Two Welcome

Speaker

9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.

Day Two Keynote: Investing in a Time of Disruptive Change

Speaker

9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.:

There have been fundamental changes in the way that information is created, distributed and used, this has a major impact on the systems that are used to manage and access information. The UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), working in partnership with the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) has been exploring the impact of these changes and how the UK academic library requirements can be met. This talk will focus on the impact of the major changes, drawing on research and analysis in the UK, and will outline a model to help think through some of the changes and discuss the options for moving forward, in particular there is work underway exploring shared service options, and there are debates about whether Open Source is a realistic way forward. With the accelerating pace of change what way do we turn?

Whither ERMI?

Speaker

10:15 a.m. - 11:00 am:

In 2004, the Digital Library Federation's Electronic Resource Management Initiative (ERMI) published a groundbreaking report on standards for electronic resource management in libraries. Since that time, a number of commercial and 'home-grown' systems have sprung up to implement and manage this information;  yet integrating e-resource data and workflows with existing library management systems and practices remains challenging. The Electronic Resource Management Data Standards Review currently being launched by NISO will undertake a gap analysis of ERM-related data and standards and make recommendations regarding future needs for e-resource management standards within the context of the broader library data management landscape.

See www.niso.org/workrooms/ermreview for more information on this project.

Break

11:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

The Library system in a broader context: Interaction with other library systems / interoperability

Speakers

Diane C. Mirvis

Associate Vice President Information Technology and CIO
Magnus Wahlstrom Library, University of Bridgeport

11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.:

  • Integrating Library Resource Management Systems into Campus Infrastructure for Research and Education
    MacKenzie Smith, Associate Director for Technology, MIT Libraries

    In academic research libraries, Library Resource Management Systems are part of a large and complex IT landscape, both within the library and across the campus. To be effective, Library Resource Management Systems should seemlessly integrate with enterprise business systems (e.g., the HR database, Data Warehouse, campus network authentication and authorization system), with new library technology platforms (e.g., Institutional Repositories), and with other campus research and education systems (e.g., course management systems, departmental data archives). This talk will provide a framework for an institutional IT architecture, and the specific issues that arise when integrating different types of Library Resource Management System into the campus infrastructure.
     
  • Considering a New Information Topology
    Diane C. Mirvis, Associate Vice President Information Technology and CIO,
    Magnus Wahlstrom Library, University of Bridgeport


    Institutions have traditionally managed information technology split into two broad areas – administrative and academic computing. Evolving tools like enterprise Portals, Library discovery platforms, institutional repositories, course management systems, and student information systems with learning management options are providing more opportunities to serve up content at the point users require it to complete a task. Information content from the Library and other providers becomes a commodity that is delivered to users via role based workflow. The discussion has broadened beyond talking about systems integration and standards, to rethinking how the organization supplies information to its constituencies. 

Lunch

12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Seamless Sharing: NYU, HathiTrust, ReCAP and the Cloud Library

Speaker

Kat Hagedorn

HathiTrust Special Projects Coordinator
University of Michigan

1:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.:

With the explosion in the number of digital and print repositories and the radically increased ability for sharing of these repositories, we find ourselves without an infrastructure to enable, manage and maintain these shared resources. What is needed is a clear proposal for how to effect this, complete with a pilot project that demonstrates, in real terms, how it could be achieved.

Under the auspices of CLIR and OCLC Research, we are developing precisely this proposal and pilot using:

  • the NYU Library as the pilot library
  • ReCAP as the print storage facility
  • HathiTrust as the digital preservation repository

Our end result will be the infrastructure and inner workings of a cloud library-- one that provides seamless access to services in both print and digital form. At least one need for these services has been demonstrated by our pilot library-- for space issues, the NYU Library is in the process of de-accessioning nearly a million volumes from their print collections by next summer. With a cloud library service, they will be assured of trusted access to the physical volumes inside of ReCAP and trusted access and preservation of the digitized volumes inside of HathiTrust.

We will describe the current scope and status of the project, our research into the needs of institutions for this shared cloud library, how trusted digital and print repositories will be enabled, and how we will build appropriate service models to encompass all perceived needs.

Large Consortium Systems: Making the Library Work With Other Libraries

Speaker

Kyle Banerjee

Digital Services Program Manager
Orbis Cascade Alliance

1:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.:

In March of 2008, the Council governing the Orbis Cascade Alliance voted to enter a development partnership with OCLC to migrate the Alliance's union catalog and consortial borrowing system to a new platform. The Alliance's strategic agenda called for an improved patron experience as well as better integration of local, consortial, and ILL borrowing. The strategic agenda recognized that effective library services and resource sharing required seamless interaction between products produced by different vendors. For this reason, it sought investigation of systems that communicated using standard protocols.

Planning and executing the migration took eight months, and the system has been in production use by all 36 Alliance members since December 2008. This session explains the implementation process as well as the organizational and technical challenges faced in migrating so many institutions simultaneously.

Brainstorming Possibilities: A Group Activity

Speaker

2:00 p.m - 2:45 p.m.

Break

2:45 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

Reports from Brainstorming

Speaker

3:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Closing Presentation: Where can we go from here?

Speaker

3:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Final Wrap-Up

4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Additional Information

  • Early bird rates are offered until October 1, 2009.
  • Registration closes October 5, 2009. After that date call the NISO office to arrange for registration at the regular rate. A processing fee of $50 will be added to each on-site registration.
  • Cancellations made by October 5, 2009 will receive a full refund less a $50 processing fee. After that date, there are no refunds.
  • Registration includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Notify the NISO office if you have any dietary restrictions (301-654-2512).
  • Students should submit proof of enrollment when registering. Please contact the NISO office(301-654-2512) with questions.