The Urge to Merge (aka The More the Merrier) University of Arizona - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Urge to Merge

(aka The More the Merrier) University of Arizona Libraries

For whom is this information going to be useful?

• A. Space Pirates
• B. Anyone bringing up III
• C. Those on III bringing in another III library,

library on another ILS or one not on an ILS at all

• D. Multi-site libraries that have different

needs that necessitate collaboration

• E. Answers B, C, D

UA Facts

• Student population: 37,217

– Undergraduates: 29,070 – Graduate: 8,147

• Faculty and staff: 14,466
• Number of library branches: 8

– Main, Science Engineering, Fine Arts, Center for Creative Photography, Special Collections – Health Sciences (Tucson + Phoenix) – Law

System Facts

• Health Sciences - Sirsi migration to III
• Version of Millennium = 1.3 v. 2006
• # of bibliographic records loaded =

100,000

• New Size of “catalog” = 3.6 million records

Merging: The Main Library’s Story

• Lean years at University of Arizona
• Several campus libraries with standalone

systems

• Expectation of significant cost savings moving to
• ne system & sharing maintenance costs
• Growing need to have a single point of access

for all library resources available to the campus

• Introduced proposal to integrate other libraries

into III ILS system

Merging: The medical library’s story

• Yearly budget cuts
• Library IT scheduled to move into consolidated

College of Medicine IT

• Worry about continued onsite support
• Evaluated other options:

– III’s merger estimate in 2002 judged too costly – Hosted site at Sirsi

• Recognition that faculty & students were losing

by having to access two catalogs.

Merging: Agreement

• Main Library proposed to use the UA student

library fee for fund merger

• Each library to pay ½ III implementation costs
• Main Library to provide III expertise & training
• AHSL to pay for extraction & authority work.
• Scopes would be set up to help each site

maintain a unique identity

Set the stage for collaboration

• In order to foster collaboration throughout

the process, establish:

– What support will be provided during and after the system migration – Who to contact for various problems you may encounter or who to ask general questions – Who is going to be responsible for completing each of the tasks

How much time should you plan to spend on merging systems?

• A. 6 months
• B. 5 years
• C. 2 weeks
• D. It depends…

Talking Points for timeline:

• Answer: D) It depends…
• Initially the UA Libraries thought that we

could complete this process within two months.

• III provided the UA library with a timeline
• Depends on the number of staff that are

going to be involved

• Timing considerations

A good time to bring up your merged systems would be

• A. April 1st
• B. Finals week
• C. Winter Break
• D. Summer

Timing Debrief

• Answer: For us, it was winter
• Consider the potential impact on your

users as there is going to be down time associated with the migration

• We didn’t want to ‘pull the rug out’ on our

customers

• There was also a benefit to staff as this

allowed time to learn how to use the new system

Major Tasks to Be Accomplished

• Extract the catalog records from Sirsi

– Sirsi MARC Export – MARC Edit – Perl Programming – Reconcile MARC fields & cataloging protocols

• Configure circulation module

– Recognize when to conform vs what is unique – Knowledge of “loan rules” & “determiner table”

Major Tasks to Be Accomplished

• Create shared patron database

– Identify & tag AHSL faculty & staff – Create programming script

• Authority work with LTI
• Create Scopes

– Select formats & locations for searchable subsets

• Web development (i.e. the OPAC)

Here was our timeline

• July

– New location codes finalized (Page # 106049) – Set up clients (i.e. user interface) at new site – Set up holding symbols (Page # 105807)

• August

– Set up PTypes, ITypes, loan rules, loan rule determiner table (Page # 106052, Page # 106044, Page #

105408, Page # 105407)

– Started mapping bib and item records and prepared for data extraction

• September

– Testing!!!

Timeline continued

• October

– More Testing!!! – Scopes installed (Page # 106715) – Tested patron load (Page # 106004)

• November

– Created separate serials and accounting units – Final load over 1 ½ days – Established staff permissions/authorizations (Page # 106327) – Circulation went live (ahead of schedule) – Training

• December

– Live system – Test server

Aftermath I

• Cataloging – 10,000 duplicate records
• Authority – unexpected failures in

updates to both MeSH and LC subject headings

• Acquisitions -- new fund codes,
• rdering system, order records
• Serials – new checkin records,

holdings notation, claiming methods

Aftermath II

• Scopes – unexpected search results

highlight new problems with subject headings, ERM use, cataloging methods

• Tweaks to circulation –patron load
• Major catalog cleanup
• New problems continue to emerge…..

Side Benefits

• A. It forces you to review policies and procedures

and balance the needs of multiple libraries

• B. You will probably discover things you could do

that you didn’t know about previously

• C. Communication between different library sites

will increase

• D. You will retire independently wealthy as a

result of the merger

• E. A, B, and C

What was helpful

• Having an libraries-wide oversight

group set up before hand – already had some working relationships established

• III documentation and getting started

manuals (available through CS Direct)

• Main Library work with Loan Rules

and Tables the year before

What was helpful

• Having subgroups (Circ, Cataloging,

Financial)

• Support from III - some good, such as

group listserv that included III; some not so good

• Test frequently, but could have tested

more (accounting unit) –at on point lost printing functionality.

• Being persistent with III. Provide

them with specific information.

And most helpful . . .

Willingness on everyone’s part to compromise & seek solutions for all libraries

Contact Information

Circulation Questions:

• Mona Ammon, ammonm@u.library.arizona.edu
• John Miller-Wells, wellsj@u.library.arizona.edu
• Travis Teetor, teetort@u.library.arizona.edu

System Questions:

• (III) Gene Spesard, spesardl@u.library.arizona.edu
• (III) Lee Hemphill, hemphilll@u.library.arizona.edu
• (Sirsi) Robin Sewell, rsewell009@tamu.edu

Cataloging Questions:

• Tom Marshall, marshallt@u.library.arizona.edu
• Mary Holcomb, mholcomb@ahsl.arizona.edu

General Project Questions:

• Joan Schlimgen, joan@ahsl.arizona.edu