One Consortium’s Experience with an Open-Source Shared ILS Ruth Dukelow, Associate Director Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS)

Michigan Evergreen Implementing an open-source shared ILS using a self-funded, shared-cost model How we did it: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Who Are We? MCLS – Midwest Collaborative for Library Services Michigan Evergreen

Our story – where we are & how we got here Our model – Funding – Staffing/partnerships – Policies – Governance Adapt our model to your own use – What we did right & what we did wrong

Michigan Evergreen – Our Story MeLCat libraries – Need for an affordable ILS – Need for good cataloging records Open Source decision – Recommend “committee-light” approach Recruited 7 pilot libraries

Michigan Evergreen – Our Story Wrote training materials, user manual, profiling forms Trained pilot library staff hands-on – OPAC, Circ, Cataloging, Admin First library went live August 2008

What we learned from the pilot Things we did right: – Good to do hands-on training – Good to have someone on-site on launch date – Good to use experts from Equinox for migration of bib and patron data – Good to be Open Source – flexibility in development and no licensing issues In hindsight (what we wish we’d done): – Good idea to review and revise policies prior to migration – Review barcodes and other data (needed better profiling forms)

Michigan Evergreen – Our Story 2009 Pilot completed and 7 public libraries on system Added three more libraries – 2 publics and one school library

Our Model Funding Staffing/Partnerships Policies Governance

Our Model - Funding No outside money – No state appropriations, no grants Shared-cost model where the participating libraries cover the costs of running the system – Ongoing: Servers/hardware upgrades, training & support staff, database maintenance staff – One-time costs for each library: migration costs (data conversion, etc.) In retrospect, a grant or seed money would have been nice…

Our Model – Staffing/Partnerships Two staff at MCLS dedicated full-time to training and support, including migrations Partnership with member library (GRPL) to provide staff for database maintenance – Michigan Evergreen bought servers which are housed at GRPL

Our Model – Staffing/Partnerships Contract with Equinox Software Inc (ESI) for migration services and for support to Michigan Evergreen staff Open Source Community – Evergreen International Conference – Open-ILS list – Commitment to share to benefit all

Our Model - Policies ONLY universal policy is requirement to follow our Cataloging Policy (online at Michigan Evergreen wiki – see link from mcls.org) Each library can have its own circ policies (fines, fees, loan periods, etc.) and personalized OPAC design

Michigan Evergreen OPAC Views

Our Model - Policies Resource sharing not required b/c of MeLCat but libraries can be set up for reciprocal borrowing if they choose – Four libraries share; six are independent Development & implementation of custom programming accepted only if testing shows it doesn’t “break” the shared system – Paid for by requesting library

Our Model - Governance Informal meetings of pilot libraries during the first two years Now have evolved to “Governance Light” – Library Directors Committee – Michigan Evergreen Staff Team (MCLS & GRPL) – Working Groups Cataloging Development Circ/OPAC

Questions? Ruth Dukelow, Associate Director MCLS – Midwest Collaborative for Library Services