IGeLU 2013

Alma Panel: View from the Early Adopters

Berlin, 9. September 2013

Alma at the Bolzano University Library:

The Early Adopter Experience

Paolo Buoso

Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

Bolzano (Alto-Adige Südtirol)

The University 1997 Foundation Trilingual education, international focus 5 schools, 3.000 students, 3 locations

The Library 3 locations in an integrated system A modern learning environment (RFID), open 8-24 + 24/7 Service provider for the university, the region and libraries Focus on digital library and information literacy Automation, self-service, outsourcing Top level in international rankings 20 FTE + 5 outsourced

The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

University and Library locations

Figures

Library organization

Subject Librarians Collection development & information literacy

Online Services and Resources E-resources, digital systems & projects

Media Processing Acquisitions, metadata management, interlibrary loan

Customer Services Public services and public relations

University Press Editorial work, sales

Starting situation Complex digital landscape

ILS with proprietary format: Bibliotheca2000 (BOND, OCLC) Discovery Service Primo ERM: SFX, MetaLib, Excel files

Strong integration with external systems Student Information System (SIS) User data exchange (applications & partner libraries) Course reserve management system & ILL system

Cooperation with partner libraries MetaOPAC & Primo User data, circulation, acquisition policy External pick-up locations in public libraries

Roadmap 2010-2013

Market analysis, requirements definition, decision for a cloud-based system (not yet on the market)

Service improvement with an hosted Discovery Service December 2011 live with Primo

Efficiency improvement in back-office with a new generation unified resource management system July 2011 Alma Early Adopter Programme Europe January 2013 live with Alma

Why Early Adopter?

Innovative future-oriented solution Integration front-end Primo with back-end Alma Unified resource management: all resources

managed in every phase of the life-cycle in one single system

Sharing and reuse of common data - Community Zone

Stakeholders by our side – funding was given

Our Expectations

Integration of external services Metadata management, Web Services, API

Standardization Support for process automation

Notifications, workflows, enhanced self-service

More efficiency, more resources for the library core business

Our expectations / 2

Networking and best practices exchange with libraries of the same type

Development of new target-oriented services through use analysis (Analytics)

Less IT in house Reducing Total Cost of Ownership through Cloud

Computing

Requirements

Flexibility and change readiness Change management & communication of the priority

of the project Team members / roles required: system librarian,

metadata manager, IT people, department managers, quality and statistics librarian

Willingness to take risk as early adopter

Scope of Work

Data migration from ILS (catalogue, users, active loans and fees) SFX Knowledge Base

Configuration Libraries, Locations, Policies (simplification)

Integration with external systems SIS (Student Information System) Library Cards, SIP2 (Selfcheck 3M, Cash Machines) Metadata search and -import Authentication, Integration with Primo

Timeline

Apr 12 Alma Training Jun 12 Kick-off meeting

Jul: Configuration and migrations Forms Aug-Oct: 2 Test migrations Oct: Functional Workshop Dec: Final Sprint

03-21 Staff Training 15-21 Cut-over period 22-26 Final Migration 27-29 Primo integration & ER activation

Jan 13 Alma Live

Alma Live: January 2013

02. Jan: Alma live and Fulfillment services active Integration of SIS via webservice RFID and selfcheck integration Authentication via CAS in Primo

Net account for library account, requests, renewals

Activation of: Workflow tracking (+ automatic e-mail notification) Acquisitions and fund management Resource description in MARC21 Fees calculation Consolidation: workflow definition & improvement Staff training

Alma Live: the first months

General workflow revision (+ configuration) Continue optimization, troubleshooting General Area

Alma certification Switch to regular support + “Top5 issues” New ticketing system (from Pivotal to Salesforce) A new circulation desk and a new SIP2 integration Label printing

Acquisitions Area EDI for orders and invoices Approval Plans, gifts, exchanges workflows

Alma live: the first months / 2

Fulfillment Area Optimization of the automatisms in circulation

Letter Customizations, Automatic Print Slips Fees calculation

Revision of some policies SFX Replacement with Alma Uresolver only in Primo

General Electronic Service for ILL, Link to 360Link

Resource Management Area Clean ups and Ghost records Electronic Packages management

Analytics Reports, Dashboards Clean ups

Experience during configuration

Good cooperation despite time pressure Solution-oriented and pragmatic approach No time for in-depth workflow analysis More focus needed on ERM and Alma Uresolver

Lesson learned

Cloud computing requires a new approach with the software: Monthly Releases No traditional test environment Dealing with occurring problems

Better reporting and controlling (under construction) Impact on the organization Workflow standardization & automation support Manual work after migration needed

Clean ups Electronic resources activation

"erfahrung als

Open and critical issues

Community Zone & E-Resources Recent print publications and databases are missing Organization of packages data: better concordance with

licenses signed by the customers is needed Activation of ER is time consuming Overlap analysis is missing

Lack of functionalities of Alma Uresolver Analytics Weekly Update Troubles with combination of data from different areas

Open and critical issues / 2

Batch updates and set creation not always easy Migration of subscriptions and entering of

acquisitions data More customization needed (e.g. in workflows,

cataloguing, new user registration, etc.) Less important, but look and feel could be

improved (especially in the Resource Management search)

Development seems to be overloaded

Outlook 2013-2014

3.-4. quarter 2013 Troubleshooting and optimization Delivery of standard reports via Analytics Alma Network New Primo Layout

2014 Reserve Collections Interlibrary Loan Primo/Alma APIs Maybe more Alma institutions in the network

Digital Landscape before and after Alma

Thank you!

paolo.buoso@unibz.it