Montana Library Card Update

The OCLC/Montana NCIP/Home Delivery Pilot is getting closer to a go live date. OCLC, SirsiDynix and MSC staff have been configuring system policies at both ends to get NCIP authentication up and running. Onsite training is scheduled for March 13 at the Montana State Library.

Two HiLine libraries (Havre-Hill County and Liberty County, Chester), will be participating in the Home Delivery piece of the pilot initially, until SirsiDynix can deliver an NCIP compatible Horizon upgrade.

The 10 MSC libraries participating in both NCIP and Home Delivery are:

Missoula Public Library

Miles Community College Library

Miles City Public Library

Whitehall Community Library

Drummond School Community Library

Dillon City Library

Hearst Free Library (Anaconda)

Polson City Library

Glendive Public Library

Bitterroot Public Library

What constitutes 'success'?

We should identify what consitutes 'success' on the front end, rather than mid-stream or at the end of this pilot project. Or in the popular argot, how do we know if we did good? I offer these measures (in no particular order) to stimulate discussion:

1. Everything works, and works reliably
   
2. It seems like the project will scale-up from a few libraries to the whole state
3. The pilot is affordable, and the scaled-up version is cost effective as well
   
4. Users like everything about it, and use the heck out of it
   
5. The courier service(s) work, delivering books at a price libraries can afford to users or users' libraries within a day or two of when they were requested
6. Pilot project libraries decide to continue with the project

What would you add, subtract, or alter from this list?

Bruce

Lorcan Dempsey Article

Lorcan Dempsey's May 14, 2006, blog titled: "Lifting out the catalog discovery experience" presents a remarkable discussion about the future of the catalog. Perhaps most interestingly, his discussion is user-centric, that is, he discusses the catalog from the user's point of view, as a process of - discover, locate, request, deliver - in the chain of use of library materials.

Dempsey notes that "The discovery experience does not have to be tied to the inventory management system." And when one has made this little leap, it seems to me, we are better positioned to think about increasing access to library materials to all Montana's library users.

Montana Library Card Pilot: Fact Sheet
May 2006

Note

This is a real pilot project, the genuine bleeding-edge article. As it evolves and develops, what’s outlined below will almost certainly change—hopefully for the better. But as of today, May 11, 2006, this is my best understanding of what this project will entail. I am excited because I think this will lay the underpinnings for a program which provides statewide access to information, a ‘Montana Library Card’, for all Montanans. But first, we have to figure out how to make a miracle or two.

Bruce Newell, May 11, 2006

Overview
Montana State Library and OCLC invite you to participate in the Montana Library Card Pilot Project. This pilot project will experiment with giving library patrons direct simultaneous finding and requesting access to your and other libraries’ collections, and backup these cross-system ‘find-it’, ‘request-it’ functions with courier-based ‘get-it’ services.

If successful, a library patron in (for instance) Missoula, using Missoula Public Library’s online catalog (and her Missoula Public Library card), will be able to conveniently find and request an item (without a librarian’s assistance) from the Havre-Hill Library’s collection. Special courier services will deliver the requested item to the Missoula Public Library, or perhaps even the patron’s mailbox, within a day or two.

The Montana Shared Catalog and the Hi-Line catalog, in conjunction with computer applications at OCLC, will automate much of this process. All Montana libraries interested in this pilot project are encouraged to read further.

How will this work?
Participating libraries will need to be able to run an NCIP[1] server on their integrated library system. An NCIP probably doesn’t require separate computer hardware, but will typically require a larger ILS, such as Sirsi, Dynix, Endeavor, III, ExLibris, et cetera. OCLC will run applications, in the background, making it possible for a Sirsi system to exchange information with an Endeavor system, a Dynix system to ‘talk to’ an ExLibris ILS, etc. The two computers will exchange information about item availability, authenticate the patron, and whether the patron’s card is not blocked due to overdues, unpaid bills, and so forth.

Pilot libraries will need to be Montana OCLC libraries, contributing holding records to WorldCat, and actively using OCLC resource sharing. For the pilot project, participating libraries will have the option of delivering items directly to the requesting patron.

We anticipate that initial pilot project participants will include the Missoula Public Library, perhaps some or all of the other Montana Shared Partner Libraries[2], and one or more of the libraries sharing the Hi-Line Shared Catalog[3].

What are the benefits for libraries?

The Montana Library Card Pilot Proiect will allow library patrons, in participating libraries, to find more items (by searching through a larger catalog), request items from the holding library without help from a librarian, and have the item sent to their library or to their home. Project advantages for patrons include:

• More and better choices (“Every book its reader.”)
• More library users (“Every reader his book.” “Books are for use.”)
• Quick and easy request (“Save the time of the reader.”[4])
• Rapid delivery

Libraries will save time by cutting handling costs, mostly by treating interlibrary loan as if it were a circulation process, and by handling requested materials (where possible) in bulk. Libraries will increase what they directly offer their patrons by merging the presentation of their catalog with other libraries’ catalogs. Libraries will save money by gaining shipping efficiencies, however, this ‘saving’ will be an anticipated per item savings; we anticipate the volume of ILL will increase substantially, and along with it, the cost of moving materials will also increase if not substantially, at least to some degree.

When will the pilot run?

The pilot will start July 2006 and run 6-8 months.

OCLC Requirements for Participation
Pilot participants responsibilities include:

• Review, sign and return the pilot agreement to OCLC (under development)
• Agree to allow all BORROWING requests be fulfilled via WorldCat Delivery’s NCIP methodology, if possible, within their defined group
• Agree to allow all LENDING requests be processed via WorldCat Delivery’s NCIP methodology, if possible.
• LENDING libraries will strongly consider providing direct delivery to patrons of WorldCat Delivery partner libraries.
• Libraries agree to support the need for patron registration via “My Account” in the OCLC FirstSearch Service for the purpose of obtaining identification information from the patron’s library to assure patron is in good standing to request services.
• Assumes the library uses FirstSearch for patron initiated requests
• Implement an OCLC ILL Direct Request web service to allow patrons to submit request via local OPAC
• OCLC will assist with this process
• This process is NOT mandatory if the library is not interested in initiating requests via the ILS interface
• Agree to provide feedback on all aspects of the pilot, including interface design, documentation, training materials, additional features necessary to go from pilot to service offering
• ILLiad Libraries will require an update to ILLiad version 7.2 prior to participation

What will the pilot cost libraries?
There is no cost from OCLC to the libraries to participate. Pilot libraries will incur normal OCLC WorldCat resource sharing charges, if applicable.

There may be a cost from the ILS vendor to enable NCIP functionality. Libraries should discuss these costs with their ILS vendor.

What are OCLC’s goals of the pilot?
The goals of the pilot include the following:

• Understand how library staff will use WorldCat Delivery and what other features are needed to make WorldCat Delivery a complete service for library staff
• Understand how libraries and library patrons will use direct delivery, if made available

• Allow participants help shape the service being offered

Toward the end of the pilot OCLC will evaluate the feasibility of this pilot becoming a service, including costs and required functionality for a general release.

Contact
Bruce Newell, Director
Email: bnewell@mt.gov
Montana Library Network
Montana State Library
PO Box 201800
1515 East Sixth Avenue
Helena, MT 59620-1800
Voice: (406) 444-9816
Fax: (406) 444-0266
Web: http://montanalibraries.org

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[1] Niso Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP) supports circulation-related information exchange between different information systems. http://www.niso.org/standards/index.html

[2] Bitterroot, Drummond, Flathead County, Hearst Free, Missoula, and Polson.

[3] Big Sandy Branch, Blaine County, Harlem Public, Havre High School, Havre Middle School, Havre-Hill County, Highland Park School (Havre), Liberty County, Lincoln-McKinley Primary School (Havre), Sunnyside Intermediate School Library (Havre)

[4] Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_laws_of_library_science

Mansifeld Library Decides Not to be Part of Pilot Project

Barry Brown wrote us a gracious e-mail today, indicating that the Mansfield Library has decided not to be part of this pilot project. Barry wrote that "...The Mansfield Library remains an interested observer of this project. Thanks again for your invitation..."

While we are sorry that UM won't be an initial particpant in this project, we respect their decision and hope that the Mansfield Library will rejoin this effort at some future date.

We will send an invitation to all NCIP capable Montana libraries, inviting them to participate. In the meantime, we are hoping that the other initial partner to our early conversations, the Hi-Line Shared Catalog, will be able to participate in this exciting pilot project.

What Might a MT Lib Card Mean for Users?

What Might This Mean for Montana Library Users?

If a majority of Montana libraries boast being a MLN library and honoring the (presumed now real) Montana statewide library card, what would this mean for Montana library users? Let's play 'let's pretend' and outline one possible scenerio--

• It becomes true to say, as did Jamie Grant, a Bitterroot Public Library Trustee, that “…I can use my library card anywhere in the State.” This is true for online users as well as using it in person…library users can get stuff from most any Montana library.
• It is easy to find and request books from libraries other then my own; essentially, from my perspective as a library user, Montana libraries are sharing so transparently that I get to select from one big library, which just happens to have storefronts spread from Thompson Falls to Plentywood or Ekalaka.
• Finding and requesting books (or magazine articles, reports, maps, movies, etc.) is pretty easy. One easy search lets me chose from a variety of formats—for instance, my search for information about the Dearborn River let me chose between:
• 15 books
• 11 maps
• 27 appellant briefs and court opinions
• 1 film
• 2 oral histories
• 5 magazine articles
• 473,000 items on the open Web, and
• 3 articles in various encyclopedias
• When I request a book (or whatever) on Monday, I usually get it by Wednesday, even though it was sitting on a library shelf 300 miles away.
• Through my library I have access to a broad array of electronic books and magazines. This goes a long ways toward leveling the playing field between libraries in ‘big’ cities like Missoula or Billings, and those in little towns like Circle, Plentywood, Browning, Plains, or Darby.
• There are collections of materials owned by all Montana libraries, supplementing local collections. This means, for instance, that we have movies and DVDs our library would never be able to afford on its own.
• I can find my story, and tell my story, at my library. A wealth of Montana-related material means that I can find:
• Pictures of Sluicebox State Park from the early-twentieth century
• Records about the Fort Peck Reservation, including photographs of tribal elders from the nineteenth century
• Lumber company records from small mills in the Yaak and see how many pounds of chalk and dozens of picaroons they went through in a year
• Maps and pictures of Philipsburg from the last 125 years and see how it grew, declined, then started growing again
• Perhaps best of all, I can contribute pictures, interviews, diaries, etc. of my own—which may help future family members and researchers learn about life in today’s Montana (which, tomorrow, will be yesterday’s Montana.)

Montana Illiad Libraries

I think these are Montana's Illiad-using libraries:

Montana Tech
U of M, Western
MSU Great falls
MSU, Northern
MSU, Billings
MSU, Bozeman
U of M, Mansfield

Thanks Barb Conger for your help with this list.

What is the "Montana Library Card"

The Montana State Library, working with any willing Montana library, is planning to create a “Montana Library Card” (or its functional equivalent).

Our plan is to build systems and relationships between libraries that allow:

1. Users, in
   
2. Participating libraries, to have
   
3. Convenient,
   
4. Lawful access, to
   
5. Quality library content and services,
   
6. In every participating library in the state

The Montana Library Card may not be an actual card, but may be a set of functional relationships and underlying infrastructures. We imagine libraries sharing integrated library systems allowing 'Montana Library Card' activities within their respective catalog and between participating libraries. We imagine libraries, in dispirate library systems, to use (perhaps OCLC-facilitated) NCIP and Z39.50 servers to allow a seamless and convenient means for patrons to discover and request items, without mediation.

There is a Montana Library Card on the books. MCA 22-1-301 describes a non-voluntary public-library only version. For the purposes of MSL's strategic planning discussion, we are playing with the idea of changing the statute from public-only to all types of libraries, and adding the concept of voluntary participation.

The Montana Library Card is closely tied to fulfillment and authentication processes, which are described below.

Montana Library Card Project Blog

This Montana Library Card blog is being created Monday, March 20, 2006, to help manage a joint project involving partner libraries from the Montana Shared Catalog, Jennifer Pearson's work group from OCLC's Group Services, the Mansfield Library at the University of Montana, and Bonnie Williamson of the Hi-Line Catalog which is served from the Havre-Hill Public Library.

This pilot project's goal (from the State Library's perspective) is to see if we can extend the functionality enjoyed by patrons of MSC's Partner libraries (unmediated discovery and request, rapid materials delivery) to Montana library users being served by other integrated library systems.

We'd like, for instance, a patron at the UM to be able to discover and request an item from anywhere in the UM or MSC bibliographic databases, from within her UM Endevour system's catalog interface, and have it delivered (without interlibrary loan-type library staff mediation) to either the UM Mansfield Library, or directly mailed to the user.

While we know that the MSC could work with UM to build a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection, using NCIP (Niso Circulation Interchange Protocol), we think that these P2P relationships won't scale well, maintenance-wise, in libraries with already busy small information technology staffs. We're interested in NCIP-enabled P2P relationships between many Montana library systems, and we think that OCLC, acting as a sort of Babel Fish, will enable us to provide MSC Partner-like service between disparate ILSs.

We understand that OCLC has parallel but slightly different goals. I understand Jennifer will e-mail these to me shortly, and I will post her thoughts here for your review and comment.

So this is the beginning of a pilot project that may, or may not, point the way to establishing a Montana Libary Card. What is a Montana Library Card? See the next blog posting.