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, students, 3 locations  The Library  3 locations in an integrated system  A modern learning environment (RFID), open /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  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  Staff Training  Cut-over period  Final Migration  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 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  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!