Gregynog 2012 Shared Library Systems..progress in Wales Mark Hughes Head of Collections Swansea

Why do ‘shared services’? Open up collaborative opportunities Avoid duplication of effort Avoid re-inventing the wheel Greater use of distributed knowledge Economies of scale Cloud Computing?.. drive down costs

The UK context : Sconul / HEFCE / JISC £12.5 million HEFCE funding JISC / Sconul LMS Study JISC ‘Knowledge Base+’ service Recent project funding streams..

Welsh HE Library Systems: perfect timing? £600k+ p.a. expenditure LMS’ in use are ageing New functionality requirements Institutional mergers & co-operation Multiple institutions ‘reviewing position’ New market options

Work done so far… CyMAL funding Sept 2011 Projects for Public Library and HE sectors Feasibility study completed Jan 2012 Overall ‘pro’ shared LMS with caveats but..posed as many questions as it answered…

CILIP Cymru 2011 What do we want from a shared LMS? Robust & reliable shared platform Options to share data at different levels Options to co-operate in other ways Options to manage all of our resource types – print and electronic Improve services to our end users Improve library workflows Reduce / control our overall cost of ownership

Shared LMS: the marketplace Cloud solution = centrally hosted / shared ‘Traditional LMS’ available as ‘cloud’ solutions or local hosting Open Source options ‘Next Generation’ systems

Open Source No ‘owner’ – community driven development & control Standards support - open accessibility Sharing of expertise & knowledge International co-operation & community base Freedom & flexibility vs responsibility Full required functionality? Risk?

‘Next Gen’ Cloud Systems Hosted & proprietary service only ‘Next Generation’ software Data sharing options built in Uniform resource management (print and e) Total cost of ownership lower?

Current Generation Systems Proprietary but various hosting options Mature functionality Require additional software e.g. Electronic Resource Management Current market prices lower than ever Is this a step sideways?

The next stage… JISC ‘Digital Infrastructure’ funding July 12 – Jan 13 project Dedicated project manager ‘..answer the difficult questions..’ Examine wider infrastructure options & impact Provide detailed business case for institutional & wider use

Thank you