A Tale of Two Systems: One Library’s Experience Migrating to a New System and Back

Abstract

The decision to migrate to a new library system is generally a long-term decision. The integrated library system, which some now call library platforms, impact many if not all facets of the library experience. Making a transition to a new system impacts all staff and our patrons on some level. In addition to the traditional services included in a library system we are increasingly seeing new services pop-up including electronic resource management systems, discovery layers, and program management systems, as part of the new library platforms. According to Marshall Breeding's, Library Perceptions 2017 Survey, a little more than 28% of libraries surveyed were "shopping" for a new system.

Migrating to a shared Library Management System: evaluation from the perspective of librarians and lessons learned

“…The cost-effectiveness, in terms of budgets and time, was the most significant reason for migrating to a new shared LMS (Liu and Fu, 2018). In our survey, the cost factor was so crucial that it even surpassed the satisfaction that many employees stated that they had with their old ILSs (Gutierrez, 2019).…”

A leap into the future – migrating to FOLIO: A cataloguer’s perspective

“…The compatibility of the systems with a discovery layer was also interrogated. A discovery layer is software package that "sits" on top of a traditional online catalogue that has enriched searching features and content (Gutierrez 2019). Areas of focus when evaluating the various systems included, the cost, interchangeable services such as the link resolver's functionality, compatibility of MARC record services, data usage collection and metadata management system, to list a few.…”

“…Kohn and McCloy (2010) discuss three phases of a migration, inclusive of a phase-to-phase implementation, a one-phase option or going live with all the modules simultaneously. However, linked to the views of Gutierrez (2019) and Singh (2013) most libraries opt for going live with all modules at once for the two-phased approach which is to go live in phases, or all in one go. This can mean that each module is scheduled to go live on different days.…”

“…However, costs had to be factored in for the hosting services. According to Gutierrez (2019), the strength of the ILS to host the various library modules is worth evaluating. Some ILS would have a strong Cataloguing module, whilst the Circulation module would fall short and not suit the library's needs.…”