Considering a New Information Topology

Diane C. MirvisAssociate Vice President Information Technology & CIO

dmirvis@bridgeport.eduNISO Forum: Library Resource Management Systems

October 9, 2009 • Boston, MA

Fundamental rethinking of how work gets done by scholars, students, staff

Impacts entire organizational structure, roles

Workflow and knowledge management become pivotal concepts

Drives technology and Library purchasing For Librarians, spotlights value of

information in all forms

Why is this discussion important?

Traditional computing environments

Silo thinking among constituencies Proprietary technology Niche vendors Mix of content aggregators, publishers with

licensing agreements selling to organizational consumers. Little opportunity to view information resources holistically.

Lack of skilled technical staff for integration

Model driven by

Where in the organization is information?And who owns it?

Everywhere and Everybody

(Including in the Library)

At the University of Bridgeport………

We are stepping back together to reconsider our enterprise information needs, and rethink how we use information as students, faculty, staff and alumni

The University is examining how workflow and content can be more effectively managed

One surprise for Librarians – the many “stealth” database providers

Datatel Student Information System Datatel Enterprise Portal Datatel e-Business Solution (CRM) Visionary Clinical Information System (CIS) Campus Security 3rd Party Vendors Cloud Applications Campus Digital Signage Web site

UB Administrative systems

Blackboard Course Management System (CMS)

E- Portfolio Products Datatel Retention Alert Cloud Communities of Interest Assessment Tools Wimba Synchronous Learning

UB Academic systems

Ex Libris Voyager Integrated Library System Ex Libris Primo Discovery Ex Libris MetaLib Ex Libris SFX Institutional Repository

UB Library systems

We are working to optimize workflow Vendors extending beyond traditional niches

Technology product overlaps, interoperability proffered Purchasing decisions more centralized Content and technology vendors often one in same

Open Source initiatives Role Blurring among Information Seekers

Scholarship, marketing, retention, fiscal tracking, etc. Standards adherence Organizational & cultural issues Cost Staffing Evidence Based Management

Current topology challenged

Launch of Library Primo platform◦ On budget, on time, filled multiple information

needs across organization◦ First portal-like experience, Web 2.0◦ Exposed interoperability, redundancy issues

across traditional Library database providers◦ Raised bar for Blackboard CMS

Escalating technology costs Institutional competitiveness Decision to implement Enterprise Portal and

CRM

KEY Drivers for UB organizational change

Initiated enterprise Data Dictionary Project 10.1.09 Datatel planning methodology just starting

◦ Vision, Governance, Needs Assessment, Design, Content flow, Applications for Portal and CRM

Stakeholder team assembled across organization◦ Staff, Faculty, Librarians, Students, Alumni◦ Project Analysts Assigned◦ New Content Manager hired

Forces decisions on workflow, roles, technology How do we deliver information resources in any

format when and where needed?

Decision to implement both enterprise Portal and CRM within 1 year

New process model starting to emerge

Where Will Library Systems Fit?Portal, CRM, CIS raise new issues beyond

integration with CMS Linking systems, embedding content

delivery, web parts - all options Multiple content management systems Library Discovery system rich, well liked Synching up roles across delivery platforms Layering of repository systems a concern

Faculty Information Cube on Retention

Logical model information resource cluster

External Database Articles

ERP D

ata

Cons

ulta

nt R

epor

tsAssessment Data

CRM Data

Black

board

Conte

nt

Workflow

Workflow

Convergence weighs heavily in investment decisions. New purchasing approval policies established.

Questions swirl around information content – stewardship, repositories, harvesting, ingesting, embedding, purchased and free database content

Do we link in layers of different systems, or deconstruct site architecture based on workflow?◦ Librarians busy visioning what next gen digital platform will

look like in Portal How feasible is it to think convergence can be achieved

given technical, organizational and legal barriers? Will vendors and open source communities see

convergence as opportunity or threat?

Tough to reinvent …

Library, IT and academic departments all were investigating options independently

Multiple vendors and open source communities

Overlapping functionality of products◦ Revenue potential for faculty

University decided to build a no cost pilot using Primo until larger Topology was determined

Our Institutional Repository parable

Institutional Repository Pilot

Check out publications and contact colleagues in:◦ Operations Research◦ Information Technology◦ Knowledge Management◦ Library Science

Others exploring same issues

Thank You

dmirvis@bridgeport.edu