Introducing the Next Generation of Library Management Systems

Serials Review 38 (2012) 110–123

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Serials Review

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Electronic Resource Forum

Introducing the Next Generation of Library Management Systems

Kristen Wilson⁎, Column EditorNCSU Libraries, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA

⁎ Corresponding author.E-mail address: [email protected].

0098-7913/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. Alldoi:10.1016/j.serrev.2012.04.003

a b s t r a c t
a r t i c l e i n f o
Available online 21 May 2012
This installment of Electronic Resource Forum uses the results of a survey to present profiles of five next gener-ation library management systems: Alma by Ex Libris; Sierra by Innovative Interfaces, Inc.; OLE by the KualiFoundation; WorldShare Management Services by OCLC; and Intota by Serials Solutions. Each profile providesan overviewof the systemand describes its development history, use of standards and interoperability, and func-tionality. In addition to the profiles, the article includes a brief discussion of trends in next generation librarymanagement systems.
© 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

By the endof 2012, the librarymarketwill be home tofive newman-agement systems. Unlike the past decade, which saw vendors releasinga spate of stand-alone systems targeted to specific areas of librarywork,this new era in library tools is all about integration. Librarians andvendors alike have realized that the disintegrated model does notwork; too many silos need to be maintained. The integrated librarysystem (ILS) is still home to much core library data, including purchaseand cost data, bibliographic records, and circulation information.Holdings management for electronic resources has migrated to knowl-edge base products, which allow librarians to keep track of whichresources they own and feed that data into discovery tools such asunified search indexes and OpenURL resolvers. The electronic resourcemanagement system (ERMS) promised to be a refuge for previouslyhomeless data such as license terms, administrative information, andusage statistics, but wound up marginalized because it could not linkthese data to other systems. Reliance on downstream systems hasbecome a huge problem, as librarians try to harvest and combine datafrom across their operations in homegrown databases and applicationsthat are not quite up to the task.

This next generation of library management systems aims to solvethe problems of multiple management points and isolated data bycreating integrated platforms from the ground up. In short, the ILS,ERMS, and knowledge base will become one. While this prospectdoubtless appeals to most librarians who have struggled with complexdata management, the question remains: howwill these systems reallywork?

To answer that question, I have collected information about thesefive new systems by means of a questionnaire. The survey identifiedseveral emerging trends that will define this crop of library systems,

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which I will discuss below. A high-level overview of the systems land-scape can be found in Table 1. In addition to highlighting broaddirections in the market, I have also compiled detailed descriptions ofthe development and functionality of each product in a series of systemprofiles. The systems profiled include Alma by Ex Libris; Sierra byInnovative Interfaces, Inc.; OLE by the Kuali Foundation; WorldShareManagement Services by OCLC; and Intota by Serials Solutions.

2. Trends in Next Generation Library Systems

Integration is the defining trend of the new systems generation.Each of the systems profiled in this article is designed to replace twoor more stand-alone library products, among them the ILS, ERMS,knowledge base, OpenURL resolver, A-to-Z list, and digital asset man-agement system (see Table 1). The beauty of integrating these piecesis that each system will use a single, integrated data model. Thisground-up approach will facilitate better reporting and smootherworkflows by allowing orders and invoices, license terms, access points,and usage statistics to live in the same place and link to the sameresource records. Interface design also benefits from integration, asusers will be able to perform tasks seamlessly from multiple pointswithin the system. In one example, OCLC's WorldShare ManagementServices automatically sets a library's WorldCat holdings when a titleis activated in its knowledge base. In another, Ex Libris's Alma allowsusers to search its knowledge base for an e-journal package and attachan order to that record.

Integration does have its limits. All of these systemswill be discoveryneutral, meaning that libraries will need to provide separate discoveryplatforms to make their holdings findable to users. While this modelallows for greater flexibility, it also necessitates the creation of connec-tors between systems. It may also force some libraries to maintain asecondary knowledge base, especially for unified search indexes thatfocus on article-level discovery like Serials Solutions' Summonor OCLC'sWorldCat Local. Many libraries will be faced with the choice to

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Table 1An overview of next generation library systems.

Product Release schedule Number ofcustomers

Software model Pricing model Implementation model What tools willit replace?

Ex LibrisAlma

General release isscheduled for early 2012.

More than 60institutions havecommitted to moveto Alma during thenext two years.

Alma will be hostedin the cloud by ExLibris.

Alma is provided on ayearly subscription basisthat covers the productlicense, enhancements, asandbox environment,and ongoingmaintenance.

Implementation time isdependent on institution's size,but can be as fast as threemonths. Training will beincluded with implementationservices.

ILS, knowledgebase, linkresolver, ERMS,digital assetmanagement

Innovative Interfaces,Inc. Sierra ServicesPlatform

Early adopters willimplement product infirst half of 2012; generalrelease planned for thethird quarter of 2012.

n/a Sierra can be hostedlocally on twoservers—anapplication serverand a databaseserver. It can also behosted viaInnovative's privatecloud.

Sierra is available througha variety of licensingpackages, including bothsubscription andpurchase arrangements.

Implementation for newcustomers takes an average ofsix to nine months; existingMillenium customers canmigrate in two weeks.Documentation and trainingincluded with cost of service.

ILS, knowledgebase, linkresolver, A to Zlist, ERMS

Kuali Open LibraryEnvironment(OLE)

Kuali OLE 0.3 was re-leased in November 2011.Kuali plans to release 1.0in December of 2012.

17 partner librariesare participating inthe development ofOLE individually orthrough consortia.

OLE is designed to berun locally. A hostedversion is not cur-rently planned, butmay be providedlater by the KualiCommercial AffiliateProgram.

Kuali software is opensource and licensed underthe EducationalCommunity License V2.0.Kuali OLE project partnerscontribute funding towardthe development. Fees arebased on institutional size.

Partner libraries are anticipatingin a six to twelve monthimplementation. Kuali OLEtraining will be provided by theproject and by the CommercialAffiliates.

ILS, knowledgebase, ERMS

OCLC WorldShareManagementServices

Product was released in2011.

5–10 customers invarious stages ofimplementation.

WorldShareManagementServices will behosted in the cloudby OCLC; the onlysoftwarerequirement is adevice with a Webbrowser.

WorldShare ManagementServices uses asubscription model basedon collection size and FTEfor academic libraries andannual circulation forpublic libraries.

Average implementation periodis less than one month. Alltraining and documentationprovided at no additional charge.

ILS, knowledgebase, linkresolver, A to Zlist, ERMS

Serials SolutionsIntota

Intota will be available inlate 2012. Release will bein phases starting withdata/resourcemanagement andacquisitions; thenselection and systemintegration; thencirculation andassessment.

n/a Intota will be hostedin the cloud bySerials Solutions.

All Serials Solutionsproducts will be offeredusing a subscriptionmodel.

To be determined. ILS, knowledgebase, A to Z list,ERMS, collec-tion assessment

111K. Wilson / Serials Review 38 (2012) 110–123

consolidate all services with a single vendor or to maintain holdingsdata in multiple places to support multiple vendor systems.

Like the software industry as a whole, library management softwareis moving to the cloud. Using the software as a service (SaaS) model,library vendors are beginning to host their software on remote serversand allow customers access via Web-based interfaces. Of the productsprofiled, Alma, WorldShare Management Services, and Intota will beoffered exclusively as cloud services. Innovative will offer locally-hosted and cloud-based versions of Sierra. And while OLE is currentlyplanned as a local solution, Kuali's representative said that a cloud-based version may be made possible in the future through the KualiCommercial Affiliate Program, which allows vendors to provide paidsupport for Kuali's open source products.

Along with the cloud, library vendors are also embracing the agiledevelopment methodology, which uses iterative development cycles.With agile, libraries should no longer be faced with large, cumbersomeupgrades or need to wait an eternity for small bug fixes to be released.OCLC and Serials Solutions each expect to roll out releases quarterly,Ex Libris three times a year, and Innovative biannually. Ex Libris alsoplans for many smaller releases throughout the year allowing them toquickly address customer requests. Because many of these services arehosted in the cloud, new software versions can be applied by the vendor

with no interruption of service for customers. One drawback of this ap-proach, however, is that libraries will need to give up some degree ofcontrol over their software—a factor that may lead some institutionsto stay with a locally hosted solution.

Another technology trend coming to libraries is sharing. Vendors areencouraging libraries to share data and applications across their newplatforms. Within Alma, Ex Libris has created the Community Catalog,a service that works alongside third-party sources like WorldCat. TheCommunity Catalog allows Alma users to share bibliographic recordsandknowledge base data in anopen environment.WorldShareManage-ment Services contains a license template module that allows librariansto create generic license records and that can be downloaded andmod-ified by any individual library also using the service. Many of these plat-forms also encourage libraries to create custom applications through theuse of an application programming interface (API), which tells externaldevelopers how toworkwith a particular system. Sierra will allow usersto create applications using a RESTful API, which will allow them to beembedded into a native dashboard or externalWeb portals like iGoogle.WorldShareManagement Services displays user-created tools in an AppGallery, where users can browse community applications and add themto their own implementation of the service. Kuali's community sourcemodel for OLE will take the idea of sharing a step further by making

112 K. Wilson / Serials Review 38 (2012) 110–123

the OLE code freely available and encouraging development and exper-imentation by users.

3. Systems Profiles

3.1. Vendor: Ex Libris

System name: Alma.Company representative: Barbara Radel, senior librarian.

3.1.1. What Is Alma?Alma is a next generation library management service, built as a

cloud-based SaaS solution that consolidates the management of allresource types, including electronic, print, anddigital resources, into a sin-gle solution with unified and streamlined workflows. Alma will take theplace of many traditional library systems including the ILS, knowledgebase, link resolver, ERMS, and digital asset management system. Ratherthan containing a traditional online catalog or discovery layer, Alma isdiscovery-neutral. Libraries can integrate the system seamlessly withany stand-alone discovery service. Alma includes a suite of tools that inte-grate analytics into its workflows (for example, including usage and costinformation as part of standard selection). Alma is optimized for theneeds of consortia by supporting customizable policies and processes,joint selection functionality, and native support for library-to-library re-source sharing. UsingWeb-based, open interfaces, Alma can be integratedwith other systems including external campus systems, and libraries candevelop adapters and applications to meet their institutions' needs.

3.1.2. How is Alma Being Developed?Development of Alma began when Ex Libris introduced the concept

of unified resourcemanagement in 2007. The concept evolved based oninterviews with librarians and other stakeholders about the challengesfaced by libraries, particularly in the areas of electronic resource man-agement and the need for a new infrastructure to support evolvinglibrary services. Detailed conceptual design began in 2009 with fourdevelopment partners, and Alma was announced in 2010. Ex Libris de-livered a series of partner releases of the working software to develop-ment partners for testing and feedback, beginning in June 2010. Generalrelease to development partners is planned for early 2012.

From June 2010 to December 2011, the four development partnershave actively tested the early releases of the software, migrated datafrom the ILS, link resolver and ERMS environments, and providedfeedback to Ex Libris. Most feedback concerned the system's unifiedworkflows and its advanced cataloging and metadata functionality.Ex Libris also received feedback on ways to further streamline acqui-sitions workflows in a unified environment.

Alma is being developed using an agile development methodology.Customers receive a combination of frequent, small updates for bugfixes and minor enhancements. Since these updates are deliveredvia the cloud, there is no impact on the daily use of the service bycustomers. In addition, Alma's seasonal major releases will be deliveredabout three times a year, allowing Ex Libris to address new customerrequirements inweeks rather than themonths and years it has typicallytaken for current software in libraries.

Ex Libris will continue to support its Aleph and Voyager systems forthe foreseeable future. Both products are being actively developed.Although the next release of the Verde ERMS and DigiTool will be anupgrade to Alma, Ex Libris will continue to support customers whodecide on a slower upgrade path.

3.1.3. How Will Alma Support Standards and Interoperability?Built to conform to industry standards and open interfaces, Alma

will support standards for multiple areas of the solution. The Almabusiness intelligence solution, known as Alma Analytics, will includeusage statistics gathered from a wide range of vendors. The standardsused to gather the information conform to the industry standards

SUSHI and COUNTER. In addition, Ex Libris has officially endorsedthe KBART standard.

Alma's uniqueMetadataManagement System (MMS) supportsmulti-plemetadata schemas and formatswith noneed to crosswalkwhenman-aging a supported format. Alma currently supports MARC21 and DublinCore (including the extended 55-element set). The infrastructure for theMMS is designed to manage each of these formats natively and to easilyexpand to support additional formats, such as MODS. In this way, theAlmaMMS allows libraries tomanage an array of resources (print, digital,and electronic) according to their local needs with no loss of data whensaving since the formats are stored internally in the supported schema.

Alma supports RDA through the addition of new fields and subfieldsapproved as part of MARC21 updates 9, 10, and 11. Additionally, Almaallows libraries to use controlled vocabularies issued as part of RDA(such as carrier type and media type lists).

Alma provides extensibility and integration through many differentmethods including, but not limited to the following: APIs,Web services,software plug-ins, and adapters. In addition Alma supports industryprotocols such as SIP2, Z39.50, SRU (search and retrieve by URL), EDI(electronic data interchange), and NCIP (NISO Circulation InterchangeProtocol). These standards in combination with Alma's Open Platformallow the institution to integrate with library systems such as materialsvendors and cataloging utilities. Through its open interfaces, Alma alsointeroperates with campus-wide systems such as enterprise resourceplanning, student information systems, human resources systems, andlearning management systems, such as Blackboard.

To share developments, Ex Libris maintains the EL Commons, acollaborative Web-based platform that provides the infrastructurefor a code sharing platform and a wiki, defined and administered byEx Libris user groups. EL Common is open to all Ex Libris customers.

3.1.4. What Functionality Will Alma Provide?

3.1.4.1. Selection. Alma's roadmap includes advanced selection capabil-ities. Selection items are added to Alma by various methods: Webforms, APIs or a CSV (comma separated values) feed. Alma providesinformation that will assist the selector with purchasing decisions,such as full, bibliographic records for all material and, for print material,the institution's inventory holdings. For electronic material, Almaalso displays knowledge base availability, usage statistics, and otherinformation.

The selector can choose whether or not to acquire a resource, deferthe decision, consult other selectors, or begin a trial for evaluation.These trials will allow staff to set up limited activation to a group ofparticipants and store a record of their feedback to aid with evaluationand purchasing decisions once the trial ends (see Figure 1). The selectorcan initiate the ordering process in Alma. For example he can indicateprice information, funds, vendor, locations for print items, and activa-tion information for electronic resources.

Alma also supports evaluation processes for subscriptions to elec-tronic resources. The evaluation processwill present information neces-sary to make renewal decisions including usage, cost, and cost-per-usedata. For package renewals, it will also allow staff to review changesin license terms and available titles during the previous subscriptionperiod. When a decision is made to renew a resource, staff can useAlma to define the new subscription period. When a decision is madeto cancel, Alma will automatically deactivate and archive the electronicpackage when the existing subscription expires.

Patron-driven acquisitions processes for print and electronic re-sources are supported in Alma. For both processes, candidate recordsare published to a library's discovery platform. For print, userswho have the appropriate authorizations may request the item be pur-chased, launching an acquisition and delivery process. For electronicbooks, users will view the title directly, which may trigger a purchaseon the vendor side. The library will be invoiced, via EDI or manually,at which point Alma will move the item into the permanent collection.

Figure 1. A trial summary record in Alma.


3.1.4.2. Acquisitions. Firm orders for print or electronic resources caneither be initiated fromwithin Alma or in an external vendor orderingsystem and imported via embedded order data. Orders within Almacan be initiated from the institution catalog or from the CommunityZone (for more about the Community Zone see Section 3.1.4.3Description below). Acquisitions staff can locate a descriptive recordin the Community Catalog and place a print order. They can locatean electronic package in the Central Knowledge Base of the Commu-nity Zone and place an electronic order. Placing orders on any re-source in the Community Zone will launch the order workflow.

The goal within Alma is to streamline the process of ordering tofocus staff more on making decisions and less on data entry. Theworkflow for ordering is based on library-defined rules that determinewhen the system can automate steps (for example, by sending ordersvia EDI or email), and when staff must review and approve specificsteps. Once an order is sent, Alma will await receiving (for printresources) or activation (for electronic resources) and will alert staffwhen an order has not been received or activated within the expectedtime frame.

Print and electronic subscriptions are managed by Alma throughongoing open orders. The library establishes a purchase for the sub-scription including a start and an optional end date. As new issuesof print resources are received, inventory is created automatically.Electronic subscriptions may be activated and are subject to evalua-tion and renewal workflows.

Alma supports the creation of invoices based on approved purchaseorders. Alma's flexible invoicing handles invoices at different stages(before receipt, at the time of receipt or at a later date), and supportscredit notes, pro-forma invoices, subscriptions, and discounts.

3.1.4.3. Description. Alma's cataloging capabilities include the optionsto import records one by one or in bulk in all supported formats.This import can be scheduled to run automatically, so that regularloads of vendor records can be ingested into Alma with no staff inter-vention. At the point of import, the system will check for duplicatesand enhance records according to the metadata services profileestablished as part of that import method.

An integral part of Alma is the Community Zone, which includes aCommunity Catalog of bibliographic records shared by all librariesrunning Alma, and a Central Knowledge Base (see below). The Commu-nity Catalog serves as a source of descriptive records and allows librariestowork directly in a collaborativemetadatamanagement environment.Libraries can attach holdings directly to a community record, copycommunity records to the local catalog, or edit and update communityrecords. The Alma Community Catalog serves alongside other thirdparty sources that libraries already use, such as WorldCat or any otherregional catalog, providing libraries with greater flexibility. Librariesare encouraged to contribute records to this open environment, withoutlimiting the records' terms of use. Ex Librismakes no claims of ownership

on records in the Community Catalog, nor imposes any restrictions onuse or reuse of the records in the Community Catalog.

In addition, Alma allows staff to search external databases via z39.50or SRU protocols.When amatching record is found, it can then be impo-rted into the local catalog. This process can be used to overlay or mergean existing record through the metadata editor, allowing staff to easilycopy catalog to complete brief records.

Alma supports a Central Knowledge Base that is maintained andupdated by Ex Libris. Part of the Alma Community Zone, the KnowledgeBase contains information about packages of free and licensed electronictitles from different vendors, and is shared by all members of the Almacommunity.

3.1.4.4. Inventory Management. With Alma, a library can manage itsentire collection of resources, regardless of their type. Print resourcesare described according to a combination of holdings (in MFHD for-mat) and items. Electronic resources may be linked through the Cen-tral Knowledge Base (for packages) or single-title (for resourceslicensed individually). Digital resources are composed of representa-tions and files, including the ability to upload and manage digitalfiles, as well as the ability to use Alma to track digital objects storedin another repository.

3.1.4.5. Access. Alma will accept OpenURL requests and resolve themto a set of context sensitive services. Alma's Unified OpenURL link re-solver means that OpenURLs can now be used to locate contentwhether it is physical, electronic, or digital. The link resolver providesa variety of context sensitive services, such as linking directly to thefull text of electronic materials, resource sharing services, digitizationservices, availability of print resources, with options to place re-quests/holds and more. This functionality is available in Alma aswell as directly from the discovery system, such as Primo, or fromany OpenURL-enabled interface.

3.1.4.6. Electronic Resources Management. Alma supports managinglicenses and amendments including active dates, statuses associatedwith the negotiation process, notes, and an audit trail of edits. Staffmay also upload any number of digital files to a license, which maythen be viewed at any time through Alma. Alma supports the full Dig-ital Library Federation (DLF) Electronic Resource Management Initia-tive (ERMI) schema for licenses. Libraries may define which fieldsthey use and only display those fields. They may also group the fieldshowever they wish to create an interface suited to their institutionalneeds.

Alma supports vendor records with vendor accounts attached tothem. Vendor records store information about the vendor that, by de-fault, is inherited by all the vendor accounts attached to them. Vendoraccounts allow libraries to override that information (such as contactinformation), and to maintain multiple accounts for each vendor. For


example, a library may set up one account for firm orders and anotherfor approval plans.

Alma Analytics will include usage statistics gathered from a widerange of vendors (see Figure 2). The standards used to gather the in-formation are based on industry standards SUSHI and COUNTER.

3.1.4.7. Workflow. The Alma workflow engine allows for flexibility andthe ability to embed business rules. It also includes the ability to auto-mate processes based on customer defined rules such as purchaseorders across electronic and print formats. Users can also define pointsof staff mediation for approval or in case of exceptions. On logging intothe system, user specific task lists and alerts will display on the Almadashboard.

In one example, library staff may define rules for an automatedacquisitions process. If library defined conditions are met, the processwill move from one stage to the next without staff intervention. Thelibrary can set up rules that will flag an order for review if any of thedefined conditions are not met. For example, review may be required:

• By vendor (so that some vendor orders can pass throughautomatically);

• By acquisition method (e.g., so that approval orders will pass fewerchecks);

• By type of material or source of purchase order information; or• By additional exceptions; for example, a duplicate active order, theitem already exists in the database, the price exceeds a library definedlimit, fund nearing limit.

In this way, acquisitions staff will have one task list where theycan review orders that require decisions, while other orders will beautomated.

3.1.4.8. Reporting. The system includes Alma Analytics, a business intel-ligence solution that is part of the Almaoffering. Covering all workflows,the reports generated by the solution are embedded in Alma in variousways: as widgets on the home page or in relevant sections of thesystem. A sophisticated user interface enables advanced users to createand run customized reports.

Alma Analytics will aid in evaluating and making the best decisionsfor different workflows. The analytic solution will provide actionableinformation regarding cross-institutional usage, impact factors forjournals, budget usage trends, and an up-to-date expenses overview.One of the major areas that Alma Analytics will focus on is acquisitionbased reports. The set of available reports in the expenditure area isbased on the standards set by the Association of Research Librariesand includes operational reports, such as a breakdown of orders byma-terial type, and financial reports, such as a breakdown of expendituresbetween print and electronic acquisitions over a defined time period.

Figure 2. Journal usage statistics dis

3.1.4.9. Consortial Functionality. Known as collaborative networks,consortial support is central to Alma's development. Alma will offercapabilities such as consortial activation of e-resources, enriched selec-tion workflows that will offer staff in consortia the option of viewinginformation about fellow institutions' holdings, and the ability to workwith a central catalog while maintaining unique local capabilities.

3.2. Vendor: Innovative Interfaces, Inc.

System name: Sierra Services Platform.Company representative: Gene Shimshock, vice president of

marketing.

3.2.1. What Is the Sierra Services Platform?The Sierra Services Platform (Sierra) provides awide range of library

functionality in a tightly integrated application that supports printand electronicmaterials with unified acquisitions, serials check-in, elec-tronic resources management, cataloging, and circulation applications.Among its features is a roles-based desktop staff application designedto support modern library workflows and also provide targeted busi-ness information to managers and key personnel. Sierra also offers aWeb-based dashboard that provides a container for running Innovativeand third-party applications that can be easily integrated with manyWeb platforms and portals. These applications allow the library toprovide targeted data to staff. For example, applications can be createdto show up-to-the-moment fund balances, on-demand purchase alerts,and other system metrics. In addition, the dashboard applications arecompatible with other container environments such as iGoogle.

3.2.2. How Is the Sierra Services Platform Being Developed?Innovative announced Sierra in April 2011. Development of the

system had begun in early 2010, with work on the architectural under-pinnings starting even earlier. Sierra development is being conducted inkey phases, starting with preparing 100 percent of Millennium func-tionality to be available at Sierra's general release. Initial launch mile-stones will include migration to a PostgreSQL database designed tohandle high volume with maximum stability; ability to access andmanage acquisitions, administration, cataloging, circulation, electronicresource management, and serials key functions in single client;Innovative API bundles; and a Web-based dashboard to display andaccess all Innovative applications, as well as library industry third-party applications. The next development phase will include RESTfulAPI integrationwith the open development community, e-book circula-tion integration, workflow enhancements, and PostgreSQL table editingaccess.

Innovative utilizes an agile and iterative development process thatsupports quick creation and release of enhancements. Releases are

played on the Alma dashboard.

image of Figure�2


made available on a continual basis across all of Innovative's plat-forms with most applications receiving one to two releases per year.

Innovative has enlisted a wide variety of development partners rep-resenting various market sectors and types of libraries to ensure thatdevelopment takes into account all of the needs of a diverse customerbase. Development milestones include an initial alpha release inDecember 2011, followed by system implementation to all SierraDevel-opment Partners during the first half of 2012. General release is sched-uled for the third quarter of 2012.

Innovative has received positive feedback from its developmentpartners, who liked its modern user interface, enhanced system perfor-mance, and open architecture. The biggest challenge for Sierra has beenpreserving and migrating all of the workflow and business logic of itscurrent ILS, Millennium, to ensure the complete functionality of Sierraon day one.

Innovative will continue to offer Millennium and ERM, its currentERMS, as standalone applications. Areas that will remain separate fromSierra include digital asset management and discovery services. Localrepositories and digital assets can be cataloged in Content Pro/ContentPro IRX. The Encore Discovery Service Platform searches all of the infor-mation in these systems with the articles from a library's databases ande-resource subscriptions to create a unified point of discovery.

3.2.3. How Will the Sierra Services Platform Support Standards andInteroperability?

Innovative was a member of the NISO CORE (Cost of ResourceExchange) Working Group and participated in the creation of thisNISO Recommended Practice. Prior to the creation of the CORERecommended Practice, Innovative developed a functionally similar ap-plication to facilitate the transfer of cost data from an ILS to Innovative'sacquisitions and e-resource management applications. This applicationremains in use today by Innovative customers and is extensible toSierra.

Sierra will be compliant with the KBART standard for knowledgebase data and the COUNTER and SUSHI standards for usage statistics.Innovative is a member of the NISO SUSHI Standing Committee andparticipated in the creation of this NISO Standard. ONIX-PL supportis under review pending industry adoption. Innovative is a memberof EDItEUR, the standards organization for ONIX. Sierra is RDA,MARC, and Z39.50 compliant.

Sierra will offer RESTful API, a modern software architecturedesigned to expose the application's business logic so that othersystems can easily connect with it. In this way, libraries will be able tointegrate Sierra tightly with campus enterprise solutions, such asidentity management and financial systems. Sierra is designed to beintegrated with numerous applications and third-party services in thelibrary field, such as subscription agents or book jobbers. While Innova-tive has close working relationships with vendors throughout the in-dustry, the APIs are designed to be vendor/application neutral. Inaddition, Innovative is providing for a robust Developers Communityto foster innovation among our users, and provides for a DevelopersSandbox that offers an environment for experimentation.

In addition to Sierra, Innovativemaintains several independent solu-tions, each of which is available as a standalone product. For thoselibraries that acquire more than one product, Innovative will ensureclose integration, including real-time data transfer between applica-tions, single sign-on recognition of patrons as they navigate from oneplatform to the next, enterprise backup of all platforms in a single pro-cess, and a single help desk and point-of-contact for support.

3.2.4. What Functionality Will the Sierra Services Platform Provide?

3.2.4.1. Selection. Sierra will continue to support all forms of selection,providing support for trials, evaluation, and cancellations.

3.2.4.2. Acquisitions. Sierra offers complete integration between acquisi-tions, e-resourcesmanagement, and its knowledge base. Electronic datainterchange, alongwith flexible reporting andmanagement tools, helpsfacilitate a cost-effective ordering, invoicing, receiving, and claimingprocess. Sierra supports many physical material types includingbooks, journals, microforms, CD-ROMs, videos, musical scores, gifts,exchanges, standing orders, library supplies, blanket orders, depositoryitems, memberships, replacements, and prepaid items.

The acquisitions module has been designed to speed workflow andallow staff flexibility for the ordering, payment, and receiving of physi-cal materials. Integration of Web-based content and a graphical userinterface provide libraries with cost-effective and easy-to-use solutionsto complex acquisitions processes. Electronic resources and coveragedata are linked to traditional serial holdings ensuring that all users canreadily find all available copies of a given title as necessary.

As with all other applications, acquisitions privileges are userid/password driven and can be configured to allow staff access to onlythose functions for which they are authorized. A full suite of custom-izable statistical reports can be used to analyze acquisitions activities.

3.2.4.3. Description. Sierra's cataloging and collection managementcapabilities include all traditional methods and lay the groundworkfor local workflow support and approaches to collaborative cataloging.Sierra will support import from MARC records services includingSkyRiver, OCLC, and Serial Solutions, or any other source of MARCdata. It will also allow sharing of MARC data with other libraries viatools such as Z39.50 database searching. Sierra can accommodate bothAACR2 and RDA MARC data.

3.2.4.4. Access. Sierra accommodates vendor-neutral coverage data thatcan be accessed via traditional OpenURL link resolver tools includingInnovative'sWebBridge LR. Sierra's design provides a user interface andan API across applications. Public interfaces include a full browser-based interface, a mobile browser-based interface, direct linking sup-port from a link resolver or other mechanism, and OAI-PMH harvestingof data for use in third-party systems.

3.2.4.5. Electronic Resources Management. Sierra's e-resource manage-ment component supports many established ERMS features includinglicense management, storage of administrative information and vendorcontact information, and usage statistics management. Innovative con-forms to best practice guidelines defined by the DLF ERMI and is anactive member in the NISO ERM Data Standards and Best PracticesReview Working Group.

A critical advantage of Sierra's ERMS functionality is the ability tointegrate existing and new data from multiple sources into a single in-terface, eliminating the need to create andmaintain separate databases.Libraries can choose the best data source or sources for e-resources dataandmerge that data into a single data store for efficient access andman-agement. Workflow and data administration are streamlined, and alldata related to management of electronic resources are viewable in auniform data set. ERM provides a single management interface for thecomplex data describing e-resources.

The data used to populate the system generally comes from a varietyof sources. Resource record data can come from a default descriptivedata set provided by Innovative or can be imported from another sys-tem. Once the resource records have been loaded, other data relatedto the resources can be imported and linked. Financial informationfrom an external accounting system can be imported for trackingresource costs. Coverage data from Ex Libris's SFX, Innovative's CASE,or many other providers can be imported to populate the bibliographicand holdings records used by ERM to link titles and holdings toresources. Bibliographic and holdings data may also be loaded from anexternal ILS. Usage statistics can be imported or set up for automaticSUSHI harvesting. In all cases, simple data loading tools are used forimporting data from any number of external sources.


ERM stores license metadata and terms of use in license records,which directly link to resource records. This set-up enables authorizedstaff and patrons to view the approved uses of a particular resource.More than one license record can be linked to a single resource in theevent that a library has more than one simultaneous license for agiven resource or that a new license is generated upon renewal. In addi-tion, a single license record can be directly linked to multiple resourcerecords in the event that common license metadata terms apply tomore than one resource, which is a time saver for library staff.

3.2.4.6. Workflow. Sierra's unified staff client provides the ability forlibraries to create their own workflows across the applications, tailoredto the unique needs of individual staff. These workflows are furtherenhanced with both library-set ticklers to prompt action at key timesand template-aided data input. The overall goal is to provide librarieswith the necessary tools to create structure around local workflows ina way that minimizes user error while maximizing successful inputand outputs and increasing productivity.

The Sierra dashboard offers customizable views into Sierra for librarystaff and administrators (see Figure 3). This point of entry allows quickaccess to targeted information gadgets, such as reports and traditionalinterfaces like search widgets and app launchers. While not intendedto replace the full-scale applications used by staff for core library tasks,the Sierra dashboard presents an executive view of the system withgadgets reporting on status and trends throughout the library. Userscan launch applications from within the dashboard if additional infor-mation, or more detailed work, is necessary.

Sierra ERM provides extensive tickler functionality to help managesubscriptions, resource renewals, and other important reminders. Acustomizable tickler rule sends an email reminder for a specifiedgroup of ERM records that share a common date. This reminder canbe sent a library-defined number of days before or after an event, andcan evenbe set to reoccur annually. Sierra keeps a record ofwhen a tick-ler reminder was sent and the content of the email. Ticklers in licenserecords can be established for a number of milestone license events.

3.2.4.7. Reporting. Sierra provides a wide array of reports with highlyflexible, built-in report writers and permits direct access to the data-base for independent data gathering. Sierra includes pre-compiled re-ports and sophisticated ad hoc capabilities. Data are not only gatheredbased on individual applications (for example, fund reports or circu-lation statistics) but also on mash-ups across applications. One suchreport might combine payment information with COUNTER data toprovide cost-per-use analysis and other usage metrics.

Figure 3. The Sier

For custom report search and analysis, library staff may use SierraCreate Lists to retrieve records based on any information contained ina field or combination of fields in resource, license, and contact records.This report generator runs using a quick, natural-language and menuinterface; it requires no programming experience. Once a list is created,it's simple to save the reporting parameters for reuse or later adjust-ment. Multiple statements can be searched simultaneously throughthe use of parentheses or by using the Boolean operators “and” and“or.” For example, a staff member can query all resources provided byEBSCO that have licenses negotiated by a particular staff member andthat are up for renewal between November 1 and December 31, 2012.

In addition to the powerful reporting included in Sierra, Innovativealso offers Reporter and Decision Center products that provide en-hanced reporting services. The Reporter application produces a varietyof visually elegant reports on key performance indicators, expendituretrends, operational statistics, patron and material usage analysis, andother big picture library operations (see Figure 4). Users have accessto extensive faceting to help drill into complex, up-to-date information.Filters include custom date ranges, location, material format, patrontype, language, and others. Circulation, patron, collection, acquisitiondata, andonline public catalog usage are seamlessly integrated. Reporteralso allows for direct export to an Excel spreadsheet for sharing andstoring data. Decision Center further enhances this in-depth review byproviding specific action item reports for library staff based on libraryspecific targeted inputs being achieved.

The integrated Sierra ERM features specialized reports like usagestatistics by date range; financial summary by date range of paid andinvoice dates; usage analysis summarizing titles, usage, cost, and cost-per-use; detailed usage analysis per resource represented in matrices,graphs, and decile analyses; and title overlap analyses and coveragedata import statistics.

3.2.4.8. Consortial Management. In a consortial environment, Sierramaintains a single bibliographic database, while providing for sepa-rate holdings files. This unified approach permits member librariesto make informed collection development decisions based on eitherthe joined collections of all members or local holdings only.

3.3. Organization: Kuali Foundation

System name: Kuali Open Library Environment (OLE).Company representative: Beth Picknally Camden, chair, Kuali OLE

Communication Team andGoldstein Director of Information Processing,University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

ra dashboard.

image of Figure�3

Figure 4. III's Reporter creates an expenditure report from data in Sierra.


3.3.1. What Is Kuali OLE?Kuali OLE seeks to develop the first system designed by and for

academic and research libraries for managing and delivering intellec-tual information. A community of partners will deliver an enterprise-ready, community source software package to manage and provide ac-cess not only to items in their collections but also to licensed and localdigital content. Kuali OLE features a governance model in which theentire library community can collaborate to own the resulting intellec-tual property. All resource types will be supported by Kuali OLE includ-ing serials, databases, books, e-books, streaming media, and digitalassets. OLEwill provide workflow design andmanagement capabilities,and it will break away from print-based workflows to support the widerange of resources and formats of scholarly information. The softwarewill interoperate and integrate with other enterprise and network-based systems and support federation across projects, partners, consor-tia, and institutions.

3.3.2. How Is Kuali OLE Being Developed?The AndrewW. Mellon Foundation funded a design study from July

2008 to August 2009 (initially called the OLE Project) to explore theneeds of a community developed library management system. In thefall of 2009, the project joined the Kuali Foundation and becameknown as Kuali OLE. The Mellon Foundation and the partner librariesfunded the build phase, and development started in July 2010. InNovember 2011, Kuali OLE 0.3 was released. While the partner librariescontinue to research and adapt development plans, they plan to releaseKuali OLE version 1.0 in December 2012. The current draft roadmap isavailable at http://www.kuali.org/OLE/Timeline.

Kuali OLE has sixteen partner libraries represented individually or aspart of two consortia (http://www.kuali.org/ole/partners). Staff fromthese libraries participate in governance, in setting direction for soft-ware development, in writing detailed specifications for developers,and in testing the product. The Kuali OLE core team provides technicalleadership and works with a development partner, HTC Global, whichprovides a core of programmers.

With the November 2011 release of version 0.3, Kuali OLE provideda survey form for feedback, aswell as providing a discussion list for part-ner library staff. Most of the feedback has been questions about specificfeatures. The general, informal feedback has been positive. People arevery pleased to see that a pre-release or milestone product is available,so that the community sees progress, even some complexity, and thatthe project is moving forward. Demonstrations at Kuali Days and atpartner institutions have been well received.

The strength and weakness of Kuali OLE development has been itscommunity. Partner libraries provided input through the user-storymethodology to define what should be developed. This methodology

involves the creation of one-sentence descriptions of user tasks usingeveryday language. Teams of subject-matter experts developed spec-ifications based on the user stories to provide detail for programmers.One of the greatest challenges has been sufficient time from staff atpartner libraries to write specifications.

3.3.3. How Will Kuali OLE Support Standards and Interoperability?OLE is being developed in conjunctionwith other Kuali software. For

financial transactions and acquisitions activities, OLE is adapting theKuali Financial System software. OLE also relies on a suite of enterpriseclass middleware products known as Rice. The products include KIM(Kuali Identity Management), KEW (Kuali Enterprise Workflow), andKNS (Kuali Nervous System). In concert with OLE, these productsapply workflow rules, routings, and approvals that can be configuredlocally. The Kuali Service Bus (KSB) is a major component of Rice. Inte-gration within the family of Kuali products, as well as integration withnon-Kuali applications, can be accomplished through KSB.

The Kuali OLE board has supported a joint grant proposal to fund aGlobal Open Knowledgebase (GOKb). The GOKb will be a freely avail-able data repository that will contain key publication informationabout electronic resources as they are represented within the supplychain from content publishers to suppliers to libraries. The vision isto create an openly available and reusable data set that consists exclu-sively of non-proprietary, factual data about information products,whose data will be maintained by the libraries and which will bemade available for use by any interested local, community, or commer-cial application. The utility of the knowledge base will be leveragedthrough a cloud-based software service enabling real time collaborativedata maintenance and APIs for use by system developers both withinand outside the project partner institutions.

In addition to interoperability within each area of Kuali OLE andbetween other Kuali products, OLE will also take advantage of stan-dards commonly used by the library community. The GOKb datawill adhere to KBART standards. Kuali OLE plans to support theSUSHI standard for ingest of usage data, whether COUNTER or other,in the hopes that OLE would be advancing the use of the standardwith e-resource providers. Kuali OLE plans to ingest ONIX for Books,for Serials, and for Licenses. The Kuali OLE document store will beable to ingest ONIX-PL licenses as well as text-based licenses (e.g.,PDF files). Libraries will be able to ingest MARC, Dublin Core, EAD,and records in other schema. RDA records will co-exist with recordscreated under other standards.

The use of the CORE standard is unnecessary in Kuali OLE becausecore ERM functions will be performed within OLE drawing on GOKbdata as well as internal data sources related to orders, invoices, andlicenses.

http://www.kuali.org/OLE/Timeline

http://www.kuali.org/ole/partners

image of Figure�4


3.3.4. What Functionality Will Kuali OLE Provide?

3.3.4.1. Selection. As part of the acquisitions life cycle, bibliographic andlocalized resource descriptions are either ingested from selectionsmade on vendor Web sites or are created from scratch using an editorthat is available via financial data entry screens. Workflow queues canbe adapted to support the various actions needed as an item goesthrough the various stages of trial, evaluation, selection, purchase, acti-vation, maintenance, and cancellation.

The selection process can start with Web-based forms initiated bypatrons, which then create the basis of an order record. Libraries candetermine the workflow including the level of approval needed forpatron-initiated orders.

3.3.4.2. Acquisitions. The initial focus of OLE has been on acquisitionsfunctionality, which is fundamental for later phases of OLE develop-ment. For ordering in the current version (Kuali OLE 0.3), librariesmay ingest electronic order confirmation record vendor order files forfirm orders in MARC format. Future versions of ingest will also becoded to include other standards, such as ONIX; other order types,including continuations and serials; bibliographic overlay; and otherholdings or library data. Manual order entry is also available. Invoicing,called payment request within OLE, is available in the current version(see Figure 5). Future versions will allow for the ingest of EDIFACT in-voices. User stories have been collected and Kuali OLE plans to developworkflows to support renewal and licensing.

The Kuali OLE partners are currently considering a proposal toomit development of predictive check-in for print periodicals. If thisproposal is accepted, Kuali OLE would develop action-interval basedcheck-in. In the proposed action-interval based system, the systemwould store only captions for enumeration and chronology and anexpected receipt date, based on a frequency assigned to the title.Variable data would be supplied by the user at the time of check-in.

3.3.4.3. Description. The OLE technical architecture includes a Docu-ment Store (Docstore) for the management of library resource de-scriptions including bibliographic and localized item descriptionsand other document types. Docstore technology allows for the stor-age of multiple formats for both standardized, structured content,for example, MARCXML and Dublin Core, and unstructured content,for example tables of contents, licenses in Word or PDF format. Inthe future, the addition of new document types will only require re-configuration of the Docstore rather than the restructuring of a rela-tional database structure.

Kuali OLE document store technology provides for batch ingest ofbibliographic and other records from a variety of sources (vendors,utilities, etc.). Robust indexing and faceted searching support recordidentification and management. In the current release, a proof-of-concept editor provides basic record editing. System architecture

Figure 5. A payment reques

will allow linking to external, best-of-breed editing tools. Future de-velopment may include authority control linked to external sources.

3.3.4.4. Access. Kuali OLE does not include an online public access cat-alog or a discovery layer or an OpenURL resolver. Libraries are free touse open-source or commercial products to support access. Kuali OLEwill follow ILS-DI recommendations to provide data feeds to the dis-covery system. In future development, Kuali OLE workflow tools maybe adapted for tracking problem resolution and other maintenancetasks.

3.3.4.5. Electronic Resources Management. User stories have been col-lected and Kuali OLE plans to develop workflows to support the fullrange of ERMS functionality. This functionality is seen as fully-integrated within the Kuali OLE modules. Licenses will be ingestedand indexed in the same document store that includes bibliographicand holdings/item data.

3.3.4.6. Workflow. Kuali OLE will use a workflow engine and a businessrules engine. The products include KIM (Kuali Identity Management),KEW (Kuali Enterprise Workflow), and KNS (Kuali Nervous System).Future releases will include KRMS (Kuali Rules Management System)when Rice 2.0 is adopted. KRMS is a common rules engine for definingdecision logic, commonly referred to as business rules. In concertwith OLE, these products will apply workflow rules, routings, and ap-provals that can be configured locally.

The workflows demonstrated in OLE 0.3 are meant to illustratethe breadth of options possible for managing library processes,routing, notifications, and limited approvals. These representativeworkflows highlight some of the desired functions of OLE library de-velopment partners. During future local implementations of OLE, li-braries can configure workflows and permissions to best fit localneeds whether they are creating highly-structured workflows andapproval processes to manage communications, or minimizing rou-ting and approvals.

In OLE, users receiveworkflow action requests through an action list(see Figure 6). This list provides summary information about each doc-ument that requires your attention, such as document type, title, routestatus, the type of action requested of you, who initiated the document,when it was created, and whether or not you've received this requestbecause you are delegate or a member of a group. Additionally, theRoute Log tab on OLE eDocs is a workflow feature that allows users tofollow the progress of given documents throughout the approvalprocess.

3.3.4.7. Reporting. Some financial and load reports are available withversion 0.3. Financial reports include available balances with pendingtransactions, cash balances, general ledger balance, general ledgerentry, general ledger pending entry, and open encumbrances.

t (invoice) in Kuali OLE.

image of Figure�5

Figure 6. The Kuali OLE action list displays workflow requests.


The robust indexing and faceted display of the document store willreplace the need for some types of reports There will be no need torequest a report if complex queries can pull data on the fly. We hopeto support the SUSHI standard for ingest of usage data, whetherCOUNTER or other, and develop reporting functionality around thatdata.

3.3.4.8. Consortial Management. The Kuali OLE partnership includesconsortia and system development supports their needs as well asthe needs of individual libraries.

3.4. Vendor: OCLC

System name: OCLC WorldShare Management Services.Company representative: Andrew K. Pace, executive director,

networked library services.

3.4.1. What Is OCLC WorldShare Management Services?OCLC WorldShare Management Services integrates traditional li-

brary functions, such as circulation, acquisitions, and description, withmanagement of electronic resources and discovery needs in a Web-based environment. OCLC WorldShare License Manager, the electronicresources management component of the system, can be includedwith a subscription to OCLC WorldShare Management Services orcan be purchased on its own. WorldShare License Manger includesOCLC's WorldCat knowledge base, along with license management,vendor management, and e-resources management capabilities. OCLCWorldShare Management Services is fully integrated with WorldCatLocal for patron discovery. It also shares a Web-based administrativemodule and statistical interface with several other OCLC services, pro-viding a shared technology stack and single point ofmaintenance acrossservices.

3.4.2. How Is OCLC WorldShare Management Services Being Developed?Design of OCLC WorldShare Management Services began in

2008–2009, although the integration of the WorldCat knowledge baseinto OCLC operations and services began much earlier, going back tothe acquisition of Openly Informatics in 2006. OCLC employs an agiledevelopment methodology, working on new features and improve-ments in four week sprints and releasing new versions of the softwareto all users every quarter. A number of early adopters continue towork with OCLC to improve the software. This close relationship willlikely continue for the next one to two years.

The biggest development challenge for OCLChas been scale—makingsure that, in a cloud environment, the software scales for use byhundreds or even thousands of libraries. Other challenges have been

designing a user interface that brings together ILS and ERMS functional-ity and creating the License Manager system so it could integrate withManagement Services or stand on its own.

OCLC's early adopters have given valuable feedback to influencefuture development. First and foremost, they want more and betterstatistics tools. Libraries using traditional electronic resources man-agement systems continue to struggle in determining cost-per-use.OCLC is optimistic about being able to create usable reports for librar-ies and expanding these data sets with anonymized collective datafrom across the OCLC membership to enhance analytics and businessintelligence. Libraries also want better data quality in the centralizedknowledge base. OCLC has a long history of partnering with contentproviders to move more metadata creation upstream in the data sup-ply chain, thus unburdening libraries from its constant maintenance.Finally, libraries want ease of use for patrons. Management work isfor naught if it does not put resources in patrons' hands more easily.

3.4.3. How Will OCLC WorldShare Management Services SupportStandards and Interoperability?

OCLC WorldShare License Manager can already output data inKBART format for use by other systems and services. The WorldCatknowledge base itself is an aggregation of data provided by manydozens of third party providers and the system integrator PubGet.

OCLC WorldShare License Manager does not currently support theCORE standard for acquisitions financial data but could be easilyadapted by users to do so using OCLC WorldShare Platform services.Support for receiving CORE data from other library systems is plannedas a future enhancement.

OCLC supports the export of statistics in COUNTER format using aSUSHI server. Gathering of COUNTER compliant stats via externalSUSHI servers is planned but not yet supported. Portions of theONIX-PL standard were used to implement the first phase of licensingterms. More ONIX-PL support is planned. OCLC supports MARC andRDA.

All OCLC WorldShare Management Services functions, includingLicense Manager, can use Shibboleth-aware identity managementsystems, as well as LDAP, a tool for managing directory information.All services are supported by the OCLC WorldShare Platform, whichexposes the various Web services of the applications. These servicescan be used for integration with other business process systems,such as financial management, staff and student information systems,and course management systems. Of most interest in the course man-agement space is the License Manager and WorldCat knowledge baseAPI. Using the exposed APIs, resources and licensing data can be inte-grated with course management systems.

image of Figure�6


TheWorldShare Platform supports the use of APIs and the creationof add-ons and customization. Libraries and third parties will be ableto create applications that can live outside of OCLC applications, aswell as create and share applications for users of WorldShare services.The WorldShare Platform provides an App Gallery where users canbrowse applications created by others and install them in their ownenvironments or within the staff interface of WorldShare Manage-ment Services. One existing app, for example, allows users to createorders in WorldShare Management Services and push them directlyto an Amazon account for purchase.

3.4.4. What Functionality Will OCLC WorldShare Management ServicesProvide?

3.4.4.1. Selection. OCLC has been participating in pilot programs withvarious content providers to support patron-driven acquisitions.While no functionality has been released into production as of yet,support for this type of acquisition based on the access models of var-ious providers is part of OCLC's development plan.

3.4.4.2. Acquisitions. TheWorldShareManagement Services acquisitionsmodule supports and enhances traditional acquisitions functions, in-cluding budget management, vendor management, ordering, invoicing,and receiving. These tasks are grouped into a series of modules. TheWebscale approach streamlines many of these functions by leveragingintegrated data from WorldCat and the WorldCat knowledge base andallowing data to be shared between OCLC customers. The Acquisitionsmodule also allows libraries to order electronic content at the collectionlevel or (when permitted by the provider) at an individual title level.

The Manage Budgets module allows funds to be allocated acrossan unlimited number of budgets, which can be created within afive-level hierarchy. This module includes standard functionality forencumbering and expending funds, as well as completing year-endrollover processes.

Manage Vendors gives users access to a database of commonvendors pre-populated with acquisitions essentials such as contact in-formation and identifiers. Vendor records can be supplemented withlocal information and assigned roles and links to other vendors (seeFigure 7). Manage Vendors also includes partner exchange services, aninterface for importing MARC order and invoice files provided by ven-dors like YBP Library Services or Baker and Taylor. Users can simplybrowse for the MARC files saved on their computers, upload them,and receive an e-mail report with the results of the load. Once a certainvendor's upload protocol is in place, all WorldShare Management cus-tomers receiving files from that vendor will be able to upload recordseasily.

Figure 7. A vendor record in OCLC W

Purchase orders can be created using two modules. Discover Itemsallows users to search WorldCat and attach a purchase order for aprint resource to a WorldCat master record. Discover E-Resourcessearches theWorldCat knowledge base and lets users attach purchaseorders to an electronic collection or title. If a user searches WorldCat,the system will display an alert if a corresponding electronic versionis available in the knowledge base. In both cases, once users haveidentified the correct resource, they can add a purchase order andpopulate it with typical order data such as vendor, fund, quantity,etc. Templates are also available to streamline the order creation pro-cess. When an order is complete, users have the option to print it, e-mail it to an address associated with the vendor, or just save it.

The invoicing and receiving processes vary by resource type. Oncean invoice for a print resource has been created, that resource movesto a processing queue where it can be received. The item record forthe resource is created during receipt, and users can enter the callnumber and barcode, place a hold, and enter notes at that time. Elec-tronic resources that have been invoiced can also be received. In thefuture, OCLC plans to enhance this functionality by allowing users toautomatically activate holdings in the WorldCat knowledge base atthe point of receipt. When any item is received, a library's holdingsare automatically set in WorldCat during an overnight update. Abasic check-in module is available for print serials, and enhance-ments, such as shareable prediction patterns, are coming soon.

3.4.4.3. Description. Original cataloging, MARC record loads, and in-ventory management are all supported by a subscription to OCLCWorldShare Management Services. Users must maintain an OCLCcataloging subscription to take advantage of OCLC's copy catalogingservices, and the primary cataloging client is still Connexion. Copycataloging will be radically changed with WorldCat as the source ofcataloging data; users are only required to set holdings on existingmaster records, rather than import files into the system.

3.4.4.4. Access. WorldShare Management Services integrates tightlywith WorldCat Local, OCLC's next-generation discovery platform. TheWorldCat knowledge base powers both services allowing libraries toenter their holdings data in a singlemanagement interface.WorldShareManagement Services also includes core access features includingan OpenURL resolver, citation linker, and A to Z list for journals and e-books. These public-facing link resolver features are also available tolibraries that subscribe to the WorldShare License Manager without afull WorldCat Local subscription.

WorldShare License Manager includes an integrated EZproxy inter-face that allows users to configure remote access settings from withinthe system. Global configuration files are available for most major

orldShare Management Services.

image of Figure�7


providers, and users can add these to their individual proxy set-ups.Username and password settings are also supported. Full EZproxy inte-gration is available only for customers of OCLC's hosted EZproxy solu-tion; stand-alone EZproxy users can use the License Manager to createa configuration file for loading onto their local system. Access problemswill be tracked in the OCLCWorldShare License Manager in the future.

3.4.4.5. Electronic Resources Management.WorldShare LicenseManagerhandles e-resources management functionality and integrates thesefunctions with the traditional acquisitions and cataloging work doneusing WorldShare Management Services. License Manager includesthree unique modules: Manage E-resources, Manage Licenses, andManage Templates, in addition to the Manage Vendors module(described in the above discussion of acquisitions functionality inSection 3.4.4.2).

Manage E-resources provides users with access to OCLC's universeof e-resources using the WorldCat knowledge base. Each library canbrowse or search the knowledge base and mark which titles and col-lections it owns. For customers who are also OCLC cataloging sub-scribers, the knowledge base can be tied to an institution's OCLCsymbol, and library holdings will be synced overnight when new re-sources are selected. Open access materials are available in theknowledge base and activated by default. Users can create local col-lections or customize the global data provided by OCLC. The knowl-edge base is tightly integrated with functionality offered throughWorldShare Management Services. When viewing a title or collectionin the knowledge base, users have the option to create a purchaseorder for that resource directly from the knowledge base interface(see Figure 8). Each knowledge base provider links to a vendor withinWorldShare Management Services. Another link next to each re-source allows users to view all licenses associated with each title orcollection.

In Manage Licenses, users are greeted by an index of all licenseagreements, which can be filtered by licensor, start and end dates, sta-tus, or date signed. Each license record stores administrative metadataabout the agreement, provides a form for the mapping of licenseterms based on the DLF ERMI standard, stores documents related tothe license, and allows users to create a comments log. The licenseterms can be broken into custom groups and added and removed

Figure 8. Adding an order from the knowledgebase di

according to individual preference. All changes to the license recordare tracked and displayed in a license history field. Each license can belinked to a resource in the WorldCat knowledge base, making it easyto navigate from one part of the system to another.

Manage Templates supplements Manage Licenses by allowing li-braries to create templates that can be applied to new license agree-ments as they are entered in the system. Some publicly accessibletemplates are available, such as one for the SERU (Shared ElectronicResources Understanding) terms. Libraries can open a public template,customize it, and save it as their local license record. Consortiamemberscan create license templates and save them so they will be available toall participants. Currently, templates are available to all WorldShareManagement users, but OCLC plans to introduce a system of permis-sions for limiting visibility to specific groups of users in a future release.

3.4.4.6. Workflow. OCLC WorldShare Management Services currentlyincludes a business process engine for some functions, such as orderuploading. Requirements for further use of this functionality areunder development. Workflow customization is the main reasonthat a careful approach to the business process engine is beingtaken. Most business process engines have prescribed workflows,but OCLC's current design supports various and varied workflows.Alerts will be part of the Web user interface in which the LicenseManager is presented.

3.4.4.7. Reporting. OCLC WorldShare Management Services will sup-port canned reports, reporting on the fly, and cost-per-use analysis.An analytics module will bring together usage statistics, circulationdata, and cost data to provide advanced reporting. Reporting integra-tion with campus systems is planned but not yet scheduled.

3.4.4.8. Consortial Management. Consortial support in the WorldCatknowledge base is planned for the early part of 2012. The primaryfocus areas of development are management of consortial licenses, dif-fering levels of access to consortial members, and additional licensingfields to support administrative and descriptive metadata.

splay in OCLC WorldShare Management Services.

image of Figure�8


3.5. Vendor: Serials Solutions

System name: Intota.Company representative: Stan Sorenson, vice president, manage-

ment solutions.

3.5.1. What Is Intota?Serials Solutions' Intota is a single, centrally provisioned library

management solution that supports the entire resource life cycle in-cluding selection, acquisition, cataloging, discovery, and fulfillmentfor all resource types. The system uses a linked data model to enablenetworked authority control and community catalog development. Itdelivers inherent interoperability to other library and universitysystems. Using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, Intota willhelp libraries reduce their total cost of ownership. All materials, in-cluding print, databases, e-journals, e-books, streaming media, anddigital assets will be managed side-by-side in a single workflow thatsupports their acquisition, discovery, and usage reporting.

3.5.2. How Is Intota Being Developed?After extensive market research and more than sixty in-depth in-

terviews, Serials Solutions began development of its new service inmid-2011. Its priorities are to deliver a SaaS solution that makes itpossible for a library to manage its electronic and print collectionswithin a single set of workflows while automating as many of thoseworkflows as possible. Serials Solutions will release Intota in phasesstarting with data and resource management and acquisition. Nextwill come selection and system integration followed by circulationand assessment.

Serials Solutions uses the agile development methodology and reg-ularly updates its software products. New releases will be rolled on tothe platform at least quarterly. Because the solution is hosted, thesereleases will not require investment of library or campus resources.

Serials Solutions has worked with development partners, whoserve as core members of the development team by reviewing userstories and product wireframes as well as test releases. An upcomingbeta partner program will allow more libraries to test the solutionwithout making the time commitment that a development partnermakes.

3.5.3. How Will Serials Intota Support Standards and Interoperability?Serials Solutions founder, Peter McCracken, was the original chair

of KBART. Intota's expanded knowledge base will include all KBARTdata elements and be able to output KBART delimited data. Like Se-rials Solutions' existing 360 Counter, Intota will support bothCOUNTER and SUSHI. ONIX and ONIX-PL support is inherent in boththe knowledge base and management solution.

Intota will support XML-based metadata of any type includingMARC and RDA. Users will have the ability to search across metadata

Figure 9. A unified sele

formats and edit in the native format with no data loss. Dubin Core,MODS, and other metadata formats used by customers will besupported like MARC with the ability to search within the XML andedit natively. Intota will also support non-North American standardssuch as ZDB and EZB in Germany.

Intota brings together electronic resource management and acqui-sitions rather than having them exist as individual data silos negatingthe need for transfer of these types of data between tools. If cus-tomers require CORE support in order to provide interoperabilitywith external systems, however, Serials Solutions will support it.Within the acquisition process, Serials Solutions' system will matchacquired content to the appropriate fund code and automaticallysend processed invoices to finance systems for payment. Once pay-ment is executed, appropriate library financial records are automati-cally updated. Serials Solutions is working with its developmentpartners to define integration with course management systems.

Built on a modern, services-oriented architecture, Intota will haveopen APIs to provide integration between multiple systems. Based oncustomer feedback, Serials Solutions has begun conversations withthird-party library vendors to understand how their products work,determine whether they have APIs, and to explain its own APIs. Forexample, Serials Solutions is committed to having its service inter-operate with other discovery services beyond its own product, Sum-mon. It is also actively exploring integration with library materialsand e-resource suppliers.

For assessment, Intota will feed relevant library data to the cam-pus data warehouse. Serials Solutions is exploring how library datacan help students succeed by integrating with advising and offeringprograms aimed at helping students complete undergraduate studiesin four years.

3.5.4. What Functionality Will Intota Provide?

3.5.4.1. Selection. New functionality in Intota will streamline the selec-tion process from patron requests to cancellations. A unified wish listwith advanced filtering features will provide selectors with a recom-mendation to purchase using rules-based evaluation of local andregional holdings, availability, preferred providers, format, and collec-tion development profiles (see Figure 9). Selectors will be presentedwith the information they need to make decisions including reviews,formats, and price. Alternately, they will be able to accept the system'srecommendation without review. When fully automated, patron andselector requests will flow automatically from selection to discoverywith little or no manual intervention. Overlap analysis, comparison tocollections from other libraries, usage statistics, and similar analyticswill help selectors make well-informed decisions. Integration withSerials Solutions knowledge base will let selectors activate a resourcewith a status of trial, evaluation, or purchase.

ction list in Intota.

image of Figure�9

Figure 10. A purchase order record in Intota.


Intota is at the center of patron-driven acquisition (PDA). It willautomatically load all materials available through PDA into the catalog,thereby exposing them via the discovery tool. Intota will also allow thelibrary to set rules, such as whether a patron's request is automaticallypurchased or whether it needs to go through an approval processbased on any number of criteria. The system will track expenditures,subtracting from the total amount available for PDA at each purchase.The library can set budget thresholds such that it receives alerts whenthe budget hits a particular level. Once the budget is exhausted, Intotawill automatically unload the records of not purchased materials fromthe catalog.

3.5.4.2. Acquisitions. Intota supports new acquisitions models includingpatron-driven, interlibrary loan-driven, and demand-driven models, aswell as traditional workflows like approval plans, standing orders, sub-scriptions, and firm orders. Ordering of electronic and print resourceswill be accommodated in a unified workflow so acquisitions and fundaccounting are more accurate and up-to-date. Whether ordering amonograph, serial, database or package, the library will be able to trackand patrons will be able to discover what is on order (see Figure 10).

Invoicing will be integrated with provider systems to receive, recon-cile, and pay invoices as automatically as the provider systemswill allow.Traditional invoicing and credit card models will be supported, too.

Licensing termswill be received electronically and stored for each li-brary, thereby allowing different terms for each library, consortia, orother group. If the provider cannot provide licensing data electronically,the new Serials Solutions knowledge base can be queried to see if thereare similar licensing terms on file that can be cloned and tweaked.

Renewals will follow the rules established by the library, such asautomatic renewal, renewal based on usage, or review alerts a certainnumber of days prior to renewal. Renewal lists will show relevantdata including title, holdings, usage, subject, and fund, so that renewaldecisions can bemade from a single interface.Workflowcan be custom-ized to allow appropriate approvals.

3.5.4.3. Description. Copy cataloging will be done automatically atpoint of order using Serials Solutions' MARC record service. Originalcataloging in multiple formats will be supported in a single catalogingworkflow, allowing the same user to work in various formats. Exter-nal MARC record services will be accommodated, and Serials Solu-tions expects records to flow into the system online rather thanbeing batch loaded. Inventory management for print resources anddeselection routines will be fully supported as part of the fulfillmentfunctions.

3.5.4.4. Access. OpenURL access is a feature of Serials Solutions 360Link service, which will remain a separate product. Public display isdone through the SummonWeb-scale discovery service, or other dis-covery service as chosen by the library. Discovery services must alsobe purchased separately.

3.5.4.5. Electronic Resources Management. Just as a knowledge base hasalways been part of every Serials Solutions service, an expandedknowledge base will be completely integrated with Intota. Statusesfor each part of the resource life cycle will be supported includingthe ability to create custom statuses.

Intota will automatically load generic license information andallow for the customization of that information by the library. SerialsSolutions will automatically load vendor supplied contact informa-tion and relationship data and keep that information up to date. Admin-istrative data such as user account log in information can be entered bylibrarians and stored for future use.

In addition to COUNTER statistics, Intota will integrate circulationand other statistics for added value. Local notes for acquisitions,selection, holdings, or more can be added to electronic and printresources. Notes can optionally appear on journal review lists andother reports.

3.5.4.6. Workflow. Serials Solutions is examining open source businessprocess engines as part of Intota's development. The chosen solutionwill offer configuration and policy tables to support customization.Alerts, notifications, and queues will be presented to system usersas elements that need attention and can be acted upon.

3.5.4.7. Reporting. Intota will offer a number of preprogrammedreports that can be run either on a schedule or as needed. Librarianswill also have the ability to run custom reports on the fly that lookat a number of metrics. Cost-per-use analysis will be included in thereporting module.

Intota can be integrated with a number of campus tools includingcampus financials, as well as any existing data warehouse systems. Itwill enable the library to combine its data with that from campus sys-tems to create advanced reports.

3.5.4.8. Consortial Management. Consortial activities will be fullysupported. In a SaaS environment, it is simple to create linkages be-tween entities to share data or data visualizations. Just as Serials Solu-tions' current 360 ResourceManager offering is fully consortium-enabled today, so will the new service facilitate collaboration betweenlibraries.

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Documents

Introducing the Next Generation of Library Management Systems