Communication, Collaboration & Cooperation

Communication, Collaboration & Cooperation

An Evaluation of Nova Scotia’s Borrow Anywhere, Return Anywhere (BARA) Multi-type Library Initiative

Denise ParrottSuzanne van den Hoogen

APLA 2012

What we’ll cover…

BARA in a nutshell Birth of a multi-type library initiative Formal pilot evaluation results Successes & Challenges Future

Questions or thoughts as we proceed?

Denise.parrott@nscc.ca902-430-5284

What is BARA?

• Reciprocal Borrowing ProgramBorrow AnywhereReturn Anywhere

• Multi-type Library Initiative– Academic, College & Public Libraries

• Open to All Residents of NS (18 years and older)• FREE to NS Residents

“It’s your library everywhere you are”

Life before BARA

• Just under 1 million people

• 21 independent library systems,106 libraries

• 5 integrated library systems (2 consortia, 3 independent)

Shared Resources: Pre-BARA

Among Academic Libraries• Novanet Express• ASIN• CURBA• Shared cards• Reciprocal borrowing & returning

Among Public Libraries• ILL • Open access or Visitor card

Among Academic & Public Libraries• ILL

• Visitor cards

Libraries Nova Scotia

2007 (Nova Scotia Libraries)

“…giving Nova Scotians barrier-free access to member library resources and services

regardless of where they live, work or study”

http://librariesns.ca/

Libraries Nova Scotia Wish List

• One Card• Collaborative Virtual

Reference/Readers’ Advisory

• Staff Training & Continuing Education

• Shared Licensing• Digital Projects• One Place to Look

From One Card to BARA

2007: One Card Committee

2008: One Card Committee report

October 2008: NSLA Conference

March 2009: Service defined

April 2009: Pilot approvedProject manager

Procedures Development Committee

Key Contacts

May 2009: MOAs signed

September 8, 2009: BARA launch

Survey says…

• Public (410)• Key Contacts (17)• Staff (164)

Three Formal Surveys

Public

No An-swer En-

tered

Don't know

Not satis-fied

Somewhat satisfied

Very satis-fied

Aca-demic

0.021276595744680

9

0.063829787234042

6

0 0.042553191489361

7

0.872340425531915

Col-lege

0 0.12 0 0.06 0.82

Public 0.003267973856209

15

0.127450980392157

0.009803921568627

45

0.029411764705882

4

0.830065359477124

10.0%

30.0%

50.0%

70.0%

90.0%

Public Satisfaction by Library Type

12%

12%

76%

Public Response by Library Type

Academic

College

Public

“Libraries are my Church, BARA is my Cathedral.”

~Public Survey Respondent

Staff

6%

8%

56%

29%

Staff Response by Library Type

No Answer

College

Public

Academic

Don't know Not satisfied Somewhat satisfied

Very satisfied

College 0 0 0.6 0.4

Public 0.0588235294117647

0.00980392156862745

0.186274509803922

0.745098039215686

Aca-demic

0.0377358490566038

0.0566037735849057

0.245283018867925

0.660377358490566

5.0%

15.0%

25.0%

35.0%

45.0%

55.0%

65.0%

75.0%

Staff Satisfaction by Library Type

The Keys to Success

3 Cs• Communication• Collaboration• Cooperation

“ A simple, but effective, made-in-Nova-Scotia

solution”

Communications Plan

Project Manager

LNS Steering Committee

LNS Directors

PublicLibrary Staff

Key Contacts

Procedures Development Committee

Slogan/Promotional Materials

Website

Web Reporting Tool

• 20,666 BARA items were tracked via the Web Reporting Tool during the pilot.

• Average transit time for returning materials was 6.5

days (slightly over the procedural recommendation of 5 days).

• University and college libraries registered over

2,000 OCBs during the pilot, with over 500 of these patrons using external library cards to register.

• NO LOST ITEMS!

Busy, Committed Library Staff

…A few bumps along the way

• Individual Policies & Procedures• It’s not “Pay Anywhere” or “Place a hold

anywhere”• It’s not “One Card”• Training• $hipping Co$ts• Potential loss of material…

Life After The BARA Pilot

Report & Recommendations, April 2011:

• BARA Monitoring Committee • MOA (in perpetuity) • NSPL leadership & Key Contacts• Shipping analysis• Admin costs

BARA 2.0: Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market Drop-off

Back to the Wish List…

• One Card • Collaborative Virtual

Reference/Readers’ Advisory

• Staff Training & Continuing Education

• Shared Licensing• Digital Projects• One Place to Look

Staff Training & Continuing Education

• Cochrane Library Training

• BARA focus groups• “Day of Discovery”• Multi-type working group

meetings• Informal Collaboration

Shared Licensing

• Cochrane Library: Free Access to All Nova Scotians.

• Awareness of each others’ resources but no consensus (yet!) on sharing.

Digitisation

Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers Online

One Place to Look

One ILS?One Catalogue?

One Book

What are others saying?

“Collaboration breeds collaboration.”

Rachael Sarjeant-Jenkins & Keith Walker, Mutually beneficial: Partnerships between public and academic libraries in Canada (Connection and convergence: second international conference on joint use libraries proceedings, Adelaide South Australia, November 3-4, 2011), p. 80.

“The fastest-growing trend now is for academic libraries (community college and university) or

academic and public libraries to come together in a variety of ways.”

William Miller, “Introduction” in Joint-Use Libraries, edited by William Miller and Rita M. Pellen (New York, NY: Haworth Information Press, 2001), p.2.

We’re Not Alone…

Acknowledgements

Over to you…