The Implementation of an ILSat the Library of Congress

Presentation by

Erik Delfino

Assistant Implementation Coordinator

ILS Program Office

Library of Congress

Computers in Libraries, March 2000

Scope of the Project

Convert 17 million+ records

» 12m bib, 5m authority, 100k patrons/vendors/orders

Create 20 million holding/item records

Train 3300 staff Replace 2000 workstations Complete initial work in 18 months

Major Milestones

RFP 97-12 (July - Sept. 1997)

» 800+ requirements Vendor selection (May 15, 1998)

» Endeavor Information Systems, Inc. System in Production

» Cataloging Day 1 - August 16, 1999

» All Modules Online - October 1, 1999

Timeline

Preliminary Implementation Planning

Initial Implementation

Initial Implementation Complete

Implement Secondary Priorities

Conduct Business Process Improvement

Proposal Evaluation

Data Cleanup Projects

Contract Award

1997 1998 1999 2000

Training

“Fine-tune” the System

Shelflist Conversion

Serials Conversion

Lessons Learned

What Worked Well

“Culture shock”

What We Would Do Differently

Lessons Learned:What Worked Well

Management Issues» Top Management Support

– LC Management Staffing Funding Contracting Automation support

– Congressional Oversight committees

Lessons Learned:What Worked Well

Management Issues (cont’d)» Contracting

– Market review

– Request for Proposal (800+ requirements)

– Onsite Capability Demonstrations

– Technical Evaluation Teams

– Selecting a Proven System

Lessons Learned:What Worked Well

Other issues» Communication (with staff and public)

– Orientations & briefings

– Listserv

– Web sites

– Newsletters

– External stakeholders (Utilities, NACO, etc.)

– ILS Staff Help Desk

Lessons Learned:What Worked Well

Staffing» Full-time core staff (ILS Program Office; 15)» Staff module experts» Staff input and involvement (teams, policy &

steering groups, trainers)» Team Structure

– Functional, policy, technical

– 80 teams, 500+ staff

Lessons Learned:What Worked Well

Training & Support» Initial implementation

– Train-the-trainer model (100)

– 3300 staff members trained

» Ongoing– Onsite experts for local support (150)

– ILS Help Desk

– “Skillbuilders” and other followup classes

Lessons Learned:“Culture shock”

Dealing with integration of systems & data» Local vs. organizational decisions/processes

Learning to live with a commercial product» Not the only kids on the block» Can’t have a completely customized system

Revisiting our multiple roles» “Local library” vs. “national library”

Lessons Learned:What we’d do differently

Better prepare staff for “shakedown” period following startup

» System tuning

» Contingency plans

» “Fire drills”

Lessons Learned:What we’d do differently

Better communication

–to and from staff

–among teams More “integration” training

What’s Next

Acceptance testing NLS/BPH database Begin BPI process

» Workflow review New software releases

» v2000 in fall Display of CJK vernacular Authorities in the OPAC (late 2000)

Questions & Contacts

Public LC ILS Web site» http://lcweb.loc.gov/ils

LC Online Catalog» http://catalog.loc.gov

LC ILS Program Office» ils@loc.gov

ILS RFP» ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/ils/RFP97-12.WP5