Many of you are working hard to implement the Voyager library management system at Cornell which will be installed later this year. The preliminary schedule for moving from NOTIS to the new system is included below for your reference. As you review the schedule, I expect that it will generate many questions. In particular, you will see that the transition which takes place between May 16 and June 26 will be a period characterized by interruptions in service for each unit within CUL at different times. In reviewing the schedule, you will begin to see how and when the transition will impact your unit.

The new system will offer us many benefits over our current work environment, but getting from here to there is going to be challenging. We acknowledge that there will be some downtime during the transitional period, but want everyone to know that the Library Administration is comfortable with this. The Implementation Management Team (IMT) is busy making plans on how to continue working at some level throughout the transition even when our on-line systems will not be available to us. Among other things, staff training will be conducted during some of that downtime. The Library Management Team and I understand that there will be a period of adjustment to the new system in which we can expect productivity to decrease. In fact, the Library may modify some procedures, in the short term, to help offset the effects of downtime and the slowdown inherent in beginning to work with a new. We'll have some frustrations, some problems, and some back-ups, but I know you'll contribute to the solutions and share in the excitement of the capabilities of the new system.

The Implementation Management Team, with the full support of our Steering Committee, is working to minimize the disruption to workflows and processes during the transition, although we fully understand that some disruption is inevitable and to be expected. I want to thank Lynne Personius for her leadership and careful attention in our planning effort, and indeed, the whole Implementation Management Team for the intelligent and diligent work they have been doing. We are indeed in good hands.

Sarah E. Thomas
University Librarian

Voyager Implementation Schedule

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