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Library Management System Evaluation Committee
Notes from the meeting
Tuesday, 26 January 1999:
Carey Hatch and Maureen Zajkowski visited us to explain a bit about what is
SUNYConnect and how it relates to what our group is about--selecting a
replacement system for NOTIS.
We asked them to bring us up-to-date on where they are in the LMS selection process.
Carey thought it best to give an overview of who they are and how they came
to be at the point of selecting a common LMS for the SUNY system.
- In 1991 there were 41 SUNY schools using MULTILIS (a DRA-purchased product.)
- In 1995 DRA started talking about Taos (their object-oriented, next
generation system.) SUNY decided that it was time to begin looking at what
else was out there. They didn't find much that was developed.
- At a meeting of all of the SUNY library directors, it became clear that
they all considered it a priority to find a common LMS. With such a common
system, they would be able to have a shared union catalog and patron file.
SUNYConnect recognized this common goal as a golden opportunity to bring
the SUNYs together and decided to begin the selection process while the
momentum was high.
- A group of 25 representing all of SUNY began the LMS review process. They
determined that there are 9 different systems used by the 64 libraries.
The group executed a needs assessment.
- Maureen was hired into a 2-year position as coordinator of the selection
process.
- They invited four vendors--Ameritech, DRA, Endeavor, and Sirsi, to give
demos of what they were offering. The University Centers (Albany, Buffalo,
Binghamton, Stonybrook) felt the selection process was premature given what
they saw out there as available.
- With the information they gathered through the demos and from perusals of
RFPs written by the Univ. of Minnesota, Univ. of Buffalo, and Binghamton,
they wrote their own RFP and sent it out to vendors in mid January 1999.
- They've recently hired Joe Ford, a consultant, to help with the RFP
evaluation process.
- The deadline for RFP reply is March 30, 1999.
- They expect to make their decision in July, 1999.
- They expect it to take 8 to 9 months for the contract negotiations to work
their way through the state bureaucracy.
When asked if there were any systems they thought they were leaning in
favor of, both Carey and Maureen said "no."
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