SUNY Office of Library and Information Services
Report to SUNY Librarians Association
John Schumacher (john.schumacher@suny.edu)
September 25, 2015
SUNYConnect LMS and Related Activities
• One Bib Project – a decision was made in July to step back from the One Bib project until the Library System Request for Information (RFI) review process has concluded; for more information see the announcement distributed at the end of July 2015;
• Work is underway to start the process of an Aleph upgrade to v22 for campuses with Aleph installed on the shared server environment at ITEC (currently at v20);
Library Systems Request for Information (RFI)
• In April 2015 the OLIS distributed an RFI to solicit responses from vendors regarding developments in the library systems market;
• A Library Systems RFI Review team was established to review the vendor responses. It is composed of members from the SUNY Council of Library Directors Executive Board, OLIS, and representatives from campuses. The team met on August 5, 2015 to discuss findings and next steps.
• Initial findings from vendor responses reviewed at the August 5, 2015 meeting include:
o Many systems are still in development
o Systems offer new tools and work procedures
o Strong focus on management of electronic resources
o Software as a Service (SaaS) models are the norm
o Heavy emphasis on use of APIs for 3rd party product integration – which raises questions about support services
o Systems provide opportunities for collaboration across SUNY campuses in ways not available with Aleph
o Pricing is impacted by several metrics including system configuration (level of sharing across campuses)
• Next steps discussed at the August 5, 2015 meeting:
o Survey for Library Directors – themes in that survey include:
Interest in levels of data sharing and collaborative services across campuses
Interest in building community based groups in support of implementation and ongoing maintenance
Interest in developing system-wide workflows/processes
Readiness (budget and staff) in taking part in a migration
o Survey was distributed to the SCLD list on 9/14/15
o Survey results will be discussed at Directors’ October meeting
o Schedule vendor demos in November timeframe to address questions from RFI Review Team and the library directors discussion in October
To help the SUNY library community (beyond the members of the RFI Review team) acquire information on developments in library systems, a “Next Gen” Library Systems Information Group has been created in the SUNY Learning Commons. This site contains the RFI vendor responses that have been designated for sharing internally within the larger SUNY community. Please see the announcement about how to access the “Next Gen” Library Systems Information Group that was distributed in early July.
EBSCO Discovery Service
• Curriculum Builder (reading list interoperability between CMS (Bb, etc.) and EDS) webinar for SUNY scheduled for October 9, 2015 (10am); the webinar will be recorded and made available; additional details will be made available asap;
• Please keep the feedback coming on the new Full Text Finder (OpenURL software) as well as on Curriculum Builder use;
• Some of the SUNY EDS sites can be found here.
Full-Text Finder (EBSCO)
• Most of the SUNY EDS sites have completed at least initial set-up and configuration of the new Full Text Finder software.
Electronic Resources
• SUNYConnect libraries will be offered trial access to Web of Science;
• The process for seeing if we can pay for a university-wide license for the New England Journal of Medicine is about to get started;
• Look for more information, coming soon on the next round of “title swapping” in regard to the SUNYConnect ScienceDirect license;
• Efforts are underway to see if the university-wide license for the National Fire Protection Association (codes, etc.) can be re-established; the license increased in price dramatically;
• The shared nursing ebook program (vendor – STAT!Ref) continues for 2015/16 with one additional campus; per-campus costs went down;
• Update to SUNY ScienceDirect knowledgebase (August 2015) has been processed by ProQuest and EBSCO;
• SUNY campus’ 2016 renewal for Annual Reviews has been submitted;
• The demand driven acquisition of JStor ebook project is not going forward;
• Cold call – please contact the OLIS Liaison if you are interested in Textile Outlook International .
OLIS Updates
• With a heavy heart, the OLIS reports that Marguerite E. “Maggie” Horn has retired after almost 20 years of dedicated service to SUNY, first as Head of Cataloging at the University at Albany and then for 15 years at the SUNY Office of Library and Information Services; and in total, more than 40 years of remarkable service in serials cataloging, data analysis and creative problem solving across an impressive range of private and public institutions. We wish her all the best in her next adventures. Thanks to colleagues who joined in sending best wishes to Maggie.
• Thanks to Victoria Ossenfort, programmer analyst for OLIS and Open SUNY for her service to SUNY; Victoria has resigned her position;
• Open SUNY as well as the SUNY Office of Library and Information Services are scheduled to move offices in mid-October 2015; contact information will remain the same.
Open SUNY and Related Activities
• “Introduction to Open Educational Resources” (OERs) course, facilitated by Karen Gardner-Athey is being updated; registration is open for the guided version of the course; and more information and access to course materials available;
• Open SUNY Affordable Learning Solutions has additional content, including faculty profiles for Open SUNY textbook authors from Binghamton and Genesee;
SUNYConnect Information / Resources
• For additional information about SUNYConnect, see our updated web site -
http://www.SUNYConnect.suny.edu/• OLIS’ Footprints Service Request System
http://service.sunyconnect.suny.edu/footprints/help.html • OLIS Support Portal
http://wiki.sunyconnect.suny.edu/display/OLIS/Support+Portal • SUNYConnect union catalog
http://search.sunyconnect.suny.edu/ Links (in this document)
http://blog.sunyconnect.suny.edu/2015/09/01/one-bib-project-update/ http://blog.sunyconnect.suny.edu/2015/09/01/library-systems-whats-next-whats-new/ http://www.ebscohost.com/discovery/customization/curriculum-buildermailto:sunyeds@ls.suny.edu
http://wiki.sunyconnect.suny.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=21925277https://www.ebscohost.com/discovery/technology/full-text-finder http://thomsonreuters.com/en/products-services/scholarly-scientific-research/scholarly-search-and-discovery/web-of-science.html http://www.textilesintelligence.com/tistoi/ http://www.cvent.com/events/introduction-to-oers-facilitated/event-summary-bf7d63e779be48ef8fa1f3067b34797b.aspx http://opensunyals.org/learnmore.htmlhttp://opensunyals.org/index.html http://opensunyals.org/facultyshowcase.html 
