The goal of having a robust discovery system is a priority of the libraries the authors serve (both work at the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities). Given the current fiscal situation facing public higher education in their state, the current commercial systems were not affordable for most of their libraries. They decided to implement and…

Northern Michigan University (NMU) is a public 4-year undergraduate institution of higher education with an enrollment of approximately 9,500 students. The university's Division of Academic Information Services encompasses both the staff of the library, which includes authors Clumpner and Burgmeier, and the instructional technology areas, where…

Today's academic libraries must demonstrate their value to cost-conscious university administrators. Budget trade-off decisions that involve the library can be difficult for any university administrator to make, and such decisions are complicated by the recent appearance of massive global digital libraries that seem poised to replace the…

As a concept, the next-generation catalog (NGC) is not new to librarians, who have been wishing for better OPAC interfaces for their integrated library systems (ILSs). The NGC has been the focus of discussion for more than 5 years now, from the 2006 report of the implementation of Endeca at North Carolina State University, to Marshall Breeding's…

In fall 2008, a collaborative partnership was formed between the libraries of two Indiana universities--Marian College's (now Marian University) Mother Theresa Hackelmeier Memorial Library, and the University Library at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The authors discuss the digital nature of this collaboration, which…

The Orange County Library System (OCLS) began to offer basic technology classes in July 2000. The computers were funded through a grant awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over time, the library staff noticed that the demand for the classes increased, so the offering of classes also increased. When the author arrived at OCLS, her…

At the end of 2007, SirsiDynix introduced the first version of Symphony, its new flagship Integrated Library System (ILS). This article begins with a look at the evolution of Symphony, user reactions to Symphony, and Symphony's design and functionality. The authors, along with a team of librarians from various functional areas, have completed…

Libraries are constantly evolving and changing expectations for the user and the information environment. More than just being an authoritative source for research, expertise, and quality content in the form of books and journals, the information center is evolving into a more expansive role. With the growth of information technology awareness and…

The new Fac-Back-OPAC (a faceted backup OPAC) is built on code that was originally developed by Casey Durfee in February 2007. It represents the convergence of two prominent trends in library tools: the decoupling of discovery tools from the traditional integrated library system (ILS) and the use of readily available open source components to…