Minutes December 2002
Arkansas Innovative Users Group
University of Arkansas at Little Rock—Law School
Little Rock, Arkansas
December 4, 2002
Susan Goldner opened the meeting at 10:00am.
INN-REACH
Sandy Westall, Innovative Interfaces Inc.’s Vice President, Library Service, presented INN-Reach. This is a summary of her presentation. Additional information can be found at http://csdirect.iii.com under “Presentations” or by contacting III directly. The meeting was divided in two sections with a general presentation in the morning and two break-out sessions after lunch. One breakout session focused on funding while the second breakout session focused on how INN-Reach works.
INN-Reach is a resource-sharing product that produces a union catalog of the holdings of all participating libraries. In addition, it allows patrons to borrow material from the other libraries, eliminating the need for staff mediation. When coupled with the courier service already available in Arkansas, this system greatly speeds the process of using resources from other libraries. With INN-Reach, the whole state could be treated as “remote storage.” The two primary components of INN-Reach are a single, searchable catalog and patron-initiated circulation.
Current Installations:
INNReach is currently being used by 14 library consortia, with 4 more in the works including international sites in Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Most of these consortia are made up of only academic libraries, but some of the newer ones include a variety of library types. The Arkansas IUG is interested in a project with all types of libraries from all parts of the state. Here are details from some of these projects:
The OhioLINK INN-Reach was the first system and now includes over 8 million items and encompasses 54 separate systems with over 80 libraries . 63,000 transactions went through OhioLINK in November 2002.
In Colorado, the Prospector (INN-Reach) system includes 16 libraries mostly academic with some public. The Prospector libraries have seen a 20-fold increase in available resources for the smallest library and a doubling of resources available for the largest. The PLUS system in Colorado is comprised of public libraries and sees a large amount of video traffic.
In California, LINK+ has now added a public library. LINK+ is growing and now includes 25 libraries.
The Cascade system in Washington and the Orbis system in Oregon are going to merge into ORCA this coming year.
The San Diego Circuit has a really fast turnaround time with requests before 10am being filled by 3pm.
The MOBIUS system in Missouri is state-funded. [A later question regarding MOBIUS and their setup revealed that the Missouri sites share Innovative servers in regional groups and then share the MOBIUS INN-Reach system. The MOBIUS office supports all the Innovative servers except for the Univ. of St. Louis.]
InMich is a research project covering a school district, Michigan State, public libraries and other academic libraries. One director in InMich stated, “the smaller you are, the more you need it.” InMich is funded by LSTA through the Library of Michigan.
ConnectNY is comprised of 5 private, academic libraries.
InRhode is an academic-only system in Rhode Island.
Maine InfoNet is available to all Maine libraries. Use of INN-Reach client software is common in the smaller libraries.
AccessPennsylvania was a conversion site from a previous union catalog.
C/W MARS is a very large INN-Reach site in Massachusetts which is now dividing into two systems covering the central and western parts of the state.
Because of the diversity of library holdings, in a multiple-type INN-Reach, fewer source records are needed to achieve large holdings
Features:
Load-balancing is available to prevent undue burdens and to speed access and delivery.
Each library can opt to keep some of it's material out of the INN-Reach system. For example, a library might exclude its special collections. It is also possible to include material in the union catalog that does not circulate.
Records are loaded into the union catalog automatically, in real time. Tape loads are not necessary.
The control programming writes changes to a load file with no staff mediation. When asked about the burden placed on the control program on individual systems, Sandy stated the burden was small.
Libraries with automation systems from vendors other that Innovative can participate in INNReach projects. With the cooperation of the other vendor, Innovative can create software that treats the other system just like an Innovative one. Currently, the only other system that works this way is CARL. Endeavor has had Innovative's specifications for such a product for quite a while, but has not responded. There is another process that Innovative has devised for including additional vendors systems. This is currently working with Dynix and Innovative soon should work with Winnebago.
Issues to consider:
Sandy addressed the need for a clear consortial agreement so everyone understands the principles. Usually, material is given quite good care when shared. The need to have fee agreements was discussed. There are no fees to users or libraries in the current INN-Reach installations, which is what Sandy recommends.
The patron deals only with their local library.
There has to be a commitment to process the INN-Reach requests in a timely manner by all participating libraries.
Many sites use courier services while InMich uses United Parcel Service.
The use of consistent lending policies is very important.
INN-Reach is a tool for staff through a current, deepened and merged, scalable catalog with access to cataloging records.
It is possible, optionally, to allow for holds.
INN-Reach provides statistics on filled requests, canceled requests, and transfers.
How it gets started discussion:
INNReach is expensive. The cost can be broken into three categories: purchase of the central site software and hardware, purchase of software for each library's system, and ongoing maintenance costs. Dr. Bobby Roberts, Director of the Central Arkansas Library System, proposed approaching members of the Arkansas Legislature with a proposal to fund the initial costs for the central site and for the first group of libraries who sign-on to INNReach in Arkansas. The group agreed with this suggestion. This project will be open to all the Innovative libraries in the state. In addition, libraries with Dynix systems will be encouraged to participate. Between the two, most parts of the state are included.
After the meeting, the group decided on wording to describe and promote INN-Reach: “Arkansas libraries can leverage the investment already made in their collections by purchasing INNReach. INNReach is software/hardware system which greatly improves library efficiency and service by allowing participating libraries to share the riches of their library collections. With it patrons search a single database and request books, sound recordings, films, maps and more for immediate delivery. This is a proven system, currently in use in thirteen other states. A group of academic, public, school, law and medical libraries wants to start this project. Eventually, every library in the state could participate. Clearly, INNReach would greatly enhance learning and research tools available to ALL Arkansans.”
How it works presentation:
The INN-Reach system assigns MARC records to non-MARC fields with each system receiving a profiling index. The system indexes each incoming record according to a central system profile. The system can index different classification schemes and subject headings. It is a broader catalog than any of the contributing catalogs. There are some specified ports between the local system and the INN-Reach system with a defined port being used that can be identified in firewalls. Some security measures in the works will use secure encryption rather than r-shell and r-login. Load leveling tables are maintained at the central site.
There is a basic set of patron types that local PTYPES are mapped with new loan rules that are defined at the central site. The local site can determine which loan rule applies to their patrons and items.
Links to INN-Reach sites:
InMich: http://inmich.mlc.lib.mi.us/
Access Pennsylvania: http://accesspa.brodart.com/
Cascade: http://cascade.lib.washington.edu/screens/opacmenu.html
ConnectNY: http://www.connectny.info/
C/W MARS: http://www.cwmars.org/
InRhode: http://131.128.70.3/search
LINK+: http://csul.iii.com/
Maine InfoNet: http://130.111.64.9/
MOBIUS: http://mobius.missouri.edu/screens/opacmenu.html
OhioLINK: http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search
Orbis: http://orbis.uoregon.edu/
PLUS: http://198.59.31.35
Prospector: http://prospector.coalliance.org/
San Diego Circuit: http://circuit.sdsu.edu/
