PVLD Director's Blog

What a week!

It's Friday night as I write this, and I just got back from the California Library Association Legislative Committee meeting in Sacramento.  Since this entailed getting up at 5AM after a PVLD Board of Trustees meeting last night, I am a little tired.

I'm not alone, though!  The new website and ILS have meant a lot of hard work for a number of our staff members.  Thanks to their efforts we've made it through the first week of operation in good shape.  We resolved a number of the issues that we found early in the week, have a better understanding of some of the system limitations, and managed to get quite a bit of content onto the new website.  The fornt line staff did a wonderful job of explaining the changes to our customers, who for the most part were very understanding about the slower-than-usual service as we got used to the new systems and the occasional "glitch".  We even had a few customers who for some reason were not charged fees that they should have been alert us to that fact.

While many people have contributed to this project, a few deserve special mention:

• Technical Services Manager Mary Cohen has been the project's true heroine.  Her work to understand the data structure, support the data migration, and set up all of the many rules and configuration settings has been truly amazing.  Unfortunately for her the workload will not ease up for a while yet, as we still have to "go live" with the acquisitions, serials, and Inter-Library Loan functionality.
• IT Manager Laszlo Latkoczy has served as project manager, making sure we got everything done on schedule and within budget and keeping track of the many issues and their resolution.
• Customer Service Manager Eve Wittenmyer led the implementation of the Circulation module, and assisted by Assistant Manager Melissa Little, Branch Manager Jennifer Addington, and staff members Matt Fukuda and Jesse Wolf made sure the system operates as we need it to and trained all of the Circulation staff at all locations.  Eve and Melissa have also been scheduling themselves to ensure that one or the other is on duty every day that the library is open to assist the front line staff, so they've had some long days and weeks.
• Digital Library Services Manager David Campbell and Digital Services Librarian Erik Adams both designed the new website and set up the online user interface into the new catalog and circulation functions.  Their commitment to designing with the user in mind has led to many new features, such as the ability to limit catalog searches by format (books, movies, music, audiobooks) right from the point the search is initiated.  They've got lots of ideas for continuing to improve the website, and for making the interface between the website and the catalog even more seamless.
• Network Adminstrator Brett LaForest and Computer Technician John Jakobsen set up all of the hardware and spent many long hours trouble shooting issues in the face of documentation that often reflected earlier versions of the software.
• And last, but certainly not least, all of the Circulation staff members, Librarians, and Technical Services employees who have embraced the new systems and helped promote them to our customers.

Thank you!

New systems - 24 hours later

Well, our new systems have been up for more than 24 hours and overall things are going pretty well.  There are still issues with the online calendar, the Integrated Library System software has some inherent shortcomings that we didn't realize were there until we went live, we need to continue to fill out the content of the new website, and we continue to find and fix little glitches.

Some of the key realizations and learnings from this process for me include -

• The traditonal software sales/support model that hands the customer off from the sales team to the implementation team to the help desk and "post-implementation sales" really sucks.  You just get one group of people understanding your organization and what you are trying to achieve and then you have to educate a whole new group.  Vendors - what about an organization structure that aligns with the customer relationship?
• If the technology model of Web 2.0+ is (as I think it is) one where various pieces of software are connected togther via open interfaces in ways that are transparent to the end user, the library technology world seems to have its feet firmly planted in Web 1.0.  Our goal is to have the integration from the PVLD website to other software/systems such as the ILS' online catalog or the online calendar be as invisible and as seamless as possible.  I think our guys have done a great job moving us in this direction, but has been much more difficult to get everything to work together than it should have been.  We can only imagine the challenge when we want to start layering on a new social catalog a la Bibliocommons or knowledge sharing system a la Libguides.
• There is a long way to go to make the library catalog and user account functionality even close to what is available in commercial sites such as Amazon or Netflix.  We believe we selected the best available off-the-shelf ILS for a library of our size, but it has a ways to go to deliver an excellent user experience.  The online catalog has some nice features, like RSS feeds and user reviews and ratings, but they seem to have been "patchworked" into the system rather than being part of a comprehensive and integrated design.  Our vendor does offer an alternative online user interface, called Encore, but it is expensive and still nowhere near what we would consider state-of-the art.  We will be looking at alternatives once things have settled down around here. 

On the plus side

• The new website looks incredible and has some great new features.  It will only get better as we fill out the content and add new functionality.  Even the challenges have provided learning opportunities, so we will also get faster and better at implementing enhancements.
• The new ILS is on the whole far better than the old one.  We lost a couple of important features in the transition, but we gained much more than we lost.  We also have a core group of employees that have a deep understanding of the system's data structure and functionality, which will enable us to work with the vendor to resolve issues and identify opportunities for improvements.
• Our frontline staff have been amazing.  They've embraced the new system and done a great job of dealing with the inevitable little glitches and customer issues.

Are we where we want to be from a technology standpoint?  Not yet.  Are we a LOT further down the road?  Absolutely.

 

New website, new catalog - what fun!

Yesterday we closed all of our libraries in preparation for going live with our new website (note that if you are a regular user of our old website you may need to clear the cache of your Internet browser and then restart your computer to see the new site) and Integrated Library System (or ILS - the system that supports all of our library operations like the catalog, issuing library cards, checking library materials in and out....). 

Closing the libraries is a big deal for us, as we take great pride in closing only on a very few major holidays like Christmas and the 4th of July.  We took advantage of the opportunity to have all of the staff together for a Staff Development Day...the first in many years.  We had a great time as staff from the various locations got to meet one another, we did some training, and finished the day with our first ever PVLD Drum Circle:

This proved to be energizing, stress-relieving, and a lot of fun...just what we needed to get ready for the launch of our new systems today.

So...how're we doing with the new systems?  Overall pretty well although we have found a few glitches, like -

• When we moved the new website into production some of the feeds to our online calendar of events broke.  We should have this fixed tomorrow, though.
• There are wierd discrepancies between how the ILS functions when it is being operated by staff vs when a library user tries to do things via the online library catalog.  We're working on trying to resolve these.
• Some features seem to work intermittently, but not consistently - like the ability to add user reviews, and the display of book covers alongside items in the catalog.

The biggest surprise of the day has been the number of people complaining about the fact that the new system doesn't have the capability to create and save lists of items from the library catalog for future reading/reference.  In our old system not only could a user create such lists, they could go directly from a list item to the catalog to place a hold.   We had no idea this feature was so popular, and unfortunately we didn't do a good enough job of alerting people to the fact that it would disappear.  Definitely a "lesson learned" but also a reason to continue our exploration of Bibliocommons which is built around the ability to create and share lists.

The new systems have some great new features, though - things that our users have been asking for like the ability to rate and review items (once we get it working consistently - it seems it may be a software bug), the ability to keep some or all of your borrowing history for future reference, and new email notification capabilities like getting alerts of pending due dates BEFORE the item is due, or saving catalog searches on topics of interest and then getting email notification when new items that meet the search criteria are added to the collection.

All in all its been a good couple of days, although this is definitely a work in progress as we resolve issues, add new content and capabilities to the website, and implement additional features like the ability to pay fines and fees online.

The staff have been as amazing as always - the core project team has worked long and hard to get the new systems set up and tested and the front-line staff at the public service desks have accepted the changes willingly and are doing a great job of coaching our customers through the transition. 

Everyone is a bit wearly right now, but if we can get through the next few days and get some of our niggling issues resolved we've got a great foundation for continuing to offer leading online services to our users. 

Change

We are three days away from going live with both our new Integrated Library System and our new website design.  All of our libraries will be closed on Monday while we cut over to the new systems.  We'll take the opportunity to have all of our staff together in one place for training and teambuilding  - something that has not been possible for many years because of our commitment to keeping the libraries open as much as possible.

The new systems will mean significant changes for both staff and library users.  Most of the changes are for the better - a more intuitive design and many new features - but changes nonetheless.

Because of the new systems and everything else that is going on around here the topic of change has been on my mind.  I've put together an update presentation to give to the staff on Monday, and one of the slides lists some of the new/"extra" stuff that the staff has taken on over the past few months and the list is amazing.

This is clearly a staff that has learned to deal with change...so I'm confident that we will get through the transition to the new system with flying colors.

I've never had a lot of time for the myriad business books, articles, and consultants that set forth methodologies for "managing change" as if there is some simple set of principles and steps that will work in organizations that are complex systems made up of individuals with intellect, free will, and a wide diversity of backgrounds and points of view.  On the one hand change is part of life and in every organization I have been involved with I have seen people adapt to profound changes in both their work and personal lives without the benefit of a formal "change management program".  On the other hand I have seen many efforts to "drive change" fail.

That's why I was delighted to come across this post by John Fletcher on "One Industry That Ought To Be Declared Bankrupt NOW" on the Slow Leadership blog.

The whole post is well worth reading, but I especially loved his description of

"... is the arrival over the last twenty years or so of a veritable Ideology of Change. All of it is negative, but nothing about it is more dangerous, more intellectually slovenly, and more needlessly arrogant than the phrase “there’s always resistance to change.” This is an (unfortunately effective) way of deflecting questions and opposition, no matter how well founded, and dismissing any dissent on ideological grounds, even before it is articulated."

Apart from being, as Mr. Fletcher puts it "intellectually slovenly" in my experience the statement "there is always resistance to change" is simply untrue....just look at PVLD and the changes our staff have embraced.

And of course, if there is widespread resistance to change, Mr. Fletcher reminds us that "...Even if, as Joseph Goebbels remarked to Heinrich Himmler in 1934, there’s always resistance to change, those who resist are statistically most likely to be right."

Designing the User Experience

One of the blogs I follow regularly is Designing Better Libraries because I love the way it brings ideas from the non-library world of design in to the library context.  Today there was a post on The Total User Experience featuring Valeda Dent of Rutgers University reporting on a talk by usability expert Dr. Bill Gribbons .

The concept of moving from designing for "usability" to designing the "user experience" (referred to as UX)is one that has been talked about in business circles, and to a lesser extent in library circles, for some time.  It's been the subject of at least one best-selling business book and the concept underpinning the design of the Cerritos Public Library not too far from here. 

Up until now I've not been a huge fan of the "experience" school of design mainly because I have tended to associate it with "experience" businesses like the Rainforest Cafe, or Disneyland - i.e. somewhat gimmicky.

Then I read Valeda Dent's description of designing for the user experience as "shifting that burden of understanding how to use something or find something away from the user" and a light went on.

This is something PVLD has been trying to do in everything from the design of the new carpet at the Peninsula Center Library to the design of our new website, we just haven't called it "UX".  That simple concept of "shifting the burden of understanding how to use something away from the user" should be a test we apply to everything we do...no Imagineers or fake trees required. That's a design concept I can embrace!

Minority Rules?

We are in the process of implementing a new Integrated Library System – the software that supports all of our core library processes from the purchase of books and other library materials to cataloging and inventory control, to issuing library cards and checking books out and in, to the online catalog that our customers use. This has proven to be a wonderful opportunity to review policies and practices so that we not only align them with the capabilities of the new software, but also improve internal efficiency and (more importantly) improve our customers' experience of the library. We've been looking at everything from what identification is required to obtain a library card to our somewhat baroque fine and fee structure to our internal purchasing policies and procedures.

Throughout this process it has become obvious that in many cases we have implemented policies and practices because of the minority of people who do the wrong thing, and in the process make things more difficult for the majority who do the right thing. PVLD's Manager of Digital Library Services, David Campbell, has been vigilant about asking the question "Are we doing this for the 5% or the 95%?" and as a result we are changing things in ways that might create a very small amount of risk for PVLD, but offer significantly more convenience for our customers.

When I came across this post on The Tyranny of One by Ben McConnell of The Church of the Customer (a great non-library blog about customer service) I had to chuckle. Obviously libraries aren't the only ones whose response to the "tyranny of one" is to create a rule that punishes everyone else (and is usually implemented after the horse has already bolted so to speak), although if PVLD's policy manual is any example we seem to have elevated it to a fine art.

At least we are recognizing the problem and trying to address it…now we just have to realize that our other favorite response to an issue, putting up a sign, isn't any better!

Open vs. Closed Systems

Those of you who read my blog closely may have noticed that I have edited yesterday's post on Bibliocommons.  I wrote that post at the San Francisco Airport at 6AM, and when I went back and read it after a good night's sleep I did not feel comfortable with my comments about the relationship between Bibliocommons and Innovative Interfaces, particularly since PVLD has not yet formalized a relationship with Bibliocommons and has not had any direct discussions with Innovative about our potential use of Bibliocommons...although I'm hopeful that both of these activities are not too far off!

I also realized that what really has been bugging me is not whether two particular pieces of software will work together, but what I see as a growing gap between an old business model and a new one.  The old one was the model of proprietary and closed systems.  In my personal experience it was best exemplified by my very first major software implementation project - the implementation of the SAP integrated business system into an aluminum smelting business in Australia back in the late 80s and early 90s.  The SAP system had its roots in what used to be called "mainframe computing" and was intended to provide an integrated automated solution for all of a corporation’s business processes from manufacturing and inventory control to accounting to human resources....

The idea was that you would purchase this monolithic software from the vendor, and if it didn't quite meet your needs in a particular business area you would either modfiy the software yourself (which had both short and long-term cost and maintenance implications) or work with the vendor and other users of the software to have modfications included into a later release of the software (which could take a long time).  Where customers demanded new functionality the vendor would develop and sell additional modules. The software resided on computers owned by the customer.  Proprietary software code and standards made it difficult if not impossible to purchase a different product for a particular business need and integrate it into the overall system architecture, and the sizeable investment in the software and implementation made changing to a different product very costly.

The advantages to this model include the tight integration of data and work flows across and between business processes, the ease of maintenance afforded by dealing with a single product from a single vendor, and the control afforded by having the software and data residing on your computers.

The disadvantages include lack of flexibility to meet specific, unique, or changing business needs, relatively slow development timetables, and the sizable investment of time and money required to implement such a system (including the need to invest in the hardware infrastructure).

This model worked pretty well in the 20^th century, but the world has changed.  Some of the things that are becoming “standard” include – hosted software where the software resides on servers owned by the software/service provider and is made available via the web; “open source” software that is typically free and for which applications and new functionality are developed by and shared within the user community (PVLD is using open source software for our staff Intranet and new website; and “open application interfaces” which allow anyone to create new applications to add on to existing services (an example is all of the little add-ons for Facebook).  In this environment organizations pick and choose the “best of breed” applications that best meet their business needs, and expect that those applications will work together…and they expect to be able to get these at a reasonable cost, or even for free!  

The worry that has been at the back of my mind for some time is that major Integrated Library Systems were developed under the old model.  While there are some moves towards developing new open source ILS solutions, and while some vendors have been more willing than others to enable their core products to work with other 3^rd party solutions, the most common ILS products are built on the old, monolithic model…and the Innovative Interfaces business model seems to be more wedded to this old model than many others. Where changing expectations have led to demands for new functionality - like "federated search" or a more "social" catalog" - the response has been to develop these products in-house, and make it difficult for customers to integrate products from other vendors with the core ILS offerings.  These ILS vendor-developed offerings are often expensive, and not often the best or most innovative solutions available.

This is going to be a challenge for PVLD as we strive to get better and faster at modifying our service offerings to meet changing customer applications.  We want to be able to quickly and easily implement new service models like those offered by Bibliocommons, Aquabrowser, LibraryThing and others…and to easily integrate these with our ILS and each other.  I hope Innovative understands this need and will work with us.  If not, I fear for their long-term future…..