CILIP Cymru 2011

Shared Services ..an overview for Wales

Mark HughesHead of CollectionsSwansea University

@Mark_H_Swansea

What are shared services?• 2 or more

organisations using a single shared system

• ..or providing a single service together

• ..works best when commonality of aims / processes

Why shared services?• Cost Savings

• Better use of resources

• Greater co-operation

• Improve services

• Open up further collaborative opportunities

Why shared services?

More on these later!

Why shared services?• Avoid duplication of

effort

• Avoid re-inventing the wheel

• Greater use of distributed knowledge

• Economies of scale

• Cloud Computing?

• .. drive down costs

Wales: Where we are now : Shared LMS'

• Linc y Gogledd

• Pembrokeshire / Neath Port Talbot / Carmarthenshire

• Cardiff University / NHS Libraries

• ..other small co-hosting projects

Wales: Where we are now : SWWHEP

• Shared RFID procurement

• Reciprocal borrowing

• Joint Catalogue

• Joint hosted Federated search

• Co-hosted VLE

• ..now sadly ended

Wales: Where we are now : CatCymru

• Great 1st stage discovery tool

• Limited functionality

• Crude live availability linking

• Discovery = good

• Delivery = patchy

• Sustainability of delivery?

Wales: Where we are now : Other shared services

• Lots of regional & national partnerships

• How many are “true” shared services??

Welsh Information Literacy Project

The UK context : Shared Services / Consortia

The UK context : Sconul / HEFCE / JISC• £12.5 million

HEFCE funding

• JISC / Sconul LMS Study

• JISC / Sconul ERM project

• ..wider remit than just libraries

• Not just HE & FE relevance

The UK context : Shared LMS

• Small(ish) groupings

• Varied degrees of co-operation

• Sector specific

• 'Traditional' technology models

• On the increase?

• Governance !

The UK context : Shared LMS

• Cloud solution = centrally hosted / shared

• ‘Traditional LMS’ available as cloud solutions

• Older technology

• Open Source options

• New ‘cloud’ designed systems

The International Context : Case Study: Australia

• 44 Library Services

• 285 'branches'

• 30 million visits

• 48.7 million loans

• 50% population 'active borrowers'

• Intra library loans & delivery

The International context : Case Study: USA

• Georgia Pines

• 275 'branches'

• 18.5 million loans

• 92.2% approval amongst users

• KCLS

• 22.4 million loans

• 48 Libraries

• c10 million visits per year

..and many more large consortia

'The Consortia Effect'

“(an) increase in the use of libraries which results after they join a resource sharing consortium” Dr Bob Molyneaux 2011

Consortia = Wider patron choice = Increased use for all

Georgia Pines / Swift consortium statistics

http://blog.esilibrary.com/2011/04/05/the-consortial-effect/

Shared systems & Open Source

• Open source, shared services & libraries = shared values & common purpose?

• Open accessibility

• Sharing of expertise & knowledge

• Co-operation & community base

• Direct control over development

• Reduced costs

CILIP Cymru 2011

Case study : Evergreen LMS

Consortia designed open source LMS

..fastest growing system in North America?EG@0 EG@1 EG@2 EG@3 EG@4 EG@4.6

6

Systems 46 48 63 160 251 424

Outlets 240 253 284 428 609 873

Consortia 1 1 4 10 13 18

The future : Wales“Reviewing service delivery”

“Local..Regional..National context”

“Encourage the establishment of new collaborative service delivery models”

“..will work..in partnership to investigate the potential of joint Library Management System procurement”

The future : Wales• Institutional mergers

• Wales Higher Education Electronic Library (WHEEL)

• Funding bid for pilot project to investigate shared Library Management System & ERM

• ..investigate possibility of cross sector system provision?

The Future: WalesExpect Shared Services to be high on the agenda

Expect pilot projects to spring up over next 12 months

Expect some of those projects to be cross sectoral

Expect shared LMS to be a big priority for investigation

Expect some UK wide projects to start up

Expect Open Source software to be a considered option

..expect change..some compromise..more co-operation, improved services, and hopefully, survival

Thank you

www.slideshare.net/Mark_H_Swansea

m.j.hughes@swansea.ac.uk

http://www.netvibes.com/mark_h_swansea