Library Services Platform Update, September 4, 2018

Library Services Platform Update, September 3, 2018

The Library Services Platform project is in full speed as we open the fall semester. Eleven vanguard colleges—Allan Hancock College, City College of San Francisco, Cypress College, East LA, Foothill College, Long Beach City College, Oxnard College, Pasadena City College, Pierce College, Santa Rosa Junior College, and Shasta College—will complete a trial run of migration and test a “production environment” with the new system. Representatives from these colleges have already been in communication with Ex Libris and one another and will complete their work by the end of December, 2018. In late January, we will begin the kickoff in which the majority of our community college library staffs will undertake preparations for data migration, undergo Alma and Primo training, and migrate data and implement the new LSP over the course of the next twelve months.

Some colleges are still working through their decision-making process and have yet to commit to the new LSP. Several regional LSP workshops are being scheduled for later this month. Look for communication to come from your CCL Regional Representative within the next few days.

To clarify a few points regarding the letter of intent to participate and the Institution Participation Agreement:

Letter of Intent to Participate

The letter of intent to participate is for planning purposes to get a more accurate number of colleges ready to move forward. That letter was due on August 31, but you can still submit it if you haven’t done so already. Additionally, if you are having difficulty working through that process or have questions, please feel free to reach out to Amy Beadle (abeadle@ccctechcenter.org).

Institution Participation Agreement

The Institution Participation Agreement is a contract with the CCC Technology Center that spells out your college’s obligations and what your college will receive. Some of the key elements of this contract:

This phase of the project funds

  • creation of the original Request for Proposal and selection of an LSP
  • migration of data to new system
  • faculty and staff training in support of migration and use of Alma and Primo.
  • Implementation of LSP and first year of use by each participating college.

Although per-college costs for this phase are broken out in the contract, colleges participating in the initial migration and implementation will not pay those costs.

Colleges that do not participate in the initial migration and implementation, however, will be liable for implementation fees, listed under “Alma/Primo Late Adopter Implementation Fee” in the contract.

Efforts have been underway for some time to secure ongoing funding (more about this below). Should ongoing funding not be secured, the Institution Participation Agreement spells out—by college-- a fee schedule (in Exhibit D) of annual subscription fees for Alma and Primo that can be used to estimate costs after the first year.

So far, however, efforts to secure that funding are right on track. In mid-August, Consultation Council approved placing the proposal for ongoing funding of the LSP in the Board of Governor’s budget request for 2019-2020. This was a crucial step in the process, and the Consultation Council approved its inclusion without dissent.

Work Groups

As we move into this major migration and implementation phase, we are working on infrastructure and support for operating the LSP long term in a way that bests leverages our collective expertise. Work groups have been formed to create working policies as needed, to articulate ongoing professional learning needs, and to act as a resource to the field. Over the summer, ASCCC was busy reaching out to local Academic Senate Presidents to obtain approval for participation of volunteers from each campus. Those work groups have now been formed and will be receiving communication later this week regarding kick-off webinars. These groups include: Analytics, Cataloging, Circulation, Discovery & User Experience, Professional Development, Resource Sharing, and Systems.

Looking for more information?

Here are four suggestions for gathering more information:

1. On September 12 and September 13, there are demonstration webinars scheduled for Alma and Primo. Time has been included for questions and discussion in both. For access information, see the Council of Chief Librarians links below:

2. The Council of Chief Librarians posts regular updates about the LSP project, both in a navigation box on the right side of the homepage and under Library Services Platform News, including a project presentation that may be helpful in discussing the LSP project with others on your campus: https://cclibrarians.org/sites/default/files/lsp/lsp_project_update_august_27_2018.pptx

3. The CCC Technology Center maintains an FAQ page for this project.
 

4. Don’t hesitate to contact the CCC Technology Center’s Amy Beadle (abeadle@ccctechcenter.org) or Council of Chief Librarians President Doug Achterman (dachterman@gavilan.edu) with any questions you have.

 

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