Pre-Implementation Timeline

The selection of the Sirsi Unicorn ILS and the beginning of MPLIC’s implementation was preceded by many months of work. The following “pre-implementation” timeline is adapted from a memo Steve Foster sent to all staff on Sept. 30, 2005.

2004

February
Library Director met with City Administration seeking capital improvement project (CIP) funding to procure a new integrated library system (ILS) for the library.

March
Central Library Senior Agency Managers formed a task force to investigate Public Services ILS needs and priorities. Over the next several months a survey was designed to gather input from Central and branch staff.

July 12
Sirsi CEO, Patrick Sommers; Stephen Abrams, VP of Innovation; and Laurie Chase, National Account Manager presented at a joint meeting of members of the Administrative Cabinet and Public Services Group.

November 9-10
Two-day Sirsi/MPLIC Technical Services Summit Meeting – Sirsi participants included Jane Grawemeyer, Sirsi Technical Services Product Manager; Laurie Chase; MPLIC attendees included managers and staff from Acquisitions, Cataloging, Materials Services, Collection Development, Serials and Government Documents.

November 17
Two-hour WebEx presentation covering Link Plus bindery automation software solution, and Sirsi’s Director Station data mining, analysis, and report generating solution; Sirsi participants included Jeff Schilling, Director of Sales Support, Laurie Chase; MPLIC attendees included the Support Services Manager, Material Services Supervisor and Serials staff.

2005

January 19
Two-hour WebEx presentation covering Sirsi Unicorn Circulation, Sirsi iBistro Web Catalog, Sirsi Single Search, and Sirsi Resolver were presented at the January Circulation Services Users Group Meeting – Sirsi Participants included Jeff Schilling and Laurie Chase; MPLIC attendees included circulation supervisors from branches and Central, the Circulation Services Senior Manager, Central Library Public Services Manager and Automated Services staff.

January 26-27
Two-day Sirsi/MPLIC Public Services Summit Meeting: Sirsi participants included Jeff Schilling and Laurie Chase; MPLIC attendees included total of about 20 public services managers and staff. Sirsi products reviewed included iBistro, Single Search, Resolver, Unicorn WorkFlows Java Client, Enterprise Portal Solution and others.

February 26–March 2
Ten library staff members providing representation from public and technical services attended the Sirsi Super Conference to network with peers and benchmark against former DRA Classic libraries that had made the decision to migrate to the Sirsi Unicorn ILS, and to acquire additional insights provided by attending the conference’s users and executive tracks.

March 11–April 30
Obtained Sirsi ILS quotation for software, hardware, project management and implementation services, training, maintenance support.

May–June
Finalized Sirsi ILS contract documents and list of deliverables.

July–August
City Administration completed review of contract documents and list of deliverables. City Administration completed a resolution to appropriate CIP funding to procure the Sirsi ILS.

September 6-20
Library Director met with City Council’s Education, Arts Youth Initiatives & Libraries Committee to address questions about the ILS resolution. Council Committee passes resolution to appropriate CIP funding to procure the Sirsi ILS. Full Council passes the resolution on September 20th.

September 26–October 7
Contract execution was completed. Planning for implementation of the new Sirsi ILS began.