Making the Most of Your ILS: A User's Guide to Evaluating and Optimizing Library Systems

by Lynn E. Gates, Joel D. Tonyan

Overview

Systems administrators, librarians, and library staff will learn key principles and methods for securing their ILS and understand how to configure and optimize their library catalog by improving data management practices, streamlining existing workflows, and documenting their system's configuration.

The integrated library system (ILS) plays a central role in every library's operations, but is your ILS optimized to ensure maximum productivity? Are you taking advantage of the features added since you implemented it? Walking readers through a wide-ranging ILS review, this book will help you ensure systems are properly configured, produce better documentation, and evaluate staff workflows.

The authors-a director of collections and content and a director of user experience-created a comprehensive plan for reviewing an ILS, starting with planning the project and deciding whom to include. They discuss basic ILS security principles, including keeping patron data safe and the importance of reviewing staff permissions. After the basics, the authors go in-depth on reviewing codes and figuring out how different parts of an ILS work together as well as how to review those areas, and they offer ideas on how to stay up-to-date with your ILS, such as where to look for information on issues, updates, and new features. Several methods for analyzing and documenting workflows are also discussed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440876370
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/01/2022
Pages:	164
Product dimensions:	6.15(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.45(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lynn E. Gates is director of collections and content at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Kraemer Family Library.

Joel D. Tonyan is director of user experience and associate professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Kraemer Family Library.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Kraemer Family Library Experience vii

1 Planning and Gaining Support 1

2 ILS Structure 19

3 System Security 31

4 Working with Field Values 49

5 Updating Workflows 69

6 Documentation 83

7 Putting It All Together: Eliminating Overdue Fines at the Kraemer Family Library 97

Appendix A Glossary 111

Appendix B Forms and Worksheets 115

Worksheet 1 Developing an Improvement Plan 115

Worksheet 2 Diagramming Your ILS's Data Inputs and Outputs 120

Worksheet 3 Documenting Your Library's ILS History 121

Worksheet 4 Integrated Library System Network Security Audit 122

Worksheet 5 Developing Strong Password Policies 124

Worksheet 6 ILS Security Checklist 125

Worksheet 7 Identifying and Documenting Key Fields in Your ILS 126

Worksheet 8 Documenting Local Marc Fields 128

Worksheet 9 Blank Swim Lane Diagrams 129

Appendix C Common MARC Fields in Bibliographic Records 131

References 141

Index 145

What People are Saying About This

Justin Newcomer

"Making the Most of Your ILS provides tools to understand and describe the work people are doing with the ILS, as well as being a great primer on the data involved. Alongside sensible advice on useful documentation there are worksheets and templates to get you started. The case studies are relatable and will spawn your own ideas on reevaluating processes to take better advantage of ILS features to save staff time and energy."

Laura E. Daniels

"A refreshingly hands-on, no-nonsense approach to a potentially intimidating and overwhelming process, this holistic and practical text has something to offer for new, aspiring, and seasoned technical services or systems librarians alike. Using concrete, real-world examples to illustrate, Gates and Tonyan combine project management with library technical services expertise in a comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide that addresses both the organizational and technical challenges of this work."

Beth Juhl

"Offering plenty of examples and samples, this concise guide offers useful strategies for those preparing for a system migration and not just those who want to tune up an existing system. Suggestions for documenting system configurations will help every library in this age of staff turnover. Many of us know we are not using our technology to its fullest potential; Gates and Tonyan should help many libraries optimize their significant investment in library systems."

Editorial Reviews

A refreshingly hands-on, no-nonsense approach to a potentially intimidating and overwhelming process, this holistic and practical text has something to offer for new, aspiring, and seasoned technical services or systems librarians alike. Using concrete, real-world examples to illustrate, Gates and Tonyan combine project management with library technical services expertise in a comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide that addresses both the organizational and technical challenges of this work.” —Laura E. Daniels, Assistant Director, Metadata Production, Cornell University Library

“Offering plenty of examples and samples, this concise guide offers useful strategies for those preparing for a system migration and not just those who want to tune up an existing system. Suggestions for documenting system configurations will help every library in this age of staff turbanover. Many of us know we are not using our technology to its fullest potential; Gates and Tonyan should help many libraries optimize their significant investment in library systems.” —Beth Juhl, Web Services Librarian, University of Arkansas

“Making the Most of Your ILS provides tools to understand and describe the work people are doing with the ILS, as well as being a great primer on the data involved. Alongside sensible advice on useful documentation there are worksheets and templates to get you started. The case studies are relatable and will spawn your own ideas on reevaluating processes to take better advantage of ILS features to save staff time and energy.” —Justin Newcomer, Senior Systems Administrator, Rochester Institute of Technology

From the Publisher