HKALL: Overview and Status Update

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HKALL Overview and Status Update

• Tony Ferguson
• University of Hong Kong Librarian
• Acting Director of IT in Learning

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Background

• April 2002, a JULAC taskforce with
  representatives from 8 institutions were charged
  to explore
• The experience of other consortia employing user
  initiated document delivery services
• The use of software/utilities/systems which could
  be used by the JULAC Libraries
• The resource implications (e.g. reduce ILL-based
  borrowing and lending but will likely see
  significant increase on circulation increase,
  etc.)
• September 2002, an interim report recommended
• That such a service was a good idea for HK
• That a suitable software platform be selected and
  implemented

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System Selection Prerequisites

• The taskforce then went to work to figure out
  which system to recommend. They decided upon 5
  drop dead criteria. The system must
• Accept user initiated online interlibrary
  requests
• Support unmediated interlibrary requests directly
  from users to lending libraries
• Support book loans
• Check incoming interlibrary requests
  automatically against the users own collection,
  and block that request if the requested item was
  available on the shelf
• Supports Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK)
  characters

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The Taskforce selected INNReach because

• It was the only system to meet all criteria
• CJK was a showstopper
• Because all 8 institutions were already III
  customers, implementation would be much easier

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More Background

• Irrespective of the Taskforces findings, only 3
  libraries were enthusiastic enough to try the
  system out. They ran an experiment from January
  to September 2004.
• Remaining 5 adopted a wait and see approach
• Their concerns included
• Cost
• Impact on local collections and users
• Impact on library staff
• Possible threat of reduced funding

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The three trial participants

• Lingnan University (LU)
• ca 400,000 physical vols

• City University of Hong Kong (CityU)
• ca 1.1 million physical volumes

• University of Hong Kong (HKU)
• ca 2.3 million physical vols

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Major Problems Encountered

• Building the HKALL Union Catalogue
• - Matching CJK records problem
• Three institutions needed to establish
  complimentary circulation rules and policies
• Minimise policies that interfere with local
  circulation practices while still trying to
  maximise use of the mega collection
• ensure that the policies would not undermine the
  interest of users in the owning libraries and
• make the policies as simple as possible so that
• they are easily understood by both users and
  operational staff members
• operational procedures are simple and
  administrative costs are minimal
• they can readily include new participating
  libraries.

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Reproduced from Innovative Interfaces
lthttp//www.iii.com/innreach/index.shtmlsystemmgm
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How HKALL Works
Scenario 1 A book is not owned by the local
library
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(No Transcript)
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We do not have this title in our library. We
search HKALL
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Copies available at both CU and PolyU
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Make request
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Authenticate against local patron database
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Title successfully requested!
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Patron receives email pickup notice after the
book is transferred to the borrowing site
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Scenario 2 A book IS owned by the local library
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(No Transcript)
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We have 2 copies but both are checked out and one
has 5 holds and the other has 3 holds. Check HKALL
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UST has a copy available
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Make request
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Authenticate against local patron database
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Book successfully requested.
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Patron receives email pickup notice after the
book is transferred to the borrowing site
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Major Lessons Learned

• Many more items borrowed using InnReach than
  traditional ILL (several hundred percent more)
• Cheaper to process borrowing and lending
  transactions (40-45 percent cheaper)
• Users loved it

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Typical comments

• Excellent on the whole
• this scheme has been excellently carried out.
  With this scheme, resources in the universities
  can be better utilised.
• HKALL simply makes life easier. Thank you.
• It should include all eight institutions in HK.

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Post Experiment Major Events

• Following many discussions the 8 university
  libraries decided to apply to the governments
  University Grants Committee for funding
• They requested hardware, software, and a limited
  amount of staff start up funds
• They were awarded nearly all the requested funds
• We began installation of software, figuring out
  what were the challenges, and solutions during
  the summer 2005
• We had a soft launch September 1, 2005

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Challenges that were solved or we learned to live
with

• Chinese character problems. Traditional and
  simplified Chinese records were not merging
  Japanese variants had the same problem.
• HKALL wanted to have call numbers in item records
  but some libraries didnt put them there and so
  the system couldnt find them. Innovative had to
  figure out a solution.
• Sites didnt want to all have the same borrowing
  profiles.

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Findings so far

• Super growth in amount of borrowing and lending
• Social Science Sci/Tech Lang/Lit still most
  requested subjects
• Super fast
• Undergrads and post graduate students the largest
  users

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Growth in Use 3 Test Libraries

• Items delivered September to November 2004 and
  2005 compared (INNReach in place both years)
• City U 350 increase
• HKU 239 increase
• Lingnan U 237 increase

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Subjects Borrowed (8 Libraries)
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Language of Materials Borrowed
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Speed of Delivery (8 Libraries)(Same day 99.7)
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User Types
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Where are we now?

• The program is so successful that we have to find
  another courier service
• HKU is going to experiment with a RAPID non
  returnable INNReach related module.
• We are about to replace the test hardware with
  new hardware
• We will be loading new Innopac software that will
  effect INNReach
• INNReach will be the borrowing system that will
  be used in our shared storage facility
• Future issues allow other HK or China libraries
  to join INNReach?
• INNReach is the best example of DEEP
  COLLABORATION between academic institutions in
  Hong Kong!!!

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Rapid Option

• Works like INNReach
• Patron discovers they lack the needed journal
• Click to Rapid to search the Rapid catalogue
  just like INNReach
• Patr finds the title (hopefully)
• Patron provides the specific author, volume,
  issue, page, etc. information
• Some supplementing of the citation takes place
• Information transferred to ILLIAD
• ILL staff process the request in RAPID
• Possible to create a HK pod in RAPID so that HK
  libraries collections are first looked at.