Unis join forces on multimillion dollar library system

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Four New Zealand universities are forming a joint-venture company to manage a multimillion-dollar library computer system which will save taxpayer dollars and allow them to share resources.

Sue Pharo, acting chairwoman of Conszulsys, the committee formed by Auckland University of Technology, and Waikato, Victoria and Otago universities to build the new system, said the next step was the creation of a joint-venture company.

She said a shareholding company, LCoNZ, would be used to develop the future growth of the system. Other tertiary organisations would be invited to make use of the expertise gained.

Any intellectual property developed by the consortium would be owned by it and not the software provider, she said.

The move stems from separate searches for new library management systems carried out by the university libraries.

They agreed to investigate the joint purchase and operation of an information and resource access management system and formed the consortium to move the project forward as a co-operative venture.

The selection project was split into two stages - the library application and the host or service provider. The project has made the group a very important client for the software vendor, Chicago-based Endeavor Information Systems.

Pharo said banding together gave the institutions substantial bargaining power, allowing them to negotiate changes to the application with the vendor and favourable terms both for the initial purchase and for adding members to the system in the future.

Auckland's Datacom Systems won the bid to manage the project and is using Unicentre software from Computer Associates to manage the seven giant computers and monitor network performance for the library applications.

Expansion plans might see up to 12 servers on the network over the next few years if other academic organisations in New Zealand join the company.

Pharo said the number of books managed by university libraries was enormous and as the internet developed, online journal management became more important.

Waikato has around a million books on its library shelves, but it also has 3000 print journals and 32,000 online journals.

The system catalogues and manages links to the content and also speeds up the loan process between libraries.

While the system is managed by a consortium, each organisation has a tailored interface to suit its needs, particularly when it comes to networking and hosting.

The Auckland University of Technology's system is hosted by Datacom through a fibre optic connection to the hosting systems.

Hosting data centres have some shared ATM-based access facilities, designed to make connections to them as quick and inexpensive to implement as possible.

Otago's network is also based on Telecom's ATM, which connects it and Datacom on a virtual circuit.

Waikato University has some fairly substantial internet connections and has implemented the system solely over the internet, as has Victoria.

Tom Jacob, Datacom project manager, said the system was moving into an exciting phase which would allow users to electronically access the digital collections.

"This will increase the range of searchable materials available to students, researchers and staff - literally putting a whole new collection at their fingertips," he said.

"Researchers and students temporarily at other institutions or from their own universities, remotely, will be able to use the library of the other institutions without difficulty.

"Having a familiar system at several libraries means library staff also are able to move from institution to institution without having to worry about retraining."