ILS Optimization

Tuesday, 1/17/2017 - Wednesday, 1/18/2017

The Integrated Library System, ILS, is the nervous system of libraries, and yet, we often don’t optimize it to meet our needs. This discussion will examine the business processes that the ILS supports, and the work-arounds developed when it doesn’t support the business needs.

  • What are the biggest challenges and customer service issues centered on the ILS?
  • What business processes are supported by the ILS?
  • What are ways that we can get the most out of our systems?
  • How do we work with vendors to do a system configuration audit to ensure that our settings meet best practices?

Learning Outcomes

This discussion is aimed at taking an analytical approach to using and optimizing our ILS. We will discuss best practices used by other library systems to manage their workflow with an ILS, and the discussion will provide exposure to tools needed to analyze those workflows and vendor interactions.

Who Should Attend

This discussion will be particularly helpful to technical services/collection management and IT staff.

Hosts

Stephanie Ratko, IT Manager (Pierce County Library System). Previous experience includes Strategic Alignment Manager - Washington State Department of Enterprise Services, Washington State Governor’s Office of Financial Management – Business Process Manager, Principal Consultant - Evolution Partners and CEO - TritonTek - Chicago Illinois. She is currently one of the project sponsors for a system configuration audit for the Polaris Library Systems.
 
Tracey Thompson, Dept. Head for Collection Management (Pierce County Library System). Previous experience includes Acquisitions Librarian at New Mexico State University, Assistant Manager of Operations for Metropolitan Library System, and Vogelweh Library at United States Air Force – Europe. She is currently one of the project sponsors for a system configuration audit for the Polaris Library Systems.

Registration

Cost

free

How to Register

You must register your email address to subscribe to or access an electronic discussion list on ALA's Mailing List Service. Find instructions for subscribing online.

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Tech Requirements

Internet connection with email address. You can manage your subscription to this list following the online instructions.

Credits

none

Contact

Contact the e-Forum Coordinator at alcts-eforum-request@lists.ala.org with questions or concerns.