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Technology Plan Introduction *skip to Executive Summary below The Cooperating Libraries of Nash and Edgecombe counties (CLONE) comprise six public and academic libraries in these two eastern North Caroline counties. These libraries include the Braswell Memorial Library of Rocky Mount, the Edgecombe Community College Library (with campuses in both Tarboro and Rocky Mount), the Edgecombe Memorial Library of Tarboro (with a branch in Pinetops), the Pearsall Library of North Carolina Wesleyan College of Rocky Mount, the H. D. Cooley Library of Nashville, and the Nash Community College Library of Rocky Mount. In July 2005, the CLONE consortium received a federally-funded LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grant to develop a regional technology plan for the consortium. In particular, the CLONE member libraries wanted assistance in “planning effective cooperative usage of shared technology to better serve all CLONE service areas.” Three specific goals of the regional technology plan were:
The library contracted with Dr. Robert Burgin of RB Software & Consulting of Cary, North Carolina, for the development of the technology plan. An outside consultant was sought due to the lack of staff time and expertise in this area, and Dr. Burgin was selected due to his 30 years of experience in library education, library consulting, and library administration. The recommendations made in this report are based on information gathered during a meeting with the CLONE library directors on July 27, 2005; during site visits to the H. D. Cooley Library on August 31, 2005, to the Edgecombe County Memorial Library on September 1, 2005, to Wesleyan’s Pearsall Library and the Nash Community College Library on September 28, 2005, to the Edgecombe Community College Library on October 6, 2005, and to the Braswell Memorial Library on October 18, 2005; and through telephone and email communications with various individuals. The recommendations in this report form the basis of a regional technology plan for the CLONE consortium and its member libraries. There are three groups of recommendations. Recommendations 1 and 2 represent preliminary steps that the CLONE member libraries should take in order to prepare themselves to implement the other recommendations. By agreeing on a legal structure for the consortium and improving their current infrastructures, the member libraries will be ready to put in place the other ten recommendations. Recommendations 3 through 6 all hinge upon the idea that several of the member libraries should share a single automated library system. Those that do will be able to provide a shared catalog of holdings, which will be supported by a courier service, and will be able to provide a shared library card. While there are still ways to involve the libraries that choose not to share the single automated library system, the greatest benefits will be to those libraries that participate in the shared system. Recommendations 7 through 12 do not require a shared automated library system but can be implemented independently of that recommendation. The CLONE member libraries are understaffed and underfunded, and the kinds of cooperative efforts represented by these recommendations will maximize the libraries’ buying power and ability to provide services to their users. This report makes the following recommendations for consideration by the staff of the CLONE member libraries. The CLONE libraries should agree on a legal structure for the consortium. (The specific legal structure is less important than the need for the CLONE member libraries to discuss the options and agree upon some kind of structure that will support the cooperative services that they wish to implement.) 2. The CLONE libraries should improve their current infrastructures to provide better technological support for their cooperative efforts. (Improved infrastructures will support the recommendations of this report and will allow the libraries to better guarantee effective access to the information resources that they provide to their users.) 3. The CLONE libraries should migrate to a single automated library system where feasible. (Sharing a single system will provide greater access to the combined resources of the participating libraries, will lead to greater use of library collections and potential cost savings and efficiencies, and will allow the participating libraries to receive a high level of technical support.) 4. The CLONE libraries should provide a shared catalog of the holdings of the member libraries where feasible. (A shared catalog will make it easier for library users to locate materials of interest and will increase the use of the collections of the CLONE member libraries.) 5. The CLONE libraries should investigate a courier or delivery system. (Such a service will get more materials to more users in less time, thus improving the satisfaction of library users and increasing the use of the library collections.) 6. The CLONE libraries should investigate a shared library card. (A shared library card will make it easier for users of the CLONE libraries to borrow materials from multiple libraries and will thereby increase the use of the collections of the CLONE member libraries. A shared card will also make easier the authentication of users of shared online databases and other services.) 7. The CLONE libraries should institute cooperative staff training. (Cooperative staff training will enable the CLONE libraries to provide more training for their staff members at less cost than would otherwise be possible.) 8. The CLONE libraries should investigate shared staffing. (Sharing staff might alleviate the problems that the libraries face because of their lack of staff and allow them to provide more and better services to their users and to better implement the recommendations of this report.) 9. The CLONE libraries should investigate the consortial licensing of online databases. (Currently, the individual member libraries provide only a few or no additional databases beyond those offered via NC LIVE, and it is likely that the cost savings realized by consortial licensing will allow the CLONE libraries to provide more online databases to their users.) 10. The CLONE libraries should investigate opportunities for cooperative purchasing, including shared collection development. (Peer comparisons show that the CLONE libraries have limited budgets and that any attempts to maximize their purchasing power through cooperative purchasing might ease the problems that the libraries face because of their lack of funding.) 11. The CLONE libraries should create and maintain a CLONE Website. (Creating and maintaining a CLONE Website will allow the member libraries to promote the collaborative services and projects of the consortium, to better serve their libraries’ users, to improve the efficiency of their staff members, and to promote their own libraries by showcasing their individual services, programs, and Websites. 12. The CLONE libraries should establish a framework and methodology for ongoing technology assessment, planning, and budgeting. (A good planning process is needed to ensure the best return on the libraries’ investments.)
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