`THE OPEN LIBRARY ENVIRONMENT PROJECT:

RECONCEPTUALIZING TECHNOLOGY FOR

MODERN LIBRARY WORKFLOWS

KLA / CULS Fall Conference October 24, 2008

Mary RoachAssociate Dean, Technical ServicesUniversity of Kansas

Beth Forrest WarnerOfficer for Grants, Research

Support & Library Assessment,University of Kansas

Today’s ILS Environment

Does not fit modern scholarly processWorkflows designed to manage collections based on

outdated assumptionsCollections changing more rapidly that systems:

Data Mass digitization

Result? Dissatisfaction with current systems

Tomorrow’s ILS Environment?

Libraries want a system that is: Flexible Agile Customizable Able to address the challenging and changing complex needs

of modern academic / institutional libraries Responsive to new technologies and to scholars’ information

needs and expectations Community Open Source-based

Current open source projects do address some aspects of current ILS limitations Great place to start, but it is time for a somewhat different approach

Time to completely rethink current approach & functionality for today’s academic library management system

Can build on, and expand from, current systems Apply Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) principles for flexibility,

agility, interoperability Apply Business Process Modeling to identify and standardize basic

core processes Place more focus on integration with other enterprise systems

Hasn’t This Problem Been Solved?!

How Do We Achieve That?

Convene the academic library community to design an open, reconceptualized library management system to meet today’s – and tomorrow’s – information management needs

Secure project fundingIdentify project participantsCreate design specificationsDevelop new system

Solicitation of interest – last spring Over 100 academic libraries – large & small, public & private,

and other national / large research & archives responded positively

Core group selected to submit proposal to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Proposal funded for $495,700

1-year project Design phase 6 Core Partners 10 Advisory Participants Timeframe – Sept to July 2009

Project Beginnings

Core Partners Advisory

Duke University Columbia Univ.

Lehigh University Orbis Cascade Cons.

Library & Archives Canada

Rutgers Univ.

National Library of Australia

Univ of Chicago

University of Kansas Univ of Florida

University of Pennsylvania

Univ of Maryland

Marshall Breeding Whittier College

Base design on Service Oriented Architecture principles Training with SOA expert consultant Goal: Design higher-level workflows for major library operations

Use Business Process Modeling principles to analyze processes Training with BPM expert consultant Goal: Standardized methodology to describe library business processes to inform

workflow development Gather community input to inform system design

Webcasts, website for comments Regional BPM meetings to gather process input

Working meetings of partners to: Conduct workflow analysis Produce business process specifications

Produce design document to inform development Draft for community comment late spring 2009 Final design document and report to Mellon Foundation in July 2009

Begin working on proposal to Mellon Foundation for build phase

What Will We Do?

SOA = Service Oriented ArchitectureDesign approach

Independent software pieces Pieces can be interchanged or repurposed more easily Pieces can be combined to create new services or systems Business experts and IT experts work together

SOA Process Create high-level map of how the business should work Deconstruct workflows Define reusable services Recombine services into a system that meets our requirements

Think Legos™!

What Is SOA??

Before & After SOA

BPM = Business Process ModelingDesign approachBPM process

What needs to be done How to do it Separate from the systems and services that do the work Mid-level detail As-Is vs. To-Be process definitions

Synergistic with SOA

What is BPM??

Flexible, adaptable, and community-developed software framework for managing libraries that support research, teaching, and higher learning Seeks to improve how ILS software serves library mission Transforms support for core business processes to address evolving

practices Software development & governance are community-based Focuses on better integration of ILS functionality into institutional

cyber infrastructure Complements human interactions, reducing repetitive tasks, freeing

staff to focus on higher value support to researchers & scholars Scalable support for high levels of service & low incremental cost

Scope Statement: Vision

Supports wide range of resources, accessed by wide range of customers, in a variety of contexts

Provides structures for extending & adding new types of resources, customers, and contexts

Designed, built, owned, and governed by and for the library community on an open-source licensing basis

Developed using SOA methods in a modular and technology-neutral framework that ensures interoperability of library business systems with variety of solutions to avoid risk of single-vendor dependencies

Scope: Principles

Designed to adapt to & integrate with other enterprise systems such as research support, student information, HR, repositories, etc.

Provides modular application infrastructure that integrates with new & existing academic and research technologies and business processes for current and future business needs of the community

Creates reliable & robust framework for identification, documentation, innovation, development, maintenance, and review of software necessary to furthering mission & operation of libraries

Scope: Principles (cont.)

Design of a reference implementation that support basic functionality of legacy ILS products

Support functions beyond existing ILS coreExpect functional scope to expand and evolve –

OLE broadens current notion of ILS to incorporate / support additional functions such as: Manage intellectual property and rights Build and maintain content repositories Link content with learning management systems Facilitate authentication & authorization Integrate with institution-wide financial services

Scope: Business Processes

System architecture definitionService Oriented Architecture design will be usedService contract specification that enables

development by larger community without restriction to original developers

Data models & possible standards implied by SOA; replication of mature & interoperable functionality

Scope: Architecture & Data Models

Capacities to migrate legacy library dataSchematic framework enabling integration and

interoperability with campus, institutional, or national systems with respect to range of enterprise functions

Support for consortial applications of OLE softwareFacilitation of inter-institutional cooperative programsIntegration with external data services such as

OCLC, ILL services, resource vendors, etc.

Scope: Integration & Interoperability

Develop a generalized, extensible concept of a resource that represents variety of entities, both physical & virtual

Development of logical requirements that support role-based actions and responsibilities

Support business logic needed for interoperabilityManagement of security relationships between systems

to ensure stability & data integrityData governance & security to support individual privacySupport federated authentication / authorization

technology

Scope: Data Governance & Security

Support for variety of user and administrative interfaces

Reference implementation will conform to community developed specification for interoperability

Services will be configurable to accommodate community, disciplinary, and format-specific taxonomies

Scope: Discovery & User Experience

Beginning to outline basic functions and processes that will be supported

Will need community input and interaction to fully define and develop these functions

Scope: Basic ILS Functions

OLE Project Activities & Plans

Weekly conference calls for Core & Advisory PartnersFirst in-person meeting held at Duke University

Training in SOA principles and approaches Scope document refinement Community participation planning

First open Webcast held2nd in-person meeting scheduled for Nov. 6-8 at Rutgers

University Training on Business Process Modeling (BPM) methodologies

Regional meetings to gather input on business processes (Nov./Dec.)

Additional SOA training & open webcasts plannedDraft report out for general comment & review late next springReport / design document due in July 2009

What happens once we have a design document?Starting to gather information on institutions

interested in participating in a build phaseWill begin working on proposal to Mellon Foundation

for build phase funding this winterIntent is to have proposal for build phase to Mellon

Foundation next summer

OLE Project Activities & Plans

OLE Project is dependent on active participation by as many libraries as possible to reflect full range of ideas

Stay current on project developments via the project website (oleproject.org)

Provide feedback on documents and reportsParticipate in webcastsConsider becoming an active partner for the build phaseParticipate in regional project meetings

KU is planning a business process meeting in late Nov/early Dec. – watch for announcement with details soon!

Getting Involved

Questions or Comments??

oleproject.org

Mary RoachAssoc. Dean, Technical ServicesUniversity of Kansasmroach@ku.edu

Beth Forrest WarnerOfficer for Grants, Research

Support & Library Assessment,University of Kansasbwarner@ku.edu