Meet RACER

An OCUL VDX Project Overview and Update

Amy Greenberg

Sue McGillivrayOLA January 2004

Today's Presentation at a Glance

Scholars Portal & VDX Project Overview Historical Background Timelines

RACER What is it? What does it do?

Hardware Features Functionality

RACER Statistics

Challenges & Benefits

What's Next

Questions

Ontario Scholars PortalAccess to Scholarly Information Resources

OII Strategic Programmes Ontario Council of University Libraries

20 Institutions Scholars Portal Website Content Coordination via CNSLP Scholarly Information Resources (SIRS) Implementation of “link resolution”

and O-Space

Offer access to a unique set of shared information resources and services

Ensure rapid and reliable response time for access to information services & resources

Provide long-term & secure archiving of information resources

Create a network of intellectual resources by linking ideas, materials, documents & resources

Provide an environment that fosters innovation in response to the needs of Ontario’s researchers

Ontario Scholars Portal Objectives & Goals

Why VDX and Why Now?

Arose from OCUL members’ wish to replace AVISO interlibrary loans management software

October 1999 Tri-University Group reviewing available ILL

management software

University of Toronto reviewing ILL software

March 2000: OCUL ILL staff put forth a recommendation to Directors unanimously recommending Fretwell-Downing's VDX software

Benefits Web Accessible ISO ILL Management Systems

Comprehensive Cost-effective Single way of dealing with ILL requests User-centric, online anytime of day or night Automates many routine tasks and decisions Unifies statistics Interacts with new ISO ILL systems that come along Eliminates paper files & forms Facilitates international ILL NCIP

VDX Project Timelines

Summer 2002 ◊ System Configuration ◊ OCUL Single Search Catalogue Access

Fall 2002 ◊ Group 1 Setup, Training & Testing

Winter 2002/03 ◊ Group 2 Setup, Training & Testing

Spring 2003 ◊ Group 4 Setup, Training & Testing

Summer 2003 ◊ Group 1 & 2 Production ◊ Group 3 Setup, Training & Testing

Fall 2003 ◊ 5 Additional Sites Go Production

◊ System Upgrade to 2.4Spring 2004 ◊ Bilingual RACER Interface

◊ Group 3 Production

Project Milestones

April 2000: OCUL established the OCUL ILL Task Group

2000-2002: FD contracts, equipment purchases, TIG staff hired

June 2003: First 8 libraries go Production Brock, Guelph, Ryerson, Trent, Waterloo, Western, Wilfrid Laurier, Windsor

September 2003: 2 more libraries go Production Carleton, Lakehead

Fall 2003: More sites go Production York Law, Windsor Law, Nipissing, Queens, Toronto

Project Team

Tactical Implementation Team (TIG) Shane Chan (System Administrator) Amy Greenberg (User Support) Sue McGillivray (User Support) Vidhya Parthasarathy (Programmer) Carol Stephenson (Project Manager)

OCUL ILL Sub-Groups End User Instruction Working Group French Language Sub-Group …and many more!

RACERWho’s Online?

Brock Guelph Ryerson Trent Waterloo Western Wilfrid Laurier Windsor

Carleton Lakehead York – Law library Nipissing Queen’s Toronto

RACERImplementation Schedule for 2004

Ottawa Laurentian York McMaster

UOIT Ontario College of Art

and Design Royal Military College

Spring 2004

http://www.library.utoronto.ca/scholarsportal/vdx/support/index.html

What is RACER?

Rapid Access to Collections by Electronic Requesting

ZPortal & VDX ZPortal: Search the library catalogues of 20

Ontario universities and place or view requests online

VDX: ILL management system Bureau Model Web and Windows

Bureau ConfigurationWilfrid Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier Virtual Bureau

Wilfrid Laurier Tri-University

Group of Libraries Annex

Wilfrid Laurier Brantford Campus

WLUANNEXSTKWLUBRANTCDROM

Wilfrid Laurier University Library

WLUINTERNET

RACERFeatures ISO ILL Protocol-compliant product Auto alerts DocFind (but requests are still staff mediated) Patron initiated requesting Automated; Good-bye paper forms Local catalogue blocking Customized reports Vendor co-operation for development of an Aviso Generic

Script translator Allows for batch uploading of patron records or patron self

registration

RACERNew Features in 2.4

Bilingual French-English interface DocFind Responder Rota based on availability and serial holdings

information down to volume/issue level Customized mandatory fields on request forms Ariel integration 2 separate Web sites for VDX (Staff)

& ZPortal (Users) Revised system architecture allows

for greater customization

RACER Project StatisticsMeasuring Success

125,000 requests requested in the first 6 months

1 M projected requests annually once all 20 institutions are onboard

Each student and researcher in Ontario has access to a combined collection of over 20 million library items

Still More StatisticsILL Staff Support Numbers

1554 User support questions answered 166 OCUL staff at 17 institutions with thirteen 2-day

classroom and hands-on training sessions Ten 1-day hands-on specialized

training programs

OCUL VDX Usage in 2003Number of Borrowing and Lending Requests Generated

0

20004000

6000

800010000

12000

1400016000

18000

June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Borrowing

Lending

OCUL VDX Usage in 2003Borrowing and Lending Requests by Institution

Institution

Number of Libraries within the Institution using VDX

Number of months in production

Number of borrowing requests generated

Number of lending requests received

Number of requests received (borrowing and lending)

Brock 1 7 4779 1405 6184Guelph 2 7 13153 9383 22536Ryerson 1 7 2597 3043 5640Trent 1 7 1688 2842 4530TUG Annex 3 7 0 3024 3024Waterloo 8 7 12927 9393 22320Western 6 7 3673 11866 15539Wilfrid Laurier 2 7 8204 3934 12138Windsor 1 7 5744 4046 9790Carleton 1 4 6777 4377 11154Lakehead 1 4 3576 2262 5838Windsor Law 1 3 52 41 93York Law 1 3 173 180 353Nipissing 1 3 276 10 286Queen's 4 3 1980 3898 5878Toronto 22 1 835 2112 2947Total 56 66434 61816 128250

OCUL VDX Usage in 2003Borrowing and Lending Requests by Institution

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11121314

BrockGuelph

RyersonTrent

TUG AnnexWaterlooWestern

Wilfrid LaurierWindsorCarleton

LakeheadWindsor Law

York LawNipissingQueen'sToronto

Number of Requests (Thousands)

Number of lendingrequests received

Number ofborrowing requestsgenerated

Number of monthsin production

Number ofLibraries within theInstitution usingVDX

RACERChallenges

OCUL on the cutting edge of the new technology Steep curve for Staff and User education Transition Workflow changes Issues associated with using the system to support both

Document Delivery and ILL processes Different functionality DocFind effectiveness / reliability

RACERMore Challenges Email reader for multiple external forms from individual

catalogues Generic Script (GS) messaging with legacy non-ISO GS

(Aviso +) systems External messaging with sites without ILL Systems External messaging testing with Docline and other ISO

systems Location record maintenance and ISO on the fly Multiple vendor systems Z39.50 pitfalls

RACERWho Can We Communicate With?

CISTI (ISO) BLDSC (ISO) National Library of Canada (ISO) Ontario public libraries (INFO) CREPUQ (Soon!) Canadian libraries using Aviso Canadian and international libraries without an ILL

management system (Web form)

RACEREnd User Benefits

“One stop shopping” to Ontario university collections via a common search interface

Patron initiated online requesting An easy to complete electronic request form with

pickup location options Ability to track their requests is a new feature for

users of interlibrary loan services Email notification for receipt or cancellation of materials

RACERStaff Benefits

Quicker turnaround time Real time vs batched Auto-populated forms, labels and daily workflow

reports Potential lending locations identified and listed

(rota) automatically Automatic email alerting for patrons

Benefits of an OCUL Wide Initiative

"RACER has in effect produced a “more level playing field” for all OCUL institutions. By providing centralized server support and maintenance, it has alleviated much of the local institution system support for interlibrary loan processes. For both end users and staff, RACER provides many features that many of the smaller institutions would not have been able to develop locally."

Dialogue regarding policies and guidelines Co-operation across Universities Networking and workshops to share experiences Development of best practices

RACERBetter Access

A quote from Trent's student newspaper, the Arthur

For all the other books you need that weren't found on Topcat, you can use the Inter-Library Loan program, RACER, to get practically any book you want (I am still in awe of this program -- you should definitely check it out). One might say that, with the high-speed internet and programs like RACER, the world is at our fingertips.

RACERFaster Delivery

From an ILL staff member at Lakehead

One of the aspects of RACER that has exceeded my expectations is the speed with which our materials are getting to us. I have overheard patrons coming into the ILL office marvelling at the "lightning speed" of the service.

What's Next?

New hardware Staff VDX upgrade 2.4 Enhanced End user interface Zportal (2.4) Ariel French interface Additional reports Messaging Testing, Testing, Testing More location records Upgrade to 2.7 or 3 NCIP

Questions?

http://racer.scholarsportal.info/vdx/index.html

Amy Greenberg416-946-8616amy.greenberg@utoronto.ca

Sue McGillivray416-946-8618sue.mcgillivray@utoronto.ca

racer.support@utoronto.ca

The VisionFully Integrated Peer to Peer ILL

Aviso

CISTIOCUL ILL / RACER

ILL Manager

Relais

Other VDX Sites