Venturing across the Borders: Collaborating on a New Discovery System between Academic and Public Libraries

Abstract

Libraries do not minimize potential complexities when they consider acquiring a discovery system. The financial, staffing, and opportunity costs are high. The Indiana State University Library and the Vigo County Public Library confronted aging hardware, increased budgetary pressures, decreased staffing, and poor user experiences when the two libraries began to investigate the utility and potential impact of creating a new consortium to share a catalog system. This analysis also presented an opportunity to investigate discovery systems. A sense of community cooperation and combined purpose led the libraries to create the Library Consortium of Vigo County. The authors share the questions the new consortium asked during the RFP (Request for Proposal) process, and the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Strengths) of the proposals and the new consortium. The libraries employed multiple channels and platforms to improve communication among the different organizations as well as between information technologists and reference/information services librarians. Even with the understanding of the importance of communication, questions and concerns remained. Reluctant participants maintained an attachment to the legacy Library System, which required ongoing communication, training, and acquiescence.