Status Report for April 2000

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium announces a virtual ribbon cutting for AAL E-CAT, a virtual catalog of materials in west central Florida libraries. The ceremony will beheld at the epixtech, inc. booth in the exhibits at the Florida Library Association’s 77th Annual Conference, on Wednesday, April 26, 2000 at 1:00 p.m. Librarians attending the conference will experience a sneak preview of the innovative program and the software that makes it possible. Hosts for the inaugural event are the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, a multitiype library cooperative serving 92 member libraries in 12 west central Florida counties and epixtech, a library automation systems provider. The project uses URSA software, an epixtech product, to create a virtual gateway. This virtually opens the doors of libraries to users from anywhere, at anytime. The program makes it possible for people served by participating libraries to initiate requests for informational and recreational materials using their home computers.

AAL E-CAT is the Anywhere-Anytime Library Electronic Catalog. A single search by author or title words locates books and other materials in libraries in five counties throughout the Tampa Bay area. Anyone, anywhere, at anytime can use the on-line, internet accessible catalog to locate the library owned materials they need for school, business or personal use. Starting in mid-May residents of Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota Counties will be able to enter their library card number and be authorized to place electronic requests for items that they locate. Florida libraries use a statewide library materials delivery service to send materials between sites. This enables residents to pick up and return items at their local library.

Initially, library staff will use AAL E-CAT to become comfortable with searching, placing and processing requests. In less than a month, the public will be introduced to the system in their local libraries and will be encouraged to visit the web site from their home, school and office PC's. The Anywhere - Anytime Library can be visited at anywhere.tblc.org.

Participating libraries for the initial phase of the program are: Tampa Hillsborough County Library; SUNLINE (Clearwater Christian College Library, Dunedin Public Library, Florida Southern College Library, Largo Library, New Port Richey Public Library, Oldsmar Public Library, Safety Harbor Public Library, Seminole Community Library, Southeastern College Library, Tarpon Springs Public Library); Pinellas Park Public Library; Pasco County Library System; SPIN (St. Petersburg Public Library, Gulf Beaches Public Library, Gulfport Public Library, St. Pete Beach Public Library); Palm Harbor Library; Sarasota County Public Library.

These 18 libraries are served by 7 separate library automation systems and utilize 4 different library management automation products. Until now, residents could only locate materials in one system at a time and had to ask a librarian to initiate requests for materials not owned by their home library. The virtual catalogs for these libraries are all expected to be available as part of AAL E-CAT when the system goes live for the public in mid-May.

This project has been funded by a federal Library Services and Technology Act grant administered by the State Library of Florida. Barratt Wilkins, State Librarian is expected to cut the virtual ribbon during the official ceremony at 1:00 p.m. in the exhibits area. Lana Porter, President, epixtech, inc. will make some remarks about the URSA product. Diane Solomon, Executive Director, TBLC will introduce the project and thank the State Library for funding this innovative program.

About the Tampa Bay Library Consortium

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC) was founded in 1979 to enable libraries in west central Florida to share resources. TBLC was the first multitype cooperative in Florida and is currently the largest. TBLC’s membership includes 92 libraries -- 6 community colleges, 3 State University System libraries, 25 private academic colleges and universities, 4 public school systems, 39 public, and 15 special libraries. Included in the public library member group are two countywide and one multi-county library cooperatives. The counties served by TBLC member libraries are Citrus, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Okeechobee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota.

Through membership in TBLC, libraries in twelve counties serving over 3.8 million Floridians (approximately 30% of Florida’s total population) have succeeded in creating a strong library resource-sharing infrastructure.

About epixtech, inc.

epixtech, inc. is the leading provider of automation technologies, solutions and services for more than 7,600 libraries worldwide. epixtech’s award-winning library automation systems, ConnectLib solutions for patron self-services, desktop management and interlibrary loan, and its new Web-based solutions and services empower libraries and their patrons. epixtech was formerly epixtech, a subsidiary of Ameritech, and became a private corporation in December 1999. epixtech’s automation solutions meet the needs of research, public, corporate, medical and K-12 school libraries. Headquartered in Utah, epixtech has offices in Evanston, Illinois; Waterloo, Ontario; and throughout Europe and the Pacific Rim. epixtech, inc. is located at 400 West 5050 North, Provo, Utah 84604; Tel: 1-800-288-8020; fax 801-223-5202; and at www.epixtech.com.

For additional information about the Anywhere-Anytime Library: A TBLC Member Libraries Project, contact:

Diane Solomon, Executive Director
Tampa Bay Library Consortium, 813-622-8252 solomod@tblc.org

For further information about epixtech,inc., contact: Alan Stark, epixtech, inc., 801-223-5944 a.stark@epixtech.com

Brands and products referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

For further information, contact:

Diane Solomon, Executive Director Tampa Bay Library Consortium, 813-622-8252

Solomod@tblc.org

Kate Noerr, Vice President of Marketing epixtech, inc., 1-800-288-8020

k.noerr@epixtech.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, April 26, 2000

Ribbon-Cutting Held for Anywhere-Anytime Library Electronic Catalogue

Tampa, Florida—epixtech’s URSA Brings 18 Libraries, 7 Systems Together for Anywhere-Anytime Library Electronic Catalog. The Tampa Bay Library Consortium announced that a virtual ribbon-cutting for the virtual Anywhere-Anytime Library Electronic Catalogue (AAL E-CAT) was held today at the Florida Library Association’s 76th Annual Conference. AAL E-CAT (pronounced "alley cat") is a virtual catalogue of materials that are available in west central Florida libraries. Librarians attending the conference were given a sneak preview of the innovative program and the software that makes it possible. The AAL E-Cat uses Universal Resource Sharing Application (URSA) software, an epixtech product, to create a virtual gateway that opens the doors of libraries to users from anywhere, at anytime. The program makes it possible for people served by the participating 18 libraries to initiate requests for library materials using their home computers.

"The librarians at the FLA Conference were very impressed by what they saw," explains Diane Solomon, Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium. "They visited the booth in droves to see how the system works. We’re not quite ready for the public, but by May 15th or June 1st, we should be. First we have to train the staffs of all the different libraries. However, so far this training has gone extremely well, and those staff members already trained have been overwhelmingly positive. Even the staff members who were a little insecure about the system to begin with now can’t wait to show it to the library’s patrons because they can see how much it will improve customer service."

By using the Anywhere-Anytime Library Electronic Catalog, a single search by author or title words results in locating books and other materials in libraries in four counties contiguous to Tampa Bay. As the name indicates, anyone, anywhere, at any time can use the on-line, Internet accessible catalogue to locate the library-owned materials they need for school, business or personal use. By mid-May, residents of Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota Counties will be able to enter their library card number and be authorized to place electronic requests for library items.

Participating libraries for the initial phase of the program include Tampa Hillsborough County Library, SUNLINE (Clearwater Christian College Library, Dunedin Public Library, Florida Southern College Library, Largo Library, New Port Richey Public Library, Oldsmar Public Library, Safety Harbor Public Library, Seminole Community Library, Southeastern College Library, Tarpon Springs Public Library), Pinellas Park Public Library, Pasco County Library System, SPIN (St. Petersburg Public Library, Gulf Beaches Public Library, Gulfport Public Library, St. Pete Beach Public Library), Palm Harbor Library and Sarasota County Public Library.

These libraries are currently served by seven separate library automation systems and utilize four different library management automation products. Until now, residents could only locate materials in one system at a time and had to ask a librarian to initiate requests for materials not owned by their home library. However, through the use of epixtech’s URSA system, all materials will now be available to all patrons—anywhere, anytime.

The Anywhere-Anytime Library Electronic Catalogue was funded by a federal Library Services and Technology Act grant administered by the State Library of Florida. Barratt Wilkins, State Librarian cut the virtual ribbon at the official 1:00 p.m. ceremony on April 26th, after which Lana Porter, epixtech, inc. President and C.E.O. spoke about the URSA product. Diane Solomon, Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, introduced the project and thanked the State Library for funding this innovative pilot program.

Brands and products referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

IMPORTANT ANYWHWHERE-ANYTIME LIBRARY TRAINING MATERIAL

Please deliver immediately to:

Note: There are exactly 12 spaces in the epixtech training. TBLC will send three people who will work with all of the libraries as back-up support and trainers. TBLC staff and two representatives of SUNLINE libraries will train the staff of all SUNLINE libraries and the SPIN libraries. Tampa-Hillsborough has been allocated two slots because they have 20 branches and need to train many more people than any other system.

At this time we expect to design three training modules

Automation System Administrator (3 hours)

Interlibrary Loan Librarian (3 hours)

Public Service Staff (2 hours)

• All training will be hands-on.
• The Automation System Administrators will be trained first because they need to learn how to set up staff authorizations for the interlibrary loan staff.
• At least one person from each library should be trained at TBLC as primary Interlibrary Loan Librarian (20 libraries).
• At least one person from each library should be trained at TBLC as primary Public Service Librarian.
• The second level of training needs to occur in each public library with branches.

After the training on April 4 we expect to have a better idea of the needed approach for branch libraries. The expectation is that each branch will need one or two people who are taught the public service competencies. The plan is for the "expert" to train most of these people after watching the TBLC expert at one session and being observed by the TBLC expert at a second session.

To: Anywhere-Anytime Library "Expert"
From: Lauren Stokes - TBLC
Date: March 15, 2000

ANYWHERE - ANYTIME LIBRARY
URSA EXPERT TRAINING NOTICE

You have been designated the Anywhere-Anytime Library "Expert" and trainer for your library system. We are delighted to invite you to special training provided by epixtech on:

TBLC will provide lunch for attendees.

Please read the enclosed URSA User's Guide before the session. By reading this ahead of time, you will find the training much more understandable. This guide will give you an overview of the workings of the software and the terminology used.

Please bring this guide with you to the training session on April 4.

If other members of your staff would like a copy of this user's guide, please feel free to make copies and distribute them within your organization.

Attached is information about the various staff roles and training each will need. Please read these two pages and if you are not the right person for this "job" please work out in your library who the right person is and contact me immediately to verify that they will be the "expert" and will attend in your place.

Please confirm your attendance by sending an e-mail to rsvp@tblc.org.

SUBJECT: URSA Training

Please tell the person from your library who will be the URSA EXPERT that the training date has been set with epixtech. This will be a full day of training on Tuesday, April 4, 2000 at TBLC headquarters. TBLC will provide lunch for attendees. If your library has not yet designated a person, please do it now and send an e-mail to Lauren Stokes at stokesl@tblc.org telling her who the person is. This person will be trained to become your in-house expert for first handling of questions regarding how the software operates. They will be expected to help with training both ILL and patron service staff in your library.