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National Library News

December 1995, vol. 27, no. 12

Alberta Public Library Telecommunications Pilot Project

In the near future, one telephone call could connect you to library databases throughout Alberta and enable you to order an item via interlibrary loan. Even better, the turnaround time on such a request could be under 48 hours.

Such a client-oriented system is now being tested and could become a permanent part of Alberta's resource-sharing network. The Alberta Public Library Telecommunications Pilot Project has been set up to test the effectiveness and efficiency of automating interlibrary loan through the Alberta Government Packet Switching Network.

Following a recent change in government regulations, Alberta libraries were permitted to establish lines to the nearest node of the Alberta Government Packet Switching Network telephone system that connects all government offices. Currently, 24 public libraries, including the Edmonton and Calgary libraries and all regional resource centres, are involved in the project.

The connection enables libraries to access each other's databases through two search cycles (North and South). Eleven of the libraries in the project have made their databases available online, which speeds the search process. Requests not found through direct online searching are fowarded to the Interlibrary Loan Unit at Library Services and broadcast to other libraries. Any requests that cannot be filled this way are forwarded to the universities, and the search continues out of province. It is also possible for all the libraries to send interlibrary loan messages to each other via the e-mail system on the Library Services server.

The pilot has not been completely straightforward. “In fact, it's been fraught with problems,” says Project Manager Marie Matiaszow. “The telecommunications system in Alberta is costly and complex. There is no stan-dardization between the system platforms of participating libraries, which means that connections between each system have to be customized. But even though libraries have found some difficulties through the project, they also recognize the potential benefits.”

The most obvious is that the turnaround time on an interlibrary loan request can be reduced from two weeks or a month to one or two days. The ability to place holds on items directly through the telephone link has also been tested in some locations, and has become the most popular feature of the network.

The immediate objectives of the pilot project are to test the possibility of connecting the requesting library and the source directly so as to speed turnaround time on ILL requests and to make automated resource sharing in Alberta as cost-effective as possible.

The pilot project finished at the end of the summer, and is being evaluated. The “Telecommunications Pilot Project Report” will be part of the background information for a study of Alberta public library networks.

Library Services has engaged Nordicity Group Limited in association with Jane Beaumont and Associates Inc. and Pat Cavill Consulting to do a study to determine the appropriate infrastructure for Alberta Libraries' Telecommunications Network. The research team will consider:

• options for a telecommunications backbone to connect Alberta's public libraries and to provide access to multi-type library catalogues, remote databases and other information sources;

• cost-effective ways to provide automated access to the holdings of all public libraries in Alberta; and

• interlibrary loan management software, including automated message relay and statistical tracking.

For further information, contact:

Marie Matiaszow
3rd floor, Beaver House
10158-103 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 0X6
Telephone: (403) 427-2556
Fax: (403) 427-0263
ENVOY: ILL.AECLS
Internet: mmatiaszow@mcd.gov.ab.ca