Projects

Helped establish and  managed the Open Source Open Libraries Consortium in cooperation with Peninsula Library System and Califa. The goal of the consortia was to "empower libraries and library consortia by encouraging participation and collaboration in software products generally, and encouraging them to consider an Open Source Library System such as Koha or Evergreen."

Over the course of the project we moved 9 library systems to Koha and helped three library systems begin evaluating Evergreen and Fulfillment. The project was concluded in October, 2013.

Lori Ayre worked with Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library to meet with Library stakeholders and clarify the short and long-term goals related to their planned RFID procurement and to learn more about the realities of RFID use in libraries. Building on this initial meeting, Ayre worked with the Library to develop an RFP and procurement plan. Ayre drafted the RFP, developed a scoring instrument, and also created a demo script and scoring instrument for the demo.  

Provide strategic and technical consulting assistance for Califa e-books project that involves establishing an ebooks platform based initially on the Douglas County model (in which titles are owned by the library rather than leased).  Current plans include expanding the platform to support shared collections. 

Acted as Lead Consultant on KCLS in implementation of IMLS grant entitled Empowered By Open Source. Below is the start of the final report on the project as submitted to IMLS:

This project was done in partnership with Melissa Stockton of Quipu Group. It involved developing a procurement strategy for replacing Massachusetts' current resource-sharing product (SirsiDynix URSA) and then taking the stakeholders through RFP development, evaluation and demos and eventually through to selection.  

Developed requirements for an integrated library system. The project included providing a set of "starter requirements" appropriate for this library system and working with focus groups to finalize and prioritize the requirements. The final requirements list will be utilized in a forthcoming RFP. Working in partnership with Quipu Group.

The Illinois Library Association had been leading an effort to provide for cost-effective solutions to the changing library landscape in Illinois. After nine regional systems were merged into two (RAILS, and IHLS), they hired The Galecia Group to provide an analysis about how best to go forward with merging the delivery operations from each of the nine regions and to share best practices.  

Worked with Catamount Library Network to evaluate Koha and Evergreen, two open source ILS options, under consideration. The project included fleshing out two documents that comprehensively define Koha and Evergreen functionality, to articulate the short- and long-term objectives of the network, and then to identify the differentiating factors.  

Lori Ayre worked with the group to capture information about their needs and to help prioritize them. Ultimately, the group was able to identify for themselves the ILS choice that best met their needs.