----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Hello -
I am a member of VRA and I posted the note below to our ListServ
yesterday. It was recommended to me by a colleague that I post it to
the ARLIS ListServ as well. If anyone has the time and a good story
to tell, by all means drop me an email. Thanks!!
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Hello all --
I am currently doing course work towards my MLIS degree at the Univ.
of Missouri. This semester I am taking a class on Library
Information Systems. As part of a group project, it has been
requested that we compile stories regarding the implementation of
Library Information Systems (LIS) in collections. We are looking
for stories that convey different aspects of success and/or failure
throughout the whole scope of project planning thru implementation.
If anyone has any stories to share, I'd be grateful!!! Until this
morning, I had just been contacting traditional book libraries, and
then it dawned on me that I had quite a resource in the VRA right at
my fingertips! And, it would be wonderful to have perspectives from
different types of collections. We are looking for stories from the
perspectives of collections AND vendors.
An example of a story of poor planning -- a computer system had been
purchased for a University and everything seemed to be falling into
place according to plan. The bids came back and the prices were
approved, the purchase was made, there was space for the system.
Everyone was excited as this was going to be a huge improvement. On
the day of delivery, they got the equipment to the building only to
realize that nobody had ever bothered to consider the dimensions of
it. It was larger than the biggest door into the building, so the
door frame had to be ripped out. $15,000 later (in avoidable
construction costs had this one detail been considered), the computer
equipment was in place and ready to use!
A sense of humor in these tales never hurts...and unfortunately, the
more humorous usually have to do with some oversight or failure. The
laughs come after the fact.
Anyway, if you all have any stories you'd like to share or any
questions about the assignment, please email them to me at
[log in to unmask] Names of people and institutions will not be
shared. All stories will be anonymous. These stories will then
appear on a meta-site that was developed by an earlier section of
this class entitled "Project LIS." It is hoped that by sharing
these anecdotes, others might not repeat our mistakes! Or they might
replicate our successes!
Thank you so much.
Beth
--
Beth Kopine
Curator of Visual Resources
University of Missouri-Columbia
Dept. of Art History and Archaeology
109 Pickard Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
e-mail:[log in to unmask]
phone: 573/882-6712
fax: 573/884-5269
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