Covenant College embraces OCLC Web-scale Management Services as its partner for the 21st century

Tad Mindeman, Covenant College, addresses OCLC's Global Council

On November 9, 2011, Tad Mindeman, Director of Library Services at Kresge Memorial Library at Covenant College, provided an update on his team’s implementation of Web-scale Management Services (WMS) during OCLC’s Global Council Meeting in Dublin, Ohio.

When Covenant considered a move to a new integrated library system, our perspective focused not on the gee-whiz aspect of the technology, but attempted to ascertain how a particular tool might best contribute to a better learning experience for our users. We knew that our users were becoming relatively frustrated by the organization and accessibility of our collections and resources, and we feared this could be inhibiting effective learning.
By early 2010, we believed that information management needed focused attention. Compounding this was a concern that the campus information technology department would not be able to support an increasingly technologically dependent library. I was determined to relieve these colleagues from having to maintain the hardware and software associated with traditional, server-based library systems. After surveying the product landscape over the next few months, we became convinced that OCLC’s WMS offered the most potential for us to make some radical improvements.

In summer 2010, we implemented WorldCat Local “quick start” to give us a sample of how this discovery tool would operate. The Covenant Library applied for WMS early adopter status in late September 2010. About four weeks later, we were accepted as an early adopter.

Little Covenant College was about to take a big plunge.

Implementing WMS and WorldCat Local
Our goal was to achieve full implementation of data to WMS and WorldCat Local by June 30, 2011. The plan to migrate to WMS began in late November 2010, when we received a project schedule and the news that we would be migrating with a cohort of eight early adopters beginning in early 2011. I was delighted to learn that most of the libraries in the cohort were similar in size and character. The entire group consisted of academic libraries, and two of the other seven were also distinctly Christian liberal arts schools, with whom we’ve had working relationships over the years.

The formal interaction among cohort members for training began in late February and concluded two months later. The cohort method provided a forum for peer support, shared expertise and mutual encouragement. Through phone conversations, webinars and a forum on the WMS User Support Center dedicated to our cohort, group members could compare change management strategies and anticipated workflow issues. OCLC staff led the cohort through weekly webinar training sessions, which were all recorded for convenient access later, and provided excellent one-on-one follow-up support. I truly admire the patience and flexibility of our OCLC WMS implementation team.

As part of the training, OCLC staff asked that institutions share with the entire group how WMS might change our internal workflows, promote new external collaboration, or contribute to our overall effectiveness. Taking the time to think about these larger issues instead of remaining fixated on migration minutiae was worth the time and effort.
The cohort approach promoted productive partnerships among group members and with OCLC staff, and allowed us to see the similarities and differences inherent in our libraries. It was nice knowing the group’s collective expertise was easily available for consultation. Using the cohort approach in migration provided a rich opportunity to enhance inter-institutional cooperation.

Going “live” with WMS
On April 27, 2011, Covenant successfully implemented WMS and WorldCat Local. The migration process was amazingly simple and straightforward. Because we had already completed a batchload of our bibliographic database when we installed WorldCat Local “quick start,” that saved about three weeks and allowed us to go live with WMS earlier than anticipated. Covenant College became the second member from within our cohort to implement WMS, the first institution in the state of Georgia to do so, and the eleventh library worldwide.

Implementing change in any organizational setting is almost always stressful. Our staff’s response to the move to WMS has run the gamut, from unbridled joy to dumbfounded confusion. And this all occurred after we had carefully counted the cost and emotionally prepared for the impending change. I can’t imagine working with a more conscientious, gifted and servant-minded team of folks, yet being an early adopter for an evolving product was difficult. We all learned to flex, to think and to react creatively.

During the past six months, several Covenant library staff members carefully tested and assessed various WMS functions, and then communicated their findings to OCLC staff. It has been rewarding for us to realize that a small liberal arts college has functioned as a real partner in the development of this revolutionary product. We sincerely thank OCLC for the opportunity to work together and for taking our input and feedback seriously.

The impact of WMS and WorldCat Local
We’ve been using WMS for six months. Eliminating traditional tasks associated with copy cataloging has increased the productivity of our cataloger (we have only one) by 44 percent for the same time period in 2010. By reducing the time needed to perform copy cataloging, she is now able to perform more original cataloging and will contribute her expertise to a new project, organizing and describing local digital collections.

WorldCat Local has increased our interlibrary loan activity by 54 percent over the same time period in 2010. As more institutions are exposed to our holdings through WorldCat, we are seeing a decrease in the difference between the number of items received and those provided to other institutions. In the near future, we are projecting a continued rise in the demand for interlibrary loan services.

We know for at least the next three years, WMS will dramatically reduce the total cost of operations associated with our integrated library system. Beyond that, we don’t anticipate the cost savings declining. And the cost calculations look even brighter when one considers that our monthly OCLC subscription includes WorldCat Local. Purchasing a new integrated library system and discovery tool separately from other vendors would not have been financially possible for Covenant.

Our future with WMS
We have seen major improvements in the WMS product over the last six months. We dream of the day when not only will we have all of the apps and functional capabilities to manipulate our own data in any way that we choose, but also have the opportunity to collaborate with other institutions in significant new ways.

Many academic libraries are facing the same challenges, and are actively searching for solutions. Over the last 10 months as I have visited with other library administrators about WMS, and I’ve learned that libraries are now prepared to take their existing culture of cooperation to new radical levels. Thanks to tools like WMS and WorldCat Local, libraries can now envision new group-oriented ventures to better steward limited resources, maximize resource sharing opportunities and explore revolutionary ideas in collaborative collection development. These tools allow us to manage information in creative new ways that would have seemed impossible just a few short years ago.

Covenant College took a calculated risk to take an active role in realizing Web scale. In our community, the library staff seeks to contribute to positive learning outcomes by attempting to mirror the high-touch mentoring approach used by our teaching faculty in the classroom. We have to be convinced that each tool we select will assist us in fulfilling our ultimate mission, and will support our distinctive philosophical framework. We believe that WMS meets these qualifications. And although the journey as an early adopter was challenging at times, we have great expectations for WMS and have fully embraced it as a partner as we charge ahead through the 21st century.

Covenant College is located on Lookout Mountain, Georgia, just a few minutes south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The school is a private, co-ed, faith-based, intentionally Christian institution, emphasizing the liberal arts and embracing a Protestant Reformed heritage. Covenant College enrolls about 1,100 students from 43 states and 20 countries. Its library has only three professional and four paraprofessional library staff members. With a collection consisting of about 80,000 print volumes, over 95,000 e-books, about 200 electronic databases and almost 250,000 total bibliographic records in the catalog. Because Covenant has no student center, the library serves as a destination spot for students to socialize and study. On average, 13,000 people enter the library monthly.

(2011 11 30)