A new library system for Saskatchewan will bring higher late fees for some but is expected to also vastly improve service.
Zenon Zuzak, president of the Saskatchewan Information and Library Services Consortium, said the province-wide system, featuring one library card for all of Saskatchewan’s 320 libraries, will streamline service, triple access to material and create a common user experience for all library-card holders.
“This state-of-the-art software will allow card holders to access more information, and because all libraries in the province will be on it, you will have the same service whether you’re in La Ronge or if you’re in Regina.”
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Saskatchewan’s public libraries, which serve more than 500,000 active card holders, are on different computer systems depending on which of the 11 public library systems they use.
Some of the regional systems have become outdated, which Zuzak said prompted all library regions to pool their resources and work together to implement a single software platform.
“This whole transition has nothing to do with reducing staff or closures of any kind because in the library field, when you improve your computer system, it allows you to better utilize the staff you have,” he said.
“What it will actually do is increase services for rural areas because some libraries might not have had the seed money for upgraded computer systems.”
The consortium will use a $5.2 million, four-year provincial grant to install the new Millennium software, which will be the largest implementation of a single system in Canada.
The Saskatoon Public Library was the first to implement the new system.
It officially went online Dec. 15.
Moose Jaw’s Palliser Region and Weyburn and Estevan’s Southeast Region will implement the new system in January, followed by the Regina Public Library in February.
The conversion is expected to be complete by the end of 2010.
The move to a single integrated library system has also required library policies across the province to be standardized. For some regions, this will result in major changes to late charges, renewal options and loan periods.
For example, the Southeast Regional Library system does not charge late fees.
The province-wide late-charge schedule means Southeast library users will be charged the provincial rate of 20 cents a day for teen material, 30 cents a day for adult material, $1 per day for adult DVDs and no charge for children’s materials.
Zuzak said library users will first notice new computer screens that will provide more choices for material searches and a more user-friendly navigation system with colourful icons and clear directions.
The new software is also more powerful than previous software platforms, making possible features such as faster searches and a children’s graphic catalogue.
“Patrons will be getting more of everything – more access to more resources, an increased ability to reserve material from other libraries and access to any library’s services with just one card.”
The former library systems worked well, but Zuzak said this new software is groundbreaking because it levels the playing field for all library patrons in the province.
“The regions and our rural library patrons will certainly benefit because they’ll have greater and easier access to the larger resources that exist in Regina and Saskatoon,” he said.
“For instance, if there’s a popular title, and all of one region’s books are out, then a title from any library in the province can be put on hold instantaneously.”
The new system will mean adjustments, including the closure of Saskatoon’s public libraries for two days in mid-December, but Zuzak said Saskatchewan library users will benefit in the long run.
All public library cards in the province will now look the same, except for the presence of each library system’s individual logo.
