An OCUL VDX Project Overview and Update
Meet RACER
Amy Greenberg
OLA January 2004
Sue McGillivray
Today's Presentation at a Glance
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Scholars Portal & VDX
Project Overview
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Historical Background
Timelines
RACER
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What is it?
What does it do?
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Hardware
Features
Functionality
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RACER Statistics
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Challenges & Benefits
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What's Next
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Questions
Ontario Scholars Portal
Access to Scholarly Information Resources
OII Strategic Programmes
Ontario Council of University Libraries
20 Institutions
Scholars Portal Website
Content Coordination via CNSLP
Scholarly Information Resources (SIRS)
Implementation of “link resolution”
and O-Space
Ontario Scholars Portal
Objectives & Goals

Offer access to a unique set of shared information resources
and services
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Ensure rapid and reliable response time for access to
information services & resources
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Provide long-term & secure archiving of information
resources
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Create a network of intellectual resources by linking ideas,
materials, documents & resources
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Provide an environment that fosters innovation in response to
the needs of Ontario’s researchers
Why VDX and Why Now?

Arose from OCUL members’ wish to replace AVISO
interlibrary loans management software
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October 1999
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Tri-University Group reviewing available ILL
management software
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University of Toronto reviewing ILL software
March 2000: OCUL ILL staff put forth a
recommendation to Directors unanimously
recommending Fretwell-Downing's VDX software
Benefits
Web Accessible ISO ILL Management Systems
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Comprehensive
Cost-effective
Single way of dealing with ILL requests
User-centric, online anytime of day or night
Automates many routine tasks and decisions
Unifies statistics
Interacts with new ISO ILL systems that come along
Eliminates paper files & forms
Facilitates international ILL
NCIP
VDX Project Timelines
Summer 2002
◊ System Configuration
◊ OCUL Single Search Catalogue Access
Fall 2002
◊ Group 1 Setup, Training & Testing
Winter 2002/03
◊ Group 2 Setup, Training & Testing
Spring 2003
◊ Group 4 Setup, Training & Testing
Summer 2003
◊ Group 1 & 2 Production
◊ Group 3 Setup, Training & Testing
Fall 2003
◊ 5 Additional Sites Go Production
Spring 2004
◊ System Upgrade to 2.4
◊ Bilingual RACER Interface
◊ Group 3 Production
Project Milestones
April 2000: OCUL established the OCUL ILL Task Group
2000-2002: FD contracts, equipment purchases, TIG staff hired
June 2003: First 8 libraries go Production
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Brock, Guelph, Ryerson, Trent, Waterloo, Western, Wilfrid Laurier, Windsor
September 2003: 2 more libraries go Production
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Carleton, Lakehead
Fall 2003: More sites go Production
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York Law, Windsor Law, Nipissing, Queens, Toronto
Project Team
Tactical Implementation Team (TIG)
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Shane Chan (System Administrator)
Amy Greenberg (User Support)
Sue McGillivray (User Support)
Vidhya Parthasarathy (Programmer)
Carol Stephenson (Project Manager)
OCUL ILL Sub-Groups
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End User Instruction Working Group
French Language Sub-Group
…and many more!
RACER
Who’s Online?
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Brock
Guelph
Ryerson
Trent
Waterloo
Western
Wilfrid Laurier
Windsor
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Carleton
Lakehead
York – Law library
Nipissing
Queen’s
Toronto
RACER
Implementation Schedule for 2004
Spring 2004
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Ottawa
Laurentian
York
McMaster
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UOIT
Ontario College of Art
and Design
Royal Military College
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/scholarsportal/vdx/support/index.html
What is RACER?
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Rapid Access to Collections by Electronic
Requesting
ZPortal & VDX
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ZPortal: Search the library catalogues of 20
Ontario universities and place or view requests
online
VDX: ILL management system
Bureau Model
Web and Windows
Bureau Configuration
Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Virtual Bureau
Wilfrid Laurier
Tri-University
Group of Libraries
Annex
WLUANNEXSTK
Wilfrid Laurier
Brantford Campus
WLUBRANTCDROM
Wilfrid Laurier
University Library
WLUINTERNET
RACER
Features
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ISO ILL Protocol-compliant product
Auto alerts
DocFind (but requests are still staff mediated)
Patron initiated requesting
Automated; Good-bye paper forms
Local catalogue blocking
Customized reports
Vendor co-operation for development of an Aviso Generic
Script translator
Allows for batch uploading of patron records or patron self
registration
RACER
New Features in 2.4
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Bilingual French-English interface
DocFind Responder
Rota based on availability and serial holdings
information down to volume/issue level
Customized mandatory fields on request forms
Ariel integration
2 separate Web sites for VDX (Staff)
& ZPortal (Users)
Revised system architecture allows
for greater customization
RACER Project Statistics
Measuring Success
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125,000 requests requested in the first 6
months
1 M projected requests annually once all 20
institutions are onboard
Each student and researcher in Ontario has
access to a combined collection of over 20
million library items
Still More Statistics
ILL Staff Support Numbers
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1554 User support questions answered
166 OCUL staff at 17 institutions with thirteen 2-day
classroom and hands-on training sessions
Ten 1-day hands-on specialized
training programs
OCUL VDX Usage in 2003
Number of Borrowing and Lending Requests Generated
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Borrowing
Lending
June
July
Aug. Sept. Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
OCUL VDX Usage in 2003
Borrowing and Lending Requests by Institution
Institution
Brock
Guelph
Ryerson
Trent
TUG Annex
Waterloo
Western
Wilfrid Laurier
Windsor
Carleton
Lakehead
Windsor Law
York Law
Nipissing
Queen's
Toronto
Total
Number of
Libraries
within the
Institution
using VDX
1
2
1
1
3
8
6
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
22
56
Number of
months in
production
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
4
4
3
3
3
3
1
Number of
borrowing
requests
generated
4779
13153
2597
1688
0
12927
3673
8204
5744
6777
3576
52
173
276
1980
835
66434
Number
of
lending
requests
received
1405
9383
3043
2842
3024
9393
11866
3934
4046
4377
2262
41
180
10
3898
2112
61816
Number of
requests
received
(borrowing
and lending)
6184
22536
5640
4530
3024
22320
15539
12138
9790
11154
5838
93
353
286
5878
2947
128250
OCUL VDX Usage in 2003
Borrowing and Lending Requests by Institution
Toronto
Queen's
Nipissing
York Law
Windsor Law
Lakehead
Carleton
Windsor
Wilfrid Laurier
Western
Waterloo
TUG Annex
Trent
Ryerson
Guelph
Brock
Number of lending
requests received
Number of
borrowing requests
generated
Number of months
in production
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Number of Requests (Thousands)
Number of
Libraries within the
Institution using
VDX
RACER
Challenges
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OCUL on the cutting edge of the new technology
Steep curve for Staff and User education
Transition
Workflow changes
Issues associated with using the system to support both
Document Delivery and ILL processes
Different functionality
DocFind effectiveness / reliability
RACER
More Challenges
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Email reader for multiple external forms from individual
catalogues
Generic Script (GS) messaging with legacy non-ISO GS
(Aviso +) systems
External messaging with sites without ILL Systems
External messaging testing with Docline and other ISO
systems
Location record maintenance and ISO on the fly
Multiple vendor systems
Z39.50 pitfalls
RACER
Who Can We Communicate With?
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CISTI (ISO)
BLDSC (ISO)
National Library of Canada (ISO)
Ontario public libraries (INFO)
CREPUQ (Soon!)
Canadian libraries using Aviso
Canadian and international libraries without an ILL
management system (Web form)
RACER
End User Benefits
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“One stop shopping” to Ontario university
collections via a common search interface
Patron initiated online requesting
An easy to complete electronic request form with
pickup location options
Ability to track their requests is a new feature for
users of interlibrary loan services
Email notification for receipt or
cancellation of materials
RACER
Staff Benefits
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Quicker turnaround time
Real time vs batched
Auto-populated forms, labels and daily workflow
reports
Potential lending locations identified and listed (rota)
automatically
Automatic email alerting for patrons
Benefits of an OCUL Wide Initiative
"RACER has in effect produced a “more level playing field” for all OCUL
institutions. By providing centralized server support and maintenance, it has
alleviated much of the local institution system support for interlibrary loan
processes. For both end users and staff, RACER provides many features that many
of the smaller institutions would not have been able to develop locally."
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Dialogue regarding policies and guidelines
Co-operation across Universities
Networking and workshops to share experiences
Development of best practices
RACER
Better Access
A quote from Trent's student newspaper, the Arthur
For all the other books you need that weren't found
on Topcat, you can use the Inter-Library Loan
program, RACER, to get practically any book you
want (I am still in awe of this program -- you should
definitely check it out). One might say that, with the
high-speed internet and programs like RACER, the
world is at our fingertips.
RACER
Faster Delivery
From an ILL staff member at
Lakehead
One of the aspects of RACER that has
exceeded my expectations is the speed with
which our materials are getting to us. I have
overheard patrons coming into the ILL office
marvelling at the "lightning speed" of the
service.
What's Next?
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New hardware
Staff VDX upgrade 2.4
Enhanced End user interface Zportal (2.4)
Ariel
French interface
Additional reports
Messaging Testing, Testing, Testing
More location records
Upgrade to 2.7 or 3
NCIP
Questions?
http://racer.scholarsportal.info/vdx/index.html
Amy Greenberg
416-946-8616
amy.greenberg@utoronto.ca
Sue McGillivray
416-946-8618
sue.mcgillivray@utoronto.ca
racer.support@utoronto.ca
The Vision
Fully Integrated Peer to Peer ILL
Aviso
Relais
Other VDX Sites
CISTI
OCUL ILL / RACER
ILL Manager