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.	CNI SPRING 1999 TASK FORCE MEETING HANDOUT	.
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InfoBases-Statistical Usage for Management

InfoBases-Statistical Usage for Management

Project Overview:   Libraries and information centers provide access to an ever-growing number of electronic and digital information sources. These sources are provided on an increasing number of hardware, software, and application platforms. Thus, trying to glean meaningful management statistical information, especially with a solution that can combine many of these disparate delivery methods into a coherent system has become increasingly difficult. None the less, this information has become critical to the decision making process in these type of institutions. Procurement of the resources in a way that maximizes the funding levels yet meets the information needs of our users is a veritable tight rope, and a process that often includes decisions made in a vacuum without meaningful data.

Subscription costs, technology costs, and appropriate evaluation of patron/student/user needs, requirements, and usage patterns all require a dynamic, powerful system to evaluate infobase usage at increasingly higher levels.

Project Goal:   Development and deployment of a robust system to provide dynamic statistical usage information to managers, librarians, and faculty.

• System Characteristics: The system will be called the Resource Information System (RIS) and encompass the following:
  1. Web based, available on any browser
  2. Provide static and dynamic reports
  3. Include automated data gathering methods
  4. Include data from the web, lan, cd-rom, application, and ERL sources, among others

Hardware and Software:   The RIS will include the following.

• Dell PowerEdge Server (1 GB Ram, 100 GB storage)
• Microsoft SQL 7.0 server
• Cold Fusion
• Active server pages
• HTML, JAVA,
• In house programming
  • Visual basic
  • Perl
  • C++

Key Discussion Points:   The following discussion points will be covered during the session.

• Needs determination
• Delivery Methods
• Level of dynamic reporting needed
• Network traffic
• Vendor provided data
• User privacy issues
• Use of graphs
• Manpower/skill set issues
• System costs
• Sensitivity of data
• Data currency
• Access levels
• Automation processes

Deployment Issues:   This system will be deployed in phases during the next year. All data will not be migratable to the SQL database, so consideration for access to this type of data is a concern, especially with the goal of a seamless web interface to the data. The disparate types of data provided by such a diverse set of applications often can not be mixed in the same database tables. Data from our own systems will be the first to be deployed, followed by data from our web database vendors.

Briefing Goal:   This briefing is intended to generate a discussion of the problems, issues, concerns, manpower requirements, costs, and deployment issues encountered by the IUPUI UL during the design, research, and prototype phases of this project. It is not intended to be a "how to" session, but rather a platform to help ourselves and others find the issues, strategies, methods, policies and tactics to be considered for achievement of a successful program. The IUPUI University Library is well on the way, but still has a ways to go with this ambitious project.

Charles E. Dye, CNE
Information Systems Manager
IUPUI University Library (Operations Team)
755 West Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5195
cdye@iupui.edu
1.317.278.3025 (office)
1.317.278.0147 (fax)

webmgr@cni.org