Heritage Legal Case Study
In recent years the popularity of the Heritage Library Management System amongst legal libraries has grown considerably. A flexible serials management facility and an online version which enables staff to issue and return items to themselves make it an ideal choice for legal librarians.
Simmons & Simmons
Simmons & Simmons is a leading international law firm with over 2,000 people and 21 offices located in major business and financial centres throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Their lawyers provide clients with world class legal advice, whenever and wherever they need it.
Information Services supports the firm’s lawyers by providing the essential legal and business materials necessary for their work and assisting in the use of those materials for research. Access to prompt and accurate information is obviously vital to their legal teams.
Simmons & Simmons’ Information Services staff first saw Heritage demonstrated at Online 2004 when they were gathering information about potential systems to replace their previous package (Cairs Total Library) in their London office. They then visited the IS Oxford website where they found it helpful to be able to try out test version of Heritage Online (http://online.heritage4.com).
After initial on-site demonstrations of seven library systems, a tender document was issued to three suppliers. Lorna Goulding, Information Resources Manager, outlines what they were looking for:
“The firm’s lawyers need to retrieve resources quickly when conducting research for our clients, sometimes outside of the normal working hours, so it was important that the system could provide excellent desktop access to the catalogue via the intranet. Also, we wanted a system that would provide good management information to assist us in providing a more efficient service to our lawyers. In particular the system needed to be able to cope effectively with the range of serial publications we take, and enable us to manage book circulation, including overdue notices, more efficiently.”
After reviewing the tender responses, and a further on-site demonstration, a decision was made to select Heritage. This selection was due to a number of factors, including:
“Good value, also it was the best we saw for managing serials. It was comforting that IS Oxford already had experience of dealing with migrations from our previous system.”
Heritage was eventually installed at Simmons & Simmons in February 2006, with three days of staff training in March that year. Since Heritage is an off-the-shelf product, the implementation is generally very straightforward and the entire project can be handled by just a few key staff at IS Oxford. This avoids expensive project management costs. Simmons & Simmons staff had prepared well, and this helped facilitate a smooth transition:
“It was relatively pain free although we did need a day’s consultancy when we were setting up the system. We managed to fit a lot into that day and it helped enormously. The data migration went well, helped by the fact that we had spent much time data cleansing and mapping in preparation.”
Lorna was very pleased with the help and support they received from IS Oxford staff during the process:
“All have been very helpful. Sales staff provided us very promptly with an evaluation copy of the software for testing and Emma came in twice to provide detailed demonstrations and answer all our questions. We had a day’s consultancy when we were setting up the system which was very valuable – Robert quickly understood what we wanted to do and followed up with detailed notes. Support staff have been patient as we’ve struggled with some of the more complex aspects of the serials module. The training was good, it took place in-house and it was very helpful to be trained on our own data. We have not had any refresher training as yet.”
Our Support Services team provide help to Heritage customers via telephone, email, fax or remotely via the Internet. There is also a dedicated support website, from which it is possible to download an ever increasing range of helpsheets and frequently asked questions (FAQs), as well as patches and upgrades. According to Lorna, “the helpsheets are especially useful, a good supplement to the manual”. The website is, of course, available 24/7, and is particularly useful when the support line is busy or when seeking answers to queries out of hours. Lorna’s experience of the support service has been good, although she does point out that “it has at times been frustrating to have to wait for an answer during busy times and, particularly with serials, we have found that some support staff know the system a lot better than others!”. We appreciate this and have recently appointed a named support guide to each customer, who initially handles all calls from that customer but who can also direct queries to the relevant module expert in the case of trickier questions (or, in some cases, to the developer who actually wrote the software in the first place)!
Another supplement to Heritage support is Marvin, our list server, which is available to all Heritage customers with a support contract. Each message submitted to the list is forwarded to everybody else on the list and some useful discussions develop as a result. Any information which might be useful to others can be submitted and many find it an invaluable service. Simmons & Simmons are members of Marvin:
“Although we have not submitted any questions yet, it is interesting to see what other users are doing and get an insight into how Heritage is used elsewhere.”
Heritage has been in use for some time now, and all of the collection in the London office Information Centre is catalogued on Heritage. It includes textbooks, journals, law reports, encyclopaedias, grey literature, and looseleaf publications. Lorna is very pleased with Heritage and the service provided by IS Oxford:
“We are able to offer a more efficient service to our lawyers, so that they can respond promptly to clients. Heritage Online provides our lawyers with desktop access to our catalogue and they can quickly find out which books are available. It is easier to keep track of books on loan as we can now deliver overdue notices by email which busy lawyers respond to more readily. This means we know where important titles are if they are required urgently for a client matter. Processes for chasing overdue material are improved which helps us ensure our lawyers receive important books and journals promptly. Future plans include making more use of the SDI features to notify lawyers of new titles automatically. As we build up the loan statistics they will provide useful information when considering the purchase of new editions.”
Simmons & Simmons run Heritage on a Windows XP network with thirteen concurrent staff licences, Heritage Online, the Serials Management Module, Heritage Connect and Quickcat Online. For more details of Simmons & Simmons visit their website: http://www.simmons-simmons.com.
Freethcartwright LLP
Freethcartwright LLP have offices in Nottingham, Derby and Leicester and were recently selected as ‘Regional Heavyweights’ in the East Midlands by ‘UK Legal 500’, the prestigious journal for lawyers and law firms. Their legal library incorporates books, looseleaf publications and journals.
In 2001 Freethcartwright set about reviewing the management of their library resources. An in-house system had been used to manage their library resources for some time, and although it had served its purpose well, the Firm wanted to expand the services the library provided and offer firm-wide desk-top access to the catalogue on the company Intranet.
The Librarian had had been aware of Heritage and its predecessor, Bookshelf, for over ten years. She had used Heritage previously, so when it came to reviewing the products available on the market she had confidence in recommending Heritage for consideration.
“I had used it previously, in a different branch of librarianship, so I had confidence in its ability to perform, and reports from other law libraries provided reassurance to members of the Firm’s Library Project Team that Heritage would be suitable for our requirements.”
Despite this previous experience, it was decided to investigate a number of other products to ensure that the best decision had been made for Freethcartwright. A list of criteria that a replacement system would need to satisfy was drawn up, including “Cost, flexibility, reliability, good support services, [and a] user-friendly system.”
After reviewing various systems, including an on-site demonstration from an IS Oxford sales representative, it was decided that Heritage “met all the criteria”. An order was placed for the system in December 2001 and the software installed soon afterwards. Heritage is designed for self-installation, which the Librarian opted for although IS Oxford can provide an on-site installation service if required. The process is relatively straightforward and the Librarian confirmed that there were no reported problems from the Firm’s IT providers.
A quality support service was important to the Librarian. She knew that the IS Oxford support team would provide the help she required as she had called upon their services in the past. “[They are] very good in sorting problems. Sometimes a short delay can be frustrating for the user, but understandable if demand for the service is overstretched.” IS staff are proud of their support reputation and are very keen to offer the best service possible, so a variety of methods of support are available (e.g. via telephone, email, the Internet etc) to cater for individual needs. They continually monitor the effectiveness of their support service and welcome customer feedback as part of this process.
The Librarian has been very busy since the initial implementation and her library automation is nearly complete. The service she is able to provide has improved tremendously already, but she is not resting on her laurels and has more plans for the future:
“Freethcartwright LLP operate from four sites in three counties: Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Leicestershire. There are several library areas serving the four sites, as well as smaller departmental collections. Heritage Online has just been launched on the Firm’s intranet. This will allow all users to access the library catalogue from their desktop PCs., thus giving instant information on the availability and location of library stock. Self-issue is scheduled to be implemented by Autumn 2003*, to complete the automation of the library system.”
Freethcartwright run Heritage on Windows 2000 with five OPAC only user licences and Heritage Online. Julia Padmore has now retired from Freethcartwright. IS Oxford would like to thank her for the help she has provided to both us and a number of prospective customers over the past few years.
*The Heritage Self-Service Module is now available.
Withy King Solicitors
Withy King Solicitors are one of the South West’s leading legal practices and have offices in Bath, Swindon, Trowbridge and Marlborough. Their Information Centre incorporates hard copy books, electronic documents and precedents. They purchased Heritage in July 2003.
There was no existing library management system, and resources were spread across the different offices. Withy King were therefore looking for a solution that would centralise their resources, so that a single search could provide a list of all the items held by the firm across the different sites. A decision was made to investigate the library management software packages available that might provide an overall solution.
Withy King were looking for a system that would be able to manage all their resources and would undertake all the basic library management functions that made up their day to day work. They were specifically looking for a networked product that would provide “a way to detail all books in all locations, a purchase order system, a grey material area for precedents that everyone could access”. The other important determining factor was cost.
A brief review of the systems available on the market helped Withy King identify five or six systems for initial consideration, followed by a shortlist of three systems that were invited for on-site demonstrations.
Following the on-site demonstration of Heritage, library staff requested an evaluation copy of the software so they could spend time looking at it in more detail. The project managers decided to “delegate it to various levels and give them two weeks for feedback". It is very important to share the purchase decision with all the staff that will be using the system. The choice of software will directly affect each person's daily work so they have to be comfortable with the chosen product.
Finally the choice was made. "[Heritage] did all the things we needed at a reasonable price. Once the decision of the software had been made, the business case was put together and sent to The Board who approved it.”
Since they didn’t have an existing system, staff used the Quickcat Online module to build their catalogue.
IS Oxford staff visited Withy King to provide on-site training. Training is a bespoke service and was tailored to the particular requirements and responsibilities of the staff that attended each session. The Information Centre team were pleased with the training they received: "Training was tailored to our requirements so we were able to start building our catalogue during the training session which helped us greatly".
The Heritage Library Management System is now fully operational at Withy King. The Information Centre team are now concentrating on building an in-house knowledge management system using the Heritage facilities.
Withy King run Heritage on Windows 2000 with one additional full access user licence, seven OPAC only user licences, Heritage Online, the Serials Management Module and the Reader Import Module. The Information Centre team will be happy for prospective Heritage customers to contact them, but please contact IS Oxford first for their contact details.
For details of other legal libraries that use Heritage
please contact Emma Duffield, Sales Manager, on (01865) 481010
or email
.