Heritage Medical Case Study
The original specification for the Heritage Library Management System was written by two librarians at the Cairns Library, part of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. As a result, the core design of Heritage met the needs of medical libraries very well. Subsequent developments in, for instance, serials management and web-based access, have ensured that Heritage continues to be their first choice. There are now around 150 medical libraries using Heritage in the UK and Ireland, but just two of these libraries are featured here: Frimley Park Hospital and North & North East Lincolnshire Primary Care Trusts.Frimley Park Hospital
Frimley Park Hospital is a large, 700-bed Trust serving a catchment population of 365,000 and employing a staff of around 2,500. Opened in 1974, it is located just inside the West Surrey Health Authority boundary and provides a full range of district general hospital services to the population of North East Hampshire and West Surrey.
The
library at Frimley Park Hospital is managed by Suzy Thompson.
The stock consists mostly of books and journals, which are
catalogued on Heritage. They also hold a few video cassettes.
Suzy first heard about Heritage from other NHS librarians, and had seen advertisements in the Library Association Record. Before arranging an on-site demonstration of Heritage she looked through the IS Oxford website, which she found to be “very informative … [it] contained all you needed to know (apart from prices!). The ‘Putting the case forward to your manager’ web page was a very good idea)”. Suzy is referring to a document available on www.isoxford.com in which suggestions are given of how the case for a library management system can be put to a librarian’s own superiors who do not necessarily have an idea of how broad ranging the benefits of a good system are. Click here to access the document.
Frimley Park’s existing library management system was Soutron’s Inmagic, which, according to Suzy “drastically needed replacing. Luckily, it was reliable as we had no support on it, so we were just on borrowed time”. They obviously required a data conversion from Inmagic, and this was a very important consideration when choosing a replacement system. Suzy explains her requirements:
“We wanted a user-friendly, flexible system which would:
- convert the data from our existing Library Management System without problems (especially as it was complicated by the existence of two databases – a Loans one containing reader and book data and a Catologue one which just held book information); ideally the supplier would have experience of converting data from the InMagic system
- be compliant with the regional catalogue, allowing us to export our newly catalogued stock to the regional library catalogue without us having to key all the information in again
- include a Serials module so that we could automate the checking in of our new journals
- include an inter library loans module so that we could produce requests to send to other libraries
- include a user-friendly public access module
- come with good user support (very important) and also be used elsewhere within our network so that we could call on local support and advice too
- have flexible reporting and searching facilities
- be able to be networked around the hospital."
Suzy invited IS Oxford to her library to give a demonstration of Heritage. This enabled her to take a thorough look at the system and to have all her initial questions answered. IS Oxford then provided her with a copy of Heritage for her to trial so that she could evaluate the system at her leisure. She also spoke to existing Heritage users: “I emailed and/or asked regional colleagues already using it for advice/opinions/feedback and all of us saw it in operation in our nearest local libraries”.
After a detailed evaluation, Suzy eventually decided to go for Heritage. This decision was based on a number of factors:
“I was very impressed by the quick response rate of the IS Oxford staff to my queries and by their helpfulness and professionalism. We liked the user-friendly system and it satisfied most of our selection criteria. More regional libraries used this system than the other one that we were considering; colleagues provide a good source of support, especially as there has been talk of launching a local Heritage user group”.
The installation and implementation of Heritage at Frimley
Park was a very simple process, Suzy liaised closely with
the sales, training and data conversion teams at IS Oxford
to ensure that everything went smoothly:
“The process was thought
through – getting the funding through the Finance department,
receiving the software, going through the trial data conversion
and ironing out any problems with it, having training before
the final data conversion (which meant closing the library
for a day), implementing the system on one of our quieter
days so that we could get used to it in less pressured conditions
and noting down any problems to report back to IS Oxford as
we came across them.”
Heritage has already made a difference to Suzy’s
workload, particularly the everyday circulation facilities:
“It has made the whole circulation
process much more efficient. It is much quicker to issue and
return books using Heritage and much more flexible as you
can easily switch between screens. More information is at
our fingertips – e.g. users’ loan histories and
their current loan and overdues information etc. We can see
if they are nearing, or have exceeded, their loan entitlement.
Any operation is now just one click of the mouse for us, as
opposed to multiple keystrokes.”
Automating
the more routine library management tasks has released much-needed
time, enabling Suzy to concentrate on the more interesting
and rewarding aspects of library administration such as the
creation and customisation of management reports and document
templates. She has found some of the reporting functions quite
fiddly and so is looking forward to the new Heritage Report
Writer which will be available as part of an upgrade later
this year - upgrades are free as part of the IS Oxford support
service.
This new facility is very sophisticated yet it will be simpler to understand and easier to manipulate than the existing reporter, which has served Heritage well for the past five years but which customer feedback had shown could be improved. IS Oxford are constantly working to update the functionality of Heritage, keeping up with the latest advances in library management technology, but also recognise the importance of system design, ensuring that modules and facilities are as clear and user-friendly as possible.
Frimley Park Hospital run Heritage on an NT network with two additional full access user licences, Heritage Online, the Inmagic data import module and the Serials Cataloguing & Enquiry module. Their data was converted from Inmagic DB/Textworks by IS staff.
Suzy would be happy to talk to prospective Heritage customers. Her email address is suzy.thompson@fph-tr.nhs.uk.
North & North East Linconshire Primary Care Trusts
The second of the featured libraries in this section is North & North East Lincs PCTs, based in Brigg. The resource centre is run by Angela Clarke, who moved to the library from Hull College in 2001. The library serves the needs of the primary healthcare community in South Humber and their aim is to facilitate research, professional development and clinical practice and to provide access to the information required by their customers. The resources are available to all primary care staff and all practice staff, including general practitioners, practice nurses, practice managers, health visitors, district nurses and pharmacists.
Angie
holds a diverse range of materials in the library:
“Books, reports, journals, circulars, directives and
few videos and charts. It is intended that all media will
be catalogued but some stacked material may take a long while
to be inputted.”
Angie already had experience of Heritage at Hull College, where she had previously undergone a similar procurement process and chosen Heritage to replace her Bookshelf system in 1994. Her experience from using Heritage for several years meant that she anticipated that she might purchase Heritage when she moved to the Health Authority, but she also knew it was very important to ensure that her staff were happy with her choice of system.
Prior to the decision to move to Heritage, therefore, she provided an evaluation copy of Heritage for her staff to work with:
“... staff support is another key implication in the successful implementation of new systems (Management of change principles). I made sure that the staff at the Health authority worked with the demo system and also did online training so they were comfortable with the change.”
She then drew up a careful implementation plan in advance
of the procurement. There are many factors to consider when
organising the changeover from one system to another, the
primary ones being the scheduling of the data conversion and
training. Angie had previous experience of this, but it is
still a very good idea to draw up a plan to make sure that
the procurement goes smoothly (IS Oxford Sales staff would
be very happy to advise on the order of events and anticipated
timescales if necessary).
A copy of Angie’s plan is set out below:
LIS Library sub-group Heritage plan (March 2001)
| ITEM | ACTION | BY WHO | TARGET DATE | REVIEW |
| Proposal with Business case | Present to LIS Steering group | TW (Director) | 15th March | 19th March (bi-monthly meeting) |
| Purchase order | Send to finance | TW | 19th March | 23rd March |
| System Requirements | Specify | AC PW (Network) | 16th March | 23rd March |
| Data Download Sample | Save DB Textworks to Zipfile | PW | 16th March | 23rd March |
| Train Technician & Librarian | Send on course to IS Oxford | CD KF | April 2001 | April 2001 |
| Trial Heritage in H/Authority | Install Heritage on HA Server. Tryout in Resource Centre | CD (Technician) KF | April | End April 2001 |
| Change to Heritage at HA | After sending full save of DB text to IS install full copy on server and have training day then go live | CD AC/KF IS Trainer |
May | End May 2002 |
| Union catalogue Install | Install UNIFY module on server. Install UNIFY at HA, GY, SC libraries. Arrange first text | CD | April 2002 | END May 2002 |
| Put Heritage on line to designated users | Install OPAC on Web-browser | CD | June 2002 | Aug 2002 |
| Review system | Arrange meeting of Library staff | AC | Aug 2002 | End October 2002 |
One of the main reasons that Angie decided to choose Heritage again was the look and feel of the system. Many library systems offer similar functionality, but the way in which they provide it is vital – after all, library staff are going to work with the system all day every day so clear, uncluttered screens and elegant work-flows are essential: “It is always good to have a system that looks good on the desktop for users as this definitely ups the users’ perception of a switched-on library service.”
Angie’s decision to go for Heritage again is significant in confirming Heritage as a high quality and sophisticated system that keeps pace with the latest library management technology. Furthermore, it is based on a knowledge of the long term support that IS Oxford provides. Building good relationships with customers and accommodating their needs wherever possible is an important aspect of IS Oxford’s support service.
Angie is very happy with the relationship she has built with IS staff: “IS Oxford staff have at all times been friendly, supportive and interested in issues I have. I blame myself for not always keeping up with some of the developments I am waiting for.”
Finally, Angie has a word of advice for prospective purchasers:
“[Heritage is a] smashing
product but be aware that there are Networking issues particularly
for healthcare libraries working across a WAN . Work closely
with your Network manager before introducing it to your Network.”
(Angie had an initial problem which was resolved by upgrading
her server).
If you require any advice regarding technical aspects of Heritage please contact the IS Oxford sales team.
North & North East Lincs. PCTs run Heritage on an NT4 network with five additional OPAC user licences, Heritage Online server module, the Serials Management module and they will shortly be implementing the Unify module. Their data was converted from Inmagic DB/Textworks by IS staff.
Angie would be happy to talk to prospective Heritage customers. Her email address is Angela.Clarke@nelpct.nhs.uk.
For details of other medical libraries that use Heritage please contact Emma Duffield, Sales Manager, on (01865) 481010 or email .