Durango Public Library is going through some major transitions. One of our top priorities is our strategic plan update.
We will be releasing a survey on March 4 on the city’s virtual city hall site: https://bit.ly/3a6jgEy. Please take a moment to fill out the survey so that we can learn more about your needs and how the library can best serve you. We will also have printed copies for you to complete at the library, as well as a printed survey designed for children.
Our other top priority is our new Integrated Library System. As you may have read over the last year – or even experienced it yourself – our current ILS (the backbone of our entire system) has been failing. The ILS handles our patron information, our entire catalog of materials, checking items in and out and more. But all is not lost – in fact, a brighter future is on its way.
Thanks to Durango City Council and Durango City Manager’s Office, project funds that were not being used were reallocated to cover the costs of migrating to a new ILS. After going through the Requests for Proposal process at the end of 2019, we selected SirsiDynix as our new vendor. Our staff has been working diligently behind the scenes with SirsiDynix to prepare for the big move. What does that mean to you?
As a practical matter, we will be closed on Tuesday for staff training on the new software. In addition, various staff will be training on the pieces that relate most directly to their jobs – acquiring and cataloging materials, outreach and materials by mail, collection development, designing the catalog and more. The week of April 27, we will move from the old system to the new. We will ensure nothing is due during that week because we will not be able to check anything back in. Yet, you will be able to check items out; we will just upload the information once the migration takes place.
Our next closure will be April 30. That is the big migration day. We need to ensure everything is working properly and that our data transferred successfully, hence the need to be closed. Our catalog will be offline until the migration is complete.
Let me just say that we are excited for the changes ahead. We are making some adjustments to our loan policies, how our catalog will look and more (like being able to check out e-books and e-audio right from the catalog). 2020 looks to be a great year for the library and our customers. We look forward to carving the pathway to the future with our community.
Finally, visit our website at durangogov.org/library to nominate a community member for the Library Community Champion Award, and to learn more about the upcoming 2020 Literary Festival featuring best-selling author Lisa See on April 16.
Thanks for your continued support!
Sandy Irwin is library director at Durango Public Library.
