Case Study: Ouachita Parish Public Library

Context of OPPL

Ouachita Parish Public Library is located in Monroe, Louisiana. It is a smaller library system with a rich history dating back to 1924. The library system consists of 8 physical locations and one book mobile.

Technology

Ouachita Parish Public Library is currently running on a Horizon integrated library system. They will make a move to a brand new Polaris system shortly. A very notable fact is that Ouachita decided to make AquaBrowser Library its new interface and search mechanism before the migration. Ouachita saw no reason to make their patrons and staff wait for AquaBrowser because it works with any ILS. The migration will be seamless and, most importantly it will be transparent to the users.

Community Make up

Ouachita Parish is a community of over 150,000. Ouachita Parish Public Library has a collection totaling approximately 480,000 volumes, and last year had a total circulation of 845,000. The community relies on the library system as it is its central facility for information. The library offers free wireless service at all of its locations which the public uses with vigilance. Patronage and a growing population will push the system to add another branch in 2008, and they are considering two more in the year thereafter.

Impact of AquaBrowser on OPPL

“The first thing we have noticed on the back-end statistics since implementing AquaBrowser is all our E-services are seeing increased use, and continue to,” stated head of Automation, Eileen Kontrovitz. AquaBrowser has brought forth an increase in actual catalog searches since their previous interface. The biggest impact, according to Ms. Kontrovitz, has been that the patrons need only go to one place to find what they are looking for. Most library users will not ask for help when they either are not sure what to look for, or they do not know how to perform the search. With a typical interface, they will leave in frustration before asking a reference provider for assistance. AquaBrowser has proven to increase a user’s chances of success based on the higher volume of searches and circulation since its implementation. “The graphic interface is a real plus,” stated Ms. Kontrovitz.

Migrating AquaBrowser to a new ILS

After running a Horizon system for many years, OPPL is migrating to Polaris this summer. When they go live on their new ILS, the move will be transparent to their patrons. Customers will see the same intuitive, familiar AquaBrowser interface that they’ve been using for the last year. Libraries don’t need to wait to implement a new discovery layer interface if they’re planning to migrate to a new ILS. AquaBrowser can immediately have a big impact for your end users right away. A library’s Support & Software Agreement includes services for migrating AquaBrowser to any new ILS, even open sources ones.

The Future

Ouachita Parish Public Library feels there is a need to meet or exceed the technological demands of its patrons. If patrons are performing internet searches on their mobile phones, the library would then have to consider that patrons need to be able to find a book or CD in the catalog on their mobile phones. Ouachita sees the AquaBrowser My Discoveries tool as a great way for a library to move into the future. Giving the users, both patrons and library staff, a platform to organize their reader lists, tag items, and write reviews and ratings to items, makes the library as interactive as any mainstream commercial site in today’s web environment.