Posted on January 7th, 2013 by Michael Colford in Johnson Building Study, Major Projects
Tags: Back Bay, Copley Square
The Community Advisory Committee for the Johnson Improvement Project will meet on Thursday, January 10, at 8:30 a.m. in the Commonwealth Salon Mezzanine Conference Room (room change made on January 9). Click the link below for the meeting agenda.
1-10-13 Johnson Improvements Project CAC agenda
Posted on January 4th, 2013 by Michael Colford in Major Projects
Tags: Back Bay, Copley Square
As a user-centered institution, the BPL is committed to improving the navigation and use of the Central Library through the design and implementation of a comprehensive wayfinding system. Whether you are a savvy veteran with many years of experience using the library or a first-time user, we believe the building should be equally welcoming and easy to use. This goal is a challenge in a facility of almost a million square feet which covers a city block and includes two distinct buildings.
The wayfinding scheme is based on a number of overarching principles:
The library awarded the contract for this capital project to Arrowstreet, Inc. Visitors should begin to see the results sometime in the summer of 2013.
Posted on January 2nd, 2013 by Michael Colford in Johnson Building Study, Library Services, Major Projects
Tags: Back Bay, Copley Square
One of the commitments the library has made in the BPL Compass strategic plan is to solicit public input and community involvement. To help facilitate that commitment with regard to the Johnson Building Improvement Project, a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) has been assembled to work with library staff and share ideas and reactions to proposed plans that will emerge over the course of the next several months. The committee is made up of business owners and residents in the Back Bay neighborhood. The first meeting of the CAC was held on November 14. To see the meeting notes from that meeting click here (PDF, 7 pages). The next CAC meeting will take place on Thursday, January 10, at 8:30 a.m. in the Commonwealth Salon.
Posted on December 31st, 2012 by David Leonard in Major Projects, Technology
Tags: Access and Innovation, Sustainable Organization, Systemwide, User-Centered Institution
Boston Public Library’s new Polaris system went fully live for staff on Thursday, December 13. As with any major upgrade, there were a few minor technical glitches that morning that were quickly addressed. Due to the size of our holdings, however, the online catalog took a full four days to get fully in synch with the new cleaned-up database, but was able to provide up to date availability information by December 17. Staff have spent the two weeks since correcting other minor issues with data and patron accounts, especially the holds fulfillment process. We are continuing to ask for patience and understanding from library users whose data wasn’t completely migrated and may experience a delay in fulfilling holds. All in all, the migration has been a technical success and staff are finding it easier and more efficient to use, once they become familiar with some new procedures involved. We are confident that all these kinks will be worked out in the January time-frame, which means we can move on to a larger set of enhancements to our systems, expected to deploy in the coming six months.
Posted on December 28th, 2012 by David Leonard in Major Projects, Technology
Tags: Access and Innovation, Sustainable Organization, Systemwide, User-Centered Institution
The main functions of the integrated library system (ILS) are:
The ILS is also the brains of our technology system that allow patrons access to many other online services, too. When you sign up for a public session at one of the BPL’s computers or utilize the public printing systems, the print system has to check with our ILS to make sure you are in our system and are approved to use that computer or printer at that location. For example, only a children’s card can be used to access resources in a children’s space. The same goes for access to the WIFI system. Both our web-based public catalog, with its special search algorithm and relevancy rankings as well as its access to social network systems and our Museum Pass Reservation System need to do the same, as does use of OverDrive for downloadable books, just to name a few.
In all, Boston Public Library integrated and tested twenty-five separate systems and applications during the migration, a mixture of local and hosted systems. And, of course, we had to plan the migration so that we could stay open and offer as many services as possible for as long as possible. Some libraries close down for a migration of this size. If you were unfortunate enough to be one of the people who experienced a problem with access to systems or your record, or had a problem with your hold requests, we apologize. If you have let us know, we have probably either fixed or will fix the problem. For the vast majority of systems and users, the migration was largely invisible and successful. We are planning to continue making system improvements and adding other enhancements through at least June of 2013 as part of this overall systems migration project.
