Lewis Maurer, Executive Director

Lewis Maurer, Executive Director

Pennsylvania Integrated Library System

12/4/12

SPARK Ignites

There is a movement afoot in Pennsylvania libraries that is changing the relationship between libraries and their automation software. Libraries are reclaiming their technology destiny and the power of their economic clout. They are not just making another ILS purchase, but instead joining a collaborative community where their priorities come first. SPARK offers libraries an ILS alternative that is “by,” “for” and “of” PA libraries. Dust off your Birkenstocks librarians, this is crunchy granola nirvana for libraries in the high tech age.

With the guidance and financial support of the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, the Pennsylvania Integrated Library System, (PaILS) was founded in June, 2011 as a non-profit organization to provide a collaborative, high quality, open source integrated library system that is equitable, cost-effective and promotes resource sharing among libraries statewide.

A task force of PA library leaders selected HSLC as the technology vendor and Evergreen open-source software, following the Georgia Pines model, with the addition of a powerful VuFind discovery layer to provide modern patron access. The ILS was designed to accommodate the organizational relationships of PA libraries statewide through regions, districts, consortia, and systems, down to the branch level. Searching can be scoped and licensing agreements can be accommodated at each of these levels.

VuFind, also open-source, was developed and is maintained in Pennsylvania at Villanova University and provides robust functionality such as patron generated reviews and tags, book jackets, “text this,” “cite this,” faceted searching, credit cards, and soon, ebook integration. The Integrated Library System was branded SPARK.

PaILS is governed by a 9-member Board of Directors that receives recommendations for development and policies from a 16-member AdvisoryCouncil. The Advisory Council is made up of two members from each of PA’s 8 library regions. Advisory Council members represent libraries of all types, sizes and locations. The SPARK User Group members make recommendations and inform the Advisory Council. The SPARK Coordinator, Lugene Shelly has worked with PaILS since its inception. The PaILS Board hired an Executive Director, Lew Maurer in September, 2012.

There are 38 libraries in 12 counties using SPARK with others at various stages in the migration process.

In November, 2012, SPARK’s patron database included approximately 165,000 records and the public catalog was visited an average of 14,000 times each month. There were over 643,000 bibliographic records in the database with over 1.3 million item records.

SPARK is a comprehensive cloud-hosted “one-price” solution. The staff client includes circulation, cataloging, serials and acquisitions functionality and the patron VuFind portal provides enhanced functionality found in the most expensive commercial discovery layers.

SPARK First Wave and Early Adopter libraries are in the vanguard, demonstrating a collaborative alternative to the unsatisfactory way PA libraries traditionally access automation software. Their vision, effort and spirit of cooperation will be rewarded with long term benefits and satisfaction for libraries across the state.

SPARK Early Adopter Pricing is aggressively competitive and currently available. It includes a 5 year renewal price assurance and waived fees for migration and training.

If you would like to learn more about SPARK, email or call (717) 668-9577.