Serials Solution Chosen as Electronic Resources Management System (ERMS)

By Ivy Anderson, Director of Collection Development & Management

After a careful evaluation, CDL has selected Serials Solutions 360 Resource Manager to manage the CDL’s shared licensing activities for Tier 1 and CDL-supported Tier 2 resources.

CDL put in place a rigorous evaluation process, including a detailed set of functional and business requirements, with a goal of selecting an approach and formulating a project plan by September of this year.  Two early components of CDL’s assessment included an evaluation of whether to consider local development as an alternative to a vended solution and, for the latter option, whether to seek a hosted solution or a locally-managed system.  CDL quickly found that local development would not be a fruitful option and determined that a hosted system would be preferable for operational reasons, particularly given the extensive staff resources dedicated to the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot support by WorldCat Local.

CDL then focused its activities on a detailed assessment of the two leading vendor products, Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (III) and Serials Solutions.  The evaluation included a detailed set of functional requirements, several in-house presentations and demonstrations as well as hands-on access to a test system to the maximum extent allowed by each vendor.

While neither system provides all of the functionality CDL desires and each possesses different strengths and weaknesses, the evaluation produced a clear winner in Serials Solutions due to a variety of factors:

• its superior knowledgebase
• better workflow support
• its experience operating a hosted solution
• the ability to operate in a web-based environment without the need for dedicated client software
• a commitment to open standards and interoperability
• an agile development process
• vendor responsiveness
• significantly lower cost.

CDL anticipates the Serials Solutions system will evolve rapidly in the near term to develop improved functionality for consortial licensing activities and that Serials Solutions will be highly responsive to UC requirements.  Campuses will have read-only access to the system to look up information.

Lena Zentall will serve as ERMS Project Manager going forward and will be working on an implementation plan and timetable.  We will keep the campuses apprised as these plans unfold.  Campuses should feel free to contact Lena (lena.zentall@ucop.edu) with any questions about CDL’s implementation plans.