Advantages and disadvantages of having a statewide centralised LMS.

My thoughts………………………….

Advantages of a statewide centralised LMS

From the perspective of South Australian library patrons, what could be better than a one stop library? Books can be picked up and dropped off at any location, the widest range of choices possible, more unique and variety titles readily available as libraries across the state all share their collections. No more inequality with city patrons or wealthy suburbs having more funding, books, and choices than their country or poorer suburbs counterparts, anyone in the state can freely access the same resources equally.

Similarly, libraries benefit from the shared buying power, making purchases more economical resulting in more from their limited budgets. Especially country libraries who previously may have had reduced budgets, resources and limited availability qualified staff, which are harder to find in their smaller communities. Instead they are now more economical to run, while their patrons have extra availability of a wider variety of resources with access to specialised staff without worrying about their proximity to the location.

Library spaces around the state are now unclogged from the storage of books that sat on their shelves waiting to be borrowed by local patrons, they now have the opportunity to provide for collaborative spaces and services. Free from the buying and cataloguing processes, library staff can spend their time assisting and supporting their local patrons and community.

Disadvantages of a statewide centralised LMS

Putting all your eggs in one basket might seem like a great plan but if the basket breaks you lose lots of eggs, so for large state-wide LMS if there is only one system if anything happens to the system lots of people will be effected!

For library patrons with shared resources they may find that those popular titles have a longer wait list as more people are now able to access the resource. Not forgetting to add on all the extra travel time that is needed to get the resource to patrons as it may need to travel across the state each time. Will the centralised buyers cater for the personalised diverse patrons needs, like that special history of the local clock?

For me, the most important disadvantage is the digital divide, the elderly, children, those patrons who don’t have the desire or skills to use the computer database but prefer the physical items to browse and see what they are borrowing, how do they get access to these itinerant resources?

For a vibrant country library, a hub of their community spirits, funded and supported as a local service, they may be impacted by the pragmatic assignment of funding which could reflect in a reduced budget. Also reducing the support as the resources are no longer deemed local and there is less opportunity for qualified country staff to work in the facility now it is centralised. Centralised systems are expensive to set up, changes can be difficult to implement as they effect many facilities both in the agreement of changes and the cost. All vendors are locked in with little or no room to negotiate or customise. With a smaller team of specialised staff responsible for the administration there is the real possibility of individual facilities losing the need for their professional staff and even the purpose of a library.