Bankstown City Library went to tender for a new Library Management System in December 2004. After an exhaustive process Libero was selected as the new Library Management System to be installed at Bankstown City Library. Bankstown Library has 71,000 members in an area population of 172,000. Circulation is 1,300,000 items per year. Bankstown Library has 4 branches. The former Bankstown LMS was GEAC Advance. Bankstown staff are currently being trained and it is anticipated the "go live" date will be 16 December 2005.

Insight Informatics welcomes Bankstown as another valued client.

CPLA annual conference was held at Gosford, NSW on 20-22 July. The conference was well attended by Libero clients and staff.

The theme of the Conference was Feast of Formats and was capped off on the Thursday evening with the Conference Dinner. Most of the Guests were dressed up in Mediaeval costume, and some people were so well disguised, they were hard to recognise.

Libero sponsored the "Libero Bus", transporting guests between venues for the 3 day conference. Libero also sponsored the cruise on Brisbane Waters.

Guests at the conference were provided alternative streams of events over the 3 days of the Conference. Visits were available to the various libraries operated by Gosford Library. Many guests were re-acquainted with former colleagues and the Conference was of benefit to most who attended.

Upper Hunter Regional Library was the first Library to implement the new LiberoWEB for the operation of all the branches. Libero is used at Muswellbrook, and LiberoWEB has been implemented at the six branches.

UPPER HUNTER REGIONAL LIBRARY
The Upper Hunter Regional Library serves a population of 28,570 in three Local Government Areas in the Upper Hunter Region of NSW. These Local Government areas are Muswellbrook, Merriwa and Scone. The population is distributed across 10,937.4 sq. kilometres. The Regional Library has seven branches at Muswellbrook, Denman, Scone, Aberdeen, Merriwa, Cassilis and Murrurundi. The Region was recently expanded to include parts of the former Murrurundi Shire. The Murrurundi Library is now the 7th Library in the Region.

LiberoWEB
LiberoWEB is the new web-based module of Libero used by smaller Branches of Libraries to provide Issues, Returns, Transfers, Marc Catalogue, Fines, Bulk Changes, Reservations, and Member Maintenance. The new module provides a simpler solution for branches that are not involved in setting parameters, cataloguing, and serials . All available modules are selected from one screen. LiberoWEB operates via the Web in conjunction with the Libero Library Management System.

The SIP2-interface for the connection of automatic self-issue machines is a long-standing component of the LIBERO software, and the interface was enhanced at the beginning of
2005 to permit the connection of media return and sorting equipment.

The return of books outside of library business hours (Bookdrop) now becomes feasible, coupled with a reduction in workload for the return desks - naturally while still taking into account all relevant borrowing charges and other member-relevant parameters. Furthermore, the automatic sorting of media according to library requirements (branch, magazine, reserved items etc.) is no longer a problem.

In line with existing maintenance contracts, this modification as with all other software enhancements will be supplied free of charge to all LIBERO customers with the next LIBERO-Release.

This year's theme is 'Down and loaded: the right information at the right time' acknowledging the innovative activities and services provided by library and information professionals, focussing on the delivery of information via the online environment.

Libero is proud to support our clients in information and service delivery. Libero and Libero's Open Search Portal provide the tools for our clients to access information both within the library as well as external resources including electronic journals as well as other catalogues.

The Libero System has been chosen by Geelong Grammar and will be fully implemented prior to the commencement of the first term in 2005. Corio Library (including Bostock House), Timbertop Campus and Glamorgan Campus will all be running from a cental server.

A prototype of Libero's WebOPAC has been developed which allows members to search local catalogues as well as remote catalogues with a single query

• All functionality developed and serviced by Libero development with no reliance on third party products or support
• Functionality enabled by simple configuration within Libero Parameters. 
• Familiar Libero search interface maximises customer learning curve and compliance. 
• Targeted results sets can be managed through flexible configuration options

Libero provides advanced information searching, retrieval and delivery services to libraries including the ability to: 

• Search across any type of data source simultaneously. 
• Standards-based and proprietary data sources, web, Z39.50, SQL etc. 
• No limit to the number or types of sources searched at one time. 
• Results from different search engines are combined. 
• Results will be combined and displayed in real time when retrieved. 
• Results can be refined by further deduping, filtering and sorting. 
• Access restrictions so that only members of the library have access to materials meeting supplier requirements.

The Libero WebOpac now has the potential to provide enrichment to your catalogue display in the form of cover art and reviews from Amazon.com. Customers just need to check that their environment is correctly configured and the information becomes freely available. The enriched content uses port 80 which is a standard port for web browsing but because in some situations the firewall restricts all traffic there is a need to open this port for WebOPAC PCs. It may also be necessary to make changes to proxy settings to allow connections to Amazon.com and other services

Libero Version 5 is currently undergoing beta testing for release to customers. Libero clients can expect to receive a wealth of new functionality building on previous version releases. Highlights include:

• Pictorial Searching - Libero offers a broad range of picture searching options making access to your catalogue that much easier! Building on from a Kid's Catalogue, where access to parts of the collection is available via several levels of searching, Libero now offers one step more - the ability to provide broader image searching to all or part of your collection. 
  
  This new functionality can allow easier access including image searching of your foreign language catalogues, community information catalogues, local history access - the access points are limitless. Like all Libero modules clients are provided with a variety of access points far beyond linking to subjects. Combined with Libero's advanced indexing ability you are now able to provide broader alternative searching. 
  
  If you would like a demonstration on how picture searching can aid access to your foreign language collection (particularly beneficial where members can read but cannot necessary master language structure) or provide easy structured access to other parts of your collection, e.g. community information or local history, we would be happy to demonstrate the wide range of options and benefits.
• 
  Multiple Budget Years - Acquisitions. Libero now allows multiple budget years to be open allowing transactions during any of the active budget years. This new functionality allows greater management of budgets allowing purchasing to take place over multiple financial years. Orders can be finalised in a different financial year. In addition orders can be created for any active budget year providing greater financial management to our customers. 
• Field Level Security now available for Orders and Suppliers - Field level security is now in place for both Orders and Suppliers allowing greater security controls. Systems managers can now not only limit access to functionality but have greater security controls including the ability to limit which fields can be viewed by staff or if fields are able to be viewed whether the information is read only or can be updated. This new functionality meets Libero's standards allowing different settings for each individual user.

This is only a small snapshot of new functions available to you. We will continue to announce new functionality to help in your planning and overall management of your library.

We hope you will be planning to attend your next scheduled User Group Meeting at Riverina Library in May as we plan future development and management directions and work together in planning for the future.

Please note that Extended Maintenance Customers will also receive free New Version Training to help you implement new services with the release of Libero Version 5. To find out more about the benefits of Extended Maintenance please contact our customer services team.

The Inter Library Loans Development Workshop was held on 19 March with representatives from the User Group and the Insight team working together.

The Workshop addressed a series of recommendation on the workings of Inter-Library Loans to be incorporated in Libero.

A Development Specification will be produced. On completion a copy will be forwarded to the User Group.

THE LIBERO UNION SYSTEM AT AACHEN REGION IN GERMANY

Saturday 1st January 2000