Western Riverina Libraries
Instantly improve performance with LIBERO Hosted Services
Western Riverina Libraries (WRL) is a library co-operative of five branches and 2 mobile libraries across six separate, rural New South Wales Local Government Areas. The co-operative has been using the web-based LMS, LIBERO from Insight Informatics in Brisbane since 1996 to facilitate library operations.
Last year (2013), an ageing VPN connection, server equipment and a stretched IT Team contributed to performance issues that affected all seven WRL branches. Over 12 months, WRL’s web-based LIBERO system performance was increasingly inconsistent at all branches, with lagging and sometimes frozen screens affecting services. This issue was compounded by the fact that WRL IT resources were already struggling to provide support to libraries across six separate and geographically disparate Member Councils. Thus, there were strict limitations placed on desktop PCs running LIBERO at branch libraries, the IT Department couldn’t adequately meet the needs of the library, and WRL services were starting to suffer.
In early 2014, the WRL cooperative decided to bypass the costs of a new VPN and Server equipment and to reduce load upon IT resources by migrating from a traditional deployment of their LIBERO LMS to a hosted solution with the assistance of Insight Informatics’ Technical and Projects Teams.
Within two weeks of transitioning, LIBERO’s Hosted Solution has solved all performance and resourcing issues for Western Riverina Libraries. Information Systems Team Leader at Griffith City Library, Joanne Savage talks about the migration and results.
“The migration process itself went very smoothly. The Project Management from Insight Informatics in general was excellent; the Project Plan provided was detailed and accurate – I followed it to the letter and believe this helped make the migration so smooth,” she said.
“Integrating the ‘new’ hosted system with our RFID system and online services and subscriptions was easy. I believe this can be attributed to the amazing support from LIBERO’s Technical Team – they were always quick to respond to emails, quickly addressing any problems as they arose and, in the end, we had three sites live on our new hosted connection a day earlier than I had expected,” she said.
Since moving to a Hosted Model, all WRL sites have reported improvements in the speed of LIBERO.
“Some improvements are slight, while other branches are enjoying a marked improvement,” said Jo.
“Best of all, not one branch is experiencing the dreaded ‘white screen’ freezing and errors of our previous installation – and, almost two weeks on, the system is stable, and working really well. I’m confident our data is configured in a secure setup, and the flexibility and customisation capabilities of the setup really helped to put the minds of our IT Team at ease,” she said.
“For WRL, with six separate Member Councils, moving to LIBERO’s Hosted model was an important strategic decision that will support the sustainability of our regional library service. By eliminating the ‘quirks’ of our old VPN connection, the Hosted Model has already reaped benefits for me in my own role of maintaining our LIBERO system.”
“Not having to worry about equipment going down at remote sites, the logistics of travelling to affected sites to troubleshoot, and having LIBERO upgrades handled by Insight are just a few of the benefits I’m currently enjoying.”
“Yes, we are relying solely on our internet connections,” Jo concedes. “But we expect these to continually improve in both speed and reliability…. Dare I say…. bring on the NBN?!”
As my first email after going live shows, I was VERY excited and happy with the results of becoming a LIBERO Hosted client, and still am 🙂