Library Technology Guides

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Volume 14 Number 02 (February 1994)

RFPs should reflect realistic goals

In our work as consultants we receive a large number of RFPs from organizations in search of consulting services. We respond to more than two-thirds of them, but set aside the others because we haven't the time, the interest, or the appropriate qualifications. Occasionally we decline to respond even though we would like to undertake the engagement because the RFP has put us off. We recently responded to an RFP with the following letter to a city's purchasing department (slightly modified to avoid identifying the community):

“This letter is in response to the RFP for consulting services which was sent to this firm. We will not be submitting a proposal but we do have a reply. Our firm is the nation's most experienced library automation consulting firm. We have assisted some 970 clients in the procurement of systems, including more than 400 public libraries and public library consortia. In order to generate that much business we have responded to more than 2,500 RFPs since 1978. Your RFP is the most unrealistic we have seen during that time. We are writing you in the hope that you will take a different approach in the future when procuring professional services valued at less than $10,000. Had we submitted a proposal, our professional fee and reimbursable expenses for the scope of work outlined in your RFP would not have exceeded $9,300.

“While we have not reviewed all of the general information and instructions in detail, the following struck us during our initial review:

“First, you allow no deviations from the instructions in the RFP, even when another approach might be to the benefit of the library. We recognize that any deviation from instructions places the burden on the proposer to justify its decision. We are prepared to assume that burden when given the chance.

“Second, you reserve the right to enter into multiple contracts. While we recommend that a client reserve the right to authorize the work in phases, with the right to award a subsesuent phase to another firm, we believe it is unreasonable to split a professional engagement of less than $10,000 among multiple firms before work begins.

“Third, you may require a proposer to make an oral presentation, presumably at its own cost. The cost of round-trip airfare and a consultant's salary for such a presentation is greater than the pre -tax profit on the entire consulting engagement. Nearly all of our ‘presentations' and ‘interviews' before contract award have been by telephone.

“Fourth, while your requirement that the contractor have worker's compensation insurance is reasonable, your requirement that the policy contain a waiver or subrogation in favor of the City is extreme, especially in light of the fact that 75 percent of the work to be performed will be in Washington, D.C. The paperwork alone is daunting. for that reason, we have done it only once in sixteen years for a project valued at $75,000.

“Fifth, you require that the City must be named as an additional insured. It costs several hundred dollars to do so. If we did that for all of the 150 engagements we take on each year, the cost and time involved would be prohibitive. We have only done this once, and no longer do so.

“Sixth, you require that the City be listed as an additional insured under our automobile insurance policy. We have not been asked to do so in any of our 970 consulting engagements. We are, after all, an independent contractor, as you stipulate in your RFP, not an employee of the City.

“Seventh, you stipulate that any cost or expense, including attorney's fees, incurred by the City to enforce the agreement shall be borne by the contractor, apparently even if the City's position is not sustained in a court of law.

“Eighth, you require licensing and certification in your state, but you fail to explain what the licensing requirements are or where such information may be obtained.

“Last, and most significant in our minds, only two of the 27 pages of the RFP deal with the actual work to be performed. The rest appears to be boilerplate drafted for the procurement of major capital projects. We write over 100 RFPs a year for the procurement of systems costing hundreds of thousands of dollars each, so we are well aware of the need to protect our clients. We also try to remember the ‘what' and ‘why' of the procurement and make them the unmistakable focal points of our RFPs.

“We have taken the time to write this letter, rather than throwing your RFP in the wastebasket, because we hope you will review you procurement practices to reflect the type and cost of services being procured.”

The contributing editor did not write the letter to seek a change in the RFP, but rather to influence future RFPs the City might issue and give vent to some frustration!

In conclusion, the contributing editor would like to make the following general points. By all means, do require that your consultants carry insurance, and have them provide evidence of insurance. Do retain the right to authorize each phase of the work before it begins. Do insist on payment only upon satisfactory completion of the work. But also get some idea of the approximate value of the work to be done before issuing the RFP so that the requirements are commensurate with the potential fees and profit.

CARL announces name change

CARL Systems Inc. has changed its name to CARL Corporation to better reflect the diverse products and services it is now offering. While its two major sources of revenue continue to be the sale and support of automated library systems and document delivery (through the UnCover Company, a partnership with The Blackwell Group), a number of other products are in general release or in development. CARL'S most recent success has been the Kid's Catalog, a GUI-based user interface which makes it possible for users to retrieve materials by clicking on colorful icons. Thirteen public library systems are using the product, including some which are using the interface with the automated library systems of other vendors. An adult version of the Kid's Catalog is being developed, with release scheduled for mid-1994.

[Contact: CARL Corporation, 3801 East Florida Avenue #300, Denver, CO 80210, telephone 303-758-3030; fax 303-758-0606.]

Open DRAnet's first year

Open DRANET, Data Research Associates' online database and networking service, has experienced considerable growth since becoming available to the library community at large in 1992. The number of participants has doubled from 30 to 60. Any user on a system with a Z39.50-compliant client can directly access the Open DRANET servers. Among the available products are files from LC, UMI, IAC, Cambridge Scientific, and Ebsco. Files are updated weekly. There is a flat fee for unlimited access to individual files.

Growth in demand has led DRA to migrate several of the database servers to Digital's 4000 Model 610 Alpha AXP computer, a 64-bit machine with 32GB of storage.

[Contact: Data Research Associates, 1276 N. Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132; telephone 800-325-0888.]

Sirsi opens Canadian office

SIRSI has opened an office in Ottawa, Canada, the company's third. An office was previously opened in England. The Canadian address is SIRSI Canada, 440 Laurier Street #200, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 7X6, telephone 612-782-2239, fax 612-882-2228.

[Contact: SIRSI Corp., 589 Discovery Drive, Huntsville, AL 35806, telephone 205-922-9820.]

VTLS installs its first Unix-based systems

VTLS has made a number of recent sales of the UNIX version of its automated library system, especially outside the United States. The first site, already installed, is Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The system is configured on a Hewlett-Packard 9000 Model G40 computer. Among the other recent sales are seven sites in Mexico, four now being installed, and one in the United Arab Emirates. The last site, which will be configured on an IBM RS/6000 Model 370 computer, will support the Arabic character set. Users will be able to switch interactively between Arabic and English.

[Contact: VTLS, 1800 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060-6351, telephone 703-231-3605; fax 703-231-3648.]

IBM RS/6000 chips changing

The IBM RS/6000 line of CPUs, the most popular line of multi-user, multi-tasking machines in library automation, will in the future be built using a new series of PowerPC chips. The chips, a joint effort of Apple, IBM and Motorola, are based on RISC (reduced instruction set computing) architecture, but differ in design from the chips provided by Intel. Two PowerPC chips have been placed in production, the 601 and 603. The 601 is a 66 MHz chip and the 603 is rated at 80 MHz. Two more, the 604 and 620, are planned.

The 601 is already being bid by some vendors as the IBM RS/6000 Model 250 POWERserver, a CPU that is cost effective for supporting as few as 16 and as many as 128 concurrent users. Price/performance appears to be superior to the older RS/6000s.

Self check-out gains in popularity

More than 300 North American libraries now are providing patrons with automated self check-out. The most widely used system is the SelfCheck System from 3M. It is interfaced with any one of several vendors' automated library systems. A self check-out monitor usually is a color monitor with easy-to-follow screen prompts. It allows patrons to both check out and renew materials. The system scans a patron's library card and the barcodes of the items to be checked out. It then simultaneously desensitizes the magnetic security strips on the items, ensuring that only one item per barcode is being processed, and then prints out a day due slip for each item. Prices remain high—$14,000 to $17,000 per unit—but libraries which have installed them claim the cost is quickly recovered in staff savings.

[Contact: Any major automated library system vendor.]

ARL releases SPEC kit on services to remote users

Services to remote users are of increasing concern to all sizes and types of libraries. A useful recent addition to the literature is the Association of Research Libraries SPEC Kit #191 Providing Public Services to Remote Users. The 169-page kit includes policy statements, documentation of circulation policies and services, document delivery services, interlibrary loan, searching guides, user guides, and selected bibliography. Some of the material addresses remote access to automated library systems and Internet gateways. The kit is priced at $40.00 ($25.00 for ARL member institutions).

[Contact: Publications Department, ARL Office of Management Studies, telephone 202-296-8656, fax 202-872-0884.]

Internet use explodes

Daily sessions on the Internet grew by at least 400 percent last year. In the first half of 1993, the typical number of daily sessions was 100,000; by the end of the year, it was in excess of 400,000. Information retrieved using Gophers was over 200 billion bytes a month at the end of the third quarter—the equivalent of more than seven million newspaper pages.

The effect of the explosive increase is growing delays in accessing popular databases. For example, the career counseling data offered by MSEN is difficult to access because the database computer was designed to accommodate 1,000 users a day, but has been getting up to 12,000 queries a day. Bandwidth limitations on the network also are becoming a problem. While both information and network providers are working on upgrades, it is clear that traffic jams will be common on the information highway throughout 1994.

Schools to be linked to futuristic networks

Bell Atlantic Corp. will give 26,000 public schools free access to its futuristic telecommunications networks, a move designed to bring vast libraries and a wealth of other educational resources to the schools. Schools will get the service as new high-speed networks carrying voice, video and data are constructed in the neighborhoods around them.

Bell Atlantic plans to offer network connections to all public primary and secondary schools in the areas it serves and in those served by Tel, the cable company with which Bell is seeking to merge. Those schools represent about one-quarter of the nation's kindergarten through 12th grade schools.

Bell Atlantic said it plans to connect its network to school buildings for free and to waive monthly charges that customers will pay for basic services. For schools, those basic services will include access to some educational programming and to Internet, the global electronic network linking individuals with one another and with universities and libraries. The school systems will be responsible for wiring inside the building, equipment, and training, which could cost thousands of dollars per building.

Many of the programs on the Bell Atlantic network will be provided by third parties, and may still be beyond the means of the schools.

EKI relocates

EKI Incorporated, a data entry and retrospective conversion service, has relocated its headquarters from three scattered sites to new offices in St. Louis. Except for the toll-free number (800-325-4984), all voice and fax numbers have been changed.

[Contact: EKI, Corporate Hill II, 1633 Des Peres Road, St. Louis, MO 63131, telephone 314-984-8200, fax 314-984-82333.]

More GUIs introduced

The trend toward GUIs (graphical user interfaces) is picking up speed. Not only are new products being introduced which are built around Windows or other graphical user interface, but existing products are being redesigned.

The latest new product to be released with a GUI interface is Faxon Finder, a Windows-based product which provides access to a table of contents database of more than 10,500 journal titles and 3.3 million article citations. The latest product to be redesigned to include a Windows GUI is LaserCat, WLN's CD-ROM database of some 4.2 million bibliographic records. The Windows version will be offered at the same price as the regular product. A Macintosh version is planned for later this spring. A demonstration diskette is available.

Automated library systems take more time to change than PC-based products, but at least five vendors are quoting GUI options when libraries request that they be included in responses to RFPs. The latest introduction is SIRSI's Vizion, a Windows-based GUI to Z39.50 servers.

[Contact: Faxon at 617-329-3350, fax 617-326-5484; WLN at l-800-DIALWLN, fax 206-923-4009; and SIRSI at 205-922-9825, fax 205-922-9818.]

Broadcast News on CD-ROM

Research Publications has released a fully indexed, abstracted database containing full-text transcripts of major television and radio news broadcasts on CD-ROM. Sources include ABC, CNN, PBS, and NPR. Researchers can search by subject, date, headline, program, anchor, network, or keyword. Each year includes more than 44,000 full-text transcripts from more than 60 programs. The annual subscription price is $2,295, with the license allowing networking on a CD-LAN for up to four concurrent users. Follett Software Company has contracted to be the principal distributor.

[Contact: Research Publications International, 12 Lunar Drive, Woodbridge, CT 06525, telephone 1-800-444-0799, fax 2303-397-3893.]

Chadwyck-Healey announces seven major bibliographies on CD

Chadwyck-Healey Inc. has announced the availability of seven major bibliographies on CD-ROM, most with both current and backfiles. The choices include the British National Bibliography, Bibliographie Nationale Francaise, Deutsche Bibliographie, Bibliografia Nacional Española, British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books, Bibliography of Biography, and ISSN Register.

Current subscriptions for the national bibliographies range from $1,499 to $1,950 per year. Each includes several back years. Each subscription includes periodic (monthly, quarterly, or annually) cumulating updates. There is an extended backfile available for BNB for 1950-1985 at $7,250. The British Library General Catalogue cuts off at 1975 and is priced at $18,500. The Bibliography of Biography, which comes out only once a year, is priced at $449 per year.

Least familiar to many is likely to be the ISSN Register, called ISSN Compact in the CD-ROM version. It has extensive bibliographic information about 600,000 periodicals from 193 countries in 144 languages. The annual subscription price is $1,589.

[Contact: Chadwyck-Healey Inc., 1101 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, telephone 800-752-0515, fax 703-683-7 589.]

CD-ROM access options

An increasing number of libraries are seeking to provide access to CD-ROM products from the same peripheral devices as are used to access their automated library systems. There are two principal options, one for access from PCs, the other for access from ASCII (“dumb”) terminals.

PC Access-This approach to CD-ROM access uses PCs to access a CD-ROM server, usually over a Novell Local Area Network (LAN). The PC approach can support full graphics displays and high-quality audio. This is particularly important if some of the CD-ROM products include multimedia. Depending on the configuration, frequently accessed information can be loaded on the server's hard drive and disk caching can be used to provide rapid access.

ASCII Terminal Access—This approach to CD-ROM access uses dumb terminals which support VT-100 terminal emulation—something which most terminals on automated library systems can do. Terminals can only access text, not graphics and audio. The connection is usually, but not always, made over a Telnet-based link through a UnixWare server to the CD-ROM server. This approach does not work well with all CD-ROM products because the product's design may assume the use of special function keys on PCs.

Either approach may support up to seven or eight users accessing the CD-ROM server concurrently.

Most automated library system vendors will work with libraries in implementing the first option. A few provide a full range of products and services, including CD-ROM servers, CD-ROM towers and drives, and development of menus. When a library proceeds without the active participation of its vendor, it should be careful to avoid the installation of a “foreign” server (one from another vendor) between the PCs and the automated library system's central site because the vendor will not then assume responsibility for response times. Instead, the CD-server and the automated library system should each function independently, with each accessed directly over cabling which is used for both applications.

Only a few vendors will undertake mapping of CD-ROM products so that terminal commands match up with the commands anticipated by the CD-ROM software. When this service is not provided by the vendor, it may be better to substitute PCs for dumb terminals at those locations where access to both the automated library system and CD-ROM drives is wanted from a single device.

An approach which the contributing editor favors is implementing an OPAC with 50 percent dumb terminals and 50 percent PCs. The former are on standing-height tables and are for users who are seeking brief catalog look-up. The latter are installed in carrels and are designed to facilitate not only extended use of the OPAC, but also access to CD-ROM products.

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