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You can go to any of the following sites to explore:

Oakville Public Library
http://opl.bibliocommons.com/dashboard

Stratford Public Library
http://spl.bibliocommons.com/dashboard

West Perth Public Library
http://wppl.bibliocommons.com/dashboard

Perth East Public Library
http://pepl.bibliocommons.com/dashboard

Halton Hills Public Library
http://hhpl.bibliocommons.com/dashboard

Ottawa Public Library
http://bibliocommons.biblioottawalibrary.ca/?locale=en-CA

At Ottawa’s site, do a search or use their “Explore” tab, then switch to French.

Without an account at any of these libraries, you will still be able to search, facet and sort your result set, see what’s available, and read reviews and comments.

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The BiblioCommons interface is offered as Software-As-A-Service.

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Knowledge Ontario has a Charter Subscription Agreement with BiblioCommons. Anyone signing on as an early adopter — by June of 2010  — will be guaranteed at least one year of free service and no set-up fee.

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Knowledge Ontario has negotiated a further two-year subscription discount for participating libraries. Costs after the early adoption phase will depend on how many libraries have signed up for the service. The more libraries that have signed up, the less the subscription fee will be. Pricing will be competitive with similar products.

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You won't miss all of the free service period, and you will still be able to take advantage of a further subscription discount pricing already negotiated through Knowledge Ontario. You will also be able to benefit from the no set-up fee through until July of 2011.

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BiblioCommons will work with several ILSs, including Horizon, Unicorn, and Symphony; Innovative Interfaces and Evergreen by the first quarter of 2010.

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There is no need to wait, especially if you are staying within the Sirsi-Dynix group of products and the update is six to twelve months down the road. BiblioCommons is a front-facing product and service - your customers won't notice any difference in the back end.

On the other hand, as we reach the point where installations are being scheduled 3 to 4 months out, major updates within the next 3 - 6 months will be a consideration in determining where a particular library gets placed in the installation schedule.  If your installation date is within a couple of months of a major upgrade, scheduling one installation rather than two that close together may make the most sense.

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BiblioCommons provides a summary description of features, replicated in this .pdf document.

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Contact BiblioCommons - There are several steps involved in implementation. Here is a quick summary of the steps. Timelines are approximate and somewhat dependent on the time it takes for your library to complete each of the steps.

1. Express your interest either through Knowledge Ontario or BiblioCommons directly. A project manager from BiblioCommons will get in touch with you and get you started. Your library will need to review, sign and return a Library Services Agreement with BiblioCommons.
2. Library Preparation. Complete a series of four surveys: Introductory, Technical, Bibliographic Services, and Web Services Integration. These are similar but much more straightforward than the setup documentation you would go through with an ILS service. This should take 1-2 weeks.
3. Installation and Configuration. BiblioCommons will work with you to do an initial import of bibliographic and authority records. BiblioCommons will work with you to create a branded site. This should take one week.
4. BiblioCommons will ask you to go through a Library Validation period, usually four weeks, during which time your library prepares staff; tests circulation features; reviews and tests formats and languages; reviews branding and any customization features via the administration interface. Each of these subsets will be “signed off” on completion. This should take four weeks.
5. Staff Release and Preparation for Rollout. During the next 2-4 weeks, BiblioCommons will move your site to the production server. Your library will orient staff on all the features; prepare any marketing plans, identify and report bugs; identify web pages that require modification for launch.
6. Rollout – Public Release. Your library goes live with BiblioCommons. This is when you will want to implement your marketing plan; ensure that all URLs are correct; remember to redirect your customers to the new catalogue.
    

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BiblioCommons is a front-facing product – built to be used on the web by anyone, so that people can use it with no training at all. That said, it is important for library staff to know all of the features and functionality so they may demonstrate them and talk knowledgeably about them to others. BiblioCommons, with a nod to the public library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County’s “23 things” online learning for Web 2.0 skills, has prepared an online “12 things” Hands-On Training set of exercises. This is a sample blog that each library can adopt and modify for their own environment. In addition, you will be provided with an FAQ document that includes all of the online help material. Other BiblioCommons libraries willingly share their “training” experiences.

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BiblioCommons is a small, Canadian start-up company. They offered libraries in several provinces in Canada the opportunity to be a partner in development of a product that our libraries said they needed. When KO started the process several years ago, the envisioned product promised to do more, better, faster, than anything else that was available at that time. Knowledge Ontario believes that this is even more true today. ILS vendors have now begun to develop similar products, but they are not nearly so fully-featured with so much potential for future functionality. Knowledge Ontario was able, in return for development support, to negotiate a very exciting free-to-libraries early adoption. This was and still is a unique opportunity. Knowledge Ontario and Oakville Public Library as the pilot sat up front at the table, side-by-side with the developers and founders to help make this a terrific product that we can share and continue to help develop. In summary, BiblioCommons is a great product at a low price developed by people that listen to what we and our customers want and need, providing research that we often can’t do ourselves. The ability to share user-generated content across libraries is unique, and very exciting. Our customer-base is much bigger than any online bookstore. Future possibilities for shared functionality such an inter-library loan and sharing of metadata across BiblioCommons libraries in the province, the country, the continent and internationally are already in conceptual development.

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BiblioCommons has prepared a full technical and readiness assessment, start-up and implementation guide to support libraries in making the transition to the new functionality of this ground-breaking OPAC service. This includes surveys, assessment checklists, step by step guides, and installation guides related to each of the qualifying ILS systems. Click here to view a document showing implementation steps.

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