Kōtui

Kōtui is the result of a collaboration between a group of public libraries, the Association of Public Library Managers (APLM), Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) and the National Library.

Kōtui is a shared service that provides New Zealand public libraries with an affordable, efficient option to help them manage their collections, and includes leading edge functionality for library users that would otherwise have been unaffordable to many councils.

The service is available to all New Zealand public libraries on a subscription basis from the National Library – the organisation mandated to supplement and further the work of other libraries in New Zealand.

The Kōtui service comprises four components: a system to manage a library’s physical items (provided by SirsiDynix), a search facility across a library’s physical and electronic items (provided by EBSCO Publishing’s EBSCO Electronic Discovery Service), and a centralised data hosting service (provided by Computer Concepts Ltd) The National Library provides the fourth component – the New Zealand based support and administrative function for the Kōtui service.

Governance

The governance of Kotui transferred from the Project Steering Committee to the Kōtui Board, a board of representatives, on 8 March 2012.

Libraries’ customers

Libraries’ customersbenefit from using the resource discovery tools easily finding what they want from their library’s physical and electronic content when searching from home, school, work or on their smartphone as well as from inside their library.

"The new computer system is excellent!! Really powerful searching tools. Great to have access to full text news articles, especially from overseas..."

- a Nelson library patron

Library managers and staff

Library management and staff benefit from access to reliable future-proofed systems and the ability to easily build resource sharing networks with other Kōtui public libraries for their physical resources. Also, libraries no longer have to manage their own library systems, freeing them up to spend more time with their customers. They are backed up with expert support provided by the Aotearoa People’s Network Kaharoa & Kōtui group within the National Library of New Zealand for all Kōtui services.

Councils benefit from providing a substantially improved service to citizens, at a price they would not be able to achieve without this collaboration. Councils are also freed from managing and funding their own in-house library system. At a later stage, Kōtui will provide better budget management and reporting capability by interfacing with corporate finance systems.

The Kōtui service comprises five components:

• a system to manage a library’s physical items (provided by SirsiDynix)

• a search facility across a library’s physical and electronic items (provided by EBSCO Publishing’s EBSCO Electronic Discovery Service)

• a data hosting service (provided by Computer Concepts)

• a wide area network link between the Kōtui hosted environment and the Council environment which guarantees a standard of service, not realisable from reliance on the open Internet

• New Zealand based support, expertise and administrative functions for the Kōtui service (provided by the National Library). This will be offered by enhancing the expertise available in the already very successful Aotearoa People's Network Kaharoa team.

Find out more about the Kōtui services

Kōtui Services

Kōtui provides the following services to public libraries and councils:


Shared Library Management System


Kōtui uses Symphony from SirsiDynix for the library management system providing comprehensive circulation, cataloguing, acquisitions and serials management functions. Libraries apply their own business rules and policies to configure the common software to manage their library to suit their needs.

Kōtui uses a single common bibliographic database built from the aggregation of each library's own bibliographic database as they transfer to Kōtui. Libraries control the information available to their customers and the Kōtui security system ensures that staff at each library sees and works only with their own customer and acquisition records.

Contact Kōtuito find out more.



Discovery Services


Kōtui provides two Discovery services, the EDS (EBSCO Discovery Service) and the traditional OPAC (Online Catalogue).

The EBSCO Discovery service searches the library’s physical and electronic resources. The result is a single view of the material available irrespective of their type or location. Kōtui provides the authentication service necessary for a customer to access subscription databases.

The traditional OPAC is also available for library customers accessing all the resources physically available in the library.

As with the library management system, the Discovery services can be configured to allow library customers to search across other libraries' resources should libraries wish to build sharing networks with other Kōtui public libraries.

Centralised Hosting


Kōtui systems are housed in a centralised, virtualised environment using state of the art technology that can be scaled to meet the ongoing needs of Kōtui libraries. The hosting services include backup and recovery of all Kōtui systems and databases.


Networking


All Kōtui libraries are connected to the hosting centre via a wide area network. Network connections are installed at each council's defined point of presence. This dedicated network allows Kōtui to offer greater certainty over system performance and service levels. A 3G backup network is in place should an outage occur. 


All traffic to the Internet generated by Kōtui (generally to access subscription electronic resources) is part of an aggregated feed used by Aotearoa People's Network Kaharoa(APNK). This ensures the best value for money in terms of Internet provisioning.


Centralised Expertise


The APNK is a well-established and well-respected support operation. The team has been augmented to support the Kōtui services, including access to an experienced library systems administrator and general technical expertise.


Board & User Groups

Operationally, Kōtui is managed by the APNK team, a business unit of the National Library of New Zealand, within the Department of Internal Affairs.
The Kōtui Boardassumed overall responsibility for Kōtui in February 2012. The Kōtui Advisory Groupwas established in January 2012. Various expert working groups will be established as required.