Colorado Department of Corrections Libraries

EOS International Case Study:
Colorado Department of Corrections Libraries
Client Background: The Colorado Department
of Corrections (CDOC) has 22 libraries in 20
mornings, afternoons, evenings,
correctional facilities in Colorado with a collection
from 2,200 to 22,000 titles.
weekends, and holidays. EOS size that varies
“OPACs used by public libraries look
excels at maintaining outstanding In keeping with the public library model of patron
very different from smaller, local ‘online’
24/7 technical support via live
catalogs. It is important that offender
“Prison libraries are open
phone, e-mail, and real time
(web/chat formats). “ Diana Reese, Coordinator,
Institutional Library
Development, Colorado State
Library
“EOS.Web has improved
services to offender patrons at
CDOC.
EOS.Web has the capability for
many more resource options to
better serve offender patrons in
the months to come.” Diana Reese, Coordinator,
Institutional Library
Development, Colorado State
Library
services, their library collections represent broad and
varied points of view in a variety of accessible formats.
Challenge: CDOC was faced with security needs for
the correctional environment. The 22 libraries’ databases
could not be combined. Offender library assistants
used the ILS to conduct routine library operational tasks
and they were not permitted to know at which facilities
individual offenders were housed, nor which titles were
available in each library. The former could compromise
offender safety; the latter offers an increased opportunity
for secreting contraband or illicit communications
in titles requested through the libraries’ intra-facility
loan program. Therefore, the Department needed
22 separate databases, with 94 concurrent users.
Offender library assistants handled all circulation
transactions and performed basic catalog data entry
operations. CDOC needed a vendor who was willing
to make substantial software customizations to remove
staff-side functionality necessitated by the corrections
environment, such as email functionality and access to
electronic content and resources. Additional options for
set-up and user permissions needed to be added to
prohibit offender assistants causing irreparable harm to
the circulation and catalog databases, or the system itself.
CDOC needed a remote-hosted SaaS system
where the vendor would be responsible for
installing upgrades and maintaining data back-ups.
CDOC also looked for a system that was user friendly. They
needed circulation and catalog module screens that were
clear and uncluttered, with obvious command/menu links.
Solution: To provide additional security, CDOC required
a server dedicated to its databases. EOS made the
investment to do this. The CDOC also required SSL
encryption and IP authentication. EOS offered both service
modules. There was legitimate reticence and concern on
the part of the CDOC regarding allowing offenders to
access online data, however indirectly. EOS was an active
partner in developing and testing the proof-of-concept
site to validate the security of the system and ensure
compliance with security requirements of Colorado’s Office
of Cyber Security. EOS worked closely with several CDOC
departments to ensure that EOS.Web functioned properly
at every level of the organization. “EOS’ commitment to
EOS.Web® Benefits
patrons have experience using a ‘realworld’ OPAC that has the same look and
feel of the OPACs they encounter upon
release. CDOC libraries focus on providing a continuum of library services
from the prison to the community, and
this is one component of that effort.“
-Diana Reese, Coordinator, Institutional Library Development, Colorado
State Library
“CSL staff - We have improved collection management, since we can see
each library’s catalog from any location.”
-Diana Reese, Coordinator, Institutional Library Development, Colorado
State Library
“EOS virtual training options are
a
great
benefit
of
EOS.Web”
-Diana Reese, Coordinator, Institutional Library Development, Colorado
State Library
the project never waivered throughout the four years, from initial
proposals to final approval and implementation”, says Diana
Reese. “By no means is this an innovative concept in the
library world beyond the prison walls; but it is groundbreaking
for the world of corrections. “ “EOS was unfailingly patient
in its work with the CDOC and the State Library, from testing
the firewall to working with BT (Business Technologies) in
the configuration of the desktop security software.” “The
CDOC has since demonstrated the successful application
of this secure technology solution from Florida to Alaska.”
EOS worked with the CDOC to provide the product at a price that
met their budget constraints. While there were additional costs
associated with the software customization, they were minimal.
“Prison libraries are open mornings, afternoons, evenings,
weekends, and holidays. It was particularly important to have
24/7 technical support via live phone, e-mail, and real time and
EOS excels at maintaining that”, says Diana Reese, Coordinator,
Institutional Library Development, Colorado State Library.
Given their limited fiscal resources, the guaranteed price
protection for the annual support and maintenance fee
was important for CDOC. They knew there would be no
hidden additional charges and could confidently predict
their ILS funding need for subsequent budget cycles.
EOS.web has improved services to offender patrons at CDOC.
Patrons can easily find the information they need by using the
public access catalog. They use the pathfinders and reading lists
prepared by the librarians and loaded to the OPAC to improve
their reading skills and to find re-entry, self-help, and life skills
materials. They use a library catalog that works like the one
they will encounter in their community libraries upon release.
Offender library workers learn to use an ILS that will provide them
with basic job skills for possible employment in a library on the
outside. And EOS.Web has the capability for many more resource
options to better serve offender patrons in the months to come.
EOS.web saves the State Library’s Institutional Library
Development many hours each month. They can now access
all 22 libraries’ databases, which provides for much more
effective collection development. Using software such as Adobe
Captivate, they can easily develop customized training modules
that address CDOC libraries’ specific training needs. They
remotely administer the sites, and no longer need to concern
themselves with installing software upgrades. CDOC saves
many hours in support they no longer need to provide the facility
librarians in zipping up their data and uploading it to EOS Support.
“EOS.Web saves facility library staff the time spent backing
up the database files or zipping up problem files and
uploading them to the vendor”, says Diana Reese. During
these times the library operated manually, which meant staff
input the information by hand when the repaired files were
downloaded and restored. These are hours they now spend
providing meaningful library services to their offender patrons.”
“The expertise and support from all EOS departments is
outstanding – from the Research and Development unit who
customized the software for the corrections environment, to
the Implementation Manager who held our hand every step
of the way in setting up the template and converting the
data, to the outstanding Support staff”, says Diana Reese.
Assuring CDOC security in terms of data storage and
transmission was imperative, EOS applied high security addon functionality to satisfy CDOC IT policy. Additionally, EOS
customized the library solution to meet the specific needs
of the correctional institutions utilizing offender librarians.
“It is an excellent product for use by offender library
assistants. Command/menu options are obvious, and
the software functionality is similar to many other ILS.
The skills they gain in using EOS.Web will serve them
well as they apply for entry-level library jobs in the
communities to which they are released”, says Diana Reese.
About Diana Reese
Coordinator, Institutional
Library Development,
Colorado State Library
Diana leads the ILD team, coordinating activities of the
unit, providing technical recommendations, developing
standards, and advising staff. She works closely with the
State Library’s five state partner agencies to improve library
services in their institutions and ensure residents have
access to library services that support learning, literacy, and
community reentry needs. Diana was a correctional librarian
and correctional libraries supervisor for 15 years before
becoming the Coordinator of Institutional Library Development
in 2005. Prior to her work with the incarcerated, she was a
teacher librarian. The experience with information literacy
and lifelong learning she gained as a school librarian still
enriches and informs her work in correctional libraries.
About EOS International
EOS International is a leading world-class library information
and knowledge management software and services provider
with an impressive client base of libraries across the globe.
EOS is a client-driven company that has earned the top customer satisfaction award and earned a nomination for the
Computerworld Smithsonian award. EOS library automation
software products (EOS.Web® Express, EOS.Web Legal®,
EOS.Web Medical®, EOS.Web® Enterprise, EOS.Web®
Academic, EOS.Web® Digital, and the SaaS EOS e-Library
Service®) serve the critical knowledge and content management needs of corporate, legal, medical, government,
academic, digital, and special libraries of all sizes. EOS International can be found online at http://www.eosintl.com.
EOS International
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Carlsbad, CA 92008-7208
1-800-876-5484
1-760-431-8400
[email protected]
www.eosintl.com