The%20myhamilton.ca%20community%20portal

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• The myhamilton.ca community portal
• Partnerships
• Our Virtual Library Branch

Ken Roberts Chief Librarian Hamilton Public
Library
Computers In Libraries, April 16, 2007
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A new library system for a new city
Hamilton Ontario, Canada Population 510,000
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A system of contrasts
Central Library 160,000 square feet
Lynden Library900 square feet
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A snapshot
More than 1/3 of all library visits take place
in the virtual branch www.hpl.ca
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The way we were (2001 and 2003)
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myhamilton community partners
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Prime real estate (2006)
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Our vision to enable our customers

• Customertraining andsupport
• Technical support
• Community development

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Google for Hamilton
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Integration with municipal services
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Other portal features...

• CMS
• Unified events database
• Web casting
• Collaboration Spaces
• Online transactions
• RSS feeds
• Single Sign On
• Metadata everywhere
• WC3 compliant

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Online Registration
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Find-it Guides the Next Generation of
Pathfinders
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Bookclubs anytime, anywhere
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Getting the message out
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You cant miss this message
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A partnership at its best and . . .

• Your reputation as a partner will precede you
• Different organizational cultures
• Commitment to common vision and goals

• Sustainability model will evolve over the course
  of the project
• The project will be under-resourced

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Ongoing challenges

• Organizational structure/power partners
• Inclusiveness and balance of perspectives
• Changing environment and priorities for each
  partner
• Sustaining what we have
• Implementing new stuff

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What you need to succeed

• Build trust and respect as a partner
• Have shared values
• Engage the right people
• Start small, think big
• Integration with your core business
• Test, test and test some more(usability and
  technology)
• Celebrate success, excuse mistakes

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Virtual Library Branch

• Formed in 2001
• It is a branch!
• It has a service mandate
• Any service that doesnt involve somebody walking
  in the door

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Whats next?

• McMaster University, Mohawk College and HPL
  Second Life Project
• WiFi Initiative
• Formal Partnership Agreements
• Changed role of Central Librarians
• BiblioCommons multi-sector pilot site
• IM Reference pilot site (multi-sector)
• Cross training/Learning 2.0

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Get in touch with us

• www.hpl.ca
• www.myhamilton.ca
• Kit Darling kdarling_at_hpl.ca
• Ken Roberts kroberts_at_hpl.ca
• Paul Takala ptakala_at_hpl.ca
• Daphne Wood dawood_at_hpl.ca
• Main switchboard 905-546-3200