National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 68 | April 2004


Kinetica Redevelopment Continues

The redevelopment of Kinetica continues as a major project by the National Library. In December, presentations on the project were made in all states. The slides from these presentations are now online and can be located from the Kinetica Redevelopment page: <www.nla.gov.au/kinetica/redevelopment.html>

The project has now reached an important stage. Extensive project planning work has been finalised, and plans and requirement definitions have been completed for the initial stages of each of the sub-projects.

For the Bibliographic Sub-system, an open Request for Tender (RFT) has been prepared and vendors have been notified. The document is available on the National Library's website at <www.nla.gov.au/tenders>.  Any customer who wishes to see the document can register and obtain a copy. The RFT outlines the requirements for the Bibliographic Sub-system. These include support for the intake, creation and editing of bibliographic, authority and holdings data from Kinetica customers and other sources, including data in non-roman scripts. The Sub-system is also required to support database searching for cataloguing purposes and the ability for customers to add and edit records online, in cases where they choose not to supply data through Batch*Link.

The Search and Products Sub-system will be used by those searching Kinetica for resource discovery. It will be based on the TeraText software, supplied by Inquirion Pty Ltd. Significant progress has occurred on developing the high level requirements for the Sub-system. The Library has also completed its negotiation of the revised agreement with Inquirion for the licensing and support of TeraText. Inquirion is currently working on the enhancements to TeraText that the Library has commissioned.

The Customer Management Sub-system will support the authentication of customers, and the reporting and billing functions. A draft Implementation Plan for the Sub-system has been prepared, and requirements analysis has commenced in earnest.

All staff positions identified for the project have been filled and information on the membership of the teams will shortly be available from the Kinetica Redevelopment page.

Considerable work has also been undertaken in the area of risk management.  Detailed risk management planning has resulted in the development of a strong understanding of risks, building on the expert advice received during the planning process in 2003. The Library has appointed an external expert in a Quality Assurance role to assist in risk management.

Regular updates will continue to be provided through Kinetica-l, state user groups and the Australian library press.

For further information, contact Roxanne Missingham, email: kinetica@nla.gov.au

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