Symphony Implementation Brings Accolades for Significant Quality and Productivity Improvements

PROVO, UT, October 28, 2008 – Last Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008, the County of Los Angeles Public Library system received the “Best Application of Technology” award due to their implementation and use of SirsiDynix Symphony®, a full-featured integrated library solution that helps libraries succeed in serving their patrons.

SirsiDynix and the County of Los Angeles Public Library—a system with 85 libraries, approximately 14 million in circulation and over 7.5 million titles—succeeded in implementing Symphony on time and on budget with significant cost savings and greatly increased services and functionality.

Appropriately, the “Best Application of Technology” award recognizes the organization that most shows a significant service quality or productivity improvement from the use of recent technological advances. The award is bestowed by the Los Angeles County Quality and Productivity Commission.

The County library estimates their recent move to Symphony from DRA Classic has produced an annual cost savings of 1.5 million dollars. In addition, the library cites other benefits from their Symphony implementation, including:

 Greatly improved user experience and catalog searching
 Substantial gains in customer holds (the library experienced a tripling of holds after the Symphony implementation, indicating customer satisfaction with the new catalog’s ease of use and functionality)
 Enhanced content offerings, such as book covers, excerpts, reviews and author notes
 Staff proficiency through in-depth, customized training
 Robust functionality, including EDI X-12, 9xx, and Unicode support
 Extensive management reporting and statistical analysis tools with Directors Station™

Margaret Donnellan Todd, County Librarian, stated, “SirsiDynix partnered with the County throughout the process from system design through production. This large scale and complex implementation experience led by Fred Hungerford, Assistant Director and Migell Acosta, Systems Manager, with the help of SirsiDynix staff, was implemented on time and on budget. With extensive training of over 1,500 staff and excellent data migration, we enjoyed much better results than we had expected. Customers are enjoying the functionality and ease of use, and we are enjoying cost savings and the greatly improved management reporting tools.”

SirsiDynix’ Chief Executive Officer, Gary Rautenstrauch, said, “SirsiDynix strives to bring success to each library, and this award further demonstrates our commitment to offer functionality and services that contribute to each customer’s success. We couldn’t be more pleased for Los Angeles County Public Library and this ’Best Application of Technology’ honor.”

For a private demo or further information about SirsiDynix Symphony, feel free to contact a SirsiDynix sales professional at 1-800-288-8020, extension 1 or sales@sirsidynix.com.