Technology Plan Template - Onondaga County Public Library

Liverpool Public Library has procured two Media Banks, self-service physical media dispenser
similar to the familiar Redbox red boxes seen at grocery stores, although requiring only a
library card instead of a credit card for borrowing materials.
The Central Library has implemented a Media Bank (called “Media Box) media dispenser.
There are now 3 allCirc dispensers at branches: Mundy, White, and Beauchamp. These work
similarly to double-shelving, where the empty media case sits on a shelf for browsing, and the
patron takes it to the allCirc dispenser to retrieve the disc. These dispensers also allow patrons
to check out any other materials. They do not accept returns, unlike the Media Bank.
OCPL is in the process of procuring 2 mk Sorting Systems, Inc. LibDispenser combined book
and media dispensers, one for the Syracuse near Westside at the new WCNY building, and one
for the Northern area of the county, probably going into the Great Northern Mall. These are
closed systems where the materials are checked out and returned to the dispensers, and
require RFID tagging of the materials to work.
OCPL is poised to implement fines and fees payment through the online Polaris catalog. This
required acquiring an SSL certificate for the Polaris web server, a web gateway account
(PayPal’s PayFlow Pro), and a merchant account.
OCPL Web site (http://www.onlib.org)
OCPL maintains a website containing information of use to all Onondaga County residents,
including access to the online catalog, links to the member library websites, useful Internet
reference links, policy information, etc. This website is currently maintained as static pages
created using Dreamweaver.
Downloadable materials - OCPL contracts with OverDrive to allow branch and member
libraries to purchase downloadable materials, e.g., audiobooks, some music, and some e-
books (downloadable text). Participation in this agreement by a library gives access to all
OCPL OverDrive materials to their patrons. All OverDrive materials are represented in the
OCPL shared catalog. A few member libraries have subscribed to the OverDrive Advantage
program, which gives libraries that are members of a shared collection the ability to offer
popular titles--exclusively for their patrons. OverDrive Advantage libraries can purchase
additional copies of popular titles that are already in the shared collection, as well as titles
that are not yet available. In addition, at the consortial level OCPL has turned on the
OverDrive WIN feature, which allows patrons to access and buy materials for their personal e-
materials collections from the full OverDrive catalog.
Research Databases
Various member libraries subscribe to various research databases. OCPL subscribes to some
databases on behalf of the full membership, and subscribes to others on behalf of the city
libraries. NY State provides many databases via the New York Online Virtual Electronic
Library (NOVEL) – available to any resident of NYS.
In general, patrons can access all databases to which their library subscribes plus the NOVEL
databases, plus the cross-OCPL databases without authentication challenge when on-site in
their library. For remote access to research databases, OCPL provides EZproxy remote
database authentication, which validates users by library by using the SIP2 protocol to query
OCPL Technology Plan, 2013 - 2016 December 6, 2012 Page 8