AGENDA REPORT
Meeting Date: April 22, 2025
Item Number:
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Karen Buth, Library Administrator
Stephanie Harris, Director of Community Services
Subject: REQUEST TO CLOSE THE BEVERLY HILLS PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE DAY ON MAY 6, 2025, FOR THE FINAL PHASE TO UPGRADE
THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES LIBRARY SOFTWARE WHICH
ENABLES STAFF TO MANAGE AND CHECKOUT MATERIALS FOR
LIBRARY USERS
Attachments: None
RECOMMENDATION
The Beverly Hills Public Library is requesting a full day closure on May 6, 2025, to complete the final phase of a migration/upgrade to the behind-the-scenes library software, Sierra, which enables staff to manage and checkout materials for Library users. Staff is recommending that the Library close to avoid any major impacts on Library patrons.
INTRODUCTION
The City entered into an agreement with Innovative Professional Services to migrate the Library’s behind-the-scenes software, Sierra, from an onsite platform to a hosted environment (cloud based), and to upgrade the software to a newer release.
The first two of three phases of this migration were completed on March 18 and 25, 2025.
Both phases were anticipated to be completed in the early morning prior to the late opening of the Library. Each phase was met with technical difficulties resulting in the Library opening without full functionality. The third and final and the most complicated of the steps is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
DISCUSSION
The next step in the migration is scheduled to take 4-6 hours of down time for the Library system. The migration is to begin at 8:00am PT. This was also the estimate given for the first phase of the migration, and it took about 8 hours. With any migration or upgrade, there Meeting Date: April 22, 2025
are often unforeseen factors which can delay the completion of the project. Anticipating that this next step will take as long if not longer to complete due to the complexity of this phase and allow for testing of the migration, the Library would like to close for the entire day.
While the system is down, our customer service staff cannot assist patrons with checkout of library materials or check in of returned library materials. Public internet stations will not be accessible as login relies on information provided by the Sierra system to allow access.
Librarians and the public will be unable to view the catalog and determine if the Library has a particular title and whether it is currently available for checkout and where it is located on the Library’s shelves. Additionally, this downtime will also have an impact on access to some of the Library’s digital resources. The upcoming migration step requires changing our IP address with our third-party vendors who provide digital resources. This will require many of our vendors providing digital resources, self-check equipment, and access to the public computers to update their software after we make the switch. The closure gives staff the necessary time to coordinate and test that all operations are working as necessary.
Due to the timing of the previous migration and the complexity of the upcoming event, staff is recommending closing the Library to the public. Staff anticipated the need for a partial or full closure for this phase following the initial phase and has not yet scheduled any programs for this date and has adjusted storytime to accommodate. With the completion of this migration/upgrade, the Library will be able to complete the transition to our new online catalog providing a more user-friendly interface.
FISCAL IMPACT
The fiscal impacts of the late opening are difficult to project as there is no way of knowing who may show up to pay for fines. There may be a possible loss in revenue for passport processing which would be approximately $700.00. However, staff will work to reschedule any passport appointments to prevent loss of revenue.
Stephanie Harris,
Director of Community Services
Approved By