Queens Library, the 2009 Gale/LJ Library of the Year and the highest-circulating library in the United States, will go live next month with its new daVinci Open Library Platform—a customizable, multi-purpose integrated library system (ILS) and other components the library has developed with ILS company VTLS.
QL and VTLS have been working on daVinci since 2008. Its architecture includes a heavily customized version of VTLS’s Virtua ILS and other VTLS components, as well as a QL-created, Drupal-based content management system that will host staff and customer websites, and many open-source elements, such as an Apache Solr search platform, a MySQL database, and Fedora Commons digital asset management.
After the launch of QL’s new website in January, many new features are slated for development, including a mobile website and mobile app, a recommendation engine which would give QL patrons the option to save their own search histories, revamped econtent delivery, and enhanced community-oriented news and information on each of its 62 branch library sites. (A preview version of the new site is available on the current QL website.)