Primary Documents: What Does the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Want in a Discovery Platform?
Here are three primary documents that some of you might find interesting.
They provide details about what a large library, the National Library of Medicine (NLM), wants
in a discovery platform.
NLM is the world’s largest medical library.
The Documents
The documents include a SOW (Statement of Work), RFQ (Request for Quotations), and a spreadsheet of sample queries that NLM (the world’s largest medical library) posted before the holidays to acquire a “discovery and delivery platform.”
The deadline for those interested in providing the discovery platform is, as of today, this Friday.
Three documents are embedded below. All materials can still be be accessed on FBO.gov.
From the Synopsis
NLM is issuing this Statement of Work (SOW) for purchasing web-based discovery and delivery software. The Library seeks to acquire the software hosted by a vendor with the technical expertise, resources, and experience to provide NLM with an industry-leading search platform.
The scope of this procurement is the acquisition of web-based discovery and delivery software as well as the technical, management, and support services for implementing and maintaining the platform.
The vendor shall host discovery and delivery software that provides a single, modern, and intuitive search platform for NLM’s physical, electronic, and digital resources. It must interoperate with the library’s ILS to enable users to remain in the search platform for research and traditional OPAC functionality such as requests for physical materials in the NLM collections. The software architecture should be open and extensively configurable, customizable, and expandable for incorporation of additional collection resources and for further NLM development in response to future needs. The vendor must establish security policies, procedures, and practices that meet the relevant security requirements set forth by the U.S. Federal Government.
All of the mandatory requirements have to be fulfilled by the vendor’s solution. For those desirable requirements that the vendor’s software cannot currently meet, the vendor may opt to propose an alternative approach or method.
The Documents
Statement of Work
Statement of Work: National Library of Medicine Discovery and Delivery Platform
NLM OPAC Sample Queries
Sample Queries XLS File
RFQ
National Library of Medicine: Discovery and Delivery Platform RFQ by LJ's infoDOCKET
Filed under: Libraries, Management and Leadership, National Libraries, Patrons and Users, Resources
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.