Request for Information – Vendor capabilities to provide Library System as a Service

Helmet is a consortium of libraries of the Capital Region of Finland which consists of Cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. Helsinki and Vantaa, two out of four city libraries in Helmet libraries consortium are looking to migrate to a new Library System solution from the current Sierra ILS that is currently used jointly by all city libraries in the consortium. Espoo and Kauniainen are, for the moment, staying on the current Sierra ILS. However, both cities want to have an option to migrate to the new ILS after Helsinki and Vantaa have successfully implemented their enterprise architecture using the new Library System solution. This RFI describes challenges with the current state and a list of goals for the target state. Helmet libraries’ main goal with this RFI round is to understand the spectrum of potential vendors from established players on the market to new ones looking to enter the library market. An example of an established player would be a company with existing Library System in their service portfolio. An example of a new player could be a company with proven software development and application maintenance skills providing an open source library application as a service or a company with proven success in another field working with metadata and logistics. Helmet libraries also invite the respondents to share their vision how their solution would improve the current state of the Helmet libraries physical library service and what new capabilities it brings to the library field as a whole.