Anchors Away, Alma: Using Alma to Run a Ship’s Library

Abstract

SUNY Maritime is preparing the next generation of American professional mariners. The Stephen B. Luce Library manages both the on-campus library and the Ship’s Library on the college’s training ship. The old ship’s lack of technological infrastructure required the library to run a redundant, secondary open-source ILS. The delivery of the new TS Empire State 7 in September 2023 allowed for the expansion of Alma as the Ship’s Library’s primary ILS. This was a year-long project requiring new library configurations, migration of old bibliographic records to new workflows for the Ship’s Librarian, and on-the-fly troubleshooting after cybersecurity complications with the U.S. Federal Government. This presentation will focus on the implementation of Alma as the Ship’s Library ILS, an assessment of the production environment after a full Summer Sea Term, and planned revisions. Participants supporting Alma in traditional and non-traditional library settings are highly encouraged to attend.