ELFNI (Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland project): an overview

Abstract

The Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland project (ELFNI) was established to procure on behalf of the five Northern Ireland Education and Library Boards (NIELBs) robust systems that would support and enable the delivery of electronic information services to the Northern Ireland (NI) community and to enable the NIELBs to deliver cost effective, efficient and modern public library and information services. Following a period of discussion and negotiation a Public Finance Initiative (PFI) contract was signed in early 2002 between Amey BPO Services and the five Education and Library boards for the ELFNI project. Amey BPO will lead a consortium which will be responsible for delivering a range of services to all public libraries in Northern Ireland for the next ten years, which includes the installation of the People’s Network, a single library management system, a libraries’ portal, video‐conferencing facilities and corporate e‐mail for all staff. This paper provides a background to the development of this project, details of the technological solution, information on the monitoring procedures, a description of the expected benefits from the ELFNI system and concludes with an assessment of PFI funding for public libraries.