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The SILO Program: The Serials of Illinois Libraries Online (SILO) program remains Illinois' most complete union list group, representing the cooperative efforts of more than 1,200 member libraries, whose ongoing participation shows a commitment to maximizing statewide serials access and resource sharing. Since 1982, the SILO program has used the OCLC Union List service to provide bibliographic data and verification and to report the copy-specific serials holdings of the member institutions. A survey of Illinois library history indicates that the need for an Illinois union list of serials was expressed long before automated serials systems and bibliographic databases could facilitate the creation and maintenance of such an ambitious undertaking. As early as 1963 in Robert Rohlf's A Plan For Public Library Development in Illinois, it was proposed that creation of a union list of serials was necessary to promote "...the efficient use of reference resources of the state, and by inter-loan or reproduction make this material accessible to every citizen and every business firm of Illinois" (p. 31). According to this original plan, participating libraries would be limited to no more than 20 of the largest public, special and academic libraries in Illinois (p. 31). Although the need for a statewide serials union list was evident prior to the production of bibliographic databases, the absence of automated serials systems precluded the realization of a centralized union list of serials in Illinois for nearly two decades. Individual library systems produced labor-intensive, printed lists to facilitate serials resource sharing, locally, rather than forming a single main union list. In addition to library system lists, union lists for various types of libraries and collections also were generated. The SILO program was initiated to strengthen resource sharing, establish standardized bibliographic control for statewide serials holdings and simplify access by consolidating the multiplicity of hard copy serials union lists into an all inclusive Illinois union list. By the late 1970s, library technology had advanced enough to facilitate the development of centralized access to Illinois' vast serials resources. In 1979, 16 years after Robert Rohlf's original proposal, a Union List Subcommittee of the OCLC Steering Committee was established to analyze the feasibility of a statewide online union list of serials in Illinois. Various databases were investigated, including LCS, CLSI, OCLC and several other commercial vendors. The existing OCLC Union List Component of the now defunct Serials Control Subsystem was the favorite choice among the options investigated. The use of OCLC was judged as superior in the following ways:
* Suzanne Schriar, SILO/OCLC Coordinator, Illinois State Library. 171
The efforts of the Union List Subcommittee study ultimately led to the submission of a grant proposal to the Illinois State Library Advisory Committee, seeking funding for the Serials of Illinois Libraries Online (SILO) Union List Project. In September 1981, Northern Illinois University was awarded a $144,941 LSCA Title III grant to create the foundation for a statewide, online serials union list, using the OCLC Serials Control Subsystem Union List Component. A central serials union list office was established at Northern Illinois University to coordinate the project, select and train staff from participating libraries, and create a database of serials holdings that would include all types of libraries, representing all Illinois regions. The goal of the central office would be to facilitate increased access to the serials holdings of all types of Illinois libraries and to maximize the capability for serials resource sharing both statewide and nationwide. The first professional SILO staff members at Northern Illinois University were Project Director Elaine Rast and Technical Coordinator John Tieberg-Bailie. Also, a SILO Advisory Board was named to establish policies for the union list, monitor the progress of the project and assist in member selection and evaluation of the project. The original SILO Board consisted of the following members: Dr. E. Dale Cluff, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; Barbara Manchak, Suburban Library System Information Center; Donald Adcock, Glen Ellyn School District; Sandra Gold, Keck, Mahin & Gate; James Johnston, Joliet Public Library; Arlene Schwartz, Illinois State Library; John Tieberg-Bailie, Northern Illinois University; Penny Mitchell, MacMurray College; Eva Brown, Chicago Library System; Dr. Margaret L. Moore, Harrisburg Community School District Unit 3; Richard Klein, Dr. Wm. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine; Frederick A. Schlipf, Urbana Free Library; and Elaine Rast, Northern Illinois University. Initially 17 multi-type libraries in the state were selected to add their holdings to the SILO list. By the end of June 1983, the SILO union list had reached a total of 77 members, contributing more than 80,000 local data records (LDRs). After a short hiatus in 1984, a second SILO LSCA grant proposal was submitted by Northern Illinois University and funded in 1985. Phase II of the SILO project consisted of two parts. Part one, from May to October 1985, reestablished the project, the advisory board and the staff with modified short-term goals. A grant of $65,358 was received from LSCA funds to revive the project. New SILO staff members included myself as technical coordinator; Carroll Varner, project coordinator; Norman Vogt, project manager; and Theodore Welch, project director. The new administrative structure of the SILO Project allowed for a greater division of duties and accelerated growth of the union list. A new advisory board was named, which combined old as well as some new members, whose goal was to ensure geographic representation and diverse subject strengths within the SILO project. The board consisted of Eva Brown, Chicago Library System; Pamela Brown, Arlington Heights Memorial Library; Susan Maltese, Oakton Community College; Barbara Manchak, Suburban Library System Information Center; Joan Roeder, East Peoria School District #86; Kerry Miller, Illinois State Library; Penny Mitchell, MacMurray College; myself, Elaine Rast, Norman Vogt and Carroll Varner, Northern Illinois University. The most important goals of the SILO Project during 1984-1985 were to create a broad base of diverse and specialized SILO participants as well as offer newly created OCLC offline serials union lists to SILO members. The provision of printed offline lists were seen as an essential function of the SILO Project, because these lists would provide the only means open to non-OCLC SILO members for accessing SILO holdings. Part two of SILO Phase II began in September 1985, with an LSCA grant of $122,062. Phase II plans were focused on recruiting new members by library type, while maintaining an open membership invitation to all ILLINET libraries. Ultimately, SILO'S membership grew to 169 multi-type libraries, including the entire Lincoln Trail Libraries System (LTLS) as the first library system to join SILO. A final LSCA grant of $81,290 was received at Northern Illinois University for fiscal year 1986-1987, The purpose of the final phase was to extend SILO'S outreach effort to non-participating OCLC libraries and library systems. A second goal was to implement a transition phase from centralized management to decentralized responsibility for the union list. Contact was made during the year with many of the OCLC libraries, particularly in the subject areas of business, law, medicine, science and transportation. A greater effort at outreach was made with newsletters, instructional guides and publicity in state newsletters. By the end of SILO Phase III, SILO membership grew to 329 members with more than 200,000 LDRs. All types of libraries throughout Illinois were represented in SILO. Additionally, several library systems became SILO participants, including DuPage, Lincoln Trail and River Bend. 172 The continued growth of the database and member libraries allowed for SILO'S evolution from a grant funded project to a permanent program at the Illinois State Library, effective July 1987. To ensure currency and the ongoing utility of the SILO union list, strength of participation among all Illinois' library systems and other library consortia was considered to be essential. The library systems' headquarters and other subgroups within SILO would be responsible for updating their members holdings in SILO so that, ultimately, SILO could be relied upon as the most accurate and central source for patrons to view Illinois' vast serials resources. Toward that end, the Illinois State Library awarded LSCA Title III SILO grants to the following library systems and consortia:
FY89 SILO Grants
FY90 SILO Grants
FY91 SILO Grants
FY92 SILO Grants
FY93 SILO Grants Currently, with more than 1,200 multi-type libraries and 660,000 LDRs, SILO remains one of the largest of over 100 union list groups in OCLC. Apart from SILO'S utility as an up-to-date serials holdings source, SILO members have also enjoyed enhanced resource sharing by utilizing the OCLC Interlibrary Loan Service. In fact, SILO membership has resulted in an overall increase in OCLC Interlibrary Loan Service usage, largely due to the inaccessibility of SILO records in ILLINET Online. Since 1989, even those SILO libraries that have not been full members of OCLC have been able to utilize the OCLC Interlibrary Loan Service by becoming selective (ILL only) users. Selective users employ the OCLC ILL service cheaply, since they are not required to catalog their collections in OCLC. Ultimately, the SILO Program has evolved greatly for more than a decade as a means to promote and improve serials resource sharing, both statewide and nationwide. While the SILO Union List began solely out of the need to provide Illinois libraries with bibliographic access to an online database of statewide serials holdings, the value of SILO does not end with access alone. SILO, while maximizing the potential for greater serials ILL activity via the OCLC ILL Service, also has given libraries the foundation to use union list data to improve and create new potential online interlibrary loan linkages and improve overall serials resource sharing within Illinois, as well as nationwide. 173 |
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