Horizon has been Hennepin County Library’s (HCL) primary business system since 2005. The product runs the essential business services of the Library: on-line catalog, patron accounts management, check-ins and check-outs of materials, as well as collection purchasing, invoicing, and inventory. Due to HCL being one of the largest systems in North America, there are few library software systems on the market that can accommodate the scale necessary to handle the inventory and volume of transactions. During and after the merger in 2008, HCL examined other available software products and found that none provided enough additional functionality to warrant a change.

The amendment provides for the annual on-going license and maintenance for Horizon and a number of its subsystems (serials, acquisitions, circulation, etc.) with an estimated annual increase of 7 percent from 2019-2024. Pursuant to an agreement with Central IT, the Library is responsible for the purchase and maintenance of a telephony server to manage calls to patrons regarding availability of reserves and due dates. The telephony server is located at Minneapolis Central and will reach the end of its useful life in 2019. The purchase of a new telephony server is included in the revised NTE. Also by agreement with Central IT, servers for Horizon are located at HCGC, but maintained by SirsiDynix technicians through this contract.

SirsiDynix is the sole source of software licensing and maintenance for Horizon. The agreement extends the existing contract for another 5 years. The on-going expenditure authority for the SirsiDynix contract is included in the Library’s operating budget.