Queens Sues SirsiDynix, Charges ILS Bait-and-Switch

The Queens Library (QL), Jamaica, NY, has sued the Dynix Corporation, Sirsi Corporation, and Sirsi Holdings Corp. (now operating as SirsiDynix), charging a bait-and-switch during Queens's effort to seek a new integrated library system (ILS).

In response, SirsiDynix said “[w]e deny the allegations in the complaint, and we intend to defend the matter vigorously. We have no further comment.”

As the suit involves one of the largest ILS vendors and one of the largest libraries in the country, the case likely will draw avid attention from the entire library industry as it moves forward.

The library charges breach of contract, breach of guaranty, and fraud, among others, and seeks at least $5 million in damages.

The first sentence of the complaint is fierce: “This case involves a fraudulent bait and switch scheme by [Dynix et al.] against not only the Queens Borough Public Library, the highest circulating library in the nation, but other libraries as well.” Queens Library is LJ's 2009 Library of the Year.

The library claims that, during its 2005 ILS procurement process, it rejected a proposal from Sirsi regarding its Unicorn ILS and eventually accepted one from Dynix to migrate to Horizon, based in large part on features for version 8.0 of that system.

The library then claims that, following the announced merger of the two companies during the deliberation period, the new company's assurances that it would “aggressively develop the Horizon platform for the foreseeable future” proved false, thus posing significant costs to the library in terms of hardware and other investments.

Following a formal response to the complaint from the defendants, a hearing will occur November 2 in federal court in Brooklyn, NY.