SirsiDynix/Queens Library Suit Settled Out of Court

No terms disclosed; SirsiDynix says "matter has been resolved amicably"

Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 04/16/2010

• Suit brought in July 2009
• Charge that the "bait and switch" involved multiple libraries
• No clarity on terms, reasons for settlement

Not with a bang, but a whimper: the suit brought last July against SirsiDynix by the Queens Library (QL) has been settled out of court, resulting in the case's dismissal. The original complaint from July 2009 accused SirsiDynix of misconduct during the library's ILS procurement process in 2005.

No terms of the settlement were disclosed, according to terse court documents that state that each party will bear its own costs and fees.

Both parties, queried by LJ, said "the matter has been resolved amicably and the terms are confidential."

Contentious charges
As reported in October 2009, the case sparked a great deal of interest from many librarians and industry players, in part because of the wide-ranging nature of the charges. The complaint opened: "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."

QL charged a bait-and-switch, in which the Horizon 8.0 system it sought from Dynix was not developed, as the company was merged with Sirsi, whose Unicorn system it had already rejected; instead, QL eventually chose a different vendor: VTLS.

Request for dismissal
SirsiDynix subsequently sought the dismissal of a majority of the charges. The company's motion called the dispute "nothing more than a well-intentioned business venture which ultimately failed to meet the expectations of both parties."

To support its request, SirsiDynix included the full text of the contract signed with QL, dated March 6, 2006, which stated, among other things, that the library had waived claims to implied warranties and punitive damages.