Connecting Librarian

Marshall Breeding – Vanderbilt University Libraries – Blending evolution with revolution: a new cycle of library automation spins on

Library Technology Guides (website) is where Marshall puts all the information he gathers as he does his research. It shows whats going on in the field of library automation.  Check out the chart on the Australian LMS scence at www.librarytechnology.org.  Interesting to look at the current standings of LMS’s, but more interesting to look at the dynamics of change – who is taking the library field into the future.

Perceptions 2009 – third annual survey, gatherered November to January, over 2000 responses with 109 from Australia and New Zealand. Asks library staff about what system they use and what they really think about it. Its not just gossip, its an informal survey showing what people really think of the products they use.  Available online.

Observations from this study: smaller library and nice products generally receive better perception scores, companies supporting proprietary products generally higher satisfaction that those involved  with open source, except for libraries already using open source – these products were perceived as poor performing.

Library Journal Automation Marketplace – published annually in April 1 issue, based on vendor provided data, focused primarily on US market. Gives a broad view of the industry.

Context: Libraries in transition – shift from print to electronic, increasing emphasis on subscribed content (especially articles and databases), strong emphasis on digitising local collections, demands for enterprise integration an interoperability. Electronic resources and projects are taking increasing amounts of library budgets.

Marshall reflected that Abbey in the VALA video from yesterday, had summed up what he wanted to get across at VALA.

New generation of library users, millenials wwho are tech savvy.

Technologies are in transition: XML is the focus, Web services and service-oriented architecture. W e are beyond Web 2.0, its now part of what we do. Moving from local to cloud computing – Saas, private and public cloud. Full spectrum of devices: full scale – netbook, tablet, mobile with the focus on mobile at present. Need to be more device indpendent.

Dynamics of the Library Automation Scene:
Evolutionary path: gradual enhancement of long-standing LMSs, wrap legacy code in APIs and Web  services.  Library market prefers evolved systems, hard to build systems from scratch.
Revolutionary path: Ex Libris URM, Kuali OPE and WorldCat Management System which are clean slate automation frameworks or cloud based.

Rethinking library automation: LMSs don’t work too well for hybrid libraries.

OLE Project is collaborative project, with NLA involved – one to watch. OCLC Management system will take what they already have (eg. WorldCat Local) and just add back end operations to make it a full LMS.

Open Source LMS are growing fastest – not just in US, big companies in Australia and New Zealand.

Opening up Library Systems through Web Services and SOA: Hype or reality? Library Technology Report. Showed that proprietary systems had more APIs for customers to use. Even best APIs are still quirky and not comprehensive – still a way to go. Need to have the widest range of APIs available, so that we can use the data the way we want to. Open APIs allows you to tweak, without using the deep source code of your LMS.

Marshall spoke about discovery layers – check my notes from the L-Plate series so that I don’t have to take these notes for the second time.   Discovery products list and information available from www.librarytechnology.org/discovery.pl.

Outlook for next five years: most libraries still using evolved systems, increasing ranks of next generation LMS, library resource discovery matures,, mobile, transition from local to cloud computing.

This is my first study tour blog post and in the interests of readability, I will break down the entries so that they don’t end up being too long. This is only a representation of what I discover, to blog it all would be more like a book than a blog post!

My first stop on my whirlwind study tour! I came down to Princeton from New York by train last night, so that I was fresh and ready for my visit today (as fresh as time lag would let me be anyway). The Princeton Library is a beautiful newish 3 storey building in Princeton township, not far from Princeton University. The three levels are themed – the first floor is a browsing collection, with media, express fiction and new books organised in a bookstore type layout. The second floor is the adult collections and the main computer area (they have over 100 public PCs) and the third floor is the children’s and teen areas. The first floor has a large seminar room, a Friends run library store and an outsourced cafeteria. The other two floors also have several meeting/seminar rooms of various sizes. There is also some beautiful public art interspersed throughout the building. You can check out the photos I took on Flickr.

I first met with Janice Painter from Access Services (equivalent to our Tech services) and talked about Innovative’s Millenium ILS. They send courtesy notices by email, 2 days before items are due as a reminder. 90% of users get these. Overdue notices are also sent by email. The only paper used is for overdue notices for non-email contactable users and for bills which are sent out on paper only. Since this was introduced, fines revenue has dropped dramatically. What a great PR move! In 2007 they will be introducing federated search and mashups through new Millenium upgrades. They have a staff blog for news and views and are looking at using a staff wiki for tips and tricks. The Book Club wiki from last Summer’s reading program will be run through new features available in their ILS this year, making the most of the new features of reviews and comments. Although a n intensive process, they will be entering old reviews into the catalogue to start the process. They use RFID and Libramation’s self check and have tapped into Innovative’s API to make it work with their ILS.

Tim Quinn – Public Information – gave me the grand tour of the library, both the public areas and behind the scenes. They have several video screens throughout the library, which displays their events calendar, which is extensive. Their beautiful art wall will have a PC nearby which will allow visitors to access information about each individual tile that comprises the work. They use a bookstore philosophy on their first floor, with their express collection – latest releases with 1 week loan and increased overdue charges, new release DVD rentals ($1 overnight) and their large media collection. The 2nd floor is reference and the adult collections, with the teens and children on the 3rd. They have free wireless in the library and into the plaza next door, which is available 24/7. Their Technology Centre is open to the public for set hours when not being used for classes, with each PC having the full Adobe Suite so people can work on projects or try software out. It also includes scanning and an AV media centre.

Barbara Silberstein, their Media Librarian took me through their downloadable media. Unfortunately, due to digital rights management, it is only available to MP3 players with Windows DRM, so doesn’t include iPods. They offer Overdrive through the Listen NJ consortia and Netlibrary downloadable audio books and streaming music from Alexander Street Press. The Listen NJ option offers several 1000 titles, but with only 1 simultaneous users, but it does have a holds facility. Audio books must be downloaded to computer first, using specific software, after which they can be transferred to an MP3 player. The consortia set a loan period of 10 days, due to long holds lists. These titles are not listed in the catalogue and account for about 100 loans a month. Netlibrary adds 30 titles a month and at present they have about 1500 available. They are accessible through the catalogue, their website or directly from Netlibrary, but the user requires a user account which is set up through the library. Loans are for 3 weeks for up to 7 titles and they have unlimited simultaneous users. Loans are mid 100s per month. Barbara said that loans have remained flat, most likely due to the DRM issues. Hopefully with the recent announcement by EMI that they will be making DRM free music available, this issue will be resolved for libraries soon. They also have streaming African American, Classical and Global Sound music, for free. Must be played live on computer and can only be saved with credit card details. Users can create playlists and search for particular music in a wide variety of ways. It includes childrens, spoken, old jazz, older stage and screen music and much more. They have a licence for 5 simulataneous users, but the most they have ever had is 3. It is relatively inexpensive and generally well used.

That concluded the morning. More later.