Industry News
Sunday Nov 22, 2009 
20 most recent items:
November 20, 2009. Facing History and Ourselves to Migrate to LibLime Enterprise Koha. LibLime announced that Facing History and Ourselves has selected LibLime Enterprise Koha for their next integrated library system. The Library's system will be installed, operated and maintained at one of LibLime's carrier-class data centers and distribution is via Software as a Service on LibLime's cloud computing platform. <<more>>
November 20, 2009. Top-Ranking Public Library Embraces SkyRiver. Middle Country Public Library, Centereach NY, is the first of SkyRiver's public library development partners to implement SkyRiver cataloging services. Recently ranked top in its category in the Library Journal Index of Public Library Service 2009, Middle Country is the first public library to switch to SkyRiver for its cataloging needs. <<more>>
November 20, 2009. VTLS Virtua attractive to diverse organizations in Malaysia. Six different organizations from six different areas of activity recently selected the VTLS Virtua system for their information needs. The six different areas are a university, a state library, a government ministry, a security company, a foundation, an industry board and a development corporation. In addition to Virtua, some libraries have also purchased VITAL and Visualizer. <<more>>
November 19, 2009. Swets Places SwetsWise eBooks Procurement Portal into Beta Testing. Swets announced its newly developed eBooks procurement portal has entered into Beta Testing. The portal integrates a comprehensive eBook catalog and procurement options into existing SwetsWise services, most notably SwetsWise Subscriptions. These features will provide customers with a single source for eBooks purchasing and a means to select the desired access route to their acquired content, through publishers directly or an aggregator. <<more>>
November 18, 2009. Bavarian State Library Selects the Rosetta Digital Preservation System and Establishes a Strategic Partnership with Ex Libris for Long Term Preservation. Ex Libris announced that the Bavarian State Library has selected the Rosetta digital preservation system, which will preserve and provide access to the extensive and rapidly growing digital collections of the Bavarian State Library. <<more>>
November 17, 2009. Evergreen Indiana Welcomes 6 More Library Systems Live on Evergreen. Evergreen Indiana continues to grow with 6 new library systems live on Evergreen, the consortial, open-source library automation software. In total, 48 Indiana library systems are now part of Evergreen Indiana, a shared-catalog project of the Indiana State Library. The newest additions are Culver-Union Township, LaGrange, Monticello-Union Township, Paoli, Princeton-Patoka, and Westfield Washington Public Libraries. <<more>>
November 17, 2009. BEACON consortium, TLC’s Library.Solution unite Iowa libraries. The North Iowa Libraries Collaborating Board is uniting a score of public and school libraries so that all may share the benefits of The Library Corporation’s Library.Solution. The new library consortium in North Central Iowa will utilize TLC’s Library.Solution and Library•Solution for Schools integrated library systems, along with the accompanying LS2 PAC, creating a Web-based automation solution that provides high-quality cataloging, circulation, and database management to every member of the BEACON partnership. Computer servers will be housed in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and centrally managed by the Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency in Pocahontas, Iowa, eliminating the need for smaller libraries to employ their own technicians. <<more>>
November 17, 2009. New Distribution Agreement for AquaBrowser in France. AquaBrowser, the world leader in visual faceted search that connects to any data source, announces the signing of an exclusive partnership agreement for France with OPSYS. Under this agreement OPSYS will promote and sell AquaBrowser Library to all Public Libraries in France. <<more>>
November 16, 2009. Universities launch Open Library Environment as Kuali Foundation Project. The Kuali Foundation announced that a group of leading academic research libraries is partnering in the Kuali Open Library Environment (OLE) project to develop software created specifically for the complex business management and workflow operations of academic and research libraries. <<more>>
November 16, 2009. 25 Virtua Users in India on VTLS 25th Anniversary. VTLS Software Limited in India celebrates its 25th customer in the year that VTLS Inc. is celebrating its silver anniversary. <<more>>
November 12, 2009. Serials Solutions Announces new EBooks metadata normalization process for KnowledgeWorks. Serials Solutions announced the development of a new E-Books Metadata Normalization process for Serials Solutions KnowledgeWorks, the authoritative e-resource knowledgebase. As a result of this new process, KnowledgeWorks is able to deliver the best possible access to eBooks through 360 services and OPACs. <<more>>
November 12, 2009. VTLS EMEA Office Announces New Customers. VTLS Inc. announced two new customers and is upgrading seven existing customers. These customers are located in Ghana, UAE, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Tunisia and Ireland.The University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, signed a contract in October with VTLS for a Virtua system with plans to go live in early 2010. The British University in Dubai also signed a contract for VTLS Virtua. <<more>>
November 12, 2009. PTFS is key to FDsys, Named As One of the 10 Great Government Web Sites by Government Computer News . The U.S. Government Printing Office's Federal Digital System provides public access and preservation, as technology changes, to all Federal Publications dating back to the birth of our country; an estimated 5 petabytes of information altogether. PTFS is a key partner in the FDsys program providing architecture, implementation and infrastructure services since its launch in 2006. <<more>>
November 12, 2009. SwetsWise Solution Provides COUNTER 3 Compliant Usage Data. Swets announced SwetsWise Online Content has been successfully audited for compliancy with Release 3 of the COUNTER Code of Practice. This audit means COUNTER 3 compliant data can be downloaded directly within SwetsWise Online Content and is also available for analysis within SwetsWise Selection Support and ScholarlyStats platforms. <<more>>
November 11, 2009. Eight Academic Libraries Partner with Innovative for Encore Reporter Development. Innovative announced that the development of Encore Reporter, the product that brings the power and ease of Encore Discovery to library-business information, now benefits from the participation of a group of academic libraries that has grown to eight. These libraries are focusing on further developing the features of Encore Reporter that provide collection- and cost-analysis reports to library staff. The academic libraries partnering with Innovative are American University of Law (DC); Ballarat University (Australia); Michigan State University; Stetson School of Law (FL); University of Cadiz (Spain); University of Nebraska, Lincoln; University of Sydney (Australia); University of Wollongong (Australia). <<more>>
November 11, 2009. Google Analytics offers wealth of data to LS2 PAC users. The Library Corporation optimized its LS2 PAC software to work with Google Analytics, the popular service that tracks Web traffic and trends. <<more>>
November 11, 2009. SirsiDynix US Employees Rally for Juvenile Diabetes Cure. SirsiDynix announced a donation of $8,900 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The funds were raised by 250 employees in Provo, Utah, Huntsville, Alabama and St. Louis, Missouri, during a two month campaign culminating in November, National Diabetes Awareness Month. <<more>>
November 11, 2009. Adoptions of Follett Software’s Destiny Textbook Manager surge as K-12 districts seek savings, improved accountability. School districts across the country, including two of the largest in the country, continue to embrace Follett Software Company’s Destiny Textbook Manager for the cost savings and improved accountability for textbook resources that are achievable through improved textbook management. <<more>>
November 10, 2009. EBSCOhost is Going Mobile—Mobile Version of the EBSCOhost Platform Puts Database Content in the Hands of Users. EBSCO is bringing its EBSCOhost databases to users—even if users are on their smartphones. EBSCO has released EBSCOhost Mobile allowing researchers to access their EBSCOhost databases via smartphones and other handheld devices. <<more>>
November 9, 2009. ELympics—the Ex Libris Open-Platform Competition. Ex Libris announced the launch of ELympics, the Ex Libris open-platform competition. The Company will award prizes totaling $12,000 to the creators of the best code extensions to Ex Libris solutions during the competition period—November 9, 2009, to March 31, 2010. All members of the Ex Libris customer community are invited to submit their contributions via the CodeShare area of the EL Commons collaborative Web site. The winners will be announced in May 2010. <<more>>
November 9, 2009. Grand Rapids to Host International Evergreen Conference. Grand Rapids, Michigan has been selected as the site of the 2010 Evergreen International Conference. The conference will take place April 21-23, 2010 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. The conference is co-hosted by the Grand Rapids Public Library and Equinox Software. <<more>>
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Participate in the Perceptions 2009 International Library Automation Survey
For the last two years I have conducted a survey and written a report on the perceptions that libraries form of the quality of the core automation products they use and their satisfaction with the service they receive: Perceptions 2008: An International Survey of Library Automation and Perceptions 2007: An International Survey of Library Automation.
It’s time to collect data for the 2009 edition of the survey. This is an opportunity for libraries to register their perceptions of the ILS product they use, its vendor, and the quality of support delivered. Is support getting better or worse? The survey also probes at considerations for migrating to new systems and the level of interest in open source ILS. While the numeric rating scales support the statistical results of the study, it’s the comments offered that provide the most insight into the current state of library automation satisfaction.
Please help your fellow libraries who might be in the process of evaluating library automation options by responding to the survey. Any information regarding vendor performance and product quality can be helpful when making strategic decisions regarding automation alternatives. A large number of responses strengthen the impact of the survey and the subsequent report. If you have responded to previous editions of the survey, please give your responses again this year. It’s helpful to understand whether things are getting better or worse.
As with the previous versions of the survey, only one response per library is allowed. While all the individuals that work in a library may have their own opinions, please respond to the extent that you can from the general experiences of your library.
How to participate
The survey links each response to the listing for a library in the lib-web-cats directory. This connection provides the ability to correlate responses with the extensive library demographic data in lib-web-cats.
- Find your library in lib-web-cats:
- Select and view the listing for your library
- Press the button
- Complete the form and write in your comments!
When viewing the entry for your library in lib-web-cats, please check for any incomplete or inaccurate information and let me know of any needed changes.
If your library isn't listed in lib-web-cats, please submit its information.
Marshall Breeding Nov 3, 2009 22:08:15 Link to this thread
Developments in the Queens Borough Public Library vs SirsiDynix lawsuit
The Queens Borough Public Library has filed a lawsuit against SirsiDynix for matters related to its 2006 procurement of the Horizon 8.0 software. The initial complaint, filed July 2, 2008, posted earlier on this site, contains the accusations of the Queens Borough Public Library. On October 26, 2009, SirsiDynix filed a motion to dismiss many of the demands specified in the complaint. This motion reveals something of SirsiDynix side of the matter.
As supporting evidence, SirsiDynix has filed the License Agreement between Dynix Corporation and the Queens Borough Public Library signed on March 6, 2006. It’s rare to get a glimpse of a license agreement made by a library for a major library automation procurement, since in most cases these documents are considered proprietary and confidential. The documents filed also include an affidavit of Brad Whittle, currently the Vice President for North American Sales and Marketing for SirsiDynix who was involved with the sale of Horizon to Queens.
These motions made by SirsiDynix for dismissal are based on complex legal arguments and case law. We make no attempt to summarize or explain. Making these documents available does ensure that both sides of the case have been represented in the documents available to those in the library community following the issue.
Marshall Breeding Nov 2, 2009 10:14:00 Link to this thread
Clifford Lynch clarifies views relative to open source ILS efforts
This morning I contacted Clifford Lynch, Executive Director for the Coalition for Networked Information regarding the quote that was attributed to him in the white paper authored by Stephen Abram that that has caused a firestorm on Twitter today.
Here is the response that I received and am posting with his permission:
I don't think that I ever wrote those words down in an article; I suppose I may have said something to that effect in an interview or q&a in some conference program like ALA Top Tech, though perhaps no quite as strongly as it's expressed here. I have without question spoken out about my concerns regarding investment in open source ILS development in the last few years. IF I did say this, it feels like it's used a little out of context -- or maybe the better characterization is over-simplistically -- in the report.
Perhaps the most useful thing to do would be to simply and briefly restate my current views on this. You are welcome to quote or share this; it would probably be best to use it in its entirety if you do.
I am very concerned that there are unrealistic expectations about what can be accomplished in terms of economic payoff or improvement in quality of service in the ILS world through investment in the re-implementation of traditional ILS systems; there is a mature, competitive market in such systems, and I question whether the choice to invest in developing an open source ILS makes sense given very constrained resources. The issue here is investment priorities. If we choose to do this, we need to be very clear about what we are trying to accomplish, and how the open source implementation gets us there. Also, there's a lot of confusion among the ideas of open source as a way of disseminating the results of research and allowing others to build upon the research, the idea of open source (or community source) as a means of engineering and developing a system that is conceptually fairly mature and can serve as a collective good, and the possibility and effectiveness of open or community source programs as a means of doing collective research and development.
I think there are still major problems -- many of which we really don't know how to solve effectively, and which call for sustained and extensive research and development -- in various areas where ILS get involved in information discovery and the support of research and teaching. While I'm not opposed to seeing an open source ILS -- who could be? -- and recognize that it could be very useful, particularly as a platform for research and future innovation, open source re-implementation of current ILS functionality will not be a panacea for these still-unsolved challenges.
Thanks for asking about this. I hope this is helpful both in clarifying my thinking on this, and, more importantly, advancing the community debate about the best courses of action here.
Marshall Breeding Oct 30, 2009 09:09:11 Link to this thread
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