Library Technology Guides

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Smart Libraries Newsletter

Volume 39 Number 04 (April 2019)


Author / Title
Pages
Breeding, Marshall, Smarter Libraries through Technology: Dominance or Domineering
One obvious observation relates to the size of companies able to gain a dominant market share. Companies that have amassed a larger customer base gain the revenues needed to support the development capacity to continually enhance core products and spin off new offerings. Follett and Ex Libris have not remained complacent with their core automation products despite quite successful sales; instead, they have gone on to develop products in new areas of functionality of interest to their respective library types. These corporate giants have an appetite for growth in their business that cannot be satisfied just by selling their core product to more libraries but also by seeking out opportunities in lesser explored territories.
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Breeding, Marshall, Business Transition at Turnitin
Turnitin has become established as the leading brand associated with technologies and services related to the verification of writing for originality and related services. The products of Turnitin are used by educational institutions, publishers, companies, and other organizations to look for indications that portions of a submitted text may have been copied from other sources. While generally thought of as automated plagiarism checking, these tools do not necessarily make categorical judgements, but present scores of similarity that can be reviewed for any necessary follow-up. Turnitin's products have become a routine component of an educational institution's technology infrastructure through integrations with learning management systems (LMSs) as well as an expected element of the review and grading of student papers submitted for course requirements. In addition to reviewing originality of papers, Turnitin offers additional services that can help automate the grading of student papers, providing some relief to instructors with onerous workloads. The service is used by 34 million students in 15,000 educational institutions, including both K-12 and higher educational institutions.
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Breeding, Marshall, Smart Libraries Q&A: Outsourcing technology
What recommendations do you have for libraries outsourcing technology, such as hosting, etc.?
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