Current themes in the companies, products, and technologies Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technologies and Research Vanderbilt University Presentation for: LIS531R: Library Automation Systems

 Marshall Breeding will present an overview of the library automation industry, focusing especially on the shaping of the business environment, and on recent product and technology trends. The library automation landscape has become increasingly interesting with new dynamics of proprietary and open source products, and new models of commerce. While the ILS continues as the core business software in libraries, ancillary products have emerged that fill the ever-widening gap of functionality not addressed by the ILS. A new generation of discovery interfaces, including both proprietary and open source alternatives, has emerged to displace the much-maligned OPAC. These products offer a more modern interface and address a broader view of library collections, spanning print and electronic content.

  Repository for library automation data  Lib-web-cats tracks 39,000 libraries and the automation systems used. ◦ Expanding to include more international scope  Announcements and developments made by companies and organizations involved in library automation technologies

 Started building database in 1995  Most comprehensive resource for tracking ILS and other library automation products  Many state library agencies do not keep accurate records of library automation data  Problem: how to resolve remaining “Unknown” libraries. ◦ No Web site, no reliable contact

Annual Industry report published in Library Journal:  2009: Investing in the Future  2008: Opportunity out of turmoil  2007: An industry redefined  2006: Reshuffling the deck  2005: Gradual evolution  2004: Migration down, innovation up  2003: The competition heats up  2002: Capturing the migrating customer

System Name AGent VERSO Evergreen 6 Voyager ALEPH Vubis Smart V-Smart 11 Millennium Koha (Classic/ZOOM) Library.Solution Carl.X / Carl.Solution Polaris ILS Unicorn Horizon Virtua

Composite Endeavor + Ex Libris Composite Sirsi + Dynix Auto-Graphics, Inc Book Systems, Inc Civica COMPanion Corp EOS International Equinox Software 613 Follett Software Company Infor Library Solutions Inmagic, Inc Innovative Interfaces, Inc LibLime61428 The Library Corporation Polaris Library Systems Serials Solutions Softlink America Inc SydneyPLUS Talis VTLS Inc

CompanySupported SystemsSupport Staff Installed Sites Ratio Polaris Library SystemsPolaris Innovative Interfaces, Inc. Millennium The Library CorporationLibrary.Solution, Carl.Solution, Carl.X Ex LibrisAleph, Voyager Auto-GraphicsAGent/Verso VTLSVirtua InforVubis Smart, Advance, PLUS, Vubis Original LibLimeKoha

 Perceptions 2008: an international survey of library automation ◦ ◦ 1,340 Responses from 51 countries  Perceptions 2007: an international survey of library automation ◦

 Library funding cuts widespread  Many automation projects on hold  Pressure to accept lowest-cost alternatives rather than higher cost preferred options  Hope that open source software will provide savings  Economic pressure may necessitate innovation

 Increasing adoption in the United States and Canada ◦ Koha, Evergreen, OPALS  Less interest in Asia, Europe, UK  India ◦ NetGenLib, Koha  Strong interest in Latin America ◦ Koha, ABCD

 US: LibLime, Equinox, MediaFlex  Aggressive marketing ◦ Concept of open source ◦ Promotion of specific products  Struggling to meet expectations ◦ Satisfaction lower than many companies offering proprietary products ◦ Some companies offering proprietary products score much lower than open source

 Many ILS products offered through traditional licensing continue to prosper  Some proprietary ILS products seeing significant numbers of library defections  Systems more mature and rich in features  Balance of power among ILS vendors shifting  Some libraries running proprietary ILS question long-term viability and are exploring alternatives  Traditional ILS now the target of new alternative automation models

 Traditional Proprietary Commercial ILS ◦ Millennium, Symphony, Polaris  Traditional Open Source ILS ◦ Evergreen, Koha  Clean slate automation framework (SOA, enterprise-ready) ◦ Ex Libris URM, OLE Project  Cloud-based automation system ◦ WorldCat Local (+circ, acq, license management)

 Fundamental assumption: Print + Digital = Hybrid libraries  Traditional ILS model not adequate for hybrid libraries  Libraries currently moving toward surrounding core ILS with additional modules to handle electronic content  New discovery layer interfaces replacing or supplementing ILS OPACS  Working toward a new model of library automation ◦ Monolithic legacy architectures replaced by fabric of SOA applications ◦ Comprehensive Resource Management “It's Time to Break the Mold of the Original ILS” Computers in Libraries Nov/Dec 2007

 ILS Online Catalog module no longer enough  Single point of entry to all aspects of library collections ◦ Print + electronic; Books + articles + multimedia  Consolidated index of harvested content  Relevancy-based search  Modern interface techniques ◦ Facets, user-supplied content, search suggestions, recommendations  Focus on delivery

 Initial products focused on technology ◦ AquaBrowser, Endeca, Primo, Encore, VUfind ◦ Mostly locally-installed software  Current phase focused on content indexes ◦ Summon (Serials Solutions) ◦ WorldCat Local (OCLC) ◦ EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO) ◦ All hosted services

 New Discovery Service  Consolidated index harvested from many sources ◦ ProQuest, Gale, etc ◦ 300,000,000 articles represented ◦ Full-text search + Citations  Local catalog data harvested, real-time link to holdings  Other local repositories harvested  Others available through metasearch

 Consolidated index of EBSCOhost full-text and citation data  Reciprocal agreement with OCLC for WorldCat.org data  Pursuing agreements with other content providers

 A hosted consolidated index of article-level metadata and full-text  Maintained by Ex Libris  Available at no additional cost to Primo sites  Available year-end 2009

 Strong interest in offering social features to library users  Expected functionality in Next-gen catalogs  Layer social features into legacy catalogs ◦ LibraryThing for Libraries ◦ ChiliFresh – shared engine for resource reviews

 Large portions of public libraries in the United States operate with no automation system, outdated systems, or products not suited for their type of library  Small rural libraries  Many public libraries run PC-based systems built for schools because the cannot afford more full- featured systems  Current automation options priced well above what libraries with limited resources can afford.  Cost of consortial participation can also exceed financial thresholds

 Strong interest in discovery interfaces  Emerging interest in next-generation library automation ◦ Increasing proportions of electronic content and complexity of operations push the limits of current system designs  Enterprise integration ◦ Connect to campus authentication, courseware, ERP, student management  Need for digital preservation strategies and products as these libraries build ever larger local digital collections

 Strong interest in modernizing Web presence  Next-generation discovery systems ◦ AquaBrowser, Encore, Endeca  Interest in technologies to streamline circulation ◦ RFID – especially in new facilities ◦ Self-check (barcode or RFID) ◦ Automate Materials Handling

 Transition to District-wide centralized automation  Integration with other administrative systems  Textbook management  Access to age-appropriate pre-approved Web content

 Enterprise knowledge management  Competitive intelligence gathering and analysis  Traditional automation tasks diminished  Increasingly all virtual

 Widespread use of ISIS related software ◦ Developed out of UNESCO, free but not open source ◦ Tens of thousands of libraries  Development of ABCD open source ISIS variant  Growing interest in Koha  Increasing interest in commercial systems from international vendors when economically possible

 Vendor hosted, Application Service Provider  Increasing adoption by small and medium- sized libraries  Not a major trend for larger libraries  Promoted by companies: more profitable for them  Libraries generally see lower overall costs, more predictable budget model  Systems and data managed more responsibly  Hosted individual instances, not quite cloud computing model  WorldCat Local more like Cloud Computing

 Strong interest in regional and statewide implementations  Open Source and Commercial ◦ Georgia: Evergreen ◦ Indiana: Evergreen (Early Phases) ◦ British Columbia: Evergreen ◦ Wyoming: SirsiDynix Unicorn ◦ Hawaii: Horizon

 Existing service in pilot stage for new discovery service  WorldCat.org data + ArticleFirst (30 million articles)  Agreement with EBSCO to load EBSCOhost citation data into WorldCat  Pursuing agreements with additional content providers

 No-cost option to FirstSearch subscribers  No reclamation to reconcile local ILS with WorldCat  One ILS supported; must be among supported products  Program to expose thousands of libraries to WorldCat Local as a discovery option

 Extend WorldCat Local to include ◦ Circulation ◦ Delivery ◦ Acquisitions ◦ License Management  Positioned as Web-scale, cloud computing model, cooperative library system  Pilot sites being finalized; general availability in 2010

 Exciting time to be involved in library systems  More opportunities than ever  Open source / Open access momentum  Rethinking of library automation fundamentals  Fresh ideas can make a difference