Comments on: ILS Customer Bill-of-Rights Discourse Continues http://www.blyberg.net/2005/12/01/ils-customer-bill-of-rights-discourse-continues/ A library-geek blog Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:10:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Bill Dueber http://www.blyberg.net/2005/12/01/ils-customer-bill-of-rights-discourse-continues/#comment-80 Bill Dueber Wed, 07 Dec 2005 13:25:13 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2005/12/01/ils-customer-bill-of-rights-discourse-continues/#comment-80 <i>100+ Johns hacking away on their systems every day</i> Any vendor worried about having to deal with the proverbial "100 Johns" is missing the bigger picture: this is an opportunity for them to get <strong>out</strong> of the user interface business. Given a substantive API, does anyone really believe that a third party market for user interfaces won't develop? And can anyone --- <strong>anyone</strong> --- really claim, with a straight face, that the ILS vendors treat the UI as the core of their business? I would think that any vendor faced with the choice of providing support for programming APIs and documenting their own freaking systems sufficiently (how can <em>that</em> not help in-house) and continuing to provide programming and support for their awful, awful interfaces would jump on the former in a moment. 100+ Johns hacking away on their systems every day

Any vendor worried about having to deal with the proverbial “100 Johns” is missing the bigger picture: this is an opportunity for them to get out of the user interface business.

Given a substantive API, does anyone really believe that a third party market for user interfaces won’t develop? And can anyone — anyone — really claim, with a straight face, that the ILS vendors treat the UI as the core of their business?

I would think that any vendor faced with the choice of providing support for programming APIs and documenting their own freaking systems sufficiently (how can that not help in-house) and continuing to provide programming and support for their awful, awful interfaces would jump on the former in a moment.

]]> By: Information Takes Over » Blog Archive » Wallis - Blyberg : The supprt issue http://www.blyberg.net/2005/12/01/ils-customer-bill-of-rights-discourse-continues/#comment-77 Information Takes Over » Blog Archive » Wallis - Blyberg : The supprt issue Tue, 06 Dec 2005 13:46:34 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2005/12/01/ils-customer-bill-of-rights-discourse-continues/#comment-77 [...] I do not want to be an expert in database structure, nor do I want to be an expert in writing SQL or any other form of code. This costs too much in time. I want lego blocks that I can build together, giving me access to my data as and when I need it, within the framework of a standards based, well documented, SUPPORTED API. Richard Wallis: Imagine looking at it from as a support analyst’s point of view. From her end of the telescope she can see [in Talis’ case] potentially 100+ Johns hacking away on their systems every day – a thought to drive you straight toward the caffeine in the morning! John Blyberg: Those support analysts need to be retrained (reprogrammed?) to be able to think about the caller on the other end of the phone as an equal–that way, they become an advocate for the customer, not just a problem solver. I just can’t buy into the thinking that we can’t be granted the essential right to access our data because that might make it harder to support. Richard Wallis: What if - Ann Arbour’s citizens really like their Library patron history shown on the web site and it becomes a prime source of information for them; and then Mr Blyberg gets head-hunted to work for another library, or even an evil ILS vendor; and then for some reason the facility stops working. Who would John’s successor phone for help, and how would that conversation go? What if - John built even more services on his access to the database and; for reasons commercial, performance, or just a change in coding style, his vendor’s next software update made a major change to the database shape. [...] […] I do not want to be an expert in database structure, nor do I want to be an expert in writing SQL or any other form of code. This costs too much in time. I want lego blocks that I can build together, giving me access to my data as and when I need it, within the framework of a standards based, well documented, SUPPORTED API. Richard Wallis: Imagine looking at it from as a support analyst’s point of view. From her end of the telescope she can see [in Talis’ case] potentially 100+ Johns hacking away on their systems every day – a thought to drive you straight toward the caffeine in the morning! John Blyberg: Those support analysts need to be retrained (reprogrammed?) to be able to think about the caller on the other end of the phone as an equal–that way, they become an advocate for the customer, not just a problem solver. I just can’t buy into the thinking that we can’t be granted the essential right to access our data because that might make it harder to support. Richard Wallis: What if - Ann Arbour’s citizens really like their Library patron history shown on the web site and it becomes a prime source of information for them; and then Mr Blyberg gets head-hunted to work for another library, or even an evil ILS vendor; and then for some reason the facility stops working. Who would John’s successor phone for help, and how would that conversation go? What if - John built even more services on his access to the database and; for reasons commercial, performance, or just a change in coding style, his vendor’s next software update made a major change to the database shape. […]

]]> By: panlibus http://www.blyberg.net/2005/12/01/ils-customer-bill-of-rights-discourse-continues/#comment-75 panlibus Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:27:40 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2005/12/01/ils-customer-bill-of-rights-discourse-continues/#comment-75 <strong>The rise of the Platform - Continuing the Library 2.0 discorse with Blyberg</strong> For those of you who haven't been following this conversation, here is a brief history to for you:Nov 15th 2005 - Talis launch white paper Do Libraries Matter? The Rise of Library 2.0 at Talis Insight Conference 2005Nov 18th 2005... The rise of the Platform - Continuing the Library 2.0 discorse with Blyberg

For those of you who haven’t been following this conversation, here is a brief history to for you:Nov 15th 2005 - Talis launch white paper Do Libraries Matter? The Rise of Library 2.0 at Talis Insight Conference 2005Nov 18th 2005…

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