Comments on: The Rime of the Ancient ILS http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/ A library-geek blog Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:06:38 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Newbie Librarian - My take on the ILS vendors http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/comment-page-1/#comment-240 Newbie Librarian - My take on the ILS vendors Tue, 28 Feb 2006 22:11:25 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/#comment-240 [...] I’ve been reading the recent conversation on ILS vendors by Blyberg.net, Librarian in Black and Family Man Librarian.  I think they are right about trying to get the OPAC more customizable.  The other day I spent 1 1/2hrs trying to change three links on the library home page.  I’d love to make some smaller fiddly edits, but this was to make sure that the link that said Library Home actually went to the library home page after a general site redesign.  That’s not a frill, and it shouldn’t take a phone call to tech support to find the documentation on how to do it.  Anyway. [...] [...] I’ve been reading the recent conversation on ILS vendors by Blyberg.net, Librarian in Black and Family Man Librarian.  I think they are right about trying to get the OPAC more customizable.  The other day I spent 1 1/2hrs trying to change three links on the library home page.  I’d love to make some smaller fiddly edits, but this was to make sure that the link that said Library Home actually went to the library home page after a general site redesign.  That’s not a frill, and it shouldn’t take a phone call to tech support to find the documentation on how to do it.  Anyway. [...]

]]> By: Science Library Pad http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/comment-page-1/#comment-239 Science Library Pad Sun, 26 Feb 2006 09:55:56 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/#comment-239 <strong>librarians and technologists...</strong> I'm not going to say a word, as others are eloquent on this topic:This illustrates the one item that we cannot put on our Emerging Tech suggestion list, a programmer. Clearly, one of the major divisions that now separates libraries... librarians and technologists…

I’m not going to say a word, as others are eloquent on this topic:This illustrates the one item that we cannot put on our Emerging Tech suggestion list, a programmer. Clearly, one of the major divisions that now separates libraries…

]]> By: What I Learned Today…»Blog Archive » Trapped by our ILS http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/comment-page-1/#comment-231 What I Learned Today…»Blog Archive » Trapped by our ILS Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:20:08 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/#comment-231 [...] It’s funny that right as I’m complaining to my staff here that I HATE our ILS (oh boy did you miss a great temper tantrum on my part) , other librarians are doing the same. John Blyberg discusses The Rime of the Ancient ILS, Sarah Houghton talks about how Library Systems Vendors Stray from the Light, and Steve Oberg, the Family Man Librarian, asks Where have library systems vendors gone astray?. [...] [...] It’s funny that right as I’m complaining to my staff here that I HATE our ILS (oh boy did you miss a great temper tantrum on my part) , other librarians are doing the same. John Blyberg discusses The Rime of the Ancient ILS, Sarah Houghton talks about how Library Systems Vendors Stray from the Light, and Steve Oberg, the Family Man Librarian, asks Where have library systems vendors gone astray?. [...]

]]> By: john http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/comment-page-1/#comment-227 john Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:58:59 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/#comment-227 Steve, You're absolutely right that most libraries <i>probably</i> want a simple turnkey system. But retooling existing ILSs to fit together modularly via a set of standard APIs doesn't preclude "turnkey". Yes, a refit like that may be costly in the short term, but the long-term benefits of having a truly open system would cut future development costs drastically while driving a shot of adrenaline into innovation. It's the right thing to do. It's just not done because of the damage it would do to the bottom line in the short term. You can't tell me that any vendor is more concerned about their customers than they are about next quarter's profits. It takes a special kind of business leader to convince their board that pursuing a costly long-term strategy will ultimately benefit the company. Steve,
You’re absolutely right that most libraries probably want a simple turnkey system. But retooling existing ILSs to fit together modularly via a set of standard APIs doesn’t preclude “turnkey”. Yes, a refit like that may be costly in the short term, but the long-term benefits of having a truly open system would cut future development costs drastically while driving a shot of adrenaline into innovation.

It’s the right thing to do. It’s just not done because of the damage it would do to the bottom line in the short term. You can’t tell me that any vendor is more concerned about their customers than they are about next quarter’s profits. It takes a special kind of business leader to convince their board that pursuing a costly long-term strategy will ultimately benefit the company.

]]> By: Steve Oberg (Family Man Librarian) http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/comment-page-1/#comment-226 Steve Oberg (Family Man Librarian) Mon, 20 Feb 2006 16:50:51 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/#comment-226 John, Thanks for discussing this issue of responsibility that is shared between library systems vendors and libraries/librarians for the failure (I would almost say, abject failure) of the traditional ILS. I wrote a comment on a post by Karen Schneider on the ALA Techsource blog some time back to the effect that library systems are largely the way they are because WE (librarians) made them that way. It's the "twiddly bits" syndrome, ad nauseum. In the post I wrote, I tried to focus more on the vendor side of the responsibility equation. One point of mine that you questioned had to do with lack of resources (money). I agree that the issue isn't necessarily one of money per se, but of priority and vision. Let us stop building "twiddly bits" and plow that into building more open systems that are amenable to a variety of services and local development. However, I want to also point out that the frustrated innovators among the cadre of librarians is relatively small, in my view. Unfortunately. There are far more libraries/librarians who simply want a turnkey system because a.) they don't have the technical or fiscal resources to maintain and extend their own ILS services; or b.) they don't see the systems side as being worthy of priority and attention and resourcing. Steve John,

Thanks for discussing this issue of responsibility that is shared between library systems vendors and libraries/librarians for the failure (I would almost say, abject failure) of the traditional ILS.

I wrote a comment on a post by Karen Schneider on the ALA Techsource blog some time back to the effect that library systems are largely the way they are because WE (librarians) made them that way. It’s the “twiddly bits” syndrome, ad nauseum.

In the post I wrote, I tried to focus more on the vendor side of the responsibility equation. One point of mine that you questioned had to do with lack of resources (money). I agree that the issue isn’t necessarily one of money per se, but of priority and vision. Let us stop building “twiddly bits” and plow that into building more open systems that are amenable to a variety of services and local development.

However, I want to also point out that the frustrated innovators among the cadre of librarians is relatively small, in my view. Unfortunately. There are far more libraries/librarians who simply want a turnkey system because a.) they don’t have the technical or fiscal resources to maintain and extend their own ILS services; or b.) they don’t see the systems side as being worthy of priority and attention and resourcing.

Steve

]]> By: panlibus http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/comment-page-1/#comment-225 panlibus Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:15:48 +0000 http://www.blyberg.net/2006/02/19/the-rime-of-the-ancient-ils/#comment-225 <strong>He who pays the piper.........</strong> The ever astute John Blyberg in his latest composition The Rime of the Ancient ILS gives an all to true caricature of the motivational relationship between the LMS/ILS Vendors and their Library customers as it stands today. Drawing for support...... He who pays the piper………

The ever astute John Blyberg in his latest composition The Rime of the Ancient ILS gives an all to true caricature of the motivational relationship between the LMS/ILS Vendors and their Library customers as it stands today. Drawing for support……

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