By Andrew K. PaceAmerican Libraries Columnist
By Andrew K. Pace
American Libraries Columnist
Head of information technology,
North Carolina State University Libraries,
Raleigh
andrew_pace@ncsu.edu
April 2007
I had a presentation that I got some fun mileage out of a few years back. It was called “The 10 Stages of System Migration.” I put together my parody of “The Five Stages of Grief” around the time that Sirsi had purchased DRA, and many libraries were migrating to something other than the now-infamous Taos System (AL, Aug. 2004, p. 70). I called the eighth stage “Beatification of the Old System.” This is the point at which staffers are already pining for the old system—so much so that one begins to wonder why it was being replaced in the first place.
I originally called Stage One “Elation”—that is, the initial euphoria (misplaced or not) about getting something new. In today’s climate, I think I would change this one to “Damnation.” Cursing and fussing about the current state of library automation is much trendier these days.
Damnation used to be saved for stage three, but I called that step “Distancing,” also known as vendor bashing. This is the stage in which principals in the migration will begin to berate the new vendor, thus distancing themselves from the decision-making process through which they chose the vendor in the first place. This is an artful rhetorical device that can be entertaining to watch when one recognizes it. Most important, though, is the hard-work stage: The biggest cost of migration is the hours spent in actual movement, not of the hardware and software, but of data, as well as in training staff and the intellectual capital lost in forgetting about the old system.
The real question is whether the vendor marketplace is really paying attention to what’s going on in libraries. Better yet, do the new owners of these companies know what they have gotten themselves into?
Here’s a (moderately egotistical) challenge to Vista Equity Partners (which now owns SirsiDynix), Francisco Partners (owners of the now-merged Ex Libris and Endeavor), Infor (formerly Extensity and owners of Geac), and others new to the library software market: If you’re reading this in print or online, drop me a line just to let me know.
In late February, just days before the annual SirsiDynix SuperConference in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Patrick Sommers resigned as CEO. While his departure was no huge surprise, the timing was odd. Why not let him exit gracefully at the conference, with pats on the back and well wishes? While I will save my highly speculative conjecture, I will suggest that something must have precipitated the hasty exit. Issued as a late–Friday afternoon press release (isn’t that an old White House trick?), I was shocked to see only a brief flurry of discussion on the SirsiDynix administrator discussion list before it ended abruptly 48 hours later.
The news is also out that another well-known ILS president has moved on. In February, VTLS announced that Carl Grant, president and COO since 2003, would be leaving the company. Grant, who has worked for several vendors, including DRA, Innovative Interfaces, and Ameritech (later Dynix), had not announced plans for the future as of early March. CEO Vinod Chachra will resume his role as president of VTLS in the interim.
You might say that the homegrown version of the library system is in its third generation—starting with the library and hardware vendor partnerships of the 1960s and ’70s, moving to various stand-alone software systems in the ’80s, and now a new heyday for open source software in the 21st century.
With the advent of Georgia PINES’s Evergreen system (AL, Nov. 2006, p. 50–51), a viable open source solution is bound to start challenging proprietary vendors in new ways, either by drawing away customers or raising the bar on building open and new systems. Unfortunately for vendors (but adding to the case made by the open source community), newer proprietary systems just don’t seem to be able to get off the ground lately. This could give Evergreen and its predecessor, Koha, more traction. If it’s support you’re wondering about, that option is emerging, too, from folks such as LibLime and Equinox Software.
The fact is, the current generation of library patrons deserve next-generation systems. This is difficult, even in its nomenclature, as too much emphasis on “next generation” has already made us lose sight of the fact that we are playing catch-up. Our vendors, who a generation ago kept libraries ahead of the curve, are playing catch-up as well.
1. Elation
2. Panic
3. Distancing (a.k.a. Vendor Bashing)
4. Hard Work
5. Denial
6. Inertia
7. Angst
8. Beatification of the Old System
9. Panic (again)
10. Relief
Ex Libris has released MetaLib version 4.0, introducing a new topic-clustering tool for meta-search results. Topic clusters, as well as author, date, and journal-title facets, are generated on the fly as search results are returned. MetaLib’s knowledgebase of search targets has also been greatly expanded.
When Sagebrush sold its library automation division to Follett last August, it retained a robust and well-known book service. That service, formerly Sagebrush Books, has now been rebranded as Tandem Library Services, focusing its 50 years of experience on the K–12 library market.