By Andrew K. Pace
American Libraries Columnist
andrew_pace@ncsu.edu
By Andrew K. Pace
American Libraries Columnist
andrew_pace@ncsu.edu
Head of Systems, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh.
Column for�December�2004
There is great sport for a systems librarian in following the business of integrated library systems (a term that has nearly outlived its usefulness). One thing’s for sure, whichever firm you look at: This is not your father’s library automation company. This is not to say that ILS vendors are in trouble; on the contrary, many of them are doing quite well, but not with the unprecedented number of sales to new customers that marked the 1980s and 1990s. Library automation in the 21st century is marked by new product lines, new third-party partners, new markets, and a savvier customer base ready to develop their own applications and to partner with vendors to enhance existing ones.
If you’ve been reading the Contracts and Agreements section of this column closely, you’ve probably noticed two things: First, it has not always been there. This is due neither to aggressive editing nor to laziness, but simply because there just aren’t as many sales of library systems to new customers—the so-called�“new name sale.”�Second, many new name sales should actually have a more realistic descriptor, “old name upgrades.” That is, vendors with redeveloped (or acquired) systems are rapidly getting customers off of their old platforms onto their newer ones—from DRA Classic to Unicorn, from INNOPAC to Millennium, from Dynix to Horizon, from VTLS Classic to VIRTUA, and the list goes on.
This is not to say that some of these are not hard-fought contracts. Many libraries go through the same request for proposal (RFP) process for such an upgrade as they did when first automating. But in an era when choosing an integrated system is a lot like choosing a car from a rental lot, the utility of the traditional RFP has begun to break down. It’s likely that the value of a strong library/vendor relationship (assuming such strength exists) is greater than the functionality distinctions between two competing traditional integrated systems.
This hardly keeps vendors from entering into even fiercer competition than has been customary. As Carl Grant of VTLS�said to me earlier this year, “We spend too much time fighting over small market share points, bludgeoning each other only to result in no significant profit and certainly a loss of opportunity to move the profession forward. Vendors and librarians together must recognize this.”
I’ve gotten some mileage this year out of calling the traditional integrated library system “finished” (as in done, not caput). That is, the traditional system functionality that libraries now expect out of an integrated system—acquisitions, cataloging, online catalog, circulation—has reached a development plateau. As Roland Dietz, president of Endeavor Information Systems, puts it, “Incremental functionality improvements in the ILS are more and more expensive.”
Moreover, demands for such improvements come in the wake of two sea changes in library automation. First, there are many, many new products out there, some of which I (and others) have already pointed out in the pages of American Libraries. RFID, reference linking, federated searching, virtual reference, and, lately, electronic resources management (ERM) are just a few of the biggies. With these new products comes the sticker shock of new maintenance fees. But these prices more closely match the sophistication of the technology that comes with them; and, quite frankly, libraries have rarely paid enough for most integrated systems, given the level of functionality and development that are expected of them.
Second, vendors are becoming more and more willing to admit that they cannot corner every product market. Many new technology solutions are coming from third parties whom vendors pay for development, resulting in smaller profit margins. Or vendors that don’t have (or aren’t known for) integrated systems are playing larger roles in library automation. Think of new interlibrary loan, federated search, and virtual reference offerings from companies like Fretwell-Downing, OCLC, and Tutor.com. Ex Libris, one of the best examples of the sea change, thought enough of its SFX, MetaLib, and Verde products to establish a separate division and U.S. office to develop, market, and support these non-ILS products.
The RFP is in need of a serious makeover. As they work today (only overgeneralizing a bit), libraries hate writing them and vendors hate having to reply to them. So if we have to keep doing them, let’s make them more meaningful. During the process, inquire about new product-line offerings, determine if you fit in the company’s primary customer market, and take a serious look at a company’s executive management and its vision for not only the company but also the industry.
The ILS is all grown up. With electronic resource management (ERM), digital asset management (DAM), RFID, portals, reference linking, federated search, data mining, and institutional repositories (please, please someone just give me an OPAC with better indexing and searching), the ILS is a mature system. Yes, it will enjoy continued development for several years; and yes, it may even integrate with some of the new products mentioned above. But it will no longer be the driving force in vendor development or revenue streams.
Vendors are listening like never before, and they are eager to partner with libraries in developing these new product lines. These sea changes have shifted us from vendors trying to convince libraries of what they need to libraries telling vendors what they want and developing it with them. This is an exciting time.
Checkpoint Systems,�one of the biggest suppliers of RFID technology, donated its Intelligent Library System to the Free Library of Philadelphia in October at the reopening of the library’s Walnut Street West branch. Nearly 1,000 city residents were on hand to see Checkpoint CEO George Off present the system to library President and Director Elliot Shelkrot. The 98-year-old branch will use the system for patron self-checkout.
Susan Stearns joined Ex Libris�in October as director of North American Operations for the Information Services Division. Based in Boston, Stearns will lead implementation and support activities for Ex Libris’s newest (and most rapidly selling) product lines, including SFX, MetaLib, and the newly announced electronic resources management system Verde. Stearns has held positions in several library automation firms, including Inmagic, Northern Light Technology, GIS Information Systems, Faxon, and CLSI.
University of Kent (U.K.), including LinkFinderPlus.
University of Bath in England is the first U.K. subscriber to the SFX application service provider.
Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale University and Cornell University Library system have chosen ERM as a standalone solution for managing and displaying electronic resources.
School District of Hillsborough County in Tampa, Florida, for data management and analysis of the 193-school district with 187,000 students.
Fairfax County (Va.) Public Libraries will implement the standalone Online Selection and Acquisitions module, replacing its LIM system.
The Australian Research Repositories Online to the World (ARROW) project has chosen VTLS’s Vital, based on the open source software Fedora, the digital repository software jointly developed by Cornell University and the University of Virginia.
Following several rumors that BiblioMondo, the library automation company from Montreal, was in the market to acquire a competitor, BiblioMondo itself was purchased by Isacsoft�in a transaction valued at CDN $13 million (about $10 million U.S.). BiblioMondo, a private company, is just one in a series of acquisitions from the publicly held Isacsoft, another Canadian company focusing on e-learning software. Unlike several other library system mergers, these two companies have mutual customers but no competing products. BiblioMondo’s efforts to break into the U.S. market have led to only a few sales. The financial backing of the expanding Isacsoft could lead to more North American sales or even further acquisitions.
R. R. Bowker�has acquired Syndetic Solutions, an industry leader in OPAC enrichment services. The company has built a strong service, integrating tables of contents, summaries, reviews, cover art, and more into traditional bibliographic records. Several library automation vendors use Syndetic’s data to spruce up online catalog displays.