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technology arena is currently divided between applications operated through locally housed servers and services deliv- IN THIS ISSUE ered through cloud technologies. Con- sistent with trends in consumer and Advancing from Marketing Hype to other IT sectors, I anticipate the shift Substantive Developments toward cloud technologies to accelerate. Page 1 With the growing importance of Polaris Library Systems and 3M deliver cloud computing, it’s important for those Integration of E-Books involved in to be well informed Page 3 Smarter Libraries regarding the nature of the technol- SirsiDynix Rolls Out eResource Central with through Technology: ogy and the how the products and ser- Axis 360 E-Book Integration vices that they currently use or intend to Page 3 acquire fit within this trend. Cloud com- Boopsie Extends its Mobile Platform to Advancing from puting tends to be used quite loosely, Include Library Marketing Hype to representing a variety of specific tech- Event Information Substantive Developments nical architectures or delivery mecha- Page 4 nisms. A number of different sources are Innovative Interfaces Opens New Corporate By Marshall Breeding available that detail the characteristics of Office in Ireland each of the related concepts, including Page 4 software as a service, infrastructure as a Open Source Update In the last year or so I have observed service, or platform as a service. My lat- Page 4 an ever growing interest by libraries est book, for example, Cloud Computing People in the News in cloud computing. More of the con- in Libraries covered this topic. Page 6 ferences where I speak are focused on The evolution from hype to reality exploring the topic. Cloud computing is that we’re currently experiencing with Service and Support in a Cloud Computing Environment mentioned frequently in technical arti- cloud technologies seems to me quite Page 7 cles in the field, in blog postings, on twit- similar to what we saw with “Web 2.0.” February 2013 Volume XXXIII Number 2 ISSN 1541-8820 February 2013 Volume ter, and in product marketing. Libraries Beginning around 2005, Web 2.0 was are keen to sort out the hype versus the all the rage in the broader IT space reality of “the cloud.” and quickly found its way as a perva- The companies that provide prod- sive theme in almost every library con- ucts and services for libraries are rapidly ference. The original intent of Web 2.0 shifting their offerings to some flavor of was to highlight the social and dynamic cloud-based technologies. The library nature of new destinations and apps.

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Fundamentally, Web 2.0 relied on engagement and partici- pation rather than simply a flat, one-dimensional set of Web An increasing number of the strategic pages delivering content. It extended beyond text, encompass- library products available today have been ing all forms of media, especially images, audio, and video. built from the ground up using modern Web 2.0 emphasized the social dimension of technology ser- vices. In my view, Web 2.0 was a nice way to help describe the cloud-based architecture and technologies. evolution toward the nature of the Web as it exists today. What comes after Web 2.0? It’s just the Web. We no longer need to characterize those concepts as something new or special. They Library technology products seem now to have reached are inherent to the common understanding and experience of an increasing level of maturity relative to the trend of cloud the Web today. computing. A few years ago, as cloud computing was begin- Companies that produce technologies are naturally inter- ning to gain wide acceptance, we may have seen a bit of ested in any tack that will help promote their products. Ven- cloudwashing, with only incremental changes made to adjust dors want their product associated with hot trends. In the existing products in ways that could be positioned as using days of intense interest in Web 2.0, it seemed that every library cloud computing. Some companies rebranded their offer- product was promoted in that guise. In some cases, the associ- ings for hosting applications from the term application service ation was a bit of a stretch. Products that had always had some provider, popular in the 1990s, to software as a service. These kind of patron personalization were newly labeled as Web 2.0. initial efforts have also led to more concerted efforts to either But along with superficial marketing came substantive devel- reengineer existing products or to develop entirely new ser- opment. Developers recognized both the interest by libraries vices that conform to a more contemporary vision of cloud in these kinds of features and the inherent benefits of applica- computing. tions built with deeper connections to patron interactions. In It has been interesting to observe the industry advance my view, hype can mature into reality. from an initial stage of cloud computing as marketing hype to I see the same dynamic in play with cloud computing. substantive development. An increasing number of the stra- Today, cloud computing seems to be the tech topic in the fore- tegic library products available today have been built from front. Although opinions remain mixed, a growing number of the ground up using modern cloud-based architecture and libraries seem interested in shifting away from traditional mod- technologies. We’re in a phase now where the model of cli- els of local computing and investigating services delivered “in ent-server computing that prevailed in the previous decade is the cloud.” Vendors seem anxious to tap into that interest any giving way to Web-based and cloud computing. These transi- way they can as they position their products. The expression tions naturally take many years to complete, both in terms of cloudwashing pokes fun at legacy applications now marketed the development of products and in their implementation by using the vocabulary of cloud computing without the requisite libraries. But we’re well along the way to an era where cloud development work to transform their architecture. computing dominates the library computing scene.

Editor’s Note:

The weeks prior to major library conferences, such accomplishments until the conference. Since it has as the American Library Association Midwinter been a relatively quiet month in library technology, Meeting or Annual Conference, often mean a slump this month’s issue of Smart Libraries Newsletter will in news announcements from the companies that consist of a series of shorter stories that update products provide services to libraries. Many companies hold on or projects and an excerpt from my book on cloud to public announcements of major developments or computing.

2 Smart Libraries

Polaris Library Systems and 3M deliver Integration of E-Books

s public libraries continue to see PAC online catalog interfaces. This inte- loads. Circulation reports generated by expanding interest in loans of gration would allow library patrons to Polaris will include activity related to both A e-books, the need to integrate not only more easily discover, check-out, physical and electronic books. this service into their online catalogs and download e-books, but to also view Work on the integrated service has becomes critical. The May 2012 issue of and manage both print and online loans come to fruition, going into production Smart Libraries Newsletter reported on through their library account. To facili- at the Baltimore County Public Library work underway at Polaris Library Sys- tate technical processing, MARC records in Maryland in December 2012. The 3M tems and 3M Library Systems to develop are automatically added to the library’s Cloud Library, a relative newcomer to the an e-book lending service fully integrated catalog as they are purchased from the 3M library e-book arena, was launched in the into the Polaris PowerPAC and Mobile Cloud Library without the need for batch Baltimore Public Library in August 2012.

SirsiDynix Rolls Out eResource Central with Axis 360 E-Book Integration

irsiDynix created eResource Cen- through the Web Services add-on avail- ease the work for libraries in man- tral as a new product designed to able for both products. It can be accessed aging these collections. It has been S integrate electronic and print con- through the family of interface prod- designed to work with any e-book plat- tent for both library management and ucts, dubbed by the company as “BLUE with the APIs needed for the inte- patron access. The initiative to develop Cloud” that includes: gration. Until now, eResource Central eResource central was first announced in • Enterprise discovery interface, has been working with freely available January 2012. (See the March and June • Portfolio, an enhanced version of e-book collections such as those avail- issues of Smart Libraries Newsletter for Enterprise that includes digital able through the Open Library (http:// more detailed information.) asset management capabilities, openlibrary.org ) and Project Gutenberg The basic concepts behind eResource • BookMyne, the company’s interface (http://www.gutenberg.org ). Central include providing a cloud-based product for mobile devices, and SirsiDynix has now completed work repository to facilitate globally the man- with Baker & Taylor to integrate the Axis • Social Library, a native Facebook agement of electronic content, such as 360 digital media collection and man- application. e-book collections, but in a way that can agement platform into eResource Cen- be integrated and discovered through The company reports that eRe- tral. Axis 360 offers a collection of over each library’s local ILS and discovery source Central will be available to all its 300,000 titles from which libraries can environment. This arrangement avoids customers that have implemented one select to add to their collections of elec- much of the redundancy involved when of the BLUE Cloud interfaces, approxi- tronic materials. each library manages e-book collections mately 750 SirsiDynix customer sites. The arrangement with Baker & Tay- individually. The SirsiDynix eResource Cen- lor is not exclusive. SirsiDynix reports eResource Central operates with tral product aims to greatly sim- that it plans similar integration capa- both of the strategic ILS products offered plify the discovery and downloading bilities with other e-book providers in by SirsiDynix, Symphony and Horizon, of e-books by library patrons and to the future.

3 A­LA TechSource alatechsource.org

Boopsie Extends its Mobile Platform to Include Library Event Information

oopsie, a company that specializes in providing products and libraries, Trumba also finds use in the corporations, online that deliver library service to patrons with mobile devices, newspapers, health clubs, and membership associations. B has extended its offerings to include online event informa- The partnership between Boopsie and Trumba allows librar- tion through a partnership with Trumba Corporation. To take ies that subscribe to Trumba Connect to be able to deliver its advantage of this capability, the library must subscribe to both calendars directly through the Boobsie native mobile app. This Boopsie’s mobile platform and to Trumba Connect. partnership falls in the context of the “Boopsie Star Program” of Trumba Connect allows organizations of all types to pub- products that can be integrated and delivered through the Boop- lish their calendar of events and activities on the Web, with fea- sie mobile platform, allowing libraries to offer a variety of services tures to support event registration with customizable forms, to their users with mobile devices through a unified mobile app. secure payments for fee-based events, automated communica- Other partners include the Overdrive e-book platform, Mango tions with clients, and tools for monitoring registrations. Cal- Languages, Credo Reference, EBSCOhost, the LibraryH3lp vir- endars can easily be integrated into the organization’s Facebook tual reference, Gale Cengage Learning, and Recorded Books. page and visitors can share and comment on events through Boopsie reports that its mobile applications have been Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Trumba Connect provides implemented in over 2,500 libraries or universities. support for mobile devices. Although used in higher education See: Boopsie.com/library

Innovative Interfaces Opens New Corporate Office in Ireland

nnovative Interfaces, Inc. has expanded its international This move follows the company’s change in ownership operations by establishing a new office in Dublin, Ireland. status reported in previous issues of Smart Libraries Newslet- I This office initially will be staffed by eight individuals. The ter and the installation of a new management team. It can be company currently has a limited number of clients in this taken as an early indicator of an interest to expand more deeply region, including The County Clare Library service and several into selected international regions. Innovative has library cli- academic libraries. In 2011 five libraries in Ireland and Northern ents in more than 50 countries throughout the globe. That Ireland, UK selected Millennium. Innovative already maintains number continues to grow as the Institute of Social Sciences European offices in the United Kingdom and in Spain, as well as Information recently became the first library in Vietnam to several others throughout the Asia Pacific region. select Millennium.

Open Source Update

Kuali OLE: Open Source Enterprise Software 2013 with a system ready for implementation by investing part- for Academic Libraries ners choosing to be early adopters. Each of the organizations involved in the Kuali OLE project The Kuali OLE project continues its progress toward the cre- have made financial contributions in addition to in-kind efforts ation of an open source enterprise level library services plat- represented by the involvement of their personnel. Additional form. If the current timeline of the project holds, the initial 1.0 funding has been provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foun- release of the software will be completed in the first quarter of dation. The original Kuali OLE investing partner institutions

4 Smart Libraries

include Indiana University (lead institu- School of Advanced Studies. The librar- ance or maintenance of previous versions. tion), Duke University, the University of ies currently are supported by various Several commercial companies participate Chicago, selected members of the Univer- ILS implementations: in koha-community.org, including ByWa- sity of Florida system, the University of • The Senate House Libraries — ter Solutions and Equinox Software in Maryland, Lehigh University, University Millennium the United States, BibLibre in France, and of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, • Schools of Advanced Studies — dozens of other companies and organiza- and North Carolina State University. Millennium tions in different regions of the world. Kuali OLE, with the JISC organiza- • Birkbeck Library — Horizon with The most recent version of the tion in the United Kingdom, has facilitated a VuFind discovery interface software is Koha 3.10.0. In addition to a related project called the Global Open enhancements to functionality in each of • Institute of Education — Sirsi- Knowledgebase (GOKb) to create an open its modules, considerable work has been Dynix Symphony access repository of e-journal holdings executed to improve its technical infra- required for the efficient management of • School of Hygiene and structure for performance and scalability. electronic resources. (See: http://gokb.org/) Tropical Medicine — SirsiDynix As an application written in the pro- Kuali OLE is designed for academic Symphony gramming language, Koha has historically and research libraries, challenging the • — Sirsi- been an interpreted environment that library management products offered Dynix Symphony involves a separate process for each task under proprietary licenses. So far, firm The implementation project will or page request. Through a framework commitments to Kuali OLE have been bring these libraries together into a called (http://plackperl.org/), Perl- limited to those involved with the project shared library management system based based applications such as Koha can oper- from its onset. In recent months, addi- on Kuali OLE. ate through a shared process, avoiding the tional institutions have begun to show See: http://www.blms.ac.uk/ overhead of loading Perl with each request serious consideration. and resulting in significantly enhanced The original group expanded in June Koha and LibLime Koha performance. Koha 3.8.0 included the 2012 when Villanova University joined as support for Plack in the online cata- an additional investing partner. Villanova Koha continues to increase its presence log; 3.10.0 extends compatibility to the University Libraries have a longstand- among libraries in the United States and staff interface. Led by BibLibre, work is ing commitment to open source soft- internationally. Based on the original also underway to incorporate the Apache ware, having led the development of the open source Koha software developed in Solr technology into Koha to improve VuFind discovery interface and the VuDL New Zealand, two distinct lines of activ- search and retrieval performance. Bib- digital library management platform. ity continue: one takes place through Libre has been supporting installations The Library Manage- a globally distributed group of inter- in France using Solr since 2010. Work is ment System Consortium of the Univer- ested individuals and organizations, and underway for the planned 3.12 release sity of London in the United Kingdom another through the efforts of a single to provide dual support for Zebra, the announced in November 2012 that they commercial company. indexing technology developed by Index had selected the Kuali OLE as the basis The global project, which channels Data and supported by Koha since 2005, of their next library management sys- its work through the koha-community. and Solr. Though Solr is a more power- tem. This is a “decision in principle” org domain, continues the broad-based ful search technology, it significantly adds dependent on further investigation and global collaborative development of Koha. to the complexity of a Koha installation. development and not necessarily a for- Koha development takes place through a Maintaining support for Zebra will allow mal tender outcome. This group com- group of individuals distributed through- libraries to choose between a more com- prises the Senate House Libraries and out the world that cooperate to produce plex and powerful installation that may the libraries of the Bloomsbury Col- new versions of the software, manage require a cluster of servers or a simpler leges, which including Birkbeck Col- quality assurance, and create documenta- configuration that can operate on a sin- lege, Institute of Education, London tion. This group elects a release manager gle server. School of Hygiene and Tropical Medi- for each major version, as well as other ByWater Solutions, the dominant cine, Royal Veterinary College, and the individuals responsible for quality assur- provider of services surrounding Koha in

5 A­LA TechSource alatechsource.org

the United States, continues to attract many new client librar- in November 2011. LibLime announced the availability of Lib- ies. Recent additions include the Lebanon Public Libraries in Lime Academic Koha 5.0 in July 2012, which included enhance- New Hampshire (migrating from SirsiDynix Symphony) and ments such as linked authority control and support for RDA The New England School of Acupuncture (from CyberTools cataloging rules. LibLime has also extended its software to for Libraries). use Plack and Solr. The implementation for the South Central In New Zealand, the home country of Koha, Library System, supporting 42 member libraries with combined IT provides commercial development, support, and host- holdings of 2.3 million items, has been using SOLR since Octo- ing services. In December 2012, Catalyst IT worked with the ber 2012 with significant improvement in performance. New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric In recent weeks, LibLime has announced the implementation Research to migrate their data from a former SirsiDynix Sym- of LibLime Academic Koha at the University of Advancing Tech- phony system to Koha. nology, new members joining consortia using LibLime Koha. LibLime, a division of PTFS, develops a separate fork of software based on Koha. LibLime offers its software through Evergreen: Open source ILS for Consortia the koha.org domain, acquired through earlier business trans- actions, and through its own liblime.com site. While the two Evergreen, originally developed for and by the Georgia Pines versions of the software share common heritage, they have libraries, continues to see interest, mostly among consortia of become increasingly divergent since around March 2010, when public libraries. A number of consortia of public libraries in PTFS acquired LibLime. PTFS/LibLime calls their version of the the North America are based on Evergreen, including Georgia software LibLime Koha and LibLime Academic Koha. LibLime PINES (280+ member libraries), The British Columbia SITKA Academic Koha was created in partnership with Westchester consortium (120 libraries in BC and Manitoba), Pennsylvania Academic Library Directors Organization (WALDO), which Integrated Library System (44 member libraries), three regional sponsored many of the enhancements of interest to its aca- library systems in Massachusetts (204+ combined members), demic library members. LibLime Koha and LibLime Academic East Central Regional Library in Minnesota (15 members), the Koha continue to be open source, but a privately maintained Missouri Evergreen Consortium (19 members), and the SAGE fork. For nearly three years, new and modified code developed Library Consortium in Oregon. The King County Library Sys- by LibLime programmers has not been incorporated into Koha tem, a major urban library, has used Evergreen since 2009. In as developed through the koha-community.org participants. recent months the Virginia Evergreen consortium has been LibLime Koha and LibLime Academic Koha follow a sepa- formed, with an initial set of 22 libraries participating. LYRA- rate set of version enumerations. Support for Plack was intro- SIS Library Technology Services provides migration, support duced in LibLime Koha beginning with its version 4.8, released and hosting services for Virginia Evergreen.

People in the News

xiell, a major library automation provider in Scandina- by around 70 library services in the UK, representing over 1,300 via and the United Kingdom, announced some changes individual library facilities. A in its executive management. Grant Palmer joins the company to fill the position of Managing Director of Axiell UK. Jim Burton, who has been the Managing Director of Axiell UK Palmer comes to the company from Lorensbergs, a UK-based since March 2008, shortly after the acquisition of DS, shifts to a company that provides a suite of applications to help libraries new position as Vice President of Professional Services for Axiell manage public computers, printing, wireless networks, facilities Group. Burton advanced to the General Manager of DS following scheduling, and event booking. Axiell UK traces its corporate the advancement of Nigel Pegg into the management structure of history to a company called DS that developed the Open Galaxy Axiell Group. Burton first became involved in the library auto- integrated library system adopted by many public and academic mation industry in 2000, when he founded Esprit Limited. Pegg libraries in the United Kingdom. OpenGalaxy is currently used retired from Axiell Group board of directors in 2011.

6 Smart Libraries

Henrik Been was appointed the new Vice President of Products tributed by OCLC. Jason Glover continues as the President and for Axiell Group, with responsibility for oversight of the com- CEO of the company. Stephanie Spires will advance to a newly pany’s products through all phases from development to mar- created role of Chief Service Officer. Kathy Posten has been pro- keting. Been was previously affiliated with QlikTEch, a Swedish moted to Director of Information Technology Services, a new software company. division of the company formed to manage the company’s tech- nical infrastructure that supports its internal operations and cus- Atlas Systems also announced some management shifts. Atlas tomer hosting. This unit will also manage the implementation of developed ILLiad, a utility that helps libraries manage their inter- a new customer relationship management system. Atlas reports library loan operations, Ares for electronic reserves, and Aeon for that these changes come in response to increasing its capacity to the management of special collections. ILLiad is exclusively dis- provide service for its growing customer base.

Service and Support in a Cloud Computing Environment

The following is an excerpt from Marshall Breeding’s book in The That said, responsibilities for support do not vanish TECH SET series, Cloud Computing for Libraries. entirely. Regardless of how an organization deploys the appli- cations involved in its operations or in how it serves its As a library makes increased use of cloud computing services, it constituents, it must have processes in place to deliver high- needs to reassess its structures for service and support of tech- quality services. By not having to allocate as many resources nology. In a model where the library relies on local computing to lowerlevel infrastructure issues, the organization can focus infrastructure, it is essential to have technology personnel on more on the higherlevel issues that have a more direct impact hand who are responsible for its operation and maintenance. on its users. How many and what type of personnel involved would be pro- For libraries, moving to cloud computing for its core auto- portional to the quantity and complexity of the applications the mation or discovery services enables an upward shift in the library has to support. The procedures, and their documenta- focus of its services. One of the most appealing characteris- tion, will need to be adjusted to clarify what service tasks con- tics involves allowing libraries to spend less time with routine tinue to be directed to local library personnel and which need technical maintenance and pay more attention to the needs of to be directed to an external provider. Yet, the use of cloud- patrons. Again, less time devoted to deep technical tasks such as based applications does not mean that in all cases library staff server and operating system maintenance translates into more would contact the provider directly. For major applications resources that can be channeled into other activities. such as the ILS, routine problems and requests would continue To the extent that cloud-based automation systems live to be directed to the designated manager of that system in the up to their potential for increased reliability, the library should library, who would then either satisfy the request if possible spend less time dealing with system failures. It would be unreal- or open a service call with the provider. For most operational istic to assume that issues would never arise. Especially consider issues, whether the application is provided through software that problems with the library’s connectivity to the Internet will as a service (SaaS) or operates on local computers should be remain as the most critical vulnerability. When problems occur, largely transparent. The differences lie more in the impact it designated personnel in the library become the intermediaries makes on the personnel who deal directly with technology. who work with the vendor to resolve the failure. As an organization shifts portions of its computing infra- With the onus of service and support more on the shoul- structure to cloudbased services, its burden for providing tech- ders of the venders supplying the software application to the nical support and services to its general population should library, their quality and responsiveness become critical for the generally diminish. Lightening the load for such support ser- library. Clear procedures and lines of communication need to vices ranks as one of the key goals gained in moving to this be in place so that any problems experienced can be reported approach. Deployment of SaaS and Infrustructure as a Service( promptly to the vendor. Depending on the service arrangement, IaaS) removes many layers of technology that would otherwise requests and problems may need to be submitted through a require considerable in-house support. specific individual or department in the library.

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February 2013 Advancing from Marketing Hype to Substantive Developments

Smart Libraries Newsletter

Smart Libraries Newsletter delivers hard data and innovative insights about the world of library technology, every month.

Editor Marshall Breeding To subscribe 615-343-6094 [email protected] To reserve your subscription, contact the Customer Service Center at 800-545-2433, press 5 for assistance, Managing Editor or visit alatechsource.org. Patrick Hogan 312-280-3240 The 2013 subscription price is $85 in the United [email protected] States and $95 internationally.

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