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Library Automation Challenges for the Next Generation

Library Automation Challenges for the Next Generation. Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technologies and Research Vanderbilt University http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding http://www.librarytechnology.org/. Tuesday 26 August 2008 Tias building, room TZ 9). Abstract.

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Library Automation Challenges for the Next Generation

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  1. Library Automation Challenges for the Next Generation Marshall BreedingDirector for Innovative Technologies and Research Vanderbilt University http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding http://www.librarytechnology.org/ Tuesday 26 August 2008 Tias building, room TZ 9)

  2. Abstract • As libraries shift toward collections of ever higher proportions of digital content, automation systems must likewise take a new form. This lecture will review the current state of library automation systems and the business climate among the companies that provide them. • Recent rounds of industry consolidation resulted in an uncomfortable narrowing of products from the traditional automation vendors. A harsh business climate contributed to the rise of the open source movement which has introduced a new dynamic in the marketplace. Open source library automation has now entered the mainstream, with support options available from a new breed of companies. Traditional automation vendors face new competition. Libraries themselves have also become involved through initiatives to produce open source products, contributing new alternatives to the mix. • A new generation of library interfaces has begun to emerge that promise to put a modern face on the library’s collections and services on the Web. Libraries also demand better tools for managing electronic resources behind-the-scenes, fueling demand for electronic management systems. In broader terms, the molds of the library automation systems in place today were cast decades ago. • The presentation will explore the characteristics that a generation of library automation systems built anew for today’s libraries moving forward would embrace.

  3. Part I. Broad Industry and Product Trends

  4. Upheavals • Industry Consolidation • Abrupt transitions for major library automation products • Increased industry control by external financial investors • Demise of the traditional OPAC • Frustration with ILS products and vendors • Open Source alternatives hit the mainstream Breeding, Marshall: Perceptions 2007 an international survey of library automation. http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2007.pl January 2008.

  5. LJ Automation System Marketplace • Annual Industry report published in Library Journal • 2008: Opportunity out of turmoil • 2007: An industry redefined • 2006: Reshuffling the deck • 2005: Gradual evolution • 2004: Migration down, innovation up • 2003: The competition heats up • 2002: Capturing the migrating customer

  6. ILS Industry in Transition • Consolidation through mergers and acquisitions have resulted in a fewer number of players; larger companies • Uncomfortable level of product narrowing • Increased ownership by external interests • Yet: Some companies and products continue on solid ground Breeding, Marshall “Automation system marketplace 2008: Opportunity Out of Turmoil” Library Journal. April 1, 2008.

  7. Library Automation M&A History

  8. Product and Technology Trends • Innovation below expectations • Conventional ILS less tenable • Proliferation of products related to e-content management • New genre of discovery-layer interfaces

  9. Web 2.0 / Collaborative Computing • Currently implemented ad hoc • Many libraries putting up blogs, wikis, and fostering engagement in social networking sites • Proliferation of silos with no integration or interoperability with larger library Web presence • Next Gen: Build social and collaborative features into core automation components

  10. Part II. A Mandate for Openness

  11. Opportunities for Openness • Open Source • Alternative to traditionally licensed software • Open Systems • Software that doesn’t hold data hostage • Open Content • Open access platforms for scholarly content • Institutional Repositories • Bibliographic Services (OpenLibrary) • Open content communities for tags, cover art, reviews (LibraryThing) • OpenURL / ERMS Knowledgebases? (JAKE)

  12. Open Source Alternatives • Explosive interest in Open Source driven by disillusionment with current vendors and near-evangelical promotion of this software licensing model • Beginning to emerge as a practical option • TOC (Total Cost of Ownership) still roughly equal to proprietary commercial model • Still a risky strategy for libraries – traditional licensing also risky

  13. A result of industry turmoil • Disruptions and business decisions to narrow options have fueled the open source movement • Benefit to libraries in having additional options • Traditionally licensed and open source ILS alternatives will coexist in the ILS arena

  14. Open Source ILS enters the mainstream • Earlier era of pioneering efforts to ILS shifting into one where open source alternatives fall in the mainstream • Off-the-shelf, commercially supported product available • Still a minority player, but gaining ground

  15. Open Source ILS options • Koha • Commercial support from LibLime • Evergreen • Commercial support from Equinox Software • OPALS • Commercial support from Media Flex • NewGenLib • Open Source ILS for the developing world

  16. Business case for Open Source ILS • Comparative total cost of ownership • Evaluate features and functionality • Evaluate technology platform and conceptual models • Are they next-generation systems or open source version of legacy models? “Making a Business Case for Open Source ILS.” Marshall Breeding, Computers in Libraries March 2008 http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=13134

  17. Software Development Models • How do companies approach software development: • Ongoing maintenance work on existing products (enhancement requests, bug fixes) • R&D toward future products (capital investment) • Sponsored Development: contracted custom development paid for by individual sites, code shared with current and future implementers.

  18. Observations on Open Source ILS • Current Open Source ILS products similar in modular organization and functionality to existing systems. Evolving to achieve the same level of features and capacity present in established commercial systems. • Initial wave of Open Source ILS commitments happened in the public library arena. Recent activity among academic libraries: • WALDO Consortium (Voyager > Koha) • University of Prince Edward Island (Unicorn > Evergreen) • Do the current open source ILS products provide a new model of automation, or an open source version of what we already have? • JISC – SCONUL study did not show strong interest in open source ILS in the UK.

  19. Impact of Open Source ILS • Library automation industry cannot be complacent • Some libraries moving from traditionally licensed products to open source products with commercial support plans • Disruption of ILS industry • new pressures on incumbent vendors to deliver more innovation and to satisfy concerns for openness • New competition / More options

  20. More Open Systems • Pressure for traditionally licensed products to become more open • APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) let libraries access and manipulate their data outside of delivered software • A comprehensive set of APIs potentially give libraries more flexibility and control in accessing data and services and in extending functionality than having access to the source code. • Customer access to APIs does not involve as much risk to breaking core system functions, avoids issues of version management and code forking associated with open source models.

  21. A Continuum of Openness

  22. Closed Systems End User Interfaces: No programmable Access to the system. Captive to the user Interfaces supplied by the developer Programmer access: Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation Functional modules: Data Stores: Staff Interfaces:

  23. Standard RDBM Systems Database administrators can access data stores involved with the system: Read-only? Read/write? Developer shares database schema End User Interfaces: Programmer access: Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation Functional modules: Data Stores: Staff Interfaces:

  24. Open Source Model End User Interfaces: Programmer access: Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation All aspects of the system available to inspection and modification. Functional modules: Data Stores: Staff Interfaces:

  25. Open API Model End User Interfaces: Programmer access: Core application closed. Third party developers code against the published APIs or RDBMS tables. Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation Functional modules: Published APIs Data Stores: Staff Interfaces:

  26. Open Source / Open API Model End User Interfaces: Programmer access: Core application closed. Third party developers code against the published APIs or RDBMS tables. Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation Functional modules: PublishedAPIs Data Stores: Staff Interfaces:

  27. Depth of Openness • Evaluate level of access to a products data stores and functional elements: • Open source vs Traditional licenses • Some traditional vendors have well established API implementations • SirsiDynix Unicorn (API available to authorized customer sites that take training program) • Ex Libris: consistent deployment of APIs in major products, recent strategic initiative: “Open Platform Program” • Innovative Interfaces: Patron API

  28. Universal open APIs? • Some progress on API to support discovery layer interfaces, but no comprehensive framework yet. • Many industry protocols work like APIs: • Z39.50, SRU/W, NCIP, OAI-PMH, OpenURL, etd • It would be ideal if there were an open set of APIs that were implemented by all automation system products. • Third party components and add-ons would then work across all products. • DLF ILS-Discovery Interface protocol. Targets interoperability between ILS and new genre of interfaces • AKA: Berkeley Accords

  29. Opportunity out of the Upheavals • More options • Commercial + Open Source • More vendors • New open source support companies provide new competition • More library involvement • Libraries re-energized to make significant contributions to the body of library automation software • Traditionally licensed and open source automation systems will co-exist. We have an interest in the success of both alternatives.

  30. Part III. Moving toward new generation of library automation

  31. Rethinking the ILS • Fundamental assumption: Print + Digital = Hybrid libraries • Traditional ILS model not adequate for hybrid libraries • Libraries currently moving toward surrounding core ILS with additional modules to handle electronic content • New discovery layer interfaces replacing or supplementing ILS OPACS • Working toward a new model of library automation • Monolithic legacy architectures replaced by fabric of SOA applications • Comprehensive Resource Management “It's Time to Break the Mold of the Original ILS” Computers in Libraries Nov/Dec 2007

  32. ILS: a legacy concept? • ILS = Integrated Library System (Cataloging + Circulation + OPAC + Serials + Acquisitions) • Focused on print and physical inventory • Electronic content at the Journal Title or collection level • Emerged in the 1960’s – 1970’s • Functionality has evolved and expanded, but basic concepts and modules remain intact • Note: Some companies work toward evolving the ILS to competently handle both print and digital content (e.g. Innovative Interfaces)

  33. ILS: ever diminishing role • Many libraries putting much less emphasis on ILS • Just an inventory system for physical materials • Investments in electronic content increasing • Management of e-content handled outside of the ILS • Yet: libraries need comprehensive business automation more than ever. Mandate for more efficient operations. Do more with less.

  34. Dis-integration of Library Automation Functionality • ILS -- Print and Physical inventory • OpenURL Link resolver • Federated Search • Electronic Resource Management Module • Discovery layer interface

  35. Is non-integrated automation sustainable? • Major burden on library personnel • Serial procurement / installation / configuration / maintenance cycles take many years to result in a comprehensive environment • Inefficient data models • Disjointed interfaces for library users • Very long cycle to gain comprehensive automation

  36. New genre of discovery layer interfaces • Traditional ILS OPAC inadequate for today’s Web-savvy library users • Scope too narrow • Complex, non-intuitive interface • Yet: Necessary for some types of research • Working toward a single point of entry for all the content and services offered by the library

  37. Common Next-Gen Interface features • Decoupled interface • Advanced search engines • Relevancy ranked results • Faceted Navigation • Graphically enriched displays • Real-time interaction with ILS • Advanced user services and information delivery features

  38. Current Products • Aquabrowser (Medialab, Bowker / Serials Solutions) • Primo (Ex Libris) • Encore (Innovative Interfaces) • WorldCat Local (OCLC) • BiblioCommons • Visualizer (VTLS) • eXtensive Catalog (University of Rochester) • VUFind (open source / Villanova University) • Scriblio (open source) http://www.librarytechnology.org/discovery.pl

  39. Deep search • Entering post-metadata search era • Increasing opportunities to search the full contents • Google Library Print, Google Publisher, Open Content Alliance, Microsoft Live Book Search, etc. • High-quality metadata will improve search precision • Commercial search providers already offer “search inside the book” • No comprehensive full text search for books quite yet • Beginning to appear in library search environments • U of Mich (http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/blt/archives/2008/05/search_full-tex.html ) • Deep search highly improved by high-quality metadata See: Systems Librarian, May 2008 “Beyond the current generation of next-generation interfaces: deeper search”

  40. Architecture and Standards • Need to have an standard approach for connecting new generation interfaces with ILS and other repositories • Proprietary and ad hoc methods currently prevail • Digital Library Federation • ILS-Discovery Interface Group http://www.librarytechnology.org/blog.pl?ThreadID=43 • Initial foray into a broader set of protocols that open up other aspects of the ILS

  41. Moving toward a new Generation of Library Automation • Are Legacy ILS concepts sustainable? • New automation environment based on current library realities and modern technology platforms • Equal footing for digital and print • Service oriented architecture

  42. Breaking down the modules • Traditional ILS • Cataloging • Circulation • Online Catalog • Acquisitions • Serials control • Reporting • Modern approach: SOA

  43. Service Oriented Architecture http://www.sun.com/products/soa/benefits.jsp

  44. Legacy ILS + e-content modules End User Interfaces: Federated Search OpenURL Linking Electronic Resource Mgmt System Circulation Acquisitions Functional modules: Cataloging Serials Data Stores: Staff Interfaces:

  45. SOA model for business automation • Underlying data repositories • Local or Global • Reusable business services • Composite business applications

  46. SOA for library workflow processes Composite Applications Reusable Business Services Granular tasks: Data Stores:

  47. Comprehensive Resource Management • Broad conceptual approach that proposes a library automation environment that spans all types of content that comprise library collections. • Traditional ILS vendors: Under development but no public announcements • Open Source projects in early phases • Projection: 2-3 years until we begin see library automation systems that follow this approach. 5-7 years for wider adoption.

  48. Open Library Environment (OLE) project • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation • Research in Information Technology program • Solicited proposal / Lead institution • Duke University selected to lead project • Core Participants: Kansas University, Lehigh University, National Library of Australia, Library and Archives Canada, University of Pennsylvania, Marshall Breeding • Advisory Participants: University of Chicago, Wittier College, University of Maryland, ORBIS Cascade Alliance, Rutgers University • Status: Proposal complete, pending formal approval from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation http://oleproject.org

  49. Preparing for next generation library automation • Reassess workflows • Separate streams for print and digital? • Integrated processing of print and digital? • Opportunities to take advantage of SOA-based composite business applications • Assemble a more ideal set of tools for managing serials and periodicals

  50. Practical implications • Determine the level of openness your library requires • Off-the-shelf, traditionally licensed systems preferred in many libraries • Identify issues: • Vendor vulnerability • Flexibility to reprogram • Special reporting needs • Cost of operation • Software-as-a-service • Research and Development toward next-generation automation systems

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