Cloud Computing: Enabling New Opportunities for Libraries

Marshall Breeding Independent Consultant, Author, Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides http://www.librarytechnology.org/ http://twitter.com/mbreeding Cloud Computing: Enabling New Opportunities for Libraries May 16,2014 COSUGI 2014

Summary • Marshall Breeding will present a summary of the latest trends in library technologies. Many of these new products, especially those based on cloud computing technologies, have a profound impact on the models of resource sharing available to libraries.

Library Technology Guides www.librarytechnology.org

Library Technology Industry Reports American Libraries Library Journal • 2014: Strategic Competition and Cooperation • 2013: Rush to Innovate • 2012: Agents of Change • 2011: New Frontier • 2010: New Models, Core Systems • 2009: Investing in the Future • 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

Library Systems Report 2014

Library Systems Report 2014 Arabic

Integrated Library Systems • Integrated library systems continue to incrementally evolve and remain viable for public libraries and others where the central concern continues to focus on print and electronic books. Integrated library systems, though not as radically reengineered as library services platforms, must still make ambitious improvements in functionality, especially in their patron interfaces, to meet library expectations.

Library Services Platforms • Recent years have seen the emergence of library services platforms, a new genre of automation systems designed to manage electronic and print collections. These platforms follow the services-oriented architecture, are deployed through multitenant SaaS, and have other distinctive characteristics that set them apart from the integrated library systems.

ILS vs LSP: Shades of grey • The term “library services platform” was established to differentiate these products from the model of automation inherent in integrated library systems. These two categories also have significant areas of overlap in functionality, and some products embrace characteristics of both.

Library Services Platform • Library-specific software. Designed to help libraries automate their internal operations, manage collections, fulfillment requests, and deliver services • Services • Service oriented architecture • Exposes Web services and other API’s • Facilitates the services libraries offer to their users • Platform • General infrastructure for library automation • Consistent with the concept of Platform as a Service • Library programmers address the APIs of the platform to extend functionality, create connections with other systems, dynamically interact with data

Library Services Platform Characteristics • Highly Shared data models • Knowledgebase architecture • Some may take hybrid approach to accommodate local data stores • Delivered through software as a service • Multi-tenant • Unified workflows across formats and media • Flexible metadata management • MARC – Dublin Core – VRA – MODS – ONIX • Bibframe • New structures not yet invented • Open APIs for extensibility and interoperability

SirsiDynix BLUEcloud Suite • Evolutionary development toward the creation of a Library Services Platform • New BLUEcloud modules consistent with Library Services Platform • Symphony and Horizon belong to the ILS category • Overall deployment = Interim Hybrid model • BLUEcloud components expand • Dependence on ILS component shrinks

LSP / ILS Hybrid Model Library Services Platform Integrated Library System(s)

Library Systems Report Tables http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org

SirsiDynix in Library Systems Report • SirsiDynix signed 128 contracts for its Symphony ILS, with the majority made to libraries outside the US, dominated by public libraries (63), with significant numbers of special (31), academic (30), and school (4).

SirsiDynix in Library Systems Report • The company has developed the BLUEcloud Suite, a set of web-based products that operate in conjunction with its Symphony or Horizon ILS through a layer of web services.

SirsiDynix in Library Systems Report • Products previously delivered through this architecture include MobileCirc, to allow staff to perform selected circulation functions on tablets or other mobile devices; Analytics; eResource Central, for management and access to ebooks and other electronic resources; the Enterprise discovery interface Portfolio, which extends Enterprise for access to digital collections; BookMyne, a mobile online catalog app; and Social Library, a native Facebook online catalog. Resources currently available through eResource Central include ebooks from OverDrive, 3M Cloud Library, Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360, EBSCO, and Recorded Books.

SirsiDynix in Library Systems Report • Development of BLUEcloud Cataloging is underway, with release planned in 2014 as the first of the staff modules offered through a web interface.

Software as a Service: Major industry trend • The transition to cloud computing provides a significant increment of industrywide growth.

SaaS: New financial model • A software-as-a-service (SaaS) economy model trades higher upfront costs, incurred by libraries for equipment and software licenses, for a comprehensive annual subscription fee.

SaaS: Efficient model of computing • Leveraging economies of scale, SaaS providers have the potential to enable savings for libraries over time compared with direct and indirect costs of maintaining local servers and related infrastructure.

Saas: Library Adoption • Newer products … come only via SaaS. Even for server-based integrated library systems, libraries increasingly opt for hosted options as they acquire new products, instead of replacing outdated equipment underlying existing installations.

Cloud Computing for Libraries Book Image Publication Info: • Volume 11 in The Tech Set • Published by Neal-Schuman / ALA TechSource • ISBN: 781555707859 • http://www.neal-schuman.com/ccl

Local Computing • Traditional model • Locally owned and managed • Shifting from departmental to enterprise • Departmental servers co-located in central IT data centers • Increasingly virtualized

Fundamental technology shift • Mainframe computing • Client/Server • Web-based and Cloud Computing http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrick/61952845/ http://soacloudcomputing.blogspot.com/2008/10/cloud-computing.html http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-2001/jw-1019-jxta.html

Major trend in Information Technology Term “in the cloud” has devolved into marketing hype, but cloud computing in the form of multi-tenant software as a service offers libraries opportunities to break out of individual silos of automation and engage in widely shared cooperative systems Opportunities for libraries to leverage their combined efforts into large-scale systems with more end-user impact and organizational efficiencies Cloud Computing

Gartner Hype Cycle 2009

Cloud computing – characteristics • Web-based Interfaces • Externally hosted • Pricing: subscription or utility • Highly abstracted computing model • Provisioned on demand • Scaled according to variable needs • Elastic – consumption of resources can contract and expand according to demand

ASP / Server Hosting / Co-location • Vendor hosting of server associated with single-instance system • Each instance separately installed and configured • Often deployed on virtualized servers • Client/server systems may require installation of client software on staff workstations

Multi-tenant SaaS • One Instance serves all users of the service (institutional or Individual) • Supports institutional or individual partitioning of functionality • Supports shared data access as needed • Fixes and features deployed once for all users • Web-based interfaces, no workstation clients

Benefits of Cloud Computing Libraries Providers / Vendors • Elimination of capital expenses for equipment • Lower annual costs • Redeployment of technical staff to more meaningful activities • Higher revenues relative to software-only arrangements • Provision of infrastructure at scale with lower unit costs • Longer-term relationships with customers

Cost implications • Total cost of ownership • Do all cost components result in increased or decreased expense • Personnel costs – need less technical administration • Hardware – server hardware eliminated • Software costs: subscription, license, maintenance/support • Indirect costs: energy costs associated with power and cooling of servers in data center • IaaS: balance elimination of hardware investments for ongoing usage fees • Especially attractive for development and prototyping

Budget Allocations Local Computing Cloud Computing • Server Purchase • Server Maintenance • Application software license • Data Center overhead • Energy costs • Facility costs • Annual Subscription • Measured Service? • Fixed fees • Factors • Hosting • Software Licenses • Optional modules

Risks and concerns • Privacy of data • Policies, regulations, jurisdictions • Ownership of data • Avoid vendor lock-in • Integrity of Data • Backups and disaster recovery

Caveats and concerns with SaaS • Libraries must have adequate bandwidth to support access to remote applications without latency • Quality of service agreements that guarantee performance and reliability factors • Configurability and customizability limitations • Access to API’s • Ability to interoperate with 3rd party applications • Eg: Connect SaaS ILS with discovery product from another vendor

Security issues • Most providers implement stronger safeguards beyond the capacity of local institutions • Virtual instances equally susceptible to poor security practices as local computing

SaaS provides opportunity for highly shared data models Bibliographic knowledgebase: one globally shared copy that serves all libraries Discovery indexes: article and object-level index for resource discovery E-resource knowledge bases: shared authoritative repository of e-journal holdings General opportunity to move away from library-by-library metadata management to globally shared workflows Data as a service

More than a technical transition • Transforming infrastructure • Transform resources • Working toward shared infrastructure • Identify areas where libraries can collaborate to share resources • Infrastructure transformation • Bandwidth • Shared services • Refocus development from stand-alone applications to platforms • Platform development • APIs that allow individual libraries or campuses to consume content or services according to local needs

Open Systems • Achieving openness has risen as the key driver behind library technology strategies • Libraries need to do more with their data • Ability to improve customer experience and operational efficiencies • Demand for Interoperability • Open source – full access to internal program of the application • Open API’s – expose programmatic interfaces to data and functionality

Strategic Cooperation and Resource sharing • Efforts on many fronts to cooperate and consolidate • Many regional consortia merging • State-wide or national implementations

Shared Consortial ILS Library 6 Library 1 Library 8 Library 7 Library 10 Library 4 Library 3 Library 2 Library 9 Library 5 Search: Holdings ILS configured To support Direct consortial Borrowing throughCirculation Module Model: Multipleindependentlibraries in a Consortium Share an ILS BibliographicDatabase Shared Consortia System

South Australia SA Public Library Network 140 Public Libraries

Northern Ireland • Recently consolidated from 4 regional networks into one • 96 branch libraries • 18 mobile libraries • Collections managed through single Axiell OpenGalaxy LMS http://www.ni-libraries.net/

Moving legacy systems to hosted services provides some savings to individual institutions but does not result in dramatic transformation Globally shared data and metadata models have the potential to achieve new levels of operational efficiencies and more powerful discovery and automation scenarios that improve the position of libraries overall. Leveraging the Cloud

Move up the technology stack • Infrastructure • General support • Library-specific support • Utility programming • Application programming • Strategic technology planning • Creative innovation

Questions and discussion

Cloud Computing: Enabling New Opportunities for Libraries