ADVANCEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIES: assessing current automation products and alternatives Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technology and Research Vanderbilt University Library Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides Workshop for Saxony Librarians and IT 14 November 2010

Abstract  Marshall Breeding will provide an overview of changes that are underway in the development of technology infrastructure in support of libraries. He will discuss several tangents underway involving library management systems, including open source alternatives, continued evolution of legacy systems, and the emergence of new platforms built anew that take a different conceptual approach. A new genre of discovery products has emerged in recent years that has already turned through new cycles of advancement.

Current state of the industry

Library Technology Guides

Dynamics of the ILS market

ILS market in New York – Public

ILS market in New York – Academic

UK LMS Deployments (libraries)

UK LMS Deployments (facilities)

UK Academic LMS Deployments

ILS Deployments in Germany

ILS deployments in Germany

Lib-web-cats Technology Profile

Lib-web-cats extended for RFID Products

Lib-web-cats tech profile

Trends in Germany  Tradition of local and regional automation companies  Increasing interest by international LMS vendors  LMS products in Saxony

Baden Württemberg  Recent EU procurement for new shared LMS  aDIS/BMS was selected after an EU-wide competition in  The following libraries are planned to migrate during the next two years:  the state libraries of the federal state of Baden- Württemberg in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe  the university libraries of Freiburg, Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Ulm  43 libraries of technical universiti, es and colleges  [via Joerg Langner, Universitätsbibliothek Stuttgart]

Compared to North America  Significant consolidation, yet no vendor dominates entirely  Library services available reliant on state and local government initiatives and resources  Movement toward open source ILS – regional and state-wide projects underway

General Findings  Moderately slow year for Core ILS products  Strong sales in Discovery Products  Strategy to move forward with new user interfaces and defer investments in ILS replacement  Current products deliver modern interfaces, while mainly addressing local content (ILS / local digital)  Emerging products bring vast collections of articles into the primary discovery layer: Web-scale discovery

Key Context: Libraries in Transition  Shift from Print > Electronic  Increasing emphasis on subscribed content, especially articles and databases  Strong emphasis on digitizing local collections  Demands for enterprise integration and interoperability

Key Context: Technologies in transition  XML / Web services / Service-oriented Architecture  Beyond Web 2.0 Integration of social computing into core infrastructure  Local computing shifting to cloud platforms SaaS / private cloud / public cloud  Full spectrum of devices full-scale / net book / tablet / mobile Mobile the current focus, but is only one example of device and interface cycles

Dynamics of the Library Automation Scene  Evolutionary ILS  Revolutionary ILS  Open source and Licensed alternatives

Evolutionary path  Gradual enhancement of long-standing ILS platforms  Wrap legacy code in APIs and Web services  SirsiDynix  Unicorn (+Horizon functionality) > Symphony  Innovative  INNOVAQ > INNOPAC > Millennium > Encore  Civica  Urica > Spydus (Urica Integrated Systems, Amalgamated Wireless Australia, McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, Sanderson)

Evolution vs. Revolution  The library automation market has a long-standing preference of evolved systems  Very difficult and lengthy process to build a new library automation system from scratch  Legacy systems bring forward both rich functionality as well as concepts tied to the past

 Traditional Proprietary Commercial ILS  Millennium, Symphony, Polaris  Traditional Open Source ILS  Evergreen, Koha  Clean slate automation framework (SOA, enterprise- ready)  Ex Libris URM, Kuali OLE  Comprehensive Resource Management  Cloud-based automation system  OCLC Web-scale Management Service Competing Models of Library Automation

Rethinking library automation  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 “It's Time to Break the Mold of the Original ILS” Computers in Libraries Nov/Dec 2007

Open Systems  Achieving openness has risen as the key driver behind library technology strategies  Open source  Open API’s  Demand for Interoperability  Libraries need to do more with their data  Ability to improve customer experience

Open Source vs. Proprietary ILS  Proprietary systems have dominated for 3 decades  Open source ILS gradually gaining in last 5 years  Small to mid-sized public, academic, special  Consortia of small to mid-sized libraries  New wave of implementations underway to expand open source ILS into the ranks of the largest and busiest libraries:  King County, WA; Access PA, Bibliomation  Floodgates open?

The Shrinking LMS  The Library Management System no longer stands as the single library automation product that provides comprehensive support for all aspects of library operations.  Many libraries putting much less emphasis on LMS  Manages workflows related to physical materials  Investments in electronic content increasing  Management of e-content handled outside of the ILS

…shrinking LMS  Yet: libraries need comprehensive business automation more than ever. Mandate for more efficient operations. Do more with less.  Proliferation of automation products needed to handle all aspects of libraries can overwhelm many libraries  Libraries lack technical personnel and needed capital to purchase and manage multiple systems

Legacy LMS Model Circulation BIB Staff Interfaces: Holding / Items Circ Transact UserVendorPolicies $$$ Funds CatalogingAcquisitionsSerialsOnline Catalog Public Interfaces: Interfaces Business Logic Data Stores

Breaking out of the mold  Academic and Research libraries especially struggle with how to deal with managing increasing proportions of licensed electronic content  LMS geared toward print materials  New products aim to manage library resources spanning print and electronic; owned or licensed  Examples: Ex Libris URM, Kuali OLE

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

LMS / Electronic Resource Management Circulation BIB Staff Interfaces: Holding / Items Circ Transact UserVendorPolicies $$$ Funds CatalogingAcquisitionsSerialsOnline Catalog Public Interfaces: Application Programming Interfaces ` License Management License Terms E-resource Procurement Vendors E-Journal Titles Protocols: CORE

LMS / Electronic Resource Management Circulation BIB Staff Interfaces: Holding / Items Circ Transact UserVendorPolicies $$$ Funds CatalogingAcquisitions Serials + e-resources Online Catalog Public Interfaces: Application Programming Interfaces License manager License Terms Print + Electronic

Application Programming Interfaces  A set of tools used by programmers to:  Extend Functionality  Connect external systems  Extract or synchronize data  Proprietary API’s common in LMS space  Moving toward open API’s and Web Services

` Legacy ILS Model / API Circulation BIB Staff Interfaces: Holding / Items Circ Transact UserVendorPolicies $$$ Funds CatalogingAcquisitionsSerialsOnline Catalog Public Interfaces: Interfaces Business Logic Data Stores Application Programming Interfaces

Legacy ILS Model / protocol Circulation BIB Staff Interfaces: Holding / Items Circ Transact UserVendorPolicies $$$ Funds CatalogingAcquisitionsSerialsOnline Catalog Public Interfaces: Application Programming Interfaces Protocols: SIP2 NCIP Z39.50 OAI-PMH Self-Check Interlibrary Loan System Interlibrary Loan System

Legacy ILS Model / External API Circulation BIB Staff Interfaces: Holding / Items Circ Transact UserVendorPolicies $$$ Funds CatalogingAcquisitionsSerialsOnline Catalog Public Interfaces: Application Programming Interfaces / Web Services Protocols: SIP2 NCIP Z39.50 OAI-PMH External Systems & Services Flexible Interoperability

Benefits of APIs to Libraries  Extensibility  Interoperability  Allows the LMS to connect with other automation components  Create a matrix of interconnected systems rather than isolated silos with redundant data and functionality  LMS maturity means similar levels of functionality  LMS products increasingly differentiated by extent and quality of APIs and interoperability support

Decoupled Discovery  Online Catalogs delivered with LMS products seen as not suitable for current Web-savvy library uses  Need to modernize the interface  Expand the scope to encompass all aspects of library collections

Discovery Products

Decoupled from LMS

Legacy ILS Model / Discovery ` Circulation BIB Staff Interfaces: Holding / Items Circ Transact UserVendorPolicies $$$ Funds CatalogingAcquisitionsSerialsOnline Catalog Application Programming Interfaces Consolidated index Search Engine Protocols: SIP2 NCIP Z39.50 OAI-PMH Discovery Service Search: Bibliographic Record Harvesting Real time Holdings Display Circulation Status Requests: hold, renew,

Connecting LMS + Discovery  Digital Library Federation  Integrated Library System – Discovery Interface protocol  HarvestBibliographicRecords  HarvestExpandedRecords  GetAvailability  GoToBibliographicRequestPage  Information Standards Quarterly Summer 2008  displaytext.pl?RC=13491

Legacy ILS Model / Extended Discovery ` API Layer LMS Consolidated index Search Engine Discovery Service Search: Digital Collections ProQuest EBSCOhost … JSTOR Other Resources

Consolidated index Search Engine Discovery Service Search: Digital Coll ProQuest EBSCO … JSTOR Other Resources New Library Management Model ` API Layer Library Management System Learning Management Enterprise Resource Planning Stock Management Self-Check / Automated Return Authentication Service Smart Cad / Payment systems

LMS as Middleware  LMS provides strategic core of automation  Less involved with end-user contact  Discovery for Web-based collection discovery and user services  Self-service stations for loans and returns  Smart-card and payment systems

Online Catalog Search: Search Results ILS Data

Discovery Interface Search: Digital Collections ProQuest EBSCOhost … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Search Results Real-time query and responses ILS Data Local Index MetaSearch Engine

Pre-populated discovery services  New-generation interface  Harvested local content  ILS metadata  Institutional repositories, ETDs, Digital Collection platforms  Vendor-supplied indexes of library content  E-journals, databases, e-books Full-text and metadata corresponding to e-content subscriptions  Book collections beyond local library collections

Web-scale Search Search: Digital Collections ProQuest EBSCOhost … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Search Results Pre-built harvesting and indexing Consolidated Index ILS Data

Web-scale Search + Federated Search Search: Digital Collections ProQuest … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Search Results Pre-built harvesting and indexing Consolidated Index ILS Data Fed Search Non- harvestable Resources Non- harvestable Resources

Questions and discussion