1. Library Systems:
Strategic technical infrastructure to meet current needs and prepare for the future
Marshall Breeding
Independent Consultant, Author, and
Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides
13 June 2018
107. Deutscher Bibliothekartag 2018

2. Abstract
Libraries face many challenges in current times to provide collections and services in ways that meet the needs of their communities or parent organization. Public, academic, school, and other research libraries increasingly diverge in the nature of their work and in what they require of their technical system, yet they also share some core methods and principles. Changes in the publishing industry and in scholarly communications have made a profound impact on libraries. Transitions from print to electronic publication and from restrictions of subscription-based business models to open access have dramatically changed how libraries develop, manage, and provide access to their collections. The widespread adoption of smartphones in the consumer realm shapes expectations on the interfaces libraries provide for their services. A variety of trends in on the technical front impact the development of library systems, including open source versus proprietary software, increasing deployment via cloud technologies and multi-tenant platforms, and a growing interest in the microservices architecture. All these trends help shape the resource management and discovery systems upon which libraries depend. Breeding will provide an overview of the current library technology landscape relative to these trends and suggest some directions that these technologies might head in their next phase of development.

3. Library Technology Guides

4. Library Technology Industry Reports
American Libraries
Library Journal
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
2014: Strategic Competition and Cooperation
2015: Operationalizing Innovation
2016: Power Plays
2017: Competing visions for Technology, openness, workflows
2018: New Technologies enable an expended vision of library services

5. “Competing visions for technology, openness, and workflow”
Library System Report 2017
“Competing visions for technology, openness, and workflow”

6. 2017: Competing Visions
Assembly of companies with involvement in business activities spanning technology and content
Synergies among business activities which will give insight to inform business strategies without imposing control on their library customers
Horizontal and Vertical Consolidation
Mergers among companies with similar business activates
Expansion into new areas of business
Library technology increasingly part of the mix

7. Consolidation: deep and wide
Horizontal consolidation: M&A among ILS and RFID companies
SirsiDynix
Innovative
Bibliotheca
Lucidea
Vertical Consolidation: Acquisition into top-level companies
Content + Technology + Services
ProQuest: Acquisition of Ex Libris, Serials Solutions
EBSCO: FOLIO, Stacks, etc
Follett: Acquisition of Baker & Taylor

8. OCLC: Dominates Resource Sharing
Centralized Interlibrary Loan:
WorldShare ILL
Continues ILL services in place since the earliest years of OCLC
Distributed ILL and consortial borrowing
Acquisition of Relais International in January 2017
ILL transaction management
Distribution of ILLiad
Development of Tipasa

9. OCLC Acquisitions Relais International (Jan 2017)
Sustainable Collections (Jan 2015)
Huijsmans en Kuijpers Automatisering – HKA (Oct 2013)
Amlib (Sept 2008)
EZProxy (Jan 2008)
DiMema / CONTENTdm (Aug 2006)
Research Libraries Group (Jul 2006)
Openly Informatics (Jan 2006)
Sisis Informationssysteme (Jun 2005)
PICA ( )

10. OCLC Consolidates Resource Sharing
WorldShare ILL: global centralized interlibrary loan brokering system
Relais: D2D peer to peer borrowing system
Tipasa: ILL Management built on WorldShare; replaces ILLiad
Greenglass collection analysis (Sustainable Collections)
RLG (2006)
CBS: used for union catalog and ILL services in many European countries and regions.

11. Library Services Platform
Library-specific software. Technical infrastructure to help libraries automate their internal operations, manage collections, fulfillment requests, and deliver services
Services
Services-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

12. Library Services Platforms
New genre of resource management
Workflows unified across electronic, print, and digital formats
Flexible metadata management: MARC, Dublin Core, BIBFRAME, etc
Deployed via web-native multi-tenant platform
Built-in analytics and decision support
Replaces multiple incumbent products

13. Library Services Platforms – Functional
Manages electronic and print formats of materials
Replaces multiple incumbent products
Extensive Metadata Management
Multiple procurement workflows
Knowledgebases
Built-in collection analytics
Decision support for collection development

14. Platform characteristics
Technical infrastructure to support complex business applications
Delivers common services: data stores, messaging, events, workflow engine
Agnostic relative to structure of higher-level applications
Common UI framework
Designed for multitenancy

15. Resource Management Models
Category
Integrated Library System
Progressive integrated library System
Library Services Platform
Resources managed
Physical
Print, electronic
Electronic, Physical
Technology platform
Server-based
Multi-tenant SaaS
Knowledgebases
None
e-holdings, bibliographic
Patron interfaces
Browser-based
Staff interfaces
Graphical Desktop (Java Swing, Windows, Mac OS)
Procurement models
Purchase
Purchase, license
license
Hosting option
Local install, ASP
SaaS Only
Interoperability
Batch transfer, proprietary API
Batch transfer, RESTful APIs,
APIs (mostly RESTful)
Products
SirsiDynix Symphony, Millennium, Polaris
Sierra, SirsiDynix Symphony/BLUEcloud, Polaris, Apollo
WorldShare Management Services, Alma, FOLIO
Development strategy
Brownfield
Greenfield

16. LSP Development Timeline

17. “New Technologies Enable an Expanded vision of Library Services”
Library System Report 2018
“New Technologies Enable an Expanded vision of Library Services”

18. 2018: New Tech / Expanded Vision
Resource Management and Discovery products relatively mature
Increased interest on products supporting services beyond collections
Extend academic library technologies in support of the research agenda of the university
Support teaching through learning management integration and copyright management
Advancing resource sharing strategies
Ex Libris: shared resource management infrastructure for multi- campus systems and consortia
OCLC: Consolidation of products for centralized and peer-to- peer interlibrary loan (WorldShare ILL, Relais D2D, Tipasa)

19. ProQuest – EBSCO dynamic
EBSCO Information Service
Content: ProQuest platform
OASIS acquisitions
Ex Libris + PQ product suite
Alma
Primo, Summon
Strategy of platform bundling: Alma + Primo
EBSCOhost
EBSCO Discovery Service
GOBI acquisitions service
Strategy of Integrating discovery into all other platforms
Open Source Strategy:
FOLIO
Koha

20. Scientific Workflow and Analytics
Elsevier
Digital Science
Clarivate
Citation database
Scopus
Dimensions
Web of Science
Content indexed
69 million publications from 5,000 publishers; 22,800 journals; 150,000 books
89 million publications; 870 million citations
68 million publications; 33,000 journals; 88,000 books
Analytics
SciVal
Plum Analytics PlumX
Altmetric
InSites Essential Science Indicators
Reference Manager
Mendeley
EndNote
Research information management system
Pure
Symplectic
 Converis
Journal Publication Manager
ScholarOne / Publons
Repository
 bepress
FigShare
Scientific collaborative network
SSRN
Ownership
RELX
Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
Baring Private Equity Asia

21. 2017 LSP Sales + Installations
Library Services Platforms
Total Contracts
Install
Product
Company
2017
2016
2015
Alma
Ex Libris
116
132 88
1095
WorldShare Management Services
OCLC 52 83 68
521

22. Vendor Personnel Statistics (2017)

23. Vendor Personnel Statistics (2017)

24. Weighted annual sales reports
Alma:
report.pl?Product=Alma&Year=2017
2017: 12,415
Cumulative: 48,633
OCLC WorldShare Management Services
report.pl?Product=WorldShare%20Management%20Services&Year=2 017
2017:1,865
Cumulative:14,484

25. Ex Libris Knowledgebase and Index Strategy
Interfaces and applications will remain, with internal content components consolidated
Summon index extended with unique content from Primo Central
New consolidated index will power both Summon and Primo
ProQuest knowledge base will be extended with unique content from SFX / Alma knowledgebase
New knowledge base will power Alma, SFX, 360 Link, etc

26. Alma discovery strategy
Primo bundled with Alma by default
Tight integration, shared knowledgebases
Summon now offered as a supported patron interface
Active support for open source discovery:
Blacklight, VuFind
Other options possible via APIs
No officially supported use of EDS as patron interface for Alma

27. Beyond library management
Starting point: Management, discovery, and access to collections
Leverage platforms to address new areas of library service
Curriculum support: Leganto (including SIPX)
Research Services Platform: Esploro
Increase visibility, efficiency, and impact of institutional research
Support for services with strategic importance to the university

28. Ex Libris moving beyond Alma
Alma continues to evolve in functionality, but now considered by Ex Libris a stable and robust system
Leverage the platform to address other pressing needs of academic institutions, even beyond the library
Leganto: integration of library resources into learning management systems
SIPX: Management of course materials and copyright management
Esploro: Research Information Management System
campusM platform: mobile-friendly content management platform for academic institutions

29. Alma Migration Report

30. Alma Perceptions scores

31. OCLC WorldShare Management Services
Strategic resource management platform developed by OCLC
Other apps built on the WorldShare Platform:
WorldShare License Manager
WorldShare Interlibrary Loan
Tipasa ILL management system (replaces ILLiad)

32. WMS Migration Report

33. WMS Implementations by Type

34. WMS Implementations by Size

35. WMS Perceptions scores

36. Axiell Quria
Open source library services platform for public libraries
Fresh start for development of technology infrastructure for public libraries
Digital first design
Program and event management
Customer service module
Built-in analytics
Pilot libraries now in production:
Drammen Public Library (Norway)
Mediathek Lahr (Germany)
See: Breeding, Marshall. (2016). Axiell Launches Quria: New Library Services Platform for Public Libraries. Smart Libraries Newsletter 36 (7), 3-6.

37. Shared Infrastructure
Participating institutions share a single instance of a Library Services Platform or Integrated Library System
Consolidated bibliographic database

38. Academic Shared Infrastructure Projects selecting Alma
Orbis Cascade Alliance (37 libraries)
State University of New York (61 campuses)
WHELF: Academic libraries in Wales
BIBSYS: 205 National, Academic, Special libraries in Norway
California State University (23 campuses)
University of Georgia system: all public universities
Detroit Area Library Network
Österreichische Bibliothekenverbund und Service Gesellschaft in Austria

39. Denmark Joint Library System
Shared instance of Cicero library management developed by Systematic
ServespPublic and school libraries in all 98 Municipalities in Denmark
2,428 library facilities
Serves population of 4.2 million
62 Million items
50+ million annual circulation transactions

40. Vendor Personnel Statistics

41. Open Source Software
Expanding access to technology

42. General observations
Wealthy regions primarily use proprietary products
Sophisticated systems, but with substantial costs for libraries
Proprietary products not affordable by most libraries in developing world
Open source ILS products have comparable capabilities and can be implemented at lower costs
Gaps in functionality between open source and proprietary ILS products continue to narrow
Open source options for electronic resource management are available, but have less capabilities
Lack of open access knowledgebase and discovery index

43. Open Source vs Proprietary Software
Library software available under both models
Proprietary software tends to be adopted in libraries with more robust budgets
…but many libraries in wealthy countries also use open source ILS products
Open source software widely implemented in developing nations
Commercial support of open source represents a growing portion of ILS implementations in the US

44. Open Source Software
The source code to the software must be made available
Can be modified and shared
No fees can be charged for the software itself
Fees can be charged for services for open source software products:
Support
Hosting
Migration
Customizations
OSS licenses specify different terms for sharing, re-use, commercial use, etc. (GPL, Apache)

45. Trends in Open Source
Open source now a routine segment of strategic library automation
Implementation models:
Commercial support
Independent with community support
Support through governmental organizations
Development models
Distributed community
Mostly centralized within a commercial community (Example Kuali suite of applications for universities)

46. Open source Library Tech Products
Integrated library systems:
Koha
Evergreen
Invenio (commercial support from TIND)
ABCD
ILS based on CDS/ISIS components
Library Services Platforms
FOLIO
Still in development phase
Discovery interfaces
VuFind (PHP + SOLR)
Blacklight (Ruby + SOLR)

47. Open Source ILS in the United States
Koha:
small to mid-sized public libraries
Schools
Some small to mid-sized academics for print collections; reliance on Coral or other products for electronic resource management
Evergreen
Public library consortia
Typical: large consortium comprised mostly of small and mid-sized public libraries
Koha + Evergreen: about15% of overall ILS deployments

48. Koha
Originally developed in 1999 for small group of libraries in New Zealand, Horowhenua Library Trust by Katipo Communications, production use by January 2000
Gained widespread use in the United States around and has seen steady growth in use
Wide international adoption
Used in many thousands of libraries. 2,682 represented in libraries.org, with many large groups not yet registered.
Dominant open source SIGB in Latin America

49. Koha Worldwide

50. National Projects to deploy Koha
Philippines: A systematic effort to install Koha in the public libraries sponsored by the state libraries
Turkey: 1,200+ public libraries
Spain: Koha-Kobli
Argentina. CONABIP (Comisión Nacional de Bibliotecas Populares)
Customized version of Koha: DigiBepe

51. FOLIO Open source library services platform Designed for multitenancy
Based on Microservices architecture
Designed for multiple deployments
In development phase: expect first libraries to go into production in 2018

52. EBSCO Supports new Open Source Project
FOLIO
the Future of the Library is Open
A community collaboration to develop an open source Library Services Platform designed for innovation.
American Libraries feature:
ebsco-kuali-open-source-project/

53. FOLIO background Initially oriented to academic libraries
Academic libraries interested in Library Services Platform
Narrow options (Ex Libris Alma, OCLC WorldShare Management Services)
Unbundle Discovery from Resource Management
Choice for patron-facing services
Alternative functional approach based on apps and modules

54. Technology Microservices architecture Modular
Enables choice for discovery
Pluggable modules
Not monolithic

55. FOLIO Platform

56. } Monolithic Application: Enterprise SOA Model
Scripts/ Third Party Systems
User Interfaces
API endpoints
Web service
Presentation Layer
Application software Business Logic }
Reusable
Composable Services
Enterprise Service Bus
Database Engine
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table

57. Microservices-based Application
Scripts/ Third Party Systems
User Interfaces
API endpoints
Presentation Layer / UI Toolkit
API Gateway
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Microservice
Data Store
Web service
Run time libraries
Application software
Service components
Persistence / System Layer

58. Organization Independent foundation Financial support from EBSCO
Financial support from EBSCO
Index Data contracted for Initial development
Community support from Open Library Environment (formerly Kuali OLE)
Synergy with Global Open Knowledgebase (GOKb)

59. EBSCO Involvement Not owned by EBSCO
EBSCO provides financial and in-kind resources
Governed through independent non-profit
Participation by Kuali OLE
Engage with developers from libraries, consortia, and commercial entities
EBSCO will provide hosting services
Based on modules and pluggable apps

60. Timeline Aug 2016: Release of base platform to developers
: Initial versions available for early adopters
Implementable tools and modules will be available prior to a comprehensive system

61. The current state of the art
Two well-established products
Two projects in pilot or development phase
Transition to new technology infrastructure important strategically, difficult operationally
Initial focus on academic libraries spreading to Public libraries
Provide a foundation to support expanding visions of library service in curriculum support, research management, and other campus services

62. Index-based Discovery Services
Mostly for Academic and Research libraries

63. Web-scale Index-based Discovery
ILS Data
Web-scale Index-based Discovery
(2009- present)
Digital Collections
Search:
Web Site Content
Institutional Repositories
Aggregated Content packages
Search Results
Consolidated Index
Open Access …
E-Journals
Usage-generated Data
Customer Profile
Reference Sources
Pre-built harvesting and indexing

64. Possibilities for Open Access discovery index
Open source tools exist for discovery Interfaces:
VuFind
Blacklight
No open access discovery indexes
High threshold of expense and difficulty to build index
Platform costs
Software development
Publisher relations
Billions of content items to index and maintain

65. Yewno Discovery
New approach to discovery based on exploring concepts rather than keywords
Spin-off from Stanford University, led by Ruggero Gramatica
Uses machine learning to extract concepts from documents
Visual interface for navigating and exploring concepts within the body of documents

66. Yewno Discovery interface
Quick demo:

67. Discoverability
Enabling discovery of library resources through general web search engines

68. Browser Plugins Simple way to lead users to full text Examples:
Unpaywall
Offered by non-profit Impactstory
Provides Unpaywall Data, a massive citation database, identifies open access content (100 million citations; 18 million open access articles)
Koperio:
acquired by Clarivate in April 2018
Library Access:
plugin from Lean Library, startup out of Utrecht University

69. Library opts out of Discovery
Utrecht University Library
Decision to not implement a discovery service but to rely entirely on Google Scholar and other general and scholarly search engines
for-literature/searching-for-articles-books-theses
(ongoing strategy as of 2017)
Kortekaas , Simone. “Thinking the unthinkable: a library without a catalogue — Reconsidering the future of discovery tools for Utrecht University library.” LIBER General Annual Conference 2012

70. Discovery happens elsewhere*
Only a portion of library users come to the libraries own website, catalog, or discovery service for research
Important to have library-provided discovery options
Also essential to ensure that library resources can be discovered and accessed through the general web.
Google Scholar, Google, Microsoft Academic Search, etc
Use Search Engine Optimization methodologies to expose library resources
Lorcan Dempsey, VP and Chief Strategist OCLC

71. More Distributed Discovery
Address the reality that discovery takes place outside of library provided interfaces
Optimized exposure in the ecosystem of search engine and social network
Not Concentrated on the Library web site
Expression of discovery services via other campus tools and portals and beyond

72. Multi-layered discovery
Native interfaces of specialized content services
Disciplinary aggregations
General library discovery tools
Global Internet-based discovery

73. Discoverability Strategies
Search Engine Optimization for library resources
Linked data models:
Schema.org
BIBFRAME
Commercial products
Demco Software DiscoveryOocal
Zepheira: Library.Link network, BIBFRAME, etc
SirsiDynix BLUEcloud Visibility
Innovative
EBSCO Information Services

74. Schema.org
Structured data methodology to deliver web-based resources that can be understood by computers as well as for presentation to humans
Originally developed by Google, now widely supported by all search engines
See:

75. Schema.org coding example
<div itemscope="itemscope" itemtype=" <h2><meta itemprop="name" content="Nashville Public Library" /> <span itemprop="legalName">Nashville Public Library</span></h2> <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype=" Address: </span><span itemprop="streetAddress"> 615 Church Street<br /></span> …. </div> <!-- End microdata itemscope div -->

77. Google Structured Data Testing Tool

78. Mobile Discovery
Google and other search engines increasingly consider search for mobile devices separately than general web search
Avoid linking mobile devices to pages that they cannot display well
Non-mobile friendly websites demoted or eliminated in mobile search results
Essential for libraries to have responsive or mobile- friendly web sites

79. Integrate Discovery with Resource Management?
Should there be a tight bundling of Discovery Services with Library Services Platforms:
WorldCat Discovery Services + WorldShare Management Services
Alma + Primo or Summon
Also support for Blacklight or VuFind
EBSCO rejects tight bundling
Partners with almost all ILS products
Support for open source FOLIO project
Many libraries prefer providing discovery separately

80. Discovery from Content Providers
Two of the major discovery services are tied to content providers:
EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Discovery Service
ProQuest:
Summon
Primo + Primo Central
Explicit bias would not be tolerated by libraries
Providing discovery services can provide insight into content acquisition and patron behaviors

81. Library Discovery Futures
Beyond library-provided discovery

82. The future of Resource Discovery
Discovery more integrated into a broader view of library content and services
More comprehensive discovery indexes
Discovery services enhanced by AI and machine learning
Stronger technologies for search and retrieval
Discovery beyond library-provided interfaces
Linked Data to supplement discovery indexes

83. Future of discovery service products
Remain one of the essential components of library technology infrastructure
Loosely or tightly tied to resource management
Increased sophistication in direct discovery and delivery functionality
Increased expectation to syndicate content to local and global discovery context

84. The next phase of Discovery
Now in a critical point for discovery
Current products evolve
Reaching limits of the prevailing architecture?
Current set of products and services an interim step
Important for stakeholders to engage in defining the future of library resource discovery
Future products must address expected changes in scholarly publishing, library priorities, and institutional strategies.

85. Questions and discussion