Believe me when I say that the people in the trenches in these companies see little of the wealth that most librarians assume has been amassed by everyone in the library automation business. The work is hard, the hours long, the commitment high and the rewards modest. One thing that struck me, however, was the way many librarians viewed the vendors, publishers, and distributors to whom they were beholden.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
On the other hand, niche products are perhaps one of the best developments for the benefit of libraries. A full copy of the survey is available in Appendix B at the end of this book.).
SIZING UP THE DOT-COM COMPETITION
Another advantage of scrolling is that it does not require any typing from the user. LivePerson was one of the first real-time customer service chat services on the net.
BUSINESS CHALLENGES TO LIBRARY PRACTICES
Finally, it will examine how various digital library services are already adopting some of the strategies and technologies brought to the table by new start-ups. One of the first to market itself directly to students (and their parents), Questia, which will not disclose the number of subscribers, now boasts access to more than 70,000 book and journal articles in the humanities and social sciences, and a staff of 25 with one professional librarian (these last two numbers are in sharp decline compared to their starting numbers, which could be the beginning of the end for Questia). The threat comes in destabilizing the status quo relationship that libraries and booksellers have enjoyed for more than a century. Since the source document is PDF, most of the appropriate features of that format are included in the display.
Most library dot-commers such as Questia, netLibrary, ebrary, and eLibrary require users to create personal accounts outside of the library. Two special features of the Google world are already entering the library world of technology. Metasearch and retrieval is one of the most interesting areas of library automation to watch right now.
One option might be to search that local catalog for the key terms in question.
BUSINESS MODELS FOR DIGITAL LIBRARY SERVICES
A careful assessment of the costs associated with launching a new service will allow a library to apply a similar opportunity cost to the proposed service. Another factor in risk assessment has to do with measuring the cost of success or failure of the service. 4.Timing.The time needed to develop a new service goes hand in hand with the timing of the release of the new service.
Any new service proposal should include an approximate timeline based on an analysis of the time required to complete the project. The time-sensitive nature of some projects (for example, obtaining the necessary disk space for an upcoming request from the graduate school to submitting electronic theses to the library) may limit the library to certain windows of opportunity to introduce a new service; another. At this stage of the proposal, all analysis is internal to the library. The main objectives of the analysis are to critically evaluate service concepts in comparison with existing services or new services. The first stage could be thought of as a conceptual description that allows the proponents of the new service to begin the second stage with the political, strategic and administrative blessing of the library organization.
This distinction between projects and products is important because how a library treats a completed project (now a product) is just as important as the selection of the next project the library will undertake.
SHEEP IN
WOLVES’ CLOTHING
Whatever the reasons, librarians will work in more roles outside of traditional ones. Employment in the "Other" category fell from 52 in 1999 to 24 in 2000, partly due to limited survey responses, but indicative of a downward trend in employment in the dotcom arena. LIS programs bear some of the responsibility for this, but library vendors bear the rest of the failure.
The corporate side of the library world is perceived as a gruesome, bottom-line, do-or-die career sidetrack. Essentially, marketing and sales representatives—and even library vendor CEOs—are just a biased version of the library consultant. Philip Turner, dean of the School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas, asserts, "A century ago, most library education was delivered in the library by librarians. The concept of a discipline of library science with a cadre of professors teaching in library science for their livelihood is a twentieth-century phenomenon. That this would be done at the graduate level in schools devoted solely to library education is a concept of the second half of the twentieth century."12 .
The first epigraph for this chapter is a quote from Joel Summerlin, a graduate of the Information School at the University of Washington who works as a thesaurus manager at Corbis, Inc.
LIBRARIES ARE
The title of this chapter represents the double-edged sword that sets libraries apart from their corporate counterparts. The fact that libraries are not all corporate makes them attractive, but also makes them vulnerable when dealing with entities that have cadres of M.B.A.s, lawyers, and business professionals.
NOT ALL BUSINESS
Third, the library must know its price and the elements of the license it is willing to sacrifice and what it is not. An assertive, but not aggressive, attitude is especially crucial, as the library does not walk away from the table that owns the content. It is not like buying a car, after which one can do with it as one wishes. The license agreement is just that—the right to use the material under the static (but renewable) terms of the agreement. Interestingly, adoption of the standard will require a great deal of cooperation in the traditionally proprietary and competitive field of ILS providers.
Even if the price were expensive, the assurance that at least one library or consortium would pay for it would go a long way toward the peace of mind of the library community and the profitability of online vendors. One of the questions asked of library vendors in the research referenced in Chapter 1 was what kind of feedback mechanisms the vendor supported and whether customers used them. The hostile position in which libraries find themselves is often due to the supplier's monopoly position.
Perhaps a concerted effort to prove the value of information to patrons will encourage them to use the library's resources even more. While this wouldn't necessarily change the price of the resources, it would certainly increase their value.
FIRST
PRINCIPLES
In this light, it is extremely challenging, if not impossible, to convince library patrons of the importance of maintaining their own privacy. It should be sufficient that privacy is part of the ethical standard that libraries maintain. Alongside an obsession with censorship, privacy protection remains the cornerstone of the profession, at least in theory.
Too much of library policy is still in the ivory tower, or ends at the completion of the introductory "Libraries and Society" course in library school. Additionally, most libraries do not have policies regarding log retention of the vendors they do business with. Libraries should be very aware of the log retention policies of their licensed resources, as well as those of their local web server managers.
Privacy remains a cornerstone of the profession, and as such deserves stalwart attention and concern.
RADICAL NOTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Can anyone get some calm recommendations from the seemingly insane state of affairs in the information industry. Library educators may consider a more systematic approach to preparing students to enter careers in the library sales field. None of this is necessarily in the best interest of libraries. This book suggests several areas in which libraries and providers can expand their market together.
Both parties must foster the relationship if it is to continue in the future. Whether in the valley or on the plateau, libraries and vendors must come together to tackle the next mountain. Despite partnership efforts, libraries will want to keep a collective eye on the plateau of library automation. As fewer but larger companies compete for a shrinking market space of new-name sales, the library vendor market, especially for ILS companies, is sure to get interesting in the next decade.
Libraries should also be wary of the new library automation entrepreneur trying to pick up the slack from existing library vendors; this business model is especially common in the open source community.
INTERNET COMPANIES, LIBRARY AUTOMATION VENDORS, AND
Adobe is the second largest PC software company in the US with annual revenues exceeding $1.2 billion. Epixtech continues to lead the industry as the largest provider of library systems in the world with over twenty years of experience. In its broadest sense, JSTOR's mission is to help the scientific community take advantage of advances in information technologies.
Founded in 1996, KANA provides the world's largest companies with industry-leading outsourced eCRM solutions to help them bet. Its voting members are leaders of more than seventy publishing, library, information technology and media organizations. Questia is the first online library that provides 24/7 access to the largest online collection of books and journal articles in the field of humanities and social sciences in the world. You can search every word of all the books and journal articles in the collection. can read any title cover to cover. This rich scholarly content, selected by expert librarians for collection development, is not available anywhere else on the Internet.
VTLS, Inc., is an international market leader in the development of solutions for library automation, resource sharing networks and digital libraries. These solutions, Virtua ILS (Integrated Library Systems), Visual MIS (Multimedia and Imaging Solutions), and Vista CPS (Companion Product Suite), work easily in tandem or separately.
LIBRARY AUTOMATION VENDOR SURVEY
None of the information collected will be used to endorse the services of one company over another; however, receiving a response ensures that your company is included in discussions about these relationships. Dolby. The computer and the library : the role of the computer in the organization and handling of information in libraries. DeGennaro, Richard. "The Development and Management of Automated Systems in Academic Libraries." Journal of Library Automation 1, no.
Turner, Philip M. "Library and Information Studies: Education in the Age of Connectivity." Texas Library Association, 25 Mar. 1997. Wasserman, Paul. The Librarian and the Machine: Observations of the Application of Machines in Administration of College and University Libraries.Detroit: Gale Research, 1965. Careers.See alsoLibrarians curriculum shifts in LIS, 98–100 library consultants and, 96–97 library labor market and, 103 ranking of LIS programs, 100 vendor-supported training programs and,.
