A Vendor joins the conversation
Back in January I mused as to why ILS/LMS Vendors were so absent from conversations in the blogosphere about the world in which they do business.
With the odd exception you rarely hear from those in our industry that run the companies who’s products are currently so important for the running of Libraries.
It is therefore so refreshing to hear [and so quickly] from Ex Libris’ Vice President of Marketing, Nancy Dushkin, albeit only in comments to my posting about Ross Singer’s suggestion that Voyager customers may consider striking out on their own, and to Ross’ original posting.
It is good to see that Panlibus and other blogs are at least read inside the portals of Ex Libris. It is also refreshing that, according to Nancy at this stage, Ex Libris are not forcing a migration on to Voyager customers.
A study of the history of the Library domain over the last couple of decades would indicate that this is unusual behavior for a vendor acquiring the products and the support responsibilities of another. It is hardly surprising that customers of an acquired vendor would assume anything different than previous experiences this time around.
In her comment Nancy says “We … are integrating Voyager with Primo and Verde…” a reflection that they also recognize that Library Systems need to evolve to enable them to be assembled from components from several sources - even if in this case they are both owned by the same organization. I wonder if in the same process they will enable wider integration possibilities with some other systems and products?
I wonder if this open comment from Nancy is the start of a trend. A trend where we will hear more thoughts from a wider community of vendor bloggers and their thoughts and opinions about Open Data, Open APIs, Open Source, and an opening up of libraries and their systems. - I certainly hope it is. To quote the Cluetrain Manifesto “Markets are conversations … Smart companies will get out of the way and help the inevitable to happen sooner “
(Photo taken by Colin Gregory Palmer displayed in Flickr)
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Technorati Tags: Talis, Library 2.0, ILS, Ex Libris, Aleph, Voyager, OSS
