Apparently SirsiDynix will be unveiling the snappily named SirsiDynix Enterprise at the ALA Conference in Anaheim.

To quote an announcement email that recently passed under my gaze, it is their….

… new state-of-the-art faceted search solution that empowers libraries to make collections more searchable and discoverable than ever before.

How does SirsiDynix Enterprise deliver this power? With fuzzy search logic technology never before available to libraries, simplified search interfaces, deep integration with current OPACs, and much more.

The fuzzy search logic technology never before available to libraries  comes from Brainware a sister company to SirsiDynix in the portfolio of Vista Equity Partners.

With the launch of Starship SirsiDynix Enterprise they are boldly going in to the universe of bolt-on OPACs, which was discussed in this month’s episode of the Library 2.0 Gang with amongst others participants from OCLC, Innovative, and Aquabrowser.    Practically everybody has now entered this space, previously only inhabited by Aquabrowser and a few open source projects.  Anybody who is anybody has a new OPAC sporting faceted browsing, new indexing, and the ability to be bolted-on to somebody else’s library system.

It’s early days in this market as Carl Grant, who was also on the Library 2.0 Gang this month, is saying we need to evolve from bolt-on towards plug-in.

Back to the SirsiDynix announcement - with the ‘Star Wars’ credits imagery, the Star Trek naming, and emphasising the fuzziness - I wonder what they will be wearing on the stand in Anaheim?

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Library Technology Guides ‘Key resources in the field of Library Automation‘, created and edited by Marshall Breeding, has been doing an excellent job "providing comprehensive and objective information related to the field of library automation".    Along side the mass of information about library system companies, library catalogues throughout the world, next-generation catalogs, and an archive of press releases, Marshall’s GuidePosts blog is always a source of informative information about the library sector.

I am therefore very pleased to announce that the The Library 2.0 Gang series of podcast discussions has now joined the the array of resources available from the Library Technology Guides site.

My goal of fostering open conversations between vendors, their customers, and opinion formers in the library market, is closely aligned with Marshall’s objective delivery of information for the benefit of all.  The Library 2.0 Gang, and Library Technology Guides complement each other well.

This move will bring the lively conversations, that Marshall describes in his post announcing it, to a much wider audience.

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Following in the footsteps of their counterparts from Ex Libris, SirsiDynix, and Talis, Betsy Graham, Vice President Product Management for Innovative Interfaces, and Matt Goldner, Executive Director End User Services at OCLC, joined The Library 2.0 Gang for the June show.

The topic for the show is Bolt-on OPACs - search and discovery interfaces sourced from the open source community or vendors other than the incumbent ILS supplier.

Aquabrowser was the first commercial product of this type.  Taco Ekkel Director of Development for Medialab Solutions, the Amsterdam based company who produced Aquabrowser, is guest for the show.   

Matt reflecting on the OCLC experience with WorldCat Local and Betsy with Innovative’s Encore product, are joined by Andrew Nagy, lead developer on the VuFind project, Marshall Breeding, and Carl Grant, in a open discussion about  the way such products are evolving.

Apart from being an interesting discussion, it is yet another example of how key commercial players in the library systems marketplace are starting to open up and join a conversation about the opportunities for libraries, and their users, as well as the issues behind creating those opportunities.

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I was delighted to see that via the newly launched Podcasts area of the CILIP Communities site they are syndicating the Library 2.0 Gang.

The combined feed of podcasts that CILIP have launched, is a great service to CILIP members and a recognition that the traditional ways of learning and keeping up to date are being powerfully supplemented by blogs and podcasts.  I will be interested to see how this develops.

As the monthly round table listen for those that are interested in libraries and the technologies that influence them, I am eager to make it available to all that will benefit from the the insights and opinions from the librarians, vendors, journalists, and commentators that join the Gang.

To that end, whilst welcoming CILIP’s recognition of the Gang, I also invite others in different sectors and geographies that are interested in enriching their site by adding value for the visitors to it,  by syndicating the Library 2.0 Gang series, to drop me a line librarygang@talis.com.

 

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…. or in the words of the Cluetrain Manifesto - Markets are conversations.

The May 2008 Library 2.0 Gang ticks a couple of boxes on the list of things that show that the best way to move forward is to talk and form a consensus.

Firstly the subject of the conversation - The Digital Library Federation (DLF) working group that are recommending a generic API for all Library Systems to support, and the ‘Berkeley Accord’ that most vendors have signed in support of this.

Secondly, the fact that senior people from at least three of the major vendors are comfortable joining the Library 2.0 Gang for an open recorded conversation, about how they might support the API recommendations in their product sets.

As facilitating host and chair for the conversation, it was very refreshing to hear how open Talin Bingham from SirsiDynix, Oren Beit-Arie from Ex Libris, and Talis’ Dan Mullineux were about their plans and support for the DLF initiative.   One point of discussion in the show was the position of Innovative Interfaces, who were the only vendor who explicitly abstained from supporting the Berkeley Accord.  All others that expressed a position supported it.   Although unable to take part in the conversation, it is clear from the blog post by Betsy Graham, Vice President of Product Management, that their position is not as negative as some have painted it.

If from this you think that the show is a vendor love-in, you would be wrong.  The Gang for this show also included Andrew Nagy, lead developer and passionate promoter of VuFind the Open Source Library OPAC, and the well known watcher of, and commentator on, the Library Systems world, Marshall Breeding.  Appropriately the show guest was John Mark Ockerbloom who is chair for the DLF’s working group.

During the show it was obvious that all were enthusiastic about the initiative, whilst in agreement that these first baby-steps to opening up access to library systems should be implemented  widely as soon as possible.

This third show consolidates the position of the Gang as being the monthly listen for those that are interested in libraries and the technologies that influence them.   As Gang host it is my goal to foster open conversations between vendors, their customers, and opinion formers in the library market.  I know, as an Evangelist employed by Talis, that some initially viewed this with some skepticism.  All three show so far, I believe demonstrate that open conversations between open minded players in our world both move things forward and an interesting and informative listen.

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As host of the Library 2.0 Gang, I was delighted to welcome representatives from Ex Libris and Google to the April 2008 show.

Oren Beit-Arie, Chief Strategy Officer for Ex Libris appears in the April show as one of the regular gang members drawn together to discuss the world of libraries and the technologies that influence them.

Frances Haugen, Product Manager in the Google Book Search Team, joins the April gang as our guest to discuss the recently released Google Book Search API.

Oren and Frances join Tim Spalding from LibraryThing, Warwick Cathro of The National Library of Australia, John Blyberg of Darien Library, and Carl Grant from Care Affiliates in a wide ranging conversation stimulated by the release of the API.   A gang episode really worth a listen.

It is always good to welcome guests from organisations with something to say, such as Google.  It is especially good to welcome contributions from organisations, like Ex Libris, who realise that open conversation, about the issues that concern the word of libraries, can only be good for all.

I have invited folks from many and disparate people interested in, members of, and suppliers to libraries to be part of the gang. For some reason many in the supplier community are very reticent to be seen to be openly discussing, things of interest to their customers, with library technology opinion formers.  Those who listen to the gang will know that  it is an open discussion for all to make their point.  I will continue to invite all from the international supplier community to join us.  Perhaps it would be worth encouraging your supplier, who are obvious by their absence, to join the conversation.  Suggestions, offers to join in etc., to librarygang@talis.com.

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I don’t normally give a heads-up on Library 2.0 Gang shows before release, but something our guest, Frances Haugen from Google Book Search, discusses in the soon to be published April show, is worth a mention on its own.

Frances describes how the new Book Search API works….  You embed some simple JavaScript in your web page. This causes the user’s web browser to send an API query to Google, passing a book identifier (ISBN, LCCN, OCLC Number).  Google, if it has it for you, returns a book jacket image and links to, information about and full or partial contents of the book.  These values can then be used by a little more JavaScript to display the jacket and link the user off into Google’s pages.

All this seems fairly standard and simple, until you pick apart the phrase "if they have it for you". In this case ‘you’ is the person using a browser on a particular PC, connected to the Internet via a particular ISP, [and here is the key bit] in a particular country.  As we are all, often painfully, aware, the licensing, copyright, and availability of books can vary wildly between countries.  Frances tells us that Google have expounded great effort in recording this data for the books they hold.

The ramification of this is that users in different countries, but looking at the same web page (with Book Search embedded in it) will get different results.

This effect was highlighted by LibraryThing’s Tim Spalding, asking if a user in China could get to view a book about Tiananmen Square via the API.  The answer was no.  Google would have the book, but be aware that it was not available in China, so would not show that they had it.  Whereas a user in Europe or the US for instance would see it.

This approach gets Google, in the book world, off the moral censorship hook that it found itself on over web site access from countries like China. They can quite rightly say you sort out the local copyright, licensing, and availability issues, and we will follow and make them available.

Google are to be congratulated, not only for the simplicity of their API, but also for the power and intelligence behind it.  I spend much of my time pointing out that the relevance of data is all to do with the context that the user is in at the time.  In the complex world of book availability, the country you are in is obvious context.

In the sphere of Open data and Open access, restricting availability by geography is obviously a problem.  A problem I fear us technologists, like Google, are going to have to grapple with as it’s going to be a long old time before we see any progress on this on the political front.

Update The April Library 2.0 Gang has now been published.

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