On July 20, 2007, the University of Rochester released their “eXtensible Catalog Survey Report.” This survey was designed to help Rochester determine what systems survey respondents currently use, what programming ability and experience with open source software respondents had, and what metadata standards are in use. The survey was targeted too large and medium sized academic and public libraries. Because of the targeted nature of this survey there were only 66 respondents. When I read through the report, I didn’t see anything that completely surprised me, but it was still a good read to see what other libraries are thinking.
The report included a list of the top issues with currently used OPACs. The top three were difficulty of customization (42 instances), Inadequacy of search functions (31), and opacity of results and lack of grouping or faceting (27). While facets were only third in the voting, the responses to the other questions show that this is a vary high priority for many libraries. I was a little surprised that the Lack of Web 2.0 functionality only received 9 instances. One of the interesting things to come out was that yes, in fact, a system like SC is “likely to hold most appeal to the wide range of “average” libraries, as opposed to those special few libraries that already have the resources to tweak their existing products.” In this vein, 81% respondents believe “that they would be able to dedicate enough resources to download, install, and support XC” and 92% said that would consider implementing XC if commercial support was available while 67% would consider doing it even without support. (FWIW: With companies like LibLime, Equinox, Indexdata, and CARe Affiliates, is seems extremely likely commercial support will be available).
As I said, I didn’t find anything in the survey shocking, but it is still good to see what others are thinking about projects such as XC and it is a good read. The full text of the survey is also available for those interested in knowing what questions were asked.
In a non-shocking PR announcement, it was revealed that the Georgia Public Library Service selected Equinox “to provide Evergreen ILS support, software development, system administration, training and consulting services for the agency’s PINES program, a consortium of 265 public libraries. The agreement took effect July 1.” Equinox is a company formed by the original developers of Evergreen, who at the time worked for GPLS.
Equinox has also announced that of a consortium in British Columbia choose Equinox for Evergreen support. Things are looking up for the folks at Equinox.
Another new technology related magazine that code4libers (and anyone else in the IT field) might be interested in is the soon to be released Python Magazine. You can read more about it in the Editor in Chief’s blog post “Python Magazine Lives.”
As one of the editorial committee members, I am happy to report that the Code4Lib Journal Web site has gone live and we are actively seeking submissions. If you are a computer programmer/hacker in the library world, please consider submitting an article. Here is the full call for submissions:
The Code4Lib Journal (C4LJ) will provide a forum to foster community and share information among those interested in the intersection of libraries, technology, and the future.
Submissions are currently being accepted for the first issue of this promising new journal. Please submit articles, abstracts, or proposals for articles to c4lj-articles@googlegroups.com (a private list read only by C4LJ editors) by Friday, August 31, 2007. Publication of the first issue is planned for late December 2007.
Possible topics for articles include, but are not limited to:
* Practical applications of library technology. Both actual and
hypothetical applications invited.
* Technology projects (failed, successful, proposed, or
in-progress), how they were done, and challenges faced
* Case studies
* Best practices
* Reviews
* Comparisons of third party software or libraries
* Analyses of library metadata for use with technology
* Project management and communication within the library environment
* Assessment and user studies
Above all, C4LJ encourages creativity and flexibility, and the editors welcome submissions across a broad variety of topics. Anything that supports the mission of C4LJ is welcome.
The goal of the journal is to promote professional communication by minimizing the barriers to publication. While articles in the journal should be of a high quality, they need not follow any formal structure or guidelines. Writers should aim for the middle ground between, on the one hand, blog or mailing-list posts, and, on the other hand, articles in traditional journals. We want publishing in the journal to be easy and painless, helping the community to share timely, relevant information that is currently shared all too rarely.
Articles need not include comprehensive literature reviews and bibliographies, although pointing the reader to useful work that has gone before can certainly be helpful. Authors are encouraged to include code samples, algorithms, and pseudo-code where appropriate.
The Journal will be electronic only, and at least initially, edited rather than refereed.
Please contact us with proposals or queries, as well as draft articles, at c4lj-articles@googlegroups.com (a private list read only by C4LJ editors) no later than Friday, August 31, 2007. Earlier contact is appreciated.
For more information, you can find information on our mission, processes and structures, and guidelines for authors at: http://journal.code4lib.org/
We look forward to hearing from interested people,
Code4Lib Journal Editorial Committee
Carol Bean
Jonathan Brinley
Edward Corrado
Tom Keays
Emily Lynema
Eric Lease Morgan
Ron Peterson
Jonathan Rochkind
Jodi Schneider
Dan Scott
Ken Varnum