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I recently undertook an analysis of the cost savings (if any) of a client's use of automated checkin. This was an interesting project for me because I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Although I'm a big fan of automated checkin for many reasons, I wasn't sure that it would result in clear cost savings for this particular client because they were already using automation in their central sort operation. The automated central sort system included a tote checkin feature -- this means the receiving library only had to scan a tote (or bin) to checkin all the items in the tote. So, to justify the cost of the AMH equipment installed at the individual library, we had to compare it against another similiar sized library that was pretty darn efficient already.

There was a chance that I would find that the cost of their in-library sorter and the automated checkin system wasn't justified. Wrong.

I've been writing a lot about open source stuff lately, and I find my back getting up everytime I have to refer to Evergreen or Koha as an open source ILS. You see, I think the ILS (Integrated Library System) is exactly what we're trying to get away from with open source products such as Evergreen, Koha, OPALS and (please god) the others that are sure to follow.

So, I propose we let go of the image of the monolithic, tightly integrated (as in immobile and inflexible), closed, proprietary and non-standard ILS when we talk about open source versions of library software. I propose we say Open Source Library Software (OSLS).

If you haven't seen the new Amazon Windowshop site, you gotta click on over right away. This is where we are going. It's a complete experience. The user has complete control plus it has audio (music and spoken word) AND it includes great CD and book cover images as well as movie clips. Using space bar to get a bigger view of the items grouped together. Click the space bar again to zoom in. It's fun, it looks great and it walks and talks and sings!

Oh, and you can click on stuff to buy it or download it. So, it's simple too.

Now, while you are there...think about this. Imagine that (as you click the right arrow key) you are scrolling through material from your catalog in Dewey order (okay, imagine something even better than Dewey). Using the up arrow key takes you to related material (e.g. "See Also").

I'm thinking this would make a very nice addition to Amazon's Web Services product offering.

I was just reading about the Defrag Conference and wringing my hands that not a single librarian was represented among the speakers. Here's what defrag says about their conference:

Defrag is the first conference focused solely on the tools and technologies that are leveraging the "social" aspect of software to accelerate the "aha" moment. Defrag is not a version number. Rather it’s a gathering place for the growing community of implementers, users, builders and thinkers that are working on the next wave of software innovation.

The conference is about software innovation but it is also about how we deal with the abundance of information facing us (and our users) and how best to filter, organize and interact with that information and the user. Anybody else deal with information retrieval and/or user interface design in library school?

I've been using the expression "learned helplessness" a lot lately because that's how I see the situation libraries have found themselves in after a decade of integrated library systems.

I find it particularly disturbing because so much of the work I do seems to bump into roadblocks that point squarely at the ILS. And worse than the roadblock is the shoulder shrugging of so many of the library folk using that ILS software.

Too many worthy projects have died because the currently available integrated library systems (ILS) available today from commercial, proprietary vendors don't and won't support libraries and the services they've like to be providing to their customers.

This article discusses how Netflix and similar services are shaping expectations about product delivery, which in turn are driving libraries to rethink how items are delivered to their customers. Library Delivery 2.0 refers to the idea of delivering library materials into the user’s hands in a way that is personalized, convenient and fast. Library Delivery 2.0 builds on the concept of Library 2.0, a concept of a very different library service that operates according to the expectations of today’s library users. In this vision, the library makes information available wherever and whenever the user requires it” (Chad and Miller). Similarly, Library Delivery 2.0 is a concept of a very different library delivery service that operates according to the expectations of today’s users. In this vision, the library delivers information wherever and whenever the user requires it and in whatever format the user needs it.

I was working on developing a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for a client recently and ended up finding some useful information on the topic in general. There is a lot of good information available about SLAs as it fits into the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) model. ITIL is a British creation and much more popular on the other side of the ocean. Microsoft has a similar model called the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). I found the ITIL model more flexible so I'm focusing on that model. However in both ITIL and MOF, the Service Level Agreement is an important component of IT service management and I believe librareis would benefit from developing SLAs between their IT (information technology) service provider and the various departments that rely on that service. Thus this entry....

Resource sharing is changing. Formalized resource sharing arrangements are growing. Library catalogs are being unionized making unmediated borrowing between libraries possible. Users are responding positively to the improved interfaces of catalogs that allow them to easily search, locate and request items, from almost anywhere, for themselves. Resource sharing and interlending is increasing dramatically. As a result, demands on delivery services are high and likely to grow.

Data mining or knowledge discovery refers to the process of finding interesting information in large repositories of data. The term data mining also refers to the step in the knowledge discovery process in which special algorithms are employed in hopes of identifying interesting patterns in the data. These interesting patterns are then analyzed yielding knowledge. The desired outcome of data mining activities is to discover knowledge that is not explicit in the data, and to put that knowledge to use.

Librarians involved in digital libraries are already benefiting from data mining techniques as they explore ways to automatically classify information and explore new approaches for subject clustering (MetaCombine Project). As the field grows, new applications for libraries are likely to evolve and it will be important for library administrators to have a basic understanding of the technology.

A wide variety of data mining techniques are also employed by industry and government. Many of these activities pose threats to personal privacy. As professionals ethically bound to ensure that individual privacy is safe-guarded, data mining activities should be monitored and kept on every librarian’s radar.