November 28, 2006 at 10:28 am · Filed under Library 2.0
An interesting comment was posted to the About page and I thought I would give my two cents… (and the lateness of my post was due to Holiday stuff…)
What do you make of Endeavor being acquired by Francisco Partners? Does the marketplace become SirsiDynix vs. ExLibrisEndeavor? Which one will acquire Innovative? Then which will acquire the other?
Clearly consolidation in a dying market — make money by reducing marketing, sales, accounting, and leadership teams, etc. When Francisco acquired Ex Libris, they specifically said they weren’t investing new money in that product. I wonder if they have any plans to invest in Endeavor. Doubt it.
…also I am basing a lot of my response on the article Reshuffling the Deck by Marshal Breeding so please follow the link and read the article at your pleasure…
The whole consolidation of ILS vendors is an interesting development. I feel like this is history repeating itself. In the late 80’s there were something of the order of 25 or so ILS vendors. It was the approach of many of those companies to aim and try to reach niche markets and provide lots of options, but most libraries went with the larger vendors, rather than the smaller niche guys. Through merger, acquisition, and failure the market was narrowed to what we have today, and after the Endeavor Ex Lib merger there are about 13 or so ILS vendors depending on whether you include LibLime as a vendor, which I am more and more starting to see them as. The first big merger was Sirsi and Dynix, now it is Endeavor and Ex Libris being bought by a third party. Some see this as consolidation in a dying market, I am inclined to see it otherwise for one main reason. Why would a large investment firm buy into the ILS market if it wasn’t a money making opportunity? Obviously, I cannot predict the future of the industry (though I do try from time to time), but it would seem to me that fresh capital and a new player is actually a good thing for the ILS world both in terms of the customers and the vendors themselves. Sure I feel for any one who loses their job due to this change, but in the long run new ideas can only further improve the ILSs as a whole and thus bring better products to the market for the customers. Further, the ILS market grew by 6% over the predicted return. That doesn’t sound too bad to me.
Lippenstiff also mentioned in the comment that he wondered who would be buying Innovative. To answer this I look deeper into Mr. Breeding’s established the pecking order based upon installed sites which now is SirsiDynix, The Ex Libris Group and Innovative a distant third. However, reading the sales figures in 2005 the total sales actually places the pecking order SirsiDynix number 1, Innovative number 2, followed by The Ex Libris group. Another reason I doubt Innovative will be purchased is it is the only privately held ILS company. Every other company is held by a large corporation, while Innovative is owned and run by Jerry Kline. This is just a guess, but when one person has built and run a company for over 25 years I doubt they will just give up and sell in order to make a quick buck. But again, as I said who can really predict where the market will go.
The one trend I have been watching that seems a bit odd, and makes me wonder is the mad purchase binge OCLC has been on lately. For a non-profit organization, OCLC sure has been buying up lots of automated library companies, and one should ask for what reason? It seems to me that OCLC may be the REAL player to watch in the coming years.
Overall, I think the ILS industry does have its issues, and I think as it continues to evolve you will see better products, better service, more mergers, maybe a few new companies, and even a few extinctions. By and large, mergers aren’t a bad thing, nor do they signal the death of a market, especially when the merger is through acquisition by a new player in the game. The new Ex Libris Group will be an interesting company to watch, and I think perhaps these changes in the ILS market signal good things to come.
November 13, 2006 at 10:55 am · Filed under Library 2.0, rants
This conundrum has sprung up over and over when any one discusses OPACs. It is a valid question/issue. However, it is something that really must be examined within the context in which this problem evolved. So since we are comparing Amazon, Google, and the OPAC together a little history (for the sake of brevity I am only going to use the top two ILS vendors in this little rant):
- Amazon launched in 1995 (important note: Amazon didn’t make its first annual profit until 2003)
- Google began in 1998.
- Sirsi was founded in 1979 (Dynix was founded in 1983)
- Innovative Interfaces was founded in 1979
You could pretty much say that the Online Public Access Catalog began about the same time as Amazon, right around the time this crazy internet thing started to make sense in an applied model to:
- Make Money
- Connect with customers remotely
Amazon and Google are chasing the consumers dollars. It behooves both giants to make sure you find what you are looking for. Really, Google and Amazon want you to find something or anything remotely close to what you are looking for, because that increases the likely hood that you will buy something or follow an ad to buy something. For the OPAC it is trying to find you what you want, and exactly what you want.
This “exactly” part falls squarely in the purview of librarians. The behavior of the OPAC search has been dictated to vendors by their customers. It seems to me that in the beginning Librarians purchased ILS that made the most sense for THEM, not the users. No librarian, especially a catalog librarian, would have purchased a system that allowed you to misspell an author and still return that authors works! The notion of user centered design had not really come to practical fruition yet.
Even in the beginning Amazon and Google were not the seamless smooth purveyors of quality user interaction goodness that they are now. It has been a long and winding road to get where we are today. Indeed, to get where we are has taken lots, and lots of money! The ILS vendors also spend lots and lots of money improving their software, their search, their interfaces, really every aspect of their product. The big difference between the ILS guys and the Amazon-Google guys: product versus service. In general, the Amazon-Google guys’ software is a service, they are never selling their software to people, people go to their web site and use it. The ILS is selling a software product. Which means their software has to be made in such a way the the customer likes what it does enough to spend lots of money on it. While the OPAC is an important part, it is not the ONLY part of the ILS.
The OPAC is the face that the patrons see however, and this is where the convergence of web giants and small libraries occurs and the “OPAC doesn’t do like Amazon/Google” problem arises. Now that more people use the web, and Amazon and Google have become fixtures on the web and cornerstones in the everyday life of web users, when someone goes to a library site they expect it to perform just like Amazon or Google. Well sorry chief, it ain’t gonna work that way! I truly wish it did, and quite frankly, many of the better companies in the ILS world are fast at work making products that do.But again wihsihng that the OPAC and Googlezon worked the same just doesn’t mesh with the contextual development of the OPAC and the librarians who would ultimately purchase the ILS/OPAC software. The librarians and libraries thought of their own use cases, ideas, and preferences rather than of users needs. Now by the successes of similar web applications such as Amazon and Google the focus is being placed back where it should have been from the beginning, on user experience. Librarians are starting to complain about their OPACs to their vendors, and thus the whole “my OPAC sucks” meme was born (and there could be a whole other discussion of the OPAC sucks stuff in regards to how it looks versus this posts topic of how it works).
But here is the kicker, and really the great hypocrisy that was by and large the biggest impetus for my little blog here, the complaining librarians often forget that the way the OPAC works is the way THEY asked for it to work! So the vendors are hard at work developing new products to satisfy the librarians new focus on the user. The funny thing is that all of the ILS vendors could indeed produce something as good as Amazon and Google, but no library would buy them…
A small footnote: The whole OPACS suck meme does seem to be spouted by more of the lower level or newer librarians (read no decision making or purchasing power), and as such it is hard to really give them a whole lot of weight. But these librarians are the ones who have more contact with the patrons so their complaints are valid. Also, one day these librarians may be the ones with the decision making and purchasing power and as such ILS vendors should at least pay some attention. But please for the sake of all that is holy will you OPAC sucks people who complain about how the OPAC looks get off your asses and either hire a REAL web designer or stop wasting your time posting to your blog and develop the design skills to fix the problem you are bitching about!
November 10, 2006 at 11:15 am · Filed under top five
Everyone at one time or another has probably played that game where you try to pick what music you would want to have with you on a deserted island. Wait, I’m the only one? Fine… whatever… here are the five cds I would NEED to have with me for my sanity. Oh, by the way I would prefer a Spalding to a Wilson, just me I guess.
TOP FIVE - Desert Island CDs:
1. Mezzanine - Massive Attack
My favorite song of all time is Teardrop. I simply could not survive without this song at one time during my isolation. Besides Teardrop Mezzanine is my favorite work by perhaps one of the most influential and important musical groups of the electronic era.
2. Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles
Ah… HELLO! Who the hell could survive without the Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour is one of my favorites of theirs mainly for the odd song choice, but the finishing track of the album almost made this my number one.
3. Throwing Copper - Live
You got to have at least one rocking album on that fucking beach right?! Live’s second album was a monster hit, and it contained lots of angry rock as well as perhaps one of the finest ballads ever composed. Where Massive Attack owns my all time favorite song , Live is my all time favorite modern band.
4. Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
Classical music is a must for some of the many reflective moments you are going to have on that island (no doubt there will be many…) and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is an astounding piece. The mood changes, the composition, the soaring strings, simply beautiful and inspiring enough to hopefully keep me from banging my head against the coconuts…
5. Magic Dragon - Caia
This fifth selection was tough, but I went with Caia’s Magic Dragon because of the funky breaks, the moody composition, and the down right uplifting tempo. Caia’s album switches gears with every song and is so versatile that it works for almost any occasion. Every song on this album is a good one, if you haven’t listened to it do your self a favor and get a copy
BEFORE you end up on some desert island…
November 9, 2006 at 5:02 pm · Filed under random
Now THIS is what I want for my front step next year!
SO AWESOME!
November 3, 2006 at 11:53 am · Filed under top five
Hello all!
I trust you had an excellent Halloween… As you probably noticed I did not make a Top Five list last week, this was due to my severe jet lag going from the west to the east coast on a “red-eye” flight.
Ah, yeah I don’t recommend that…
So in order to catch back up as it were, this Friday we will have a TOP TEN!
TOP TEN - Comic Series :
1. Fables
Fairy Tale characters are
REAL and they live in New York City. All is not as it would seem however, as the Fairy Tales are at war with the Adversary! Brilliant story telling, fantastic artwork, a read and re-read worth every penny and moment you spend engrossed in the book!
2. Invincible
As the book itself states, “Perhaps the greatest Super Hero book in the galaxy!” Non stop fun, large on going story lines, and yet so approachable you can pick any random book in the series and feel like you already know the characters. Original, winning stories, supported with outstanding artwork and coloring. If you aren’t reading this, shame on you!
3. ps238
Such a good book and original idea that Disney has ripped it off TWICE! A school for children of the super powered, but not in some creepy treat them as mutants sort of way, rather done in a humorous, nostalgic way that brings laughs and childhood memories to any one who reads the book. Which is both odd and impressive since most people didn’t grow up being able to lift buildings off their foundations. …oh and the children of the villains are by far some of the funniest and freshest takes on the über badguy that you will find in comics anywhere!
4. 100 Bullets
Crime, violence, mystery, suspense, sex, drugs, one bad ass comic that is so far and away above almost any other attempt at literary crime/mystery that if you are a fan of that type of thing you had better get a copy of this series. Seriously, what would you do with a case of 100 untraceable bullets and carte blanche to do as you see fit?
5. Ex Machina
Who would have thought politics and comics would be so entertaining
and educational. From neither a liberal or conservative point of view
Ex Machina looks at the ex superhero “The Great Machine” now as the mayor of New York City. Some of the commentary and metaphors in this book resonate the frustrations of many in America today. Writing, artwork, and coloring are all top notch!
6. Conan
The Dark Horse revamp of the swashbuckling hero Conan is absolutely breathtaking! Incredible interpretations of Howard’s original tales and incredible additions to the canon. If you at all like Fantasy/Adventure do yourself a favor and get this book!
7. Walking Dead
The finest Zombie/Horror book on the market today, period! The black and white tone, the engrossing stories, all top notch. So good, it honestly sometimes gives me the creeps, and I feel bad for the characters. Kirkman is one twisted dude…
8. Y The Last Man
All animals with a Y-chromosome have mysteriously died, except Yorrick and his monkey. You might think being the only man left in the world was a good thing, you would be wrong. A post-apocalyptic world ruled by women all in a chase to secure the last man and maybe the cure to what killed all on Y-chrome kind!
9. Godland
A throw back to the cosmic scope and artwork of Jack Kirby at his best. This book is pure fun from the get go. Throw in the retro art, the over the top characters, and man this series is awesome! IBOGA!
10. Boneyard
An indie comic which is so good in its drama, humor, artwork, and pacing that is should be a show on Adult Swim. Just wish this came out more often than quarterly.
Honorable Mention: DMZ
With the way the USA are going today, the scary thing about this book is how far from reality is it
REALLY, and how long before this book is proven to be prophetic? Scary, thought provoking, great art, could have easily been in the top ten, but still a bit too new to really see where the book is headed.
