Open Source adds another dimension of course and comes with a further set of issues. Reading the project description it seems that a SOA approach is just as important perhaps as Open Source. This indicates that one of the key motivations for the project is getting *interoperable* systems (or a set of interoperable ’services’). This seems to me to be the death knell of monolithic library system silos—which actually some Open Source systems seem to replicate. (Why doesn’t Koha circulation interoperate with Evergreen cataloguing for example? Are they any better than their closed source rivals at integrating with VLE’s, registry and finance systems?)

As we have seen in other domains, Open Source doesn’t mean non-commercial and some commercial vendors (e.g. Talis in the UK) are themselves advocating Open Source and moving to more open systems (and data). The old ‘closed source’ vendor world is opening up, more I suspect to compete with the wider world of Google et al than Open Source per se. So as we might expect they are doing their own work on the future of library systems. Ex Libris have been most public with their talk (at ALA and other venues) of a ‘Unified Resource Management’ (URM) system. (This has been recently described along with the ExLibris ‘Open Platform’ initiative in a blog from K-State Libraries. See http://ksulib.typepad.com/conferences/2008/08/eluna-2008-ex-l.html.)

We are in a period of disruptive change and I see ‘conventional’ libraries (and therefore their system vendors) coming under increasing *competition* from alternative solutions from outside the (traditional library)domain. Google is just the most high profile example. I’d therefore like to see the domain *as a whole* working together. I suggest that the OLE project works with the Library Management System (LMS or ILS in US parlance) vendors. There must be much overlap between what the OLE project is doing and the work on a URM system for example. Aren’t they both trying to achieve similar ends for users?

In the UK I’m working on a relevant project (called ‘TILE’ see http://www.sero.co.uk/jisc-tile.html) sponsored by the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and SCONUL (Society of College National and University Libraries). Vendors are included in our ‘reference group’. We are looking at how, in Higher Education, aggregated information about ‘context’ (course, module, year etc), intentional data (as manifest for example in clickstreams), and user generated content (ratings, reviews, tags etc) can be used to deliver better services (such as recommender services) to the end users. We’d be more than happy to share this with OLE.My view is that it would be worth exploring how this data can be aggregated and made available (with relevant privacy conecerns addressed) freely for re-use to both social and commercial market provider, whether Open Source or not.

One of the key motivations of this project is to be able to manage print and electronic collections equally, and for the most part, Koha and Evergreen are still based on traditional library systems focusing on print collections.

Keep checking back throughout the academic year. We want to continue conversation with anyone interested throughout the project.

Cheers,
Tim

Recently, I have heard comments from users of several of the major commercial ILS. There seems to be a general desire for a simplified (and unifying, seamless, media transparent) interface for the public, but also for improved management capabilities for staff….

cbs