How do you research new products?

[Bill Manson MVLC (508) 475-7632]

Beth,
 
We at MVLC are just starting down a very similar road.
We are a Geac Plus consortium of 28 public libraries.
Like you, we've come to the conclusion that it makes
sense to investigate multiple vendors' products.  We
started by looking at the Hywebcat site out of the
University of Saskatchewan.  Their vendor index makes
it possible to look at a wide range of implementations
of many vendors' products.  The problem is that most of
these are native mode, i.e. they are front ending their
own host based product.  Like you, we're going to be
interested in what their product looks like when it 
deals with our database and how it compares with the 
functionality that our integrated system vendor can 
provide.  What that means is that we're going to need 
to go through the usual marketing bumpf, the 
conversations with sales reps and finally some 
demonstrations.  I expect that we'll be asking the 
contenders to come in with their product, set it up 
with our database as a target in their product and then 
make their product spit nickles.  (I'm kinda looking 
forward to that since I spent the last eight years 
selling systems.)

We're going to actively start the process very soon.  
We've done some preliminary investigations and have 
received approval from our membership to begin the 
exploration in earnest.

Bill Manson
Executive Director
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
Andover, MA
  

On Tue, 15 Jul 1997, Beth DeGeer wrote:

> Hi all:
> 
> Our library is currently in the market for a graphical interface to our
> Dynix catalog and a Z39.50 interface to the catalog.  Currently the
> staff members involved in purchasing decisions are looking only at Dynix
> products, and have done this for years now.  Frankly, I think it would
> be useful to look at a wider range of products and vendors.
> 
> What do you do at your libraries to research new products from the
> various automation vendors?  Is there a periodical or two we should be
> reading?  Good websites for this kind of information?
> 
> I hate to sound ignorant, but about this I really am.  Can anyone pass
> along any advice?
> 
> Thanks for your help
> 
> Beth DeGeer
> Bartlesville Public Library
> bdeg at bartlesville.lib.ok.us
>