[WEB4LIB] Re: Do We Still Need Online Catalog Vendors?

[Peter Schlumpf]

Debra is right in saying that creating an online catalog can be a daunting
undertaking requiring programming skills and time that are beyond the reach of any
single library.  However, I do not agree that we are necessarily stuck with the
current model of for-profit independent systems vendors for a long time to come.

A problem of this scale may be well suited to an open source approach where the
development work of an online catalog is distributed among many individual
librarians and programmers with the necessary skills and motivation who work at a
variety of institutions.  The results of such an effort I think is intriguing and
quite frankly could be very different and better than what we have today.  And it
would be freely available, truly belonging to the entire library community and not
dependent on any single vendor or developer.

It certainly is possible.  Consider the successful results of other comparably
complex open source software:  Linux.  The Apache web server.

The open source development approach is already being used in some library
software.  Take a look at:

http://info.med.yale.edu/library/oss4lib

Granted, some of these are small scale projects or at a nascent stage, but they are
already happening.

Peter

--
Peter Schlumpf
Information Systems Specialist
North Suburban Library System
schlumpf at nslsilus.org

>
>
> Adding to what Mack says:
>
> The database that creates the Online Catalog requires masterful
> programming.  Consider that, under MARC, many non-fiction books
> have 1 author, 1 title, 1 alternate title, 1 series, and 3
> subject headings.  If you have a library with 100,000 non-fiction
> volumes, you have 700,000 catalog access points in the portion of
> the database to which users have access, but this is not the full
> database. And what if you want keyword search on the full title
> field, author field and contents fields?  To have the search
> paradigm work fast enough that the patron is not twiddling their
> thumbs is -- well -- not a trivial matter.  This picture also
> ignores the fiction, serials, and non-book formats.
>
> Another thing that has to be considered is if you want current
> Circulation information available online.  Oooooooooohh!  And to
> let people know something is on order, but not yet received --
> received, but not yet processed.  Eeeeeeeeeeee!
>
> This is a "where" that *I* would not want to go.  Libraries
> couldn't each afford the team (yes, team) of programmers needed
> to get such a thing ready and efficient.  And lets clarify a
> term, they generally are not "online catalog vendors", they are
> integrated system vendors.  The complexities listed above are why
> they came to be in the first place, growing out of individual
> library system attempts to automate various processes. Cost drove
> them to a wider customer base than just "in-house". We won't soon
> move away from this model.
>
> --
>
> Debbie
>
> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
>
> Debra Lords                     Experience is what you
> dlords at library.utah.edu         have just right after
> ACLIS Labs                      you need it.
> 585-9810


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