[Web4lib] An Analysis Of Open Source ILS Market Penetration

[K.G. Schneider]

> K.G. Schneider wrote:
> >  I'm not sure what the report demonstrates except the
> > "slow-moving barge" syndrome. Or am I missing something? 
> >
> >   
> If by 'slow-moving barge' you simply mean slow to gain mass-appeal, 
> yeah.  Didn't we experience the same thing with other 
> technologies--telephone, television, computer, ipods?  The market is 
> slow at first, but then as use and word of improved performance by the 
> new technology rises, so the presence of it in the marketplace increases 
> and causes the decline and ultimate replacement of existing technologies. 

I'm not referring to the NEW technologies. I mean the old technologies.
They ain't called silos for no reason. Ever try to climb out of a silo?
The walls are high and slippery. 

Most libraries also don't have the budgets (let alone organizational
cultures) to spin around and say, "hey, let's do this!" To move out of a
proprietary ILS you've got to do a lot of planning and yes, you are
going to spend some money to get there--plus workflow changes, training,
etc. The ILS handles many complex processes and has many dependencies,
and at this point in time, for most libraries, it's *necessary.* Even at
top speed, it's going to take some time to turn a library barge around. 

I'm actually making the opposite point you are thinking, because there
is definitely pent-up demand for "something else," whether it's
Evergreen, Koha, eXtensible Catalog, LibraryFind, WorldCat Local, Open
Library, etc. I don't know you measure it, and the one survey I saw
didn't ask questions in a way that I thought captured what's really
going on in folks' heads. It really struck me at the Symposium on the
Future of the ILS last month when I saw *library trustees* volunteering
that they were interested in open source. 

Some libraries feel quite well "penetrated" by their vendors and are
poised for change. 

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at freerangelibrarian.com