ILSR FYI

By Mary K. Dzurinko

ILSR Co-editor

Notes from ALA MidWinter 2001:

EOS International plans to introduce an ASP product in 2001.

SIMA (Service Information Management Association) will soon market Camelot, a product with is the true integration of all SIMA system modules. SIMA introduced an ASP product in late 2000.

Fretwell-Dowling exhibited its VDX product, software that provides web-based ILL and resources sharing solutions. VDX produces a "virtual union catalog" of the resources for consortium of libraries, i. e,, the states of Colorado and Ohio, etc. and presents users with access to a standard interlibrary loan and OPAC interface for all libraries within a consortium. Epixtech, among others, also markets this type of product. I wonder what impact these products will have on Integrated Library products, i. e., : What is the implication for library systems purchased by individual libraries? Will these products prove the most cost-effective way to give a large number of users access to a large knowledge base? Will more IOLS vendors offer these products? Hmm……

ALA TechSource (https://www.techsource.ala.org/) is another source of technology and vendor information for libraries in the process of purchasing a library system. Nicole Walter is Editor.

Despite the heat on digital resources in libraries from the Pat Schroeder and the AAP (Washington Post, 2/701, Page C01) and a myriad of complex copyright issues, vendors are forging ahead with digital content products such as e-books, electronic journals, and virtual databases.

As Nina Platt points out in her article ("Automating Electronic Resources Management") in this issue of IOLS Reports, vendors do not include effective management of these electronic resources as standard features of their systems. I’ve never seen this function included in the systems I’ve reviewed and I’ve made it a point to specifically ask vendors about this feature.

This concentration on digital and electronic resources has changed my idea of what an integrated library system should do and the robustness of current systems on the market. I’m very reluctant to call integrated library systems "library management systems." Yes, IOLSs do manage library bibliographic records, loans, and financial tasks. However, electronic and digital resources present different and special management needs that must be addressed with practical software solutions. It isn’t just law libraries who face electronic resources licensing, passwords, and user issues. I’d be interested in vendor research and development into the flexibility of library system software designed to handle management of electronic resources and the many other management issues future technology will surely bring.

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Spring 2001

ILSR FYI

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