Submitted by Daniel A. Freeman on November 19, 2009 - 9:21am
As part of our ongoing partnership with WebJunction, we’re thrilled to announce the next in our series of Webinars--Integrated Library Systems: Open Source and Customization with Marshall Breeding.
Currently, the focus in the ILS market is on customizability. How much ability does a library’s software give the end-user, their institution and its IT staff when it comes to modifying the ILS to suit their specific needs? When they do have the ability to customize the program, how deep does the customization run? Is it accessible? User friendly? Read More »
Submitted by Richard Wallis on November 8, 2009 - 4:47pm
Until fairly recently it has been all quiet on the shared cataloguing front. Cataloguing departments taking records from the Library of Congress, other National libraries, or one of many other libraries that share their Z39.50 connections. Many libraries also being members of an organisation to share the cataloguing load, such as OCLC, or Talis Base in the UK. About a year ago dust started to stir on the surface of this stable landscape, when OCLC caused a curfuffle with their move to redefine their record reuse policy. Then in January, open source library system vendor announced ‡Biblios.net, a free cataloguing service in which you can share with other libraries. In the last few weeks we have had SkyRiver arrive on the scene. Not much visible on their site yet, but according to press releases they hope to deliver quality at a lower costs - so things are a changing. Read More »
Submitted by Tom Peters on November 6, 2009 - 3:22pm
Everything I read and hear about the forthcoming Nook portable eReading device from Barnes & Noble (http://www.nook.com), including Jason Griffey’s post here on the TechSource blog, indicates that the Nook will be a significant new development in the burgeoning portable eReader device market. It may become the much-anticipated Kindle Killer.
The Nook clearly is not a crock, but earlier this week, a news release raised another question: Is the Nook a Crook? Read More »
Submitted by Cindi Trainor on November 2, 2009 - 2:22pm
 Hearing Rick Anderson's recent KLA talk, titled "The Five Sacred Cows of Librarianship: Why They No Longer Matter, and Why Two of Them Never Did," made me wonder what "sacred cows" exist in the field of library technology. I posed the question, "What are the sacred cows of library technology?" in Google Wave. What followed was a discussion about digital technology among library technologists that generated many ideas and was a great way to try out this new communication tool. Some of the ideas offered up were "sacred cows" to those in the field, but others challenged ideas held more widely in librarianship.
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Submitted by Kate Sheehan on October 26, 2009 - 8:55am
TechSource has a long tradition of insightful posts about Open Source Software. I am always mindful that I write for the blog that hosted Karen Schneider's IT and Sympathy, which introduced much of libraryland to the idea that OSS is free as in kittens, not free as in beer. As I am about to embark on an OSS adventure (which sounds like the name of a ship to me: The OSS Adventure), I thought I'd add my lack of insight to the fray. Read More »
Submitted by Jason Griffey on October 21, 2009 - 1:46pm
 The Amazon Kindle's first real competitor saw the light of day for the first time this week, and it looks very, very impressive. The Barnes & Noble Nook launched Oct 20th, and it stands toe-to-toe with the standard that has been set by the Kindle, even exceeding it in many ways.
The important bits: The Nook has the same 6-inch eInk screen as the Kindle, and is $20 cheaper (the Nook preorders for $259, while the Kindle 2 is still $279). The Nook also has a remarkable navigation system: a secondary color touchscreen display, directly under the eInk. It's a great-looking innovation, and one that gives the reader's interface flexibility that the Kindle just doesn't have. In my opinion, as you go through the specs, the comparison seems to favor the Nook over the Kindle. Here's the quick rundown of the things I get asked about the most when I talk about eReaders: Read More »
Submitted by Tom Peters on October 14, 2009 - 9:45am
 It’s not every day that a new bibliographic utility bursts onto the library tech scene. Even public services librarians like myself– who are generally averse to the finer details of cataloging and metadata matters–took notice of last week’s announcement that a new bibliographic utility called SkyRiver (www.theskyriver.com) is forming. Like Halley’s Comet, SkyRiver will grow in brightness over the next few months, with the best viewing after it is completely launched in January 2010.
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Submitted by Cody Hanson on October 12, 2009 - 11:13am
As part of our effort to provide some perspective on the 2009 LITA Forum, we're pleased bring you this Forum wrap-up from Cody Hanson. In addition to being the author of a future issue of Library Technology Reports Cody is Technology Librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries, where he works on digital reference, Drupal, and discovery. He studies mobile technology, and is not ashamed to admit that he once owned a first-generation Nokia N-Gage.
-Dan Freeman
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Submitted by Richard Wallis on October 8, 2009 - 4:05pm
In comparison with the rest of the library world, supported by the traditional, closed source, vendors, the open source sector is still fairly small. The question I put to the Gang this month was “Can the open source sector scale?”. Will it be able to grow in it’s current form to become a significant alternative to the commercial vendors? Read More »
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