Re: Preaching to the choir

I understand that many ILS don't allow much customizations.  That's why I qualified my statement with "especially when..." they do, then it's difficult, patron hat on, to blame "the vendor" for something that the library's technical staff has control over and it doesn't excuse a poor user interface to the catalog.
 
For libraries using ILS's that cannot be customized, then vote with your feet.  Find an ILS vendor that does allows customizations or move to something like Open ILS, etc.  I do realize that its not that easy to move to a new ILS and certainly there are costs involved, but libraries periodically weed their collections, why not their ILS when it's not meeting their needs.
 
I also started out with the criticism: "Clearly, vendors can and should provide better access to the underlying data in the ILS, e.g., web services or other mechanisms so mashups can be created by their customers.", with the understanding that this is two sided problem rather than the assumption that it's all or not "the vendors" fault.
 
Clearly, to me, there are issues and things that can be done on both side of the debate.  Lets keep the discussion moving forward on the issues and possible solutions for the "Next Generation" rather than pointing fingers.
 
 
Andy.


________________________________

        From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ross Singer
        Sent: 15 June, 2006 09:33
        To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
        Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Preaching to the choir
	
	
        On 6/15/06, Houghton,Andrew <houghtoa_at_oclc.org> wrote: 
	


                As I indicated above I'm reluctant to place the entire issue
                on the shoulders of "the vendor" especially when the interface
                to the ILS is customizable by the library.  It's all about
                marketing, so maybe those library directors should be hiring 
                geeks who develop shopping sites, now that's an idea...


        Andy, I fear you're showing a bit too much of your "vendor hat" here (although, admittedly, not a vendor that makes an ILS).
	
        I am unaware of any mainstream ILS that allows very much customization by the library. That's why almost all OPACs look roughly the same.  It's also very hard to get at the data inside our catalogs and forget about trying to do patron services outside the native interfaces.  Even the ILSes that give RDBMS access to the data don't allow write permission. 
	
        This paragraph is unfortunate, because otherwise I wholeheartedly agree with every other thing you write about.
	
        -Ross.