Trip Report: 3rd IGeLU Conference, Madrid, 7-10th September 2008

MPDL,Aleph

The 3rd IGeLU Conference took place in Madrid from 8th to 10th September 2008 and has been visited by Inga and Silvia as well as Anke Bruns and Regina Bost from the GWDG. This page summarizes our experiences and findings. Further information can be found via the conference program and the IGeLU web site.

Summary: The annual IGeLU conferences are characterized by a combination of user presentations on the one hand and official product updates by Ex Libris on the other hand. The dominating topic of this conference was the discussion of the "next generation library system". Ex Libris introduced its vision of decoupling front-end interfaces from back-office services which are based on global data services. While some effects of this strategical shift became obvious over the course of the event (e.g. MetaLib won't be developed further), it is still not easy to draw a complete picture of the envisioned architecture. But there is strong evidence that library management systems will change drastically.

Meeting of SFX Product Working Group, 9:00-10:30

 * Participants: Mark Dehmlow, Nikki Crowster, Inga
 * Goal: to meet, to analyze our performance and discuss about future plans
 * Issues: knowledge bases (we would like to receive an overview on ExL policy; any chance for a quick win?); more regular telephone conferences; more decentralization of service; we three will continue and try to recruit two additional persons.

IGeLU Steering Committee (SC) and National/Regional User Group (INUG), 14:30-15:45

 * Participants: many people from many countries
 * Notes from introduction round:
 * Ronald Schmidt (HBZ) mentioned the user study carried out by the Aleph.DACH group and the merge planned by Aleph.DACH and SMUG.DACH
 * discussions on how to improve ExL support is a recurrent subject: Neither a global nor a very localized support infrastructure seems to fit the requirements appropriately.

IGeLU SC/INUG and Ex Libris Management Meeting, 16:00-18:00
Presentation: "Results from the user survey" by Don Muccino, Ex Libris Vice President for global support
 * preparation started in 02.2008
 * study was executed in 06.2008
 * 10.000 emails, 1331 surveys completed (more than 10%), 700 surveys stared but not completed
 * type of institutions: 80% academic institution, 6% national libraries and 3.5% research organization
 * findings & issues:
 * most important in a product: functionality and features, followed by stability
 * escalation process is not well known and not rated as very helpful; escalation paths are unclear Method of resolution: publish known issues across product lines, clarify roles in the organization and improve accessibility to information about Ex Libris personnel
 * 60% satisfied with support
 * streamline implementation process
 * customers felt that they don't have input to the enhancement process -> Method of resolution: explore, with IGeLU and ELUNA, better ways to communiccate the enhancement processes in place
 * improve responsiveness and transparency of Ex Libris support. -> Method of resolution: head for 24x7 service, apply better messaging in Pivotal explaining how support works, how to contact, etc.
 * documentation is difficult to find. -> Method of resolution: implement new documentation center (process begun to implement new documentation standard in DigiTool). All documentation will be moved to a comprehensive eServices portal in medium-term
 * increase web-based training -> Method of resolution: increase web and flash-based training options, develop a library fo recorded sessions

Ex Libris Report, Matti Shem Tov

 * Ownership: Ex Libris is owned by funding private equity firm (Francisco partners 10.2006-07.2008; Leeds equity partners 07.2008), but this has no direct influence on the company's strategy and direction.
 * Strategic goal: provide solutions to meet the continually evolving needs of our customers. This goal is implemented by:
 * deep industry involvement (standards groups ans strategic forums)
 * customer collaboration: product working groups, wiki, etc.
 * software as a service model (SaaS) as additional business model
 * Overall product strategy: Ex Libris is committed to develop and maintain end-to-end solutions (from producer2enduser) that fit the user requirements. In future Ex Libris will focus to decouple the front-end from the back-office. This should enable libraries to offer tools for unified discovery and delivery. In parallel, Ex Libris will produce streamlined back office services in order to provide a modular and stable base for the front-end
 * Primo is the major font-end tool for discovery & delivery (more than 100 customers worldwide, version 2.0 published in May 2008)
 * URM framework: modular and extensible infrastructure for sharing and collaboration across institutions. URM timeline: The new development team is in place and currently working to validate model and determine high-level requirements.
 * scope of version 1: Management of licensed materials (release goal: end of 2009, not final)
 * scope of version 2: management of print materials (release goal: end of 2010, not final)
 * ILS: Ex Libris will continue to enhance and support both aleph and voyager
 * DPS (Digital Preservation System) is a new software component which provides a complete preservation solution (end-to-end solution: from submission to dissemination). It addresses the ever-growing need to preserve digitally-born and digitized materials stored at academic institutions by ensuring access to digital information over time. DPS was developed in partnership with the national Library of New Zealand and will be release Q4 2008.
 * Open platform strategy: Libraries need tools to take more control over development and application of services and solutions. Ex Libris will continue to provide robust solutions, but additionally encourage customers to share their own contributions. The open-platform program is meant to
 * enable the convergence of an owned software solution to an open platform
 * ensure that openness is consistent and well documented across productions. Ex Libris is building openness as an integral part of the development process
 * promote collaboration between customers and Ex Libris
 * provide a collaborative web site for publishing interfaces and hosting the community work. El Commons will become open to all Ex Libris customers and the included content belongs to the customers.
 * Announcement: Ex Libris System Seminar 2009 will take place in Tel Aviv, March/April next year. Registration will open at 1st of December 2008

Motivation and Background
In the last years library needs changed drastically due to the technology evolution which shifted the environment from a print paradigm to the management of electronic holdings (physical content management -> electronic content management -> digital content management). These experiences need to be translated to answer following question: What standards, architecture and systems are required in the future? For this purpose a range of library studies has been carried out:
 * National Library of Australia: IT Architecture Project Report (March 2007) - http://www.nla.gov.au/dsp/documents/itag.pdf
 * JISC & SCONUL: Library Management Systems Study (March 2008) - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/resourcediscovery/lmsstudy.pdf
 * Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control: On the record (January 2008) - http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/news/lcwg-ontherecord-jan08-final.pdf

In March 2008, Ex Libris started an additional study consisting of a series of research interviews with libraries around the world to validate its understanding of library needs. The questions focused on: What are the major "pain points" in the library? What kinds of new tasks do you anticipate? what kinds of things won't you do in the future? The study led to following key findings and recommendations:
 * do more with less by consolidating workflows (-> uniting traditional library functions with those of the "digital library")
 * support collaboration to increase productivity and leverage the "network effect" (-> enable libraries to share what is sharable)
 * build future services with SOA-based interoperability and offer SaaS deployment option (-> model software as a service)
 * pursue ways of re-using and "liberating" metadata
 * find ways to collect and incorporate user-provided data

URD²/URM framework
An analysis of these recommendations resulted in the assumption, that the next-generation library system consists of a framework that integrates back-office management processes across all materials (= parent workflow framework, URM). In addition an independent user interface will provide tools for unified resource discovery and delivery (= URD²). Beginning with Primo, Ex Libris decoupled front-end services from the back-office. In addition all existing solutions will be revised ("re-framed") to fit into the framework concept. To do so every component will be categorized into one of following areas of the URD²/URM framework:
 * 1) URD² (Unified Resource Discovery): user interface, search (local search, remote search), recommendations, linking services, user preferences, e-shelf, etc.
 * 2) URM (Unified Resource Management): selection, acquisition, financial, inventory, patron data, access rights, repository, inventory maintenance, etc.
 * 3) Data Services: centralized store for metadata and authority files (FRBRized), knowledge base, publication information delivered by vendors, tags and reviews, behavior patterns, etc.

Conceptual model:
 * GLOBAL metadata management component (MMS). This component includes metadata and authory records (beyond MARC records) as well as publication details and supports all types of materials. The MMS covers the "world of knowledge" including information resources can be categorized into owned (physical and digital content) and accessed resources (commercial and free)
 * LOCAL workflow (URM): resources are selected, acquired and inventorized. The inventory is institution specific, the items are linked to the corresponding metadata record in the global component and extended by item details, holding information as well as local bibliographic data
 * The inventory has an collection control layer and builds the basis of the discovery tool which is attached to user management
 * license management & circulation -> USER management: attributes, loans/holds, cash, ill -> standalone component that is outside the inventory, attached to inventory, attached to policy and roles...

There are collaborations with material vendors, e.g. Blackwell, Amazon..., also for acquisition, e.g. SAP. Until now there are no standards defined. Interoperability components are also developed with others.

 Building the URD²/URM framework:
 * step 1: Primo as discovery tool
 * sept 2: End-to-end support for the management of licensed materials (= URM v1. target date: end of 2009, not final) In parallel SFX version 4 will be release which separates the local inventory from global knowledge base (only the information on activated items is hold locally?)
 * step 3: add support for the management of local (physical and electronic) content (= URM v.2, target date: end of 2010)

Concretization of the fundamental idea
Oren's introduction into the theoretical model was followed by some details and mock-ups given by Kathryn Harnish:
 * 1) leverage medatada and other types of global information: data services. The metadata management system (MMS) includes metadata and authority control
 * 2) * sources are: library contributions, publishers/aggregators, commercial services, etc.
 * 3) * schemas? marc, dc, rdf?
 * 4) * rules? aacr, rda?
 * 5) * processes: normalizing, deduplication, FRBRization, clustering, policy enforcement, e.g. rules about who can create a record where
 * 6) * metadata publication: public use, restricted use, private, harvestable
 * 7) * MMS provides services to URM inventory, Primo discovery as well as third party applications
 * 8) * benefits: eliminates need to maintain full copies locally (because the descriptive metadata records are stored in the MMS), preserves ability to keep local information and makes information for the back-office activities earlier available in the process
 * 9) streamline workflow across material types, e.g. the book/e-book selection and processing. The streamlining of workflows rely on a task management tool which coordinates the execution of an activity across various work groups or functional areas, e.g.
 * 10) * role of selector: overview on fundings, list of suggested records, lookup metadata record in MMS, setup of a resource request with several formats (print and electronic access)
 * 11) * role of acquisitions librarian: accesses the task inbox, checks from which vendor the requested resource is available, selects appropriate vendor (digital content: checking the Knowledge Base, print content: checking the supplier system) and purchases the order
 * 12) * role of ill librarian: accesses document requests and pushes it to the acquisitions librarian if buying is cheaper than borrowing
 * 13) * benefits: deliver materials faster, with fewer resources and less cost, one single user interface, task management tools to coordinate work accoss work groups or functional areas and access related information at point of need
 * 14) integration with other applications within and outside the library environment: course reading
 * 15) * list creation takes place outside the URM
 * 16) * the list loaded into the URM (= inventory & MMS) and handled by the list administration tool. This interface can be used to start various processes, e.g.
 * 17) ** request the digitization of the item
 * 18) ** linking item to electronic version
 * 19) ** rights checking: retrieve number of students for the course from the student information system and request appropriate privilege via copy clearance center
 * 20) ** search a print copy in a consortia and request the print copy
 * 21) ** publish the reading list in the course management system
 * 22) * benefits: accept key data from external system (reducing data duplication and synchronization issues) and publish key data to external systems; enables work to happen in appropriate system, but allows everything to work together

Further activities
Finally, Oren summarized other relevant activities which fit into the overall strategy:
 * open platform strategy: to provide the tools to enable community building
 * participation in initiatives, e.g. signing the "Berkeley Accord" (March 2008)
 * enabling user participations and contributions is important (social networks / web2.0)
 * explicit: tagging, rating, suggesting, annotations
 * implicit: bx - usage patterns through usage indicators....
 * beyond the traditional: Many of the examples above still focus on the traditional role of libraries (provision of information). But in general the URM will enable libraries to fulfill additional roles, e.g. in the area of digital preservation
 * other areas: research data: e-research/e-science, data-centric science, need for CRIS (Current Research Information System)

Afterwards discussion

 * The ownership of MMS isn't clarified until now
 * Ex Libris wants to release a completed product and further on versions - and not like now, always adding a little bit here and there
 * Oren: SFX is staying to remain "stand alone"; Metalib will become the metasearch component of the new system.

Continue reading:
 * JISC: Library Management Systems - Investing wisely in a period of disruptive change
 * IGeLU: ILS-Next Generation/URM, some Questions for Focus Group Discussions - http://igelu.org/webfm_send/389
 * J. Rochkind: Corresponding blog posting - http://bibwild.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/ex-libris-urm-post-ils-ils
 * DLF ILS Discovery Interface Task Force: An API for achieving effective interoperation between traditional integrated library systems and external discovery applications - http://project.library.upenn.edu/confluence/download/attachments/5963787/DLF_ILS_Discovery-April08_draft.pdf

Follow-up Panel: Next Generation ILS
Ex Libris presentation regarding the development of the next-generation library system was followed by a panel discussion. Some scattered notes:
 * Ex Libris' product policy need to consider that libraries are faced with shrinking personnel and funding. In addition it will become difficult to raise funding for systems which are dedicated to back-office services. This may prevent libraries investing into new developed library systems.
 * How modular will the URD²/URM framework become? Will it really allow the seamless integration of external applications? Answer: Ex Libris will apply SOA architecture, but the realization of the overall vision will depend on many players. Give us concrete use cases, not only abstract requirements (be interoperable!)

Most remarks concerned the MMS concept
 * The concept of separating metadata records from holding details is not new (consortia catalogs), but in reality metadata records are very often copied back to the local system (for performance reasons?). In the depicted architecture, the MMS becomes a single point of failure. Is the reliance on an external service really forward-looking and innovative?
 * Building up an MMS will be very expensive. Is this really worth the price?
 * Fear to loose functionality
 * Metadata becomes a business asset; who will own the MMS? Answer: These questions cannot be answered now, but feedback and input is highly appreciated.
 * The term "cataloging" wasn't mentioned in the presentation at all, does this mean that libraries are no longer required in this regard?
 * How is the relationship to OCLC and WorldCat? Answer: Ex Libris want to facilitate the current setting. WorldCat or the catalogs of the national libraries could be the most important source of the MMS, but the processes can be made much more efficient, e.g. not copying back records to the local system.
 * The next-generation ILS vision of Ex Libris combines two big ideas: First the idea of a central knowledge base and second to combine resources across all media type. Isn't there a tension between both of these ideas? Example: Wouldn't a central catalog be especially helpful for book material?
 * Will the MMS become the "third node" of Primo? Answer: There will be interactions between MMS and Primo. Resources may be added to the knowledge base to be available via search and discovery
 * What about reports? Answer: Nothing made until now, but Ex Libris knows about the importance. For the development they will work closely together with librarians.
 * What about the pricing? Answer: There is no cost model until now. Ex Libris is aware of the anxieties. URM is modular and can also be buyed in pieces; as interfaces, standards and interoperability will be supported, you're free to combine it with other products.

ILS Consortium SIWG
Measurement of individual license usage in clustered Aleph instances, Wolfgang Hamedinger

Situation: more than 1 Aleph-system within 1 Oracle instance; only 1 license file

Issue: Too often "License limit exceeded" for staff licenses

Wolfgang Hamedinger describes his trials to analyze which libraries are exceeding the limit and to detect peak-periods. He could generate the report only with big effort by combining several different log files, which are partly undocumented. His plea for URM: Test URM with a consortia, e.g. in respect of reports

Plenary Session: Securing the Future: Digital Preservation at the National Library of New Zealand, Steve Knight
Goal: mandate to collect, make accessible, preserve in perpetuity New Zealand's heritage (defined in library's policy)

Challenge: Integration of existing systems

Questions:
 * What kind of solution? commercial, own building or project based company. Decision for commercial, because of user community, continuity and enhancements
 * required instituional outcome
 * repository solutions, digital archiving solutions and digital collections are unlikely the same

Partners: Ex Libris and Sun; Peer review group (10 worldwide experts) as advisory board for National Library and Ex Libris

The gap analysis of functional requirements in Digitool resulted 72 gaps in 9 categories (deposit, staging, data model, repository, validation, hardware, permanence, ingest, preservation) => Digitool too less functions => Digital Preservation System.

Organisation processes: Business Processes, Internal Training, Commmunication, Performance measures, Capacity and Capability, Business and Technical Support

Launch: October 2008

Nelli's User Centered Enhancements for MetaLib and SFX, Ere Maijala
Ere gave an overview on following enhancements developed at the National Library of Finland, see http://wiki.helsinki.fi/display/Nelli/Nelli+Tuning:
 * JavaScript solution to keep a MetaLib session alive: The session is not ended before the browser window is closed
 * Fetching book covers from Google Books
 * MetaLib record extensions: display the SFX links directly with the MetaLib record page
 * RSS feeds for MetaLib results: mySQL database; fetching first 100 records and create md5 hash for each record; cron job to compare the hashes and generates the RSS feeds; configurable, e.g. to exclude those RSS feeds which haven't been accessed for a long time; duplicate feeds for users

Aleph Product Update and Q&A, Karen Groves
Version 19: main focus:
 * Course Reading: implemented in the admin menu, "List of courses" can be defined and anytime updated/changed/prolonged
 * Batch Job Management: implemented in the task manager ("Batch Log"), displays key data about batch processes, statistics about some batch jobs, new service Summary Report (sys-90)
 * Staff permissions: handling improved, new design/partitioning in tabs
 * Acquisition/Serials enhancement: updated with accounting system
 * Circulation: generic vendor records loader (p-file-90), option to update Aleph with university information
 * Standards: support of SRU/SRW protocol -> search retrieve, option for MARC-XML as record output

Looking ahead new relaese strategy: Advantages: delivering more enhancements, provides more flexibility for implementation
 * Developing V20 (major release: new functionalities that requiere substantial changes for Oracle and GUI, with upgrade kit), V20.1 and V20.2 (minor releases: no database or GUI changes, includes bug fixes) and service packs (cumulative, only bug fixes); rich in customer enhancements, continous collaboration betwenn PWG, IGeLU, ELUNA
 * Planning V21 and beyond

Timetable V20.0 -> Q1/2009 V20.1 -> Q3/2009 V20.2 -> Q1/2010 V21.0 -> 2011 V21.1 -> 2012 V22.0 -> 2013 All releases shall be implemented worldwide

Version 20
 * technical: Oracle 11, Linux RedHat AS/ES5 64 bit(mandatory)
 * infrastructure: security enhancements
 * integration: Primo (addn. functionality), Google Books Services
 * support for standards: MAB to MARC21, danZIG profile, ISO ILL, UNIMARC

Question & Answers
 * completely web-based GUI planned? Answer: No
 * Why does Ex Libris not offer a one step process for batch loading MARC records into Aleph? Answer: Not every automatism is an improvement. In V20 there will be more streamlining, but it's not feasible in this case; libraries judgment is important for checking the files
 * Plea for version numbered service packs. Answer: There are internal discussions
 * Plea for providing access to older service packs. Answer: Saving the files locally
 * Accessibility of Web-OPAC? Answer: It's not scheduled for V20. It's an open request, but not sure if it will ever happen
 * Freezing Web-OPAC, because of PRIMO? Answer: No clear answer

SFX product update, Christine Stohn
First, Christine gave an overview on features added within the last year:
 * improving the A-Z list (ajax functionality for title search)
 * COinS in the SFX menu
 * handling of related objects
 * fetching information regarding related books from external services (e.g. xISBN and LibraryThing)
 * enhancing Aleph and z39.50 plug-ins to use title & author and download holding into context object
 * simplified configuration of SFX services via admin tools

In addition, following features are planned for 2008:
 * extension to the existing collection tool to support purchase/cancellation decisions, e.g. what titles do you gain with a new package. The tool will probably be further enhanced in the future (share your ideas)
 * more targets for the SFX knowledge base: focus on e-book collections

Outlook on 2009: SFX version 4 will bring a new update process Question and Answers:
 * more frequent: published continuously
 * seamless: local installations are automatically pulling updated data over as published
 * reports are populated on updates: list of changes made since a specific date
 * support of local contributions with th e option to push something to the global KB
 * accuracy of KB: Ex Libris needs to change strategically to cope with things in the future. The company is currently improving the processes and tools which are used to maintain the global knowledge base.
 * bibliographic rules for adding related objects to the sfx knowledge base are not available! The title relations are currently loaded from external sources and indicated in the knowledge base itself.
 * NISO KBART is a working group consisting of representatives from knowledge base vendors, publishers and libraries. Ex Libris is represented by Nettie Legace.

MetaLib product update, Karen Groves
Release history:
 * MetaLib version 4.1 has been released in Nov 2008: more informative search results, extended citation management
 * MetaLib version 4.2 has been released in April 2008: improved language support, especially for CJK
 * MetaLib version 4.3 is currently in pipeline and expected for Q1.2009: simplified implementation of backoffice services & customer-requested enhancements, e.g.
 * enhanced access control for staff users
 * management of quick sets via ML administration
 * maintenance of IP addresses in a database
 * resources and knowledge tools: summary view for categories/sub-categories assigned to resources; assign multiple resource types to IRD description; allow URL entries in IRD description, free text fields
 * user interface: my e-journals (sort by title), peer-review indicator in brief results list; add support for endnote-web
 * MetaLib knowledge base enhancements:
 * 1450 resources while IGeLU 2007
 * 1750 resources while IGeLU 2008
 * >= 300 resources has been added over the last year

Moving forward: how to ensure that we continue to meet the challenges that libraries face?
 * open architecture and facilitating customer contributions
 * tool for next generation meta searching: no major release is further planned (= no MetaLib version 5). Instead of that Ex Libris will take take a detail look on the core functionalities offered by MetaLib and re-implement them as a powerful metasearch engine. The future end-user interface will be provided by the Primo solution ("remote search") and the knowledge base will become part of flexible global knowledge base
 * MetaLib x-server, used by more than 80 libraries and large consortia to meet the integration needs and also utilized by the Primo solutiohn
 * MetaLib continues to be an important part of the Ex Libris product family: It meets your needs yesterday, today and tomorrow!

Questions and Answers:
 * Existing MetaLib customers won't be charged for using Primo's remote search option possibility. Anyway, Primo can be much more if you move down the path towards an integrated discovery tool.
 * be assured that ml 4 won't be dropped

PRIMO Implementation at the British Library, Mandy Stewart, (British Library, UK)
Presentation: http://igelu.org/webfm_send/436

Why Primo?:
 * first step in implementing new search and navigation technics: promise of scaleability, functionality needed for new core services, community, trying out digital discovery
 * potential to integrate with wider systems
 * component of next generation digital library management system

What users want:
 * larger aggregation to data
 * single point of discovery
 * Integration with delivery and access services

Focus:
 * develop access services
 * exploring new developments
 * integrate web 2.0
 * integrate all baseline discovery services

Configuration panel:
 * configuration work
 * review configuration
 * talk to stakeholders
 * discussion group
 * managing communication

"permanent beta": ongoing improvements: new datasets, new functionality

Plan 2:
 * Phase 1: deposit of e-journals with TOCs
 * Phase 2: full text digitized e-books
 * Phase 3: newspapers

How they want Primo to develop:
 * full text search
 * scale - increase
 * specific support for digital content types
 * clear roadmap
 * support for users in new way

SUPrimo at the University of Strathclyde: a case study, Nick Joint (Univ. of Strathclyde, UK)
Presentation: http://igelu.org/webfm_send/450

Background:
 * use of digital services has risen more than 150% => new strategy: more digital content
 * tool needed for new content => OPAC isn't qualified: less using, bad feedback, students want a google-like search engine

Why Primo?:
 * compatibility with existing Ex Libris products crucial
 * web 2.0 functionality

Phasing: focus on internal collections, then implementing Digitool, SFX, institutional repository, MetaLib

Nick Joint presents SUPrimo. Design ideas:
 * Simplification of screen: do not make Primo same as opac.
 * Choice of links – from user feedback, web site statistics.
 * Help information
 * Choice of keyword search fields Aut/Title/Subject cf. ‘Major’.
 * Choice of facets for simple post qualification
 * Future use of Statistics: hope to continue development of interface using statistical features of Primo.

Implementing PRIMO in a Consortium, Gary Johnson (CCLA)
Presentation: http://igelu.org/webfm_send/451

College Center for Library Automation: Central Office which serves 28 institutes (back office functions, discovery services, support)

CCLA Primo contents:
 * Aleph
 * Florida memory project
 * Metalib
 * Google e-books

Obstacles as a consortia: In the future there shall be a user admin module, so that every institute has access to the back office
 * Views with multiple scope values
 * Availability not relevant to institution/search scope (FRBR)
 * time-consuming back office in consortia, because there is a different view for each institute.

Following discussion/questions
 * Integration of MetaLib: response time improved, layout of results list is adjusted to the book search within Primo
 * What about accessibility of Primo? Wasn't a criteria and therefore not tested
 * Duration for harvesting data from Aleph? For initial load no difficulties over night, further on 4 x daily: invisible process (CCLA)

Extending the OPAC: Integrating WorldCat, Maps and More into Aleph, Mark Dehmlow (Univ. of Notre Dame, US)
http://www.library.nd.edu/

Added Services:
 * FindIt
 * EndNote/RefWorks Export
 * WorldCat Search

FindIt:
 * an SFX like menu that offers the user special services, maps and added information about the item of interest, e.g. library map, where the item is to be found, links to GoogleBooks, WorldCat, amazon
 * flexible adaption of the menu, depending on the usage (monitoring statistics)
 * getting data by using webservices (Aleph X-Server, ISBN.com, ...) and Javascript (JSON for GoogleBooks)
 * integrated in full record, holdings record, results list

EndNote/RefWorks Export: Goal: search and select records in Aleph, select RefWorks or EndNote, export the records directly without downloading an intermediate text file Realisation with Perl

WorldCat Search:
 * automatically redirect the user's search from Aleph to WoldCat (no re-keying)
 * two main goals: eliminate OPAC dead-ends when needed items are not in the collection and increase use of WorldCat direct ILL request
 * getting data with javascript, sending data with perl (converting of the search string necessary)

Ex Libris General Q&A

 * unsatisfied with Pivotal. Answer: Other plans are seriously considered
 * SIs with status development last very long. Answer: More transparency in future. After first verification, it will be published to find out, if others have the same problem, then possibly part of service pack
 * Supported operating systems in future? Answer: Developement is done on Linux; they give no recommendations. Linux and Solaris are working well. VMware and zones: certification process is passed, now documentation. Primo: Linux and Solarix, they do not recommend any. AIX will be supported for Aleph.
 * No documentations for webservices/APIs. Answer: El Commons
 * Bad quality of testing methods and quality assurance. Answer: There are ongoing efforts/improvements: fulltime quality assurane director, establishing a testing-team
 * Required criteria to include new resources in MetaLib, SFX? Answer: Progress has been made: 500/year, half of it not english (MetaLib), 400/year (SFX)
 * Strategy for Primo? Only interface for all Ex Libris tools? Answer: They're moving to a new framework, which is basis for all products, e.g. MetaLib will be based on Primo technology, but can be used as standalone option
 * Interoperability with other systems? Answer: Part of their vision, but for more details two parties are necessary
 * Interoperability URM <-> existing Ex Libris products. Answer: Too early for an answer
 * proportion of development resources URM <-> existing Ex Librs products. Answer: all products are going on to be supported. The part for URM will increase.

Reports from the breakout sessions on why we need a new generation ILS, Dale Flecker (Harvard Univ., US)
Areas needing exploration:
 * user management
 * management & usage reporting
 * transition planning (technical, operational, financial)
 * repository/digital preservation (how does it relate to URM)
 * sope (archives? museums?)

Some sceptisism: but MMS is usefull on many other levels: consortia, national, regional
 * about global MMS (interesting, but...)
 * ownership
 * role of existing sources, e.g. OCLC
 * virtues in replication
 * this is hard bibliographically (de-duplicaton, FRBR, varying cataloging codes, languages)
 * how to get agreement on quality standards
 * the maintenance is complex, costy
 * scaling
 * Are there enough resources without neglecting existing Ex Libris products

Worry: How to justify/pay new generation system
 * hard to get enthusiasm for backroom system
 * does URM provide better user services?
 * does it generate meaningful operational savings?

E-book Focus Group Report, Dale Flecker and Paul Ayris
The report of the IGeLU/ELUNA focus group on e-books and Ex Libris' reaction has been published on the IGeLU website in June 2008. Charge: examine all aspects of e-books, e.g. acquisition, management... Issue: more complex than e-journals Challenges: variety of formats, purpose and use, diversity of software, information supply chains, pricing models/licensing, DRM, lack of standards, metadata issues, user attitudes and user statistics, digital curation The following presentations summarized the findings:


 * 1) needs regarding discovery: find print and e-books via an unified interface (also free e-books?)
 * 2) * short-term: Ex Libris to provide high-quality discovery metadata for e-books because they will come in large packages and therefore could be easily loaded into a knowledge base
 * 3) * medium-term: provide mechanism for de-duplications and FRBRization
 * 4) * further questions:
 * 5) ** loading e-book records in local catalog and/or Primo? This issue was discussed diversely. The group finally recommends to maintain e-book holdings in Primo only because this system already provides some of the required key functionalities (FRBRization, duplicate record handling, etc.). In addition a knowledgebase-like solution fits better into Primo than into current integrated library systems
 * 6) ** metasearching of full content of e-content is not a primary requirement
 * 7) ** browsing of e-book collection is not urgently required: a-z list would become to big
 * 8) * expected problems: identifiers are problematic for e-books, e.g. non-existent for retrospective digitization; many versions....
 * 9) needs regarding linking:
 * 10) * short-term: provide openurl linking to e-books
 * 11) * medium-term: provide links to print holdings and provide openurl linking for other editions
 * 12) * long-term: linkage at the chapter, page or image level to e-books

In addition, the focus group recommended to setup a further study which should concentrate on the needs for back-office management of e-books, e.g. how to support the variety of business models and acquisition methods offered by e-book publishers.

Further reading:
 * superbook project at UCL - http://www.publishing.ucl.ac.uk/superbook.html
 * Ed Corrado's blog posting about the IGeLU conference discusses the recommendations of the e-book focus group - http://blog.ecorrado.us/2008/09/15/igelu2008/

Ex Libris' Response, Kathryn Harnish
Ex Libris' conceptual model for e-books:
 * central e-book repository (CER) as a potential solution. A reference database including metadata for all e-books, enhanced by a variety of supplemental information and set up to support FRBRization requirements.
 * SFX could execute the object augmentation against the CER and the accessibility check against the inventory
 * CER to provide descriptive records to local catalogs, and to provide access for indexing by Primo

Requirements mentioned in report
 * unified interface:
 * ability to harvest data sources relevant to e-books
 * deep search: relevant for cross-platform full-text searching
 * high quality metadata
 * activity in progress: add additional descriptive info in SFX knowledge base
 * ongoing maintenance of existing e-books in SFX
 * next steps for Ex Libris: analyze central e-book repository model as a source of high quality metadata for harvesting and upload data from e-book publishers; determine potential sources of metadata, e.g. publishers, OCLC
 * linking to e-book content
 * activity in progress: continue adding e-boook content to the SFX knowledge base
 * future evaluate CER as a way to expand link augmentation and resolution, improve matching with better metadata and FRBRization
 * back-office management:
 * next steps for Ex Libris: work with ELUNA and IGeLU to create sub-groups
 * focus: commercial content, locally digitized e-books, freely available e-books
 * deduplication:
 * support for grouping of semi-identical items (via FRBRization) and deduping items in discovery process (Primo)
 * next steps: evaluate CER for deduping data directly in the source
 * linking from e-books:
 * out of scope... because this needs to be done by publisher
 * locate other editions:
 * done: support for xISBN service
 * next: gather feedback from customers who have implemented and provide a similar service for xOCLCnum