Category Archives: ILS

Google Chrome

Exciting news in the browser wars:  Google is releasing has released a beta version of a web browser that it is calling Chrome. Why does this matter?  The open-source browser will feature: Every tab running in isolation from the other … Continue reading

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SOPAC 2.0 @ Darien Library

After much anticipation, version 2.0 of the Social Opac (SOPAC) went live this morning at the Darien Library in Connecticut. It looks very good… excellent, in fact.  I am already looking forward to playing with this version of the software.  … Continue reading

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Creative III Shelf Browse Hack

Saw a shelf browse created for an Innovative (III) OPAC that is quite neat.  It lives on a development site for the Cambridge Public Library in Ontario, Canada and integrates Syndetic Solutions book covers into a pseudo-shelf listing.  Here is … Continue reading

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Koha 3.0

The Koha Integrated Library System (ILS) has just released version 3.0 of their software.  This New Zealand-based open source project is quite mature and provides many libraries cost-effective means to run their operations. The release notes for this version show … Continue reading

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Learned Helplessness

Read Lori Ayre’s blog post at TechEssence to find out what she means by “Learned Helplessness”. I think she hits the nail on the head, then drives it home. I will be watching her future posts….

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Zoomii Books

Zoomii Books is not library related… yet. It is a virtual bookshelf built around Amazon’s book cover images and inventory. However, the concept would make for an excellent method of “browsing” a library catalog. The company founder has even mentioned … Continue reading

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Scriblio Update

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been making some changes to the Scriblio installation on Libology. The improved: I installed the Pop Blue theme, mainly because I didn’t like the way the default Scriblio theme used screen space. … Continue reading

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Making a Business Case for Open Source ILS

Making a Business Case for Open Source ILS is a column by Marshall Breeding that appeared in the March 2008 issue of Computers in Libraries. You may remember Marshall from his annual survey of Integrated Library Systems (the words behind … Continue reading

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OpenBiblio on Libology

I have loaded another piece of library software on Libology : OpenBiblio.  It is an open source ILS (Integrated Library System) designed for schools, churches, and smaller libraries. I am impressed with it so far.  It doesn’t have a lot, … Continue reading

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The Missing Link in the ILS

Karen Coyle writes about what is needed for the libraries of the world that don’t have the resources needed to install and use a full-featured integrated library system (ILS). There must be a minor psychic link involved (don’t worry Karen, … Continue reading

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Berkeley Accord

ILS Basic Discovery Interfaces, a.k.a the Berkeley Accord In what may turn out to be a historically significant event in the history of library tech, a group called the ILS Discovery Task Force has generated an outline detailing what amounts … Continue reading

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State of the ILS

Marshall Breeding provides his annual overview of the shifts and trends in the world of the Integrated Library System (ILS) in the current issue of Library Journal. Of interest is the definite movement of the open source systems, Koha and … Continue reading

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The Accidental OPAC Name

Someone at AskMetaFilter has inquired about why so many library OPACs have human names, and Jessamyn has asked for comments, so here is what I posted as a reply: Here’s a story about how one library accidentally gave their OPAC … Continue reading

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Google Books API

This is a few days old, but it is still an important bit of news : Google has opened it’s Application Programming Interface (API) to developers. What this means for libraries is that they now have the potential to link … Continue reading

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LibraryLookup

LibraryLookup is a nifty tool that creates a bookmarklet that automatically searches whatever library catalog you configure it to use.  The bookmarklet generator has twenty ILS packages in their list, and they offer to at least attempt to configure others … Continue reading

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Tim Berners-Lee and DataPortability

In a long interview on the state of the semantic web, Tim Berners-Lee (if you don’t recognize the name, you should really read this) briefly discussed DataPortability, the ability to move information freely and easily from one site to another: … Continue reading

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Evergreen Acquisitions

Evergreen has announced their progress on their Acquisitions portion of the open-source ils.  They are on target to have a functional acquisitions/serials capability by summer! Take a look at their progress, noting that their vanilla interface is only in place … Continue reading

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Indiana Open Source ILS Initiative

This announcement by the Indiana State Library and the Hussey Mayfield Memorial Public Library in Zionsville is significant : they aim to make Indiana the third statewide implementation of the Evergreen ILS, assuming that it meets their needs. Third??? Well, … Continue reading

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Perceptions 2007

Perceptions 2007: An International Survey of Library Automation contains the results of a survey conducted by Marshall Breeding.  He explored the relationship between libraries and their Integrated Library Systems (ILS). The results are interesting.  Without going into my own views … Continue reading

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LENS – University of Chicago

LENS is an AquaBrowser online catalog installation at the University of Chicago library that has just gone live, albeit in beta. It is an impressive catalog interface, showing what can be done with our existing cataloging, good software, and an … Continue reading

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