Empowering Your Organization
Get Out of the Frying Pan!Lori Bowen
[email protected]
[email protected]
Evergreen Conference 2009Athens, Georgia
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but dont get into the fire
2Choosing to migrate to Evergreen and treating Equinox like your
new Vendor defeats the whole (well maybe not the WHOLE) reason to
move to an OSLS.
Its cool that Evergreen is free and that you can see the source
code. But.
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The best part is. youareincontrol
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With an Open Source Library System
5Choosing an OSLS opens up a whole new world of
possibilities
You decide what gets built.
6How many have ever asked their ILS vendor to customize their
software or add a module?Did you get it? How long did it take? How
much did it cost.
You decide how it works.
7How many were holding your breath for a much needed update to
your ILS and when it finally came out, it was implemented in a way
that didnt make any sense for your organization?
You decide how you work.
8What much of your workflow is defined by the ILS software? Are
there any procedures you do ONLY because it is how the software
requires you to do it?
The All Powerful Vendor
9Beginning: companies developed products based on library
protocols (1980s)
Locked libraries inside those same 1980 and 1990s practices
Marshall Breeding mergers and acquisitions in the library
automation industry
Why it doesnt work for usEach product limited to one support
optionmarket too small built on old, nasty codedevelopment is years
behind needdata locked upinflexible too few customization
options
10Eric Lease Morgans Rudimentary Next Generation Catalog sketch
from 2007
[more]...why it doesnt work for usRFP process doesnt ensure
libraries make the right choicesmigration process is so horrific,
there is no recourse once a move has been madeStandards issues
11Eric Lease Morgans Rudimentary Next Generation Catalog sketch
from 2007
RFP process: written for what they want to sell us instead of
what we need
Migration process do over?
Not standards compliant or inconsistently about how standards
are implemented
Standards are all we can rely on when there is no access to
source code
[EXERCISE: WORD CIRCLES}
Learned Helplessness
12What has evolved.devolved?
Seligman's experiment with dogs
This is what weve come to.but imagine something different.
Imagine if people working in libraries actually felt their ideas
about how to do things made a difference?
13Imagine if people working in libraries actually felt their
ideas about how to do things made a difference?
Imagine eliminating waste (muda) of staff work effort
Muda () is a Japanese term for activity that is wasteful,
doesn't add value or is unproductive.
14STAFF SIDE
LEAN or the Toyota Production Systemset of principles/practices
for eliminating waste in manufacturing but it is practiced in other
industries- is there any WASTE in your workflow? What about for the
customer?
Rarely see libraries implement LEAN.why?
Not enough control over their environment to eliminate wasted
steps! Lag time!No ability to simplify the process!
COULD YOU USE 13-14 hours more in staff time per week?
500,000 circs save 5 secs per circ$26/hour694 hours per year or
$18,000AKA 13-14 hours per week
Imagine being able to optimize the user experience
A Library Product:
15Ability to optimize the users experience
Imagine being able to roll out a new service quickly!
Sweet! My book is ready!Text-a-Circ
16Service ideas difficult to implement:
Offer Home Delivery as an option for Holds
Let customers choose text notices instead of email or
telecirc
Allow customers to freeze an item on their hold queue even if
theres a copy availableOthers?
Now is the time to take back the POWER we have ceded to the
Vendors
17Weve allowed the vendors to decide how things would get
done.
With the OSLS we can take that power back.
Dont want Equinox to become the new vendor because we havent
done our part.
[EXERCISE: 12 QUALITIES]
Key to Firefox Success: Community Involvement! Mozilla Lessons
Learned
Embrace the chaos and organize a chorusListen to your
communityLead your communityLet your community play and
experiment
37% of the code contributed to Firefox since November 06 has
come from the community
18Mozilla phenomenologist Mike Beltzner presentation at Web 2.0
Expo
Individual developer (the author of this graphic)
Shows ratio of development commercial contribution versus
community contribution
Development companyDaily Contributor 100 Contributors
1000Nightly testers 10,000Beta testers 100,000 Daily Users 30
million
How much have Mozilla contributors contributed???? 37%
1/3 of Firefox was NOT developed by Mozilla
Evergreen is a work in progress.
We need to help build it.
19What percentage of Evergreen has been developed by the
community?
Suggest improvementsIncrease participationWays to contribute to
EvergreenContribute new codeCo-Sponsor
developmentDevelopdocumentation Organize Evergreencommunities
Do usability testingManage communities of interest (e.g.
customers, catalogers, circ staff)Identify inefficiencies
Conduct userneedassessmentsOptimizeworkflowTroubleshootexisting
codeRaise moneyBeta TestnewreleasesDesign screensWrite
specificationsCreate and test third party add-ins
20Write codeFundraise for development effortsCo-sponsor
developmentDevelop documentation or build a system of managing
documentationManage an Evergreen community (consortia, large public
libraries, small rural libraries, law libraries)Test release
candidatesDo usability testing - provide usability guidanceManage a
community of interest (customers, catalogers, circ staff,
acquisitions, serials, ILL/Resource sharing, digital asset
managers)Create or test 3rd party add-insOptimize workflow (and
suggest changes to the software that would support
that)Troubleshoot existing codeWrite software
specificationsIdentify what users needs (staff and the public)
Design screens?
Low threshold involvement:
Suggest improvementsIdentify inefficiencies
Get more people involved!
[EXERCISE WHAT WILL YOUR ORG CONTRIBUTE?]
Step OneStop talking about what The Vendor can do and start
talking about what WE can do
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More first stepsEncourage every user to think critically about
how the software works encourage them to imagine doing things
differentlyProvide a mechanism for exploring alternative approaches
(what if we tried..)Capture good ideas and get them to your
contributors and your developersDevelop new resource-sharing
relationships with other libraries (people are resources too!)
22Encourage every user of the library system to think critically
about how the software works give them a voiceTiny changes can make
a big difference (extra clicking, awkward displays, missing the
info you need on a screen)The developers are not the experts your
circ staff, acquisitions, catalogers, usersthey are the experts
Provide a mechanism for exploring alternative approaches (what
if..) for getting work doneCreate a test environment (not always
possible with your current vendor) but it is nowGive people the
time to try out new ideastry different procedures for a week at one
locationhave a test server to experiment with different
settingscreate a test user interface to library users to try
capture their feedback
Capture good ideas and get them to your contributors and your
developersPeople need to have a voice, need to be able to try new
stuff and new ideas need to be pursuedEventually to get anything
done, it will need to get to the developersMake sure you have a
mechanism for getting ideas to the right people
Pilot test instead of RFPThe current RFP process locks you into
limited choicesWith an OSLS, you may be able to avoid the RFP
process altogetherOr perhaps do an RFP for services only
Develop new resource-sharing relationships with other
librariesShare technical staff (developers, business analysts,
support staff/help desk)Share your good work (documentation,
results of tests, ideas, code)Reconsider the role of consortia
The Beginning
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