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1999 Issues |
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  This month’s stories
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LIS 99 - ten years old and going strong? |
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LIS is now ten years old and, despite a strong display of stands from all sectors
of the library and information world, it was quieter than usual and many of the exhibitors were less than pleased with the attendance.
Compared with the crowds that throng the information biased On-line show in December, LIS is becoming a a bit of a backwater - competing with the Libtech International in March and the LA’s “Under One Umbrella”, is it time for some rationalisation?
For the record, the figures were: 1999 - 3367 against 1998 - 4,000
Peter Evans reviews the latest trends and happenings...
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Products
Urica, Innovative Java, Geac’s CIRC client, VDX everywhere, Talis emerging, DS Galaxy - quick look.
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Urica |
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Urica is possibly the system with the longest pedigree of all in the automation systems market. It was developed in the early 80s and has
continued along the same main development track ever since. Systems around at that time were Geac's GLIS,
CLSi,s Libs 100, Swalcap, BLCMP's Circo. Innovative were just getting going, Dynix was a gleam in Keith Wilson's eye... it was a while ago.
Since the initial birth of Urica, the system has developed a rich functionality.
The database structures, which are firmly in what are now called the post relational model and was then called PICK or in Microdata's case Reality, have remained pretty much unchanged.
In order to survive the revolutions of the IT industry, Urica has had to re-structure the system and has adopted a thin client approach which
retains the back end database and allows the use of a thin browser based client.
Urica have adopted a gradual approach towards the GUI in order to bring users with dumb terminals and Windows 3.1 along with them.
This has meant sticking with Javascript for the client processing - a limiting factor that Innovative for example has dropped by using a full Java client.
I saw two modules of the new Urica - cataloguing and the Web OPAC.
Cataloguing is still under development but was well enough along the way to gauge style. Essentially, many of the features of the character based work flow are retained with an initial template being selected and an ISBN check of the database as the first steps. The creation of an initial simple record is then upgraded with more complex fields for multiple authors etc. Users can create and manage their own templates as with the character based system and the authority checking capabilities will be retained. Any purely web based client however will always suffer from the limitations of a page on demand stateless environment. It will be interesting to see whether Urica can develop a catalogue client to rival the sophistications of tools like GeoCat and Aleph. Urica's format independence means that it is not tied to any specific MARC or other format and records can be displayed or output in AUS, UK, US and UNI flavours of MARC as well as South African SAMARC. Germany's MAB formats can also be accommodated - however Urica's marketing is limited currently to the English speaking world.
The OPAC from Urica is also Web based but a much more mature product.
The Web is suited to catalogue inquiry applications much more than data applications and Urica's has some very interesting features.
Trevor Gadd - the technical guru behind Urica showed me a number of features I haven't seen elsewhere. First was a library guiding
system that links to the classmark browsing. The screen presents an
image of the library which can be clicked to get information about the library services. Clicking on the image of the OPAC terminals takes you into the OPAC itself and allows you to search. If you search the OPAC and then click for a shelf display then the shelves where the book can be found are highlighted. If you then click on the highlighted shelves, you are presented with a shelf list of items which can be browsed much as if you are looking along the shelves.
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Millennium’s progress |
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Like Geac, Innovative have a long list of legacy
customers that they want to retain. Providing software that builds on the legacy without tying yourself into old technology, is a fine balancing act. I had a look at the Millennium Web OPAC...
Innovative have embraced Java technology more fully than other suppliers and this enables their Web OPAC to look and act more like a Windows client.
It needs a hefty client mind you - recommended spec is a 300Mhz PC with 128MB of memory. For the older kit innovative re fully committed to Telnet operation whilst it is required.
At the functional level, Millennium gives the user some impressive functionality with a robust attempt at "no fail" searching.
This is achieved for instance in the author search by offering inversion from William Shakespeare to Shakespeare, William - should searching the former not prove successful. The full context of a search is shown as well so that if a term is entered and matches nothing then the place that the search term would have occupied is displayed. These sort of touches are common enough in older OPACs but rare in Web based OPACs.
The copy area uses every opportunity to hyperlink elements to available functions as words rather than provide a button. This is intuitive and
enables copy specific functionality to be indicated for instance where one copy can be booked and another may not.
Innovative are also providing some measure of integration with other on-line resources. Browsing the catalogue of Glasgow University - their
Merlin system - you can link seamlessly to the electronic version of a journal or table of contents (linked at the issue level if desired) and the library can enable or disable copying of full text via
privileges and copyright permissions.
Innovative also have an integrated URL checker to help manage those "404" messages when linked to a no longer correct web page.
Watch other vendors begin to wind up on this function soon - the whole management of electronic resources and copyright access is a
nettle that has to be grasped by the system vendors - it requires modern technologies within their systems to cope with the emerging standards from other suppliers.
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GeoCirc |
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I had a chance to see Geac's circulation client (late beta - delivered on time incidentally - June delivery is what Geac told me 6 months ago.)
GeoCirc is modeled like an increasing number of systems on Microsoft Office look and feel.
An Outlook style left hand pane groups together display functions like overdues, fines, loans and reservations. The main part of the screen is divided into active - where variable data like lists of materials on loan are shown, and static where the control buttons and information like the user name, items on loan etc. are shown.
There were two interesting
features showing Geac's thoughtful attention to detail and practicalities. First the ability to drive the circulation function entirely by means of keystrokes - a mouse can be used but is not necessary. Secondly, a single keystroke fires up Telnet into a circulation session running the old Advance software. Why? well the cynics might say because all the functionality is not there yet but it also has useful training implications where staff share terminals but not necessarily skills and preferences.
Geac have certainly not rushed their circulation client into place but it is looking good and worth the wait.
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VDX rolls on |
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The Fretwell-Downing VDX Inter-Library
Loan (ILL) and document delivery package is beginning to blossom as a component part of several integrated systems. As well as being exhibited as a stand alone system on Fretwell's own stand, it appeared as an ILL handling client on the Geac GeoWeb product and on the Talis product as their ILL component. VDX is certainly Fretwell-Downing's star product at the moment - it incorporates the full ISO 10160/61 model with special drivers for the British Library's service for whom it will be providing the gateway software for its own ISO services.
ILL systems have been skewed traditionally by the particular circumstances of the national environment - usually some centralised service like OCLC
in USA and the British Library Document Supply Centre in the UK. With their own local protocols these suppliers have created a closed community for software vendors to mesh into. The evolution of
ISO 10160 has meant that, potentially, any library can go to any other for the loan or supply of material. When this market reaches a critical mass i.e. most libraries have a system which can communicate and
"deal" with any other , then Fretwell-Downing will be well placed to provide most of those dealing systems either direct through their own OLIB library system or via VDX stand alone systems or via that
same technology embedded into another system. Watch out for news on VDX’s penetration into the US market soon.
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Talis emerges |
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I had an interesting discussion with Will Downie new marketing and business director about the plans for the new entity - Talis. Formed in
1999 from the BLCMP co-operative of the 1970’s, Talis Information LTD is clearly aiming to broaden its influence in the UK market and beyond by forging partnerships in order to grow and consolidate its dominance of
the UK academic and public sector.
It will have to work hard to resist the growing success of the newer systems emerging in the UK - Endeavor’s Voyager, Aleph and Millennium. Talis has the ambition and the market base. We wish them luck.
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DS Galaxy new look |
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Galaxy are a very successful UK public library system with a loyal band of users - interesting how the public libraries seem far less likely to move
to a newer system than the larger academics. I had a look at their new GUI interface. Written with Delphi, the new client has a Windows explorer style of search selection interface - very similar to
Fretwell’s OLIB and a clean, professional feel.
This is a marked improvement on most vendor’s first forays into GUIs which are usually over graphical (too many big icons) and poorly laid out. Column sorting and good filtering features make this a useful looking front end for public library users.
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