From our Managing Director
Dear Customer,
The face of our industry is rapidly changing; discovery platforms, open source and open systems, and a multitude of applications that augment the library's core services provide libraries with both a challenge and an opportunity. A challenge, because budgets are tight and libraries must carefully select the tools that meet their - and their users' - needs. An opportunity, because the choices that are now available to libraries also provide exciting new ways for delivering better and more dynamic experiences to users.
At Infor we have placed the user experience at the cornerstone of our development. We have over time created many interfaces to third-party applications that improve the user experience in different ways (think of RFID or payment stations). We have also ensured that our solutions are flexible enough to meet the needs of users in different environments; in this context, we integrate our applications with VLEs (Virtual Learning Environments) for example and allow users to find scholarly information in resource databases through support of various protocols and standards (such as OAI for data harvesting).
To date, much of our development has focused on the back-end. Interfaces - such as web services and APIs - or CRM functions (within our V-smart ILS) are after all back-end tools rather than user-facing applications. An exception, of course, is the Web OPAC, which integrates multiple web 2.0 features. As we continue to further build out both the Web OPAC as well as our interfaces (based on a Service Oriented Architecture - SOA), we are now also taking the end-user experience to a new level. In the coming months we plan to launch Iguana, our marketing and collaboration platform. Iguana will give the library new ways to promote its services and unlock its collections through collaborative and interactive end-user applications.
I started out by saying that the rich availability of products provides both a challenge and an opportunity. When balancing both one must consider many factors; what do library customers need or expect? What does a library provide to meet that need? And how can the library benefit most from meeting the needs of its users? Iguana rests on the assumption that libraries can strengthen awareness and grow usage by reaching out in increasingly savvy ways to its users. Libraries must reach out not only through robust ‘discovery' interfaces, but by enabling users to discover all offerings - from author readings, to children programs, exhibits, social events and of course collections.
In the months ahead we will communicate our plans for Iguana in more detail at the upcoming user group meetings and conferences. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy this edition of our newsletter and I look forward, as usual, to hearing from you with any questions or comments you may have.
Sincerely,
Ann Melaerts
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