In an effort to prevent people from becoming "blind" to the toolkit (a
very real danger, IMHO -- a good example being OCLC's SiteSearch and the
OBI) you might want to bundle a turnkey solution "separately".

Also, if you have a modular design, have a brokerage service for
modules, which would show that this is, indeed, and extensible architecture.

Just a thought.
-ross.

Smith,Devon wrote:

>If I may summarize and dissect:
>
>* The communication problem: conveying to people that MyLibrary is a
>toolset
>* The adoption problem: shortage of knowledgable tool-users in Library
>Land, ie perl coders, impedes adoption
>* Supply/Demand problem: as others have noted, some people want turnkey
>instead of toolset
>
>Creating a turnkey solution can address all three problems.
>In the first case, it could eliminate the problem. It might also
>exacerbate the problem, in that people might become "blind" to the tools
>and focus entirely on the turnkey option. In the second case, you could
>either promote Perl within Library Land, or you could "sell" MyLibrary
>in other communities. Selling in other communities would certainly be
>aided by a simple turnkey solution demonstrating what the toolset can
>do. And the third case is self-explanatory.
>
>Now that I've said with extra verbiage what others have already said
>concisely, I have achieved a noteworthy and admirable pinnacle,
>redundant superfluosness.
>
>/dev
>--
>Devon Smith <[log in to unmask]>
>Senior Software Engineer, Office of Research
>OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc
>http://www.oclc.org/research/
>http://www.oclc.org/research/staff/smith.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>Eric Lease Morgan
>Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 10:13 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [CODE4LIB] toolbox versus turnkey
>
>One of the biggest problems we have been having with MyLibrary 3.0 is
>getting across to people that MyLibrary is more like a toolbox and not a
>turnkey system. It is a set of Perl modules used to create digital
>library collections and services. It is not a program.
>
>One one hand, by turning the system into purely object-oriented Perl
>modules we have been able to exploit all sorts of cool things with
>MyLibrary: SRU interfaces, OAI interfaces, importing and exporting in
>various formats (MARC, RSS, email, RDF, etc.). At the same time people
>seem to be expecting a turn-key application. A similar discussion seems
>to be happening on one of the DSpace lists.
>
>Given the low numbers of people in Library Land who can write (Perl)
>scripts, this could be a serious impediment to adoption.
>
>In your opinions, what might be some resolutions or work-arounds to this
>problem?
>
>--
>Eric Lease Morgan
>University Libraries of Notre Dame
>
>
>