The downside to this theory is that if III had accessible APIs, even
libraries without developers would start seeing third-party
plug-and-play tools that would work with III. Whether open source or
another vendor selling add on tools to work with III, the universe of
options available to an III customer--even one with little or no local
technical staff resources--would be expanded. That's the market we're
moving into, and in some cases already in.
And in fact, I think this is exactly what III does not want to see
happen---your ability to buy a product to work with an III system from
someone other than III (or a company III itself has a partnership with,
perhaps with fees paid to III---I've heard that III _will_ share their
_already existing_ APIs with partner vendors; just not with III
customers), or to use an open source product with III instead of buying
it from III, or to buy a support contract for that open source product
from someone other than III.
Jonathan
Bob Duncan wrote:
> At 12:57 PM 05/15/2008, David wrote:
>> . . .
>> Of course, empowering developers, or their customers in general, is not
>> in the III business model, so I don't think we can expect much from
>> them.
>
>
> I think that III is very much into empowering their customers, but
> their customers are libraries, and the bulk of Innovative libraries
> don't have access to developers, and may not actually need any of the
> enhancements that a talented developer might provide. To most III
> libraries, customer empowerment comes in the form of being relieved
> of having to worry about the nuts and bolts management aspects of the
> ILS so we can concentrate on providing good services to library
> users. The III turnkey systems that are derided by coders/developers
> actually make a lot of sense to libraries that have no real systems
> staff. And to many of those libraries it makes more sense for III to
> spend development efforts on tools that address a specific need than
> to spend it on general purpose tools that require someone with the
> imagination and creativity to put them to good use. If you don't
> know how to cook and you can't hire someone who does, that hot dog
> cooker comes in pretty darn handy when all you want is hot dogs.
>
> Note that there are things about the III system that drive me nuts,
> an SOA model would be nice, and I understand the frustration that
> folks on a list like this feel when they come up against the closed
> aspects of a III turnkey arrangement. But if you're a
> coder/developer who feels constrained by it and/or the system's lack
> of interoperability with other tools, might I suggest that the bad
> guy is not III, but whomever signed on the dotted line to purchase a
> system that doesn't meet the needs of your library.
>
> Bob Duncan
>
>
> ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
> Robert E. Duncan
> Systems Librarian
> Editor of IT Communications
> Lafayette College
> Easton, PA 18042
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.library.lafayette.edu/
>
--
Jonathan Rochkind
Digital Services Software Engineer
The Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
410.516.8886
rochkind (at) jhu.edu
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