I’ve seen the future, or at least a version of it, and it looks fantastic! This week I was lucky enough to attend a meeting organised by Ex Libris the suppliers of the software behind our library catalogue. At the meeting Ex Libris unveiled their conceptual model of the library catalogue of the future. While this may seem very dull the impact on the service we offer could be huge.
Like many universities we share data with and import records from other libraries. This means that rather than every library having to rekey the entire discription of the material you need access to we can often download a record into our catalogue. We then check the record and add keywords and other information we think you would find helpful.
The down side to this is that once the record is in our catalogue only we can update it. This means you don’t benefit from the work being done in other libraries. The new Ex Libris model proposes a central database of this information constantly maintained and updated. This would be brought together in a mashup with information specific to Aberdeen when you searched the catalogue.
The huge benefit of this would be that it would allow us to create more of that information you need to find the material you are looking for. We (and possibly you too) would be able concentrate on adding tags to that guide you to the item that best meets your needs.
Of course this is the future and the future is some time away (although it may be closer than any of us think). We’ll keep an eye on the latest developments but continue to explore ways to improve the information and the service we offer to you today.
And the vanilla? That’s just a reference to how quickly things are moving forward. Like many software providers Ex Libris are working to provide Software As A Service (SAAS). The benefit to you? Rather than having to reconfigure the catalogue software constantly we can simply take it out of the box, giving you an improved service instantly and allowing us to work on the next enhancement.
Tags: ALEPH, Ex Libris, Mashups, SAAS, Software As A Service
