Author Archive: Marshall Breeding

Google promoted its “Libraries Ready to Code” joint initiative with ALA.

Tech Power

By Marshall Breeding | July 19, 2017

I probably spend more time in the exhibit hall than most conference attendees—you may have seen me browsing the aisles or rushing to my next appointment. The meetings I have with company executives and product experts inform much of my research and writing for months to come as a chronicler of the library technology industry. … Continue reading Tech Power →

Library Systems Report 2017

By Marshall Breeding | May 1, 2017

More statistics on sales performance, installations, and personnel for 2016 are available here. Consolidation deep and wide Library technology continues to consolidate horizontally and vertically. Horizontal consolidation—the merging of companies with similar business activities—shaped some of the larger players in the industry, such as Follett, and Infor Library and Information Solutions, Innovative Interfaces, Lucidea, OCLC, … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2017 →

Products related to makerspaces, like these from TeacherGeek, had a strong presence this year.

Hot Venue, High Tech

By Marshall Breeding | July 20, 2016

Though turnout was a bit lighter than usual (16,597 total attendance), many exhibitors mentioned that traffic was brisk. Vendors appreciated the opportunity to engage with current and potential library customers. Consistent with the consolidation of the industry, there were fewer booths, and many vendors showed off an ever-expanding portfolio of gadgets and devices. Technology products … Continue reading Hot Venue, High Tech →

Protecting Patron Privacy

By Marshall Breeding | May 31, 2016

Secure communication on the web provides two important benefits: identifying the website authoritatively enabling encrypted communications between the user’s browser and the server that provides the resource Encryption algorithms transform the data into a seemingly garbled form that, if intercepted, cannot be deciphered. The use of a secure communication protocol (HTTPS) provides the best approach … Continue reading Protecting Patron Privacy →

Library Systems Report 2016

By Marshall Breeding | May 2, 2016

Libraries have much at stake in products that align well with their strategies, resonate with their patrons, and facilitate the work of their staff. Previously established products are evolving to gain long-overdue modernization. In an era of web-based and cloud computing, library technology has held fast to aspects of the previous age of client–server computing. … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2016 →

EBSCO has contributed funding to a new open source library services platform aimed at academic libraries, with early versions expected to be ready by 2018.

EBSCO Supports New Open Source Project

By Marshall Breeding | April 22, 2016

If the yet-unnamed project sticks to its schedule and finds interest as lively as expected, it could open a new chapter in library technology at least as important as the advent of LSPs and the recent rounds of major company mergers and acquisitions. The initiative builds on the enthusiasm of academic and research libraries for … Continue reading EBSCO Supports New Open Source Project →

ProQuest to Acquire Ex Libris

By Marshall Breeding | October 6, 2015

Following the close, a new business group will be formed called Ex Libris, a ProQuest Company. This new entity will combine the portfolio of Ex Libris and the Workflow Solutions division of ProQuest and will be headed by current Ex Libris President and CEO Matti Shem Tov and a combined management team built from Ex … Continue reading ProQuest to Acquire Ex Libris →

SirsiDynix booth at ALA 2015 Annual Conference and Exhibition

A Look at Tech

By Marshall Breeding | July 23, 2015

One current trend in library technology aims to improve the engagement of patrons with libraries or to provide tools to help users work more effectively. In many respects, the technologies on display reinforced the theme of the “Library Systems Report 2015,” operationalizing the innovations brewing in recent years, including the increased adoption of Semantic Web technologies … Continue reading A Look at Tech →

Library Systems Report

By Marshall Breeding | May 1, 2015

Tied to the economy of libraries, the vendors that make up the library technology industry support a stable but highly constrained economic sector, with global opportunities. Library budgets may never recover to pre-recession levels, fueling interest in technology to improve their efficiency and the impact of collection resources. Products able to deliver efficiency, innovation, and … Continue reading Library Systems Report →

Library Systems Report 2014

By Marshall Breeding | April 15, 2014

This phase of the industry offers many choices, including both proprietary and open source license options, some based on cloud technologies and others that continue to rely on local hardware. Though a new generation of library services platforms has entered a phase of early adoption, the integrated library system remains viable, especially when extended to … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2014 →

Enabling Access, Engagement, and Efficiency

By Marshall Breeding | July 30, 2013

Technology, as always, was on display at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Consistent with the strong attendance figures, activity in the exhibit hall seemed especially brisk this year. As the largest exhibition of library-oriented technology and content products worldwide, ALA Annual offers librarians a unique opportunity to review the latest offerings from nearly every … Continue reading Enabling Access, Engagement, and Efficiency →

Vendors Showcase Their Wares in Anaheim

By Marshall Breeding | July 16, 2012

Interested buyers found tech products that press beyond established boundaries as well as those that enable bread-and-butter library activities in the Anaheim Convention Center during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference. Products ranged from discovery services that aim to deliver access to the universe of library collections to new library management systems bringing together print, electronic, … Continue reading Vendors Showcase Their Wares in Anaheim →

Latest Library Links

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Newly expanded and updated, the second edition of Marketing Your Library’s Electronic Resources: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, published by ALA Neal-Schuman, shows library marketing staff how to get the job done from beginning to end and in a variety of library settings. Marie R. Kennedy and Cheryl LaGuardia’s evidence-based approach includes seven complete programs from both public and academic libraries, including three new to this edition.

ALA Neal-Schuman, Oct. 17
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Junot Díaz, author of the critically acclaimed Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, will be an Auditorium Speaker at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver on February 11. His first work of fiction for young readers, Islandborn, will be a picture book illustrated by Leo Espinosa. It is scheduled for release in February. Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review.

Conference Services, Oct. 17
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The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, which fosters children’s love of reading and creative expression in our diverse culture, celebrates the 30th year of its mini-grant program with a call for proposals. Approximately 60 grants of up to $500 each will be awarded to qualifying teachers and librarians in public schools and libraries across the country. The deadline for applications is March 31.

Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, Oct. 16
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Rachel Décoste writes: “Libraries are filling a critical gap as K–12 classrooms gradually adapt their curricula to include computer science. Libraries can help encourage computer science education by promoting the Congressional App Challenge, an annual competition hosted by members of Congress for their districts. The first two years of the program yielded 239 competitions across 33 states. Nearly 4,000 students created more than 1,150 apps. This year’s app challenge has increased by 30% and continues to grow as the November 1 deadline approaches.”

AL: The Scoop, Oct. 17
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Emily Wagner writes: “On October 17, ALA filed comments to the Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Office expressing concerns about its plans to monitor and collect social media information on all immigrants to the United States. This proposal is in direct opposition to a 2007 ALA resolution on immigrants’ rights and the Library Bill of Rights. As reiterated in our comments, existing ALA policies affirm that confidentiality is crucial to freedom of inquiry and that rights of privacy are fundamental to the ethics and practice of librarianship.”

District Dispatch, Oct. 17
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The Library of Congress is launching a Librarians-in-Residence pilot program to offer early career librarians the opportunity to develop their expertise and contribute to building, stewarding, and sharing the institution’s vast collections. LC will select up to four applicants for a six-month residency beginning in June 2018. The program is open to students who have earned an MLIS degree between December 2016 and June 2018. The application period is November 1–30.

Library of Congress, Oct. 16
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The Biloxi (Miss.) School District’s policy on how to reconsider a book being taught in class clearly states: “No parent has the right to determine the reading matter for students other than his or her own children.” But it appears that the school system pulled To Kill A Mockingbird last week from the 8th grade lesson plan based on complaints of as few as two parents, according to a report the Biloxi newspaper received. That same report said it was because of the use of a racially charged word.

Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald, Oct. 16

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