Parlons d'EPS

Continuing this belated superconference blogging, it is high time I talk about EPS, Sirsidynix's Entreprise Portal Solution. It was definitely the most talked about product, with many many sessions, by sales staff, libraries and software development alike. It was also the product that conjured the most passion, both on the "excited to have all these features" side and the "this is not what I want" side.
Je m'explique:
Great dissatisfaction was expressed from many academic (and other) sites that this portal solution was clearly the next generationopac and came with so much "other duties assigned" add-on features. Many customer, academics in particular, complained about the out of the box, cookie cutter, seemingly public library focus. On the other hand, EPS customers seemed very pleased with their experience implementing the product, excited about the 2.2 version that should deliver both most fixes to theoriginal implementation bugs AND add the features that were not delivered in the 1st version. SD SD (sirsidynix software development ;) staff sounded very roud of the product and its great improvements for 2.2. (note some of these may not impress you but were long time wished of a number of sirsi customers...)
RSS feeds, CGI forms, spellcheck, the use of Central Search for federated searching and of Fast Search for faceted searching were at the top of the bragging lists. Especially exciting to me was the ability to "assume the quotes" to facilitate keyword search (eliminate the use of Boolean in quick search.) and the ability for users to a-view their accounts and renew their materials in the same page (!) and b-to modify their own holds pick up branch. I will post more about this product as we will implement at MPOW as soon as 2.2 has been in the real world for a little while. (hey, we had webcat 1st, we were the 1st unix install of iBistro, I'd like to give someone else a chance at pioneering this time...)

THIS JUST IN (unrelated to EPS) :
from a SD press release: "...Peter Gethin, SirsiDynix managing director for Europe, Middle East & Africa, has decided to retire..." I guess Peter wouldn't mind me referring to him as part of the old guard (the good old guard). Hoping everyone will know he was not only famous for the traditional joke and the Gethin report at superconference, he was a force, a smart, original, free thinker. I hope to hear from him again.


technorati tags:sirsidynix, EPS, opac,library-20, library2.0, library 2.0, libraries, customers

superconference day 1 (updated)

Love it here. It was actually warmer in CO(46F) when I arrived, than it was in Orlando (37F) when I left. Now I know what the F stands for...

Got to talk to Mack about linking to respective blogs. Read his posts on Swem Review.

The federated searching session from today was most excellent. It was the best idea to have both sirsidynix present their products and efforts and 2 different users explain their selection and implementation process of 2 different products.
main 2 points in short:
XML matters most, and more and more everyday.
It's not about the searching, it's about the FINDING!

more to come.
mood: festive, smart, anticipatory.
cold

UPDATE:
Since Mack really puts me to shame with his coverage of the Federated search session, I will refer you back to his post and add a few more comments from the "how will/would this work at MPOW?" stand point.
Biggest discovery point ('reality bites'): I will have to implement (read: find time, funds and acquire expertise) proxy authentication for our users to our databases before fedsearch can be done. There s a way to use the sirsidynix portal login to attempt it but not all db vendors are apt to accept it as secure. Plus, fedsearch is not going to replace native search so authentication will best be managed with one solution instead of trying to make it work separately in each.

Biggest remaining pondering point: The fed search product can be used as an entry point to all your resources, including your own catalog, so IT could be the portal also... hummmm...

Most valuable "freebie": once you set up fedsearch, you can, should, will, have the ability to add resources that are available for free. Think image seach including flickr, yahoo and google images and picassa etc...

BACK TO: It's about the finding. Think DELIVERY OF THE RESOURCES DISCOVERED, always.

Blogging conference content is hard! see you soon.





technorati tags:library-20, library2.0, library 2.0, libraries, policies, customers

Wannabe.

Lookey here:

Apparently, when I was little, I already wanted to be like John Blyberg.

More recently, not so secretly, I had been wanting to meet John Blyberg

Of course this week, I have just found myself desperately wanting to have a John Blyberg on my team. ...And don't get me wrong, in a way, I feel like I have, thanks to his generosity with his words and with his code. But man, wouldn't it be great if every library could have a programmer. Someone interested in what we want to achieve locally, someone responsive to our need for rapid change. Someone that can help us discover and unlock the potential of all the systems we have acquiredthru the years, but are not necessarily using quite as effectively as we could.

I can't code, (I have been know to type "who's your daddy" at the Unix prompt...) but I can, everyday, reach out across the gap between what computers can do, and what people expect from computers.

I am actually working half my days in public service these days, using the systems that I manage. It's really cool to get a true feel for how these actually perform.

I'll have lots to say about this soon.

technorati
tags:library-20, library2.0, library
2.0, libraries, policies, customers