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

I'm on!

Well, turns out it's a lot harder to blog what I learn than to blog what I think. (duh!)


I will end up reviewing my notes when I get home and posting what I hope will be a much more intelligent summary next week. Today my main concern is leading the circulation sharing session this morning, which always make me a little nervous. I really look forward to it though.
I hope the turn out is good.
While you patiently wait for educational content, here is a picture of Mack,














who really was working the registration desk.





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

to Colorado!

I'm off! Looking forward to hearing Steven, finding out about RSS feeds from my OPAC, ditto for federated searching. Will be presenting the results of the 2007 user enhancement request forum for the circulation module in a sharing session. Most of all, I will be getting my batteries charged. After all, it's not so often there is more than one library systems administrator in the room.
I will be blogging here as time allows, more likely posting to flickr.

Excited to see Colorado, to meet again with Kathi and Janet and to get together with many smart people that have been helping, mentoring and setting a good example for me for many years.


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.

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