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
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.library.lafayette.edu/
--
Jonathan Rochkind
Digital Services Software Engineer
The Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
410.516.8886
rochkind (at) jhu.edu
