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This is a case study on the opportunities provided by Open Source library systems and the experience of delivering these systems through a shared service.

This chapter derives from desk research, interviews, and direct involvement in the project. The format is a case study, setting out a detailed timeline of events with information that can be applied in other settings.

This chapter presents reflections on the value and limitations of collaboration amongst libraries and librarians on an innovative approach to library systems and technologies. It also presents reflections on lessons learned from the processes and detailed discussion of the success factors for shared services and the reasons why such initiatives may not result in the outcomes predicted at the start.

Libraries and IT services considering Open Source and shared service approaches to provision will find material in this study useful when planning their projects.

The nature of collaboration and collaborative working is studied and observations made about the way that outcomes cannot always be predicted or controlled. In a genuine collaboration, the outcome is determined by the interactions between the partners and is unique to the specifics of that collaboration.

The case study derives from interviews, written material and direct observation not generally in the public domain, providing a strong insider’s view of the activity.

The emergence of new and integrated approaches to information technology projects and web-based service initiatives in libraries poses a number of challenges to those who manage them. Library managers must work closely with specialists in areas that are not always found within the library, yet there is no evidence-based data documenting the factors involved in doing so. The exploratory study summarized in this chapter documents much of what practitioners and scholars alike consider important in this arena, and contributes to the literature in two ways. First, a meta-analysis of what both practitioners and scholars have found to be important in the areas of technology project management and web-based initiatives is presented that can assist professionals currently developing web-based project launches. Additionally, by using bibliometric techniques as the basis of this analysis, a newly developed taxonomy of these approaches is provided that can assist LIS professionals with future cooperative web-based initiatives. Domain analytic techniques are utilized in the study to examine a selection (n=276) of published articles and papers to ascertain what library and information professionals have learned from embarking on such collaborations. A grounded theory approach is taken in order to develop a working taxonomy of topics and themes relating to collaborative online initiatives. The findings illustrate that library and information science project managers involved in online and web-based initiatives face five key areas of concern: information technology management, information retrieval protocols, user-specific applications, user education, and strategic planning.

To raise consciousness among librarians and library directors about the need to structure our descriptive data for library resources in a way that is machine-actionable in the Semantic Web, not just the library silos of MARC-based systems.

Narrative overview.

By assuring library metadata is in a well-formed structure, libraries can place access to their collections on the Web where their users are.

The new cataloging code, Resource Description and Access (RDA), is one step in the direction toward more interoperability in the Semantic Web.

New perspective on this issue is to urge librarians to work with systems people and vendors for next generation systems that build on the relationships and identifying characteristics of well-formed metadata arising from use of the RDA.

As the demand for new services strains library resources, directors of research libraries must practice efficient cost management and demonstrate alignment with institutional objectives. For technical services, this requires managing the effective cost of metadata services, assessing core functions, and evaluating operational performance. This paper uses Complex Adaptive Systems (CASs) as a framework to expose the network of local and global dependencies that currently define the field of operation for technical services. Comparative analyses using a CASs framework were conducted on reports by the Library of Congress, the Heads of Technical Services in Large Research Libraries Interest Group, and the British Library. Each report addresses financial pressures placed on bibliographic control services in response to the 2008 recession. Statements within the reports were assigned to one of three dominant systems: bibliographic control, institutional identification, and distributive networks. The statements were then mapped to the CASs characteristics to determine environmental pressures and areas of adaptation. The reports exposed long-standing dependencies that tie local bibliographic control to a complex network of external agencies. Institutional shifts toward user-centered services coupled with growing fiscal restraint has disrupted the stability of these networks. The analyses found that in all cases network instability led to localized institutional adaptation to existing economic pressures. The paper recommends applying a CASs model to assess the alignment of distributed metadata standards and systems development to local institutional objectives.

This is an attempt to introduce proactive changes when creating and providing intellectual access in order to convince catalogers to become more social catalogers then they have ever been in the past.

Through a brief review and analysis of relevant literature a definition of social cataloging and social cataloger is given.

User contributed content to library catalogs affords informational professionals the opportunity to see directly the users’ perceptions of the usefulness and about-ness of information resources. This is a form of social cataloging especially from the perspective of the information professional seeking to organize information to support knowledge discovery and access.

The user and the cataloger exercise their voice as to what the information resources are about, which in essence is interpreting the intentions of the creator of the resources, how the resource is related to other resources, and perhaps even how the resources can be, or have been, used. Depending on the type of library and information environment, the weight of the work may or may not fall equally on both user and cataloger.

New definitions of social cataloging and social cataloguing are offered and are linked back to Jesse Shera’s idea of social epistemology.

In this paper we develop an integrated model identifying the key factors involved in managing exploratory innovation processes while also maintaining current business models and processes.

We first characterize the problem of innovation as consisting of “the four central problems” organizations face when trying to manage innovation processes (Van de Ven, 1986). We develop an enhanced version of O’Connor’s (2008) Discovery, Incubation and Acceleration (DIA) model by integrating elements of Sanchez’ (2012) theory of architectural isomorphism as well as Markides’ (2008) framework for strategically assessing the benefits of segregation versus integration of innovation processes. We develop and apply our model working with managers in two company contexts to assure the ability of our Integrated Model to identify key organizational and strategic variables that need to be recognized and managed in order to sustain successful exploratory innovation processes.

Reviews of our “Enhanced Integrated Model” with managers in the two companies suggest that our model would help them to recognize and manage key issues that were not addressed adequately in their prior efforts at exploratory innovation.

Our model building process provides a basic template for other research focused on developing normative management models through case-based research. The specific elements included in our Enhanced Integrated Models should provide managers with a useful model for managing exploratory innovation processes.

The emergence of strengths-based management may be the management innovation of our time. Nearly every organization has been introduced to its precepts – for example, the insight that a person or organization will excel only by amplifying strengths, never by simply fixing weaknesses. But in spite of impressive returns, organizations and managers have almost all stopped short of the breakthroughs that are possible. With micro tools largely in place, the future of strengths management is moving increasingly to the macro-management level, as witnessed in the rapid and far-reaching use of large group methods such as the Appreciative Inquiry Summit and its next generation design-thinking summit. Macro means whole and, by definition, unites many improbable opposites – for example, it embraces top down and bottom up simultaneously. It is a prime time source of organizational generativity. But the rules of macro-management are different than any other kind, most certainly micro-management. A decade of research and successful prototyping with single organizations, regions and cities, extended enterprises, industries, and UN-level world summits reveals five “X” factors – a specific set of mutually reinforcing elements of success and organizational generativity – and provides a clear set of guidelines for when and how you can deploy the “whole system in the room” design summit to bring out the best in system collaboration. By analyzing the performance and impacts of six case studies of the “whole system in the room” Appreciative Inquiry design summit, this chapter provides a bird’s eye view of the opportunities, challenges, and exciting new vistas opening up in this the collaborative age – a time when systemic action and macro-management skill are the primary leverage points for game-changing innovation, scalable solutions, and generative organizing. The chapter concludes with a call for more research into the stages of large group dynamics and advances a metaphor from the leadership literature – the spark, the flame, and the torch – to give imagery to the “positive contagion” and “the concentration effect of strengths” that happens during an Appreciative Inquiry Summit where 100s and sometimes 1000s come together interactively and collaboratively to design the future.

How can academic libraries unlock staff capacity for new initiatives as they transition their collections from print to digital? The following are four strategies for recapturing staff time as libraries adopt new formats while still supporting older ones at a smaller volume. First, librarians should employ strategic collection development that takes into consideration opportunities for efficiencies as they make the print to digital transition. Second, libraries should implement creative reorganizations in order to scale down print services and effectively manage new digital formats. Third, libraries should rightscale their infrastructure, that is, choose the appropriate level – local, consortial/regional, national, or global – where collection management activities should take place. Fourth, libraries, library software vendors, and publishers should develop purchasing and resource discovery infrastructures that harness shared data to enable network level electronic resource management.

The chapter aims to present a case study of what is involved in implementing the VuFind discovery tool and to describe usability, usage, and feedback of VuFind.

The chapter briefly documents Western Michigan University (WMU) and University of Richmond’s (UR) experience with VuFind. WMU Libraries embarked on a process of implementing a new catalog interface in 2008. UR implemented VuFind in 2012. The usability result and usage of Web 2.0 features are discussed.

The implementation processes at WMU and UR differ. At WMU, users’ input was not consistent and demanded software customization. UR strategically began with a very focused project management approach, and intended the product as short-term solution. The usability and feedback from several sites are also presented.

The benefits of using open source software include low barrier and cost to entry, highly customizable code, and unlimited instances (libraries may run as many copies of as many components as needed, on as many pieces of hardware as they have, for as many purposes as they wish). With the usability studies presented, VuFind is proved to be a valid solution for libraries.

The chapter provides a unique account of library’s experience providing an alternative catalog interface using open source software. It also uniquely reports on VuFind usability and initial testing results and evaluation.