I recently had the privilege of attending and exhibiting at the EDGE conference in Edinburgh and I have to say in the current climate of the austerity measures and other constraints facing the library sector in Scotland, how refreshing it was to be involved in a conference where there was so much optimism, innovative ideas and can do attitude. Liz McGettigan and the EDGE team certainly seem to understand the key issues facing the Scottish Library sector and were able to create a thought provoking conference agenda that gave some fantastic foresight into what other thought leaders are doing to survive the cuts and suggest innovative ways on enhancing services. With over 150 delegates attending and plenty of breakout sessions (not to mention Thursday night refreshments) it was great to have the opportunity to network with sector colleagues and gain a better understanding of the key issues they are focused on addressing.

The two days were packed with presentations covering key aspects of pushing the boundaries of the public sector delivery, some of my favourites were:

• Neil Wishart from Solus UK Ltd and Eric Grosshans held an informal open session over drinks at to explore how mobile technology can be utilised to improve the experience of the virtual and physical library user, showcasing how the Smart Phone can be used to interface with other hardware to bring efficiencies to the library service
• Christopher Platt came all the way from new York Public Library and presented on “The E-book Ecosystem: Where do Libraries Fit? As Libraries, publishers, and all parties in between are still feeling their way toward a happy e-book medium and with the library copy is just a click away from the retail version, Christopher asked the question “can the traditional model of sales to libraries hold”? He also discussed the new opportunities for promoting books through libraries and new ways to increase author visibility, making works more discoverable and available than ever before.
• Lester Madden, presented on Augmented Reality and we had the opportunity to witness some ideas of the future, giving an insight into how we can possibly use digital technology in the future to enhance many aspects of the library service, including increasing the borrows experience.
• And our own Karen Reece, delivered an insight into “Libraries and the Cloud”. With cloud computing transforming the way organisations operate, we looked at how will this affect libraries? Karen gave a thought provoking presentation on how cloud computing is the natural evolution of library technology, and not about throwing out the experience and rich data that has built up over time within the LMS.

All in all it was fantastic conference and one I look forward to attending again.

Post from Karen Reece, head of sales at Capita, from the recent issue of Panlibus Magazine (Issue 23).

From reading both the computing and the library press it seems that “cloud computing”, “software as a service” and “hosted services” have become the magic pixie dust that will solve all the library service’s IT problems, and make all of our lives easier. Needless to say, the realists amongst us know to take this with a pinch of salt however. Using the “cloud” does have some real advantages for libraries and like all ‘new’ inventions it’s not as ‘new’ as it portrays itself to be.

One thing is for certain, library users are already taking advantage of the storage that ‘cloud applications’ provide. If you cast your mind back 20 years, storage on floppy discs was the way to safely transport data from one system to another. These were quickly replaced with CDs, then DVDs and finally flash drives as the need for greater amounts of storage and speed of access grew. Now, a number of applications are born in the cloud, services like Flickr, Dropbox and Google Docs, all hosted in the cloud, holding large amounts of data and being accessed by millions of people over the web, all with huge storage capacity compared to those floppy discs 20 years ago.

These new technologies mean that large amounts of data can be used in a library context and some of the social software like Library Thing (the social cataloguing web application) is an example of how apps can be used in a library context. However, I’d argue that Capita’s library business has been using cloud or cloud-like solutions for a number of years. Perhaps the oldest example is Base, the bibliographic database that holds some 30 million bibliographic records. Not only do these hold commercial datasets, but also a large number of records that have been catalogued by staff in libraries and contributed back for the benefit of the library community. It’s also always been a hosted service.

The second example is our resource discovery system – Prism – which is used by over 90 libraries in the UK and Ireland and was launched four years ago. It’s a cloud based system that benefits from regular releases of new features (currently about every six weeks) and libraries can take advantage of these releases immediately. It’s an application that allows library services to benefit from the rich data contained within the modern amazon-like interface as well as mobile phone enabled interfaces. All without the need for any additional hardware or overheads for libraries to manage, allowing the technology to provide your users with an intuitive interface to access resources.

The final piece in the jigsaw has been the release of Chorus, the Capita Library Management System (LMS) as a Service. This has all the benefits that you’d expect from a hosted service, including security, reliability, scaling to meet the requirements of the library service as it grows, and also reducing the overall total cost of ownership in providing the LMS that libraries need. It has removed the need for locally deployed hardware on premise and meets the needs of both individual and consortium based library services. At Capita we see this as the natural evolution of technology which we have been helping our customers with for in excess of 40 years. This isn’t about throwing out the experience and rich data that has built up over time within the LMS, but taking advantage of the way in which cloud services can be applied to the LMS for the benefit of those customers who choose to move to this environment. Cloud computing isn’t a paradigm shift, it’s about evolution and not revolution.

The latest issue of Panlibus Magazine is available to read online today.

Technology and libraries have always gone hand in hand and with the two becoming increasingly entwined, this issue offers an array of views and opinions from many prominent voices in the library technology community.

Brian Kelly from UKOLN (p6) notes that rapid technological developments, combined with the financial crisis, will transform the nature of the services provided. Brian gives his technological predictions for 2012 and describes approaches for planning for the future. Peter Kilbourn of Book Industry Communication (p4) believes that technology can be used to protect the best of the library tradition and exploit the existing network of buildings, but in a way that doesn’t put pressure on rapidly dwindling funds.

The emergence of mainstream cloud computing over the last couple of years has prompted libraries to ask how this will affect them and what benefits it will bring. Erik Mitchell, a prominent figure in the world of cloud computing in libraries, discusses its impact and offers some guidance on balancing the issues and implications when evaluating cloud for libraries (p14). We also take a look at some of the practical applications of cloud in use in libraries currently (p8).

Capita’s Additions Partners provide a wide range of technology designed to improve your library service. In this issue we have articles from 3M, introducing SIP 3.0; Edinburgh libraries and Solus, outlining how they together achieved significant growth for the virtual library; and PSP Security Protection, introducing themselves to the Panlibus readers.

Subscribe to receive your own hard-copy or online version.

Survey

Thank you to all who filled out our recent survey. The answers have all now been collated and are being analysed. One of the things that has come out so far is introducing a ‘letters to the editor’ page which I am very keen to introduce. If you would like to send a letter for publication please email me at mark.travis@capita.co.uk.

Finally, the winner of the survey prize draw is Helen Standish from Manchester Metropolitan University, who takes home a Kindle. Congratulation to Helen.

Mark Travis, Editor, Panlibus Magazine

Guest post from Edinburgh City Libraries and Capita Additions Partner Solus (Panlibus Magazine Issue 23)

For years libraries have been under increasing pressure. Faced with static or falling visitor numbers, budgetary constraints, competition from “stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap” retailers and etailers, and the rise of the ereader, commentators have long predicted their demise.

Rather than roll over and accept this, the City of Edinburgh has chosen to harness the very technology cited as a threat and engage with new audiences in new ways. The primary aim has always been to attract physical users to their facilities, however if this is not possible then the next best thing is to engage digitally with their audience.

If you think about citizens in a new way, as mobile, digitally accessible, yet unique and focused on receiving the service that they want whenever they want it, technology gives them and you the opportunity to build a new relationship. Once in place, it also enables you to market your services free of charge, increasingly important in these austere times.

Liz McGettigan, Library and Information Services Manager at the City of Edinburgh Council realised the requirement to engage with developments in web 2.0 services, or risk being left behind in an increasingly digital world. She saw the opportunities for promotion that social media enabled and created a team of people within the library to pull all electronic resources into one location. Finally she employed the best technology available to engage with Edinburgh’s citizens, in facilities, on the web, socially and on the go.

Libraries now lead the way in Edinburgh, with other departments continually looking to implement their successful strategy.

• Your Library: the Web Portal – This unique portal unites all digital resources including catalogues, databases and other websites
• Tales of One City – Is an integrated approach to social media engaging citizens and local communities with Edinburgh’s blog, Facebook site, Twitter feed, Flickr and YouTube sites. It’s push and pull communication that connects with their audience
• SOLUS – Gives Edinburgh the power to schedule content from their Web based Content Management System to: digital signage, web & desktop video players, a library app and to social media channels

SOLUS, a member of Capita’s Additions Partner Programme, provides Edinburgh with a unique digital communications capability and helps maximise efficiency in a market where cost saving and best value is critical. Jim Thompson, Edinburgh’s Development and Quality Manager, stated, “the premise behind SOLUS is the ability to create once and schedule many. SOLUS allows us to use one system to upload a promotional video file to our digital signage network, make it available to view across our desktops, embed it into our web portal and intranet, schedule it to our mobile app and distribute it automatically to all our social media channels.”

SOLUS has also fully integrated with Capita’s LMS to provide functionality for “Your Library App” and this has enabled additional benefits. Most recently added and most popular stock can now be automatically promoted across other platforms managed by SOLUS, such as digital signage and social media.

Neil Wishart, Director of SOLUS, was recently at Downing Street, discussing the potential of “Your Library App” with Nick Jones, Director of Digital Communications for No. 10 and The Cabinet Office. Following the meeting Neil commented:

“One of the key requirements for government at all levels is to engage more efficiently and effectively with citizens. The digital citizen is real and their dependency on technology is increasing. Rather than being a threat, it provides libraries with the biggest opportunity in a generation to engage with new users in increasing numbers. At the same time, it will let them do this more efficiently and effectively. For the citizen, libraries can offer easy and immediate access to services that can save them money. If people are cutting back due to their personal budgets being squeezed, libraries can take advantage.”

To take advantage, access must be 24/7, slick and with instant gratification. V2 of Edinburgh’s Library App will allow users to scan a barcode in a shop and automatically search the library catalogue. This is already reality, the recently launched Haringey Library App which is powered by SOLUS allows users to scan, search and reserve within seconds. If they don’t know how to get to the reserved item, the app will take them there and if an Ebook is available, users can get that instant gratification!

Of course, the proof is in the pudding and Liz McGettigan has solid evidence to prove this innovative use of technology is working. In the last year digital visits have increased by 135,000, PC usage is up by 145,000 sessions, attendance at events has increased, up 32% and significantly, the decline in physical visits has been reversed with an extra 30,000 people attending libraries. Wishart stated, “it’s a classic case of inbound marketing, where effective online positioning has a direct impact on offline behaviour. It’s fantastic for Liz to be able to report back to her stakeholders that she has improved access to services and achieved a direct return on investment, both in relation to time and money.” Success has also culminated in national recognition with the efforts of Liz, Jim and the team bringing a shortlist for the www.ukpublicsectordigitalawards.co.uk2011.

What’s next? Creating an app, using social media, installing a digital signage network are all great foundations, but maximum uptake can only be ensured through effective on going promotion. The next step in the partnership between Edinburgh Libraries and SOLUS is to develop a range of collaterals to shout about libraries. Liz commented, “There is no point in having the world’s best kept secret, we want as many physical and digital users as we can possibly attract. We are actively working on materials with SOLUS to promote our App and these will be resources that can be shared with other libraries across the UK. There is no point replicating spend – if we can all make further efficiency savings and at the same time develop really exciting material, it benefits the whole library community.”

See more from Solus and Edinburgh Libraries later this week at EDGE 2012.

Southwark Council has opened Canada Water Library, a new £14m pound super library that will become the hub of the community.

In a first for London, visitors to the library will not only have access to some 40,000 books, music CDs & films but will also have spaces to host theatre performances and evening courses.

From January, local citizens will be able to access council services such as benefits and council tax help. They’ll also be able to take in the amazing views of the historic Canada Water basin, which it overhangs.

The library’s wi-fi network, with nearly 30 laptops available for hire, reflects the growing trend towards the ‘library as living room’ ethos. Across Southwark’s libraries members currently clock up more than 10,000 hours of internet use each month on their wi-fi network alone.

Cllr Veronica Ward, cabinet member for culture, leisure, sport and the Olympics at Southwark Council commented at the opening:

“The new Canada Water library is the latest chapter in Southwark Councils library programme. It is going to be a hub for the whole community. It’s a unique building that offers opportunities for learning, cultural activities and social events and will form the heart of a new planned town centre. We have worked with Capita to deliver our IT solutions as the library is self-service, fully wi-fi enabled and offers a full range of online resources.”

Renowned architect Piers Gough commented that the new library was “a small site with a hugely ambitious library” and that “libraries still hold the capability to take you to other realms”.

The latest issue on Panlibus Magazine is available to read online today.

In this issue we look at shared services in detail and consider what the path to a successful library shared service will look like (p. 4-5). The groundbreaking tri-borough plan between three London councils (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and Westminster City Council) is still in the early stages, but we see how this will pan out from the library perspective (p. 6-7). Another innovative project underway is the unique library shared service with Worcestershire Council and the University of Worcester (p. 24-25).

Capita has recently launched its LMS as a Service, Chorus: a cloud based solution that will manage all of the services that libraries currently benefit from. Andy Latham, Head of Development at Capita, outlines how this will work and the benefits it will bring to libraries. As well as this, we have articles from Capita’s Additions Partners Nielsen and Lorensbergs, case studies and product updates to keep you up-to-date with the latest from Capita’s library division.

In order to improve Panlibus Magazine we are currently undertaking a readership survey. Please fill the survey in online and be in with a chance of winning a Kindle.

I was privileged to attend the NAG conference in Manchester on the 7th and 8th of September. I brought home one main impression and three subsidiary ones.

The main impression was the speed of change. It has been well said that change often takes longer to arrive than expected; but that once it starts, it occurs faster than expected. We have been telling each other for years that change is in the wind for libraries but the reality on the ground is that much the same patterns of behaviour have prevailed. For years library conferences were attended by people playing in the same positions and doing much the same thing as they always had. The NAG conference this year felt different. Here are the three straws in the wind:

The pace of change in academic e-resources

The move to e-resources from print has been gathering pace, but for me this was crystallised by a chat with the Head of Service of a university library. They are creating a “digital library” with a very limited quantity of physical stock. Instead of a book-repository-with-PCs, they appear to be creating a learning space based on digital resources with a few books on the side.

Changing business models

• Firstly, (although almost the last chronologically at the conference) was an enthusiastic and engaging presentation by Darren Taylor, (Worcester University Library) and  David Pearson (Worcestershire Libraries) on the Hive project. This is a major new build project, but in one sense the striking new building is not the most significant aspect of the exercise. The Hive will be one of relatively few joint public/academic libraries but appears to push new boundaries in that it goes beyond merely the sharing of facilities, by removing most of the distinctions between academic and public patrons.
• Secondly, I attended a workshop ably run by Luke Burton of Newcastle Public libraries on e-books in public libraries. The workshop was nominally about the different formats available (epub, pdf, azw etc) but the discussion at the conference and subsequently on the LIS-PUB-LIBS email list seemed to me to raise more fundamental questions: should public libraries be in this market at all? If so, how are the publishers to be persuaded to provide useful, timely and stable content? Should it be a chargeable service, and if so, how should it relate to the forthcoming Amazon e-book rental service? Do libraries loan e-book readers as well as the titles themselves? Should it be a national service?

The use of Open Source software

For some years, in many different domains, there has been greater and greater use made of Open Source software (software written by a community of users and freely available) . Much of the World Wide Web runs on Apache. Many servers in large organisations use the Linux operating system. Many Universities use the Moodle VLE. All of these are commercial-strength open source software (the Open University Moodle implementation supports almost 0.75 million students), but whilst the software itself is free, implementing and running it isn’t; the original budget for the Open University project was almost £5 Million. You either pay installation and support costs through your payroll, or engage a third part organisation to provide the support.

At least two large scale open source Library Management Systems (Koha and Evergreen) have been available for several years, but there have been few implementations in major academic or public libraries in the UK. One of the first UK public libraries to adopt Koha was Halton Libraries and that was only about a year ago. 

At the NAG conference, there was a very interesting presentation by Staffordshire University and PTFS Europe about an implementation of Koha for the University. As someone remarked, we are past the point where vice-chancellors either dismiss open source software on the grounds that “if it is free it cannot be any good”, or ask plaintively why free software costs money to install and run.

Capita was proud to be invited to the launch of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge at the House of Commons, which this year has the theme ‘Circus Stars’.

The Summer Reading Challenge which is run by independent charity The Reading Agency, along with libraries across the UK, is the biggest and most successful reading promotion for 4-11 year olds, encouraging all children who take part to read at least 6 books over the summer holiday.

The event was bustling with some of the nation’s best loved authors, along with MPs, councillors, publishing industry figures, librarians and library campaigners.

As Miranda McKearney, Director of the Reading Agency explained, this year’s challenge will be the biggest ever, with 97% of local authorities and 3000 young volunteers taking part. Miranda made the point that libraries are in the serious business of making reading fun and the sad fact is that only 40% of children enjoy reading. Research carried out by the UK Literacy Association shows that participating in the Summer Reading Challenge combats the ‘summer holiday dip’ in pupils’ reading motivation and attainment, and boosts their desire to read at home.

Greta Paterson, Head of Children and Young People Services at East Sussex County Council, told me “It’s a fantastic way to connect with young readers, it gets library staff into schools and we see children in the library that we perhaps wouldn’t see otherwise.” The enthusiasm and energy of the people that are directly involved with making the Summer Reading Challenge a success was apparent, as was the mood of optimism and determination despite the tough financial times some library services are facing at the moment.

Voicing his support for the event, Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools described the Challenge as a “pivotal part of the educational reform” that the government is undertaking and revealed that 1 in 5 eleven year olds currently leave primary school without being able to read. He pledged that every child should be able to read by the age of six, a goal which the government has started to work towards.

A highlight of the event was a few words from acclaimed children’s author and Patron of the Summer Reading Challenge, Michael Rosen. He talked enthusiastically about the value of libraries,  which he described as “a treasure trove of the world’s wisdom, there for free”. He also stressed the importance of what he termed “book learning”, even in (or especially in) this age of the internet.

And if the future success of the Summer Reading Challenge wasn’t already in the bag, Ruth Mackenzie, Director of the Cultural Olympiad, announced that The Reading Agency have been selected to be part of the London 2012 Festival. The Reading Agency will be working with libraries all over the UK to stage a huge reading extravaganza and to, as Ruth put it, sprinkle some “Olympic magic dust in every library”. Sounds good to us.

At a time where libraries face an uncertain future, stories of how libraries are being used to reach out to vulnerable people and bring together communities are greatly welcomed. Arguably the biggest accolade of libraries affecting their community is CILIP’s prestigious “Libraries Change Lives Award”.

In its 20th year, the Libraries Change Lives Awards provides a home to celebrate innovative projects across the country, such as: Bookstart, a project run by Sunderland Libraries and Booktrust and Across the Board: Autism support for families, run by Leeds Library and Information Service. This year’s award was announced at Umbrella and won by Kent Libraries and Archives who ran the Making a Difference project.

The Making a Difference project began with Kent Libraries working closely with the local district partnership to provide a venue, and a wide range of activities, for a group of adults with learning difficulties to socialise and to relax. The library worked in collaboration with partners that include statutory organisations, charities and volunteers. Carers were able to deliver regular Biblio Hour events, large themed evenings such as “Putting On the Ritz” (a 1920′s fashion evening), and a number of volunteering and work experience opportunities.

One of the work experience opportunities arose when Communities Future Kent met a mystery shopper service called Shopper Anonymous Kent. At the time there were no persons with learning difficulties on their books, but through the work with the library, Graham Seymour, the Managing Director provided training to the group. From there, eight trained mystery shoppers have visited most of the major libraries in the west of the county to provide advice how to improve the inside and outside of the library. The result was that a number of adults with learning difficulties were employed by the library and Easy Access collections of stock, chosen by adults of learning difficulties, being placed in town centre libraries.

So far, 721 adults with learning disabilities from across the county have taken part in library activities since April 2010, helping vulnerable people feel safe and to help themselves.

At the recent CILIPS conference in Glasgow I was lucky enough to attend a presentation by Lesley Thomson from the Scottish Government. The presentation, focused on improving library websites, highlighted seven areas that if you get right, the website will be effective.

What is an effective website? In the words of Lesley “an effective website meets the needs of users… it’s not about whether your manager likes it”. Her message was clear – focus on the end user and keep the following seven ‘habits’ in mind whilst writing and designing your website.

1 – Purposeful. Be clear in what you want the website to achieve.

2 – Integrated. Integrate into the wider institution/council website with both design and voice. If you have a social media presence, integrate this and make it easier for users to share.

3 – User centred. Design the website to do what it’s supposed to. The aesthetics, interface and information should all focus on the users interaction with the site.

Make the website user centric by following these simplicity rules:

• Keep it simple but use common sense; don’t lose message by going too minimalistic
• Stick to the ‘rule of seven’. Users shouldn’t be given more than seven options to choose from
• Stick to the ‘three clicks rule’. Users should be able to access any content within three clicks
• Stay above the fold. Important content and messages should be accessible without the need for scrolling.
• Don’t use vanity pictures. Include images if they are relevant (branding/reinforce message etc), but remove if they add nothing otherwise you waste important screen estate.

4 – Content relevant. Ensure the content is written for the user. Avoid ‘library’ terminology that your users may not understand, eg, ILL. Give your main message in the opening paragraph, many readers won’t get much further through the text than this.

5 – Inclusive. Ensure the website is accessible to all. It needs to be optimised for screen readers and colour blindness.

6 – Findable. Make best use of keywords and search engine optimisation (SEO). This should really take care of itself if rules 1-5 are followed

7 – Redesign, redesign, redesign. Your website is never finished. Be responsive and flexible to new technology and user demands to continually improve your site.

And that’s it. Stick to these rules and your website will be effective. You can read more from Lesley about the topic on her blog, where there are links to her presentation slides and examples of good (and bad) library websites.

I think it is fair to say that these rules apply to all websites and not just libraries. During our transition from Talis Information to Capita, I will be sure to keep these in mind to make our new website effective.