CLSC 555 INFORMATION SYSTEMS WEBLIOGRAPHY: Integrated Library Systems
by
Patricia Austin

 

| Present Situation | ILS Programs | Future of ILS |

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Present Situation

• Migration Down, Innovation Up: Automated System Marketplace 2004
  by Marshall Breeding
  The article is an annual review of the ILS marketplace. Breeding provides a nice overview for both ILS experts and casual readers of the changes and trends. This article would not be useful to anyone not connected with ILS.
• Library Technology Guides
  by Marshall Breeding
  This website provides current news on library automation; it states that it aims to provide comprehensive and objective information related to the field of library automation. The website is a good site for information and trends on the marketplace. Breeding's annual review of the marketplace is quite useful. With the exception of his own articles, all of the links on the homepage are news articles; to improve his website, Breeding should provide more analysis.

 

ILS Programs

• Overview
  • Trends in Integrated Library Systems
    by Catherine Ebenezer
    This article states it provides an overview of the development of integrated library systems to identify, describe and evaluate significant trends in the industry in relation to their context within the overall development of library services. The article was apparently written in response to Breeding's annual review of the marketplace. The paper is very detailed and academic and would be more readable in a abbreviated version.
  • Integrated Library Systems
    by Charles M. Goldstein
    This older article provides a brief historical overview of Integrated Library Systems. Because this article is now almost twenty years old, the author's comments on technology and what the future will bring no longer apply. The article demonstrates the issues which faced libraries as they began integrating their library systems and was probably a very advanced article for its time.
  • Integrated Library Systems, ERIC Digest
    by Cynthia L. Lopota
    This article, published in 1995, provides a brief overview of what an ILS is, what it does, its advantages, how an ILS is selected and management issues. It is a good overview for someone who knows nothing about ILS. The article is only two pages in length, a more in-depth introduction would be useful.
  • Introduction to Integrated Library Systems
    by United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization
    This teaching module is designed to instruct readers on selecting and using an Integrated Library System in processing and managing information and automating library tasks. The links to the lessons are quite detailed, it is too much information to process using the web, the materials must be printed out and reviewed. The module is comprehensive, well laid out and instructs the reader on every aspect of what it takes to use and purchase an ILS, even if the reader had never heard of an ILS until reading this module. The links to the lessons are quite detailed, it is too much information to process using the web, the materials must be printed out and reviewed.
• Selecting an ILS
  • Integrated Library Systems Selection Process
    by Duke University Libraries
    This website contains numerous documents pertaining to Duke's selection process for a new ILS vendor This website would be useful for a library considering changing ILS vendors. It would be very helpful if there are explanatory notes or articles on why Duke proceeded and chose the vendor it did.
  • Model RFP for integrated library system products
    by Nicole Waller
    This article covers the history of ILS, how to shop for an RFP, discusses what a model RFP entails, how to write a RFP, different types of RFPs and some examples of libraries that have purchased ILS without RFPs. This article is very detailed and it could be used as a textbook for someone who knows nothing about RFPs. This article is not meant for the casual reader, but for someone who needs to know about RFPs in detail.
• Special and Academic Libraries
  • The Centrality of the Integrated Library Management System: a Strategic View of Information Management in an E-Service Environment
    by Laura Maquignaz and Jane Miller
    This paper investigates the impact of the changing information environment on the expectations of academic libraries in terms of the functionality of their integrated library management system. It is a very academic paper and it would not be useful to anyone outside of the library field.
  • Integrated Library Systems Software for Smaller Libraries
    by Anne Salter
    This report discusses what a small library needs from, and needs to do with its ILS. This website contains the first seven pages of a much longer document. The seven pages provide sufficient information to determine whether or not to purchase the remaining report. It is the document itself that small libraries would find useful.
• Current ILS programs
  • Library of Congress Integrated Library Systems Program
    by the Library of Congress
    The Library of Congress has created a webpage that contains the status of its ILS, answers to FAQ and information on its ILS. The website contains links which contain both detailed information suitable for librarians and information suitable for the public who clicks on the website out of curiosity. The website is well laid-out.
  • An Update on Open Source ILS
    by Marshall Breeding
    This article reviews three open source systems, Koha, LearningAccess and Avanti. Breeding outlines where they are used and how successful they are. He concludes with a comparison to commerical ILS vendors and whether libraries would want to use open source or commercial programs. It is a nice overview of the issues facing libraries when they decide between the two options.
  • Integrated Library Systems in the Chinese Academy of Sciences
    by Liu Quangen and Zhang Haihua
    This paper reviews seven integrated library systems with three different types of ILS in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The authors address the issues of cooperation, personnel and communications compatibilities of seven institutions. Their findings would be helpful to countries considering automation. The paper concludes with concrete recommendations.

 

• Future of ILS
  • Dismantling Integrated Library Systems
    by Andrew K. Pace
    This article argues that interoperability of integrated library systems is the best method and the way of the future. Pace presents numerous arguments why interoperability is better than the current system but does not adequately explain what will happen to libraries that choose not to integrate for the foreseeable future.
  • The Future of Integrated Library Systems: An LJ roundtable
    by Brian Kenney
    This article contains excerpts from a conversation held between industry leaders on where they see the ILS industry heading and some of the main issues they deal with on a regular basis. It is helpful to gain an insight into what the leaders think. This article is read by the library community, who would need additional information, such as where the discussants work. For readers outside of the library community, this article would be too esoteric.

   

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  ©Patricia Austin 2004
  Created for CLSC555 IS Webliography