SirsiDynix User's Group Meeting - Oct 23rd, 2009

The meeting, at Cerritos College, started off with a sales presentation of a public catalog add-on product called Enterprise. I think SD has missed the mark on what a library catalog really needs. Enterprise is supposedly a portal product that when a user searches, they'll get results from the Internet, databases, and the catalog. That large result set will just confuse the average library user imho.
Then the group broke off into 4 user groups: Tech Services, Sys Admin, Public Service, and Ask SirsiDynix. I went to the SysAdmin group and mainly found out that other libraries also had to pay for new Telecirc replacement module and it wasn't a free replacement. However, during the SD morning sales presentation they did mention that if Horizon customers migrated to Symphony it would be a "free" upgrade and we would just have to pay for service charges. That would be cheaper than buying a whole new ILS outright.
Finally, the last third of the meeting was a talk by Stephen Abram. His entire slideshow will be posted on his blog site at http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/ Some interesting points from his talk were:

• The top 10 presidential campaign contributers were copyright owners - A large majority of them were foreign. This is on his radar because he is involved in the Google book digitization project of over 150 million books.


• Thinks that in the next 5-10 years most non-fiction will be digitized.


• Thinks libraries should be geo-tagging cardholders to find out demographic usage.


• Future is shifting to experience-based learning instead of transactional-based.


• USA is experiencing a brain drain of knowledge, India building 500 new universities and China over 1,000 in the next few years.


• USA needs to remain competitive in a knowledge based community and we can't wait for everyone to catch up when it comes to adopting new technology.


• Some small town in Virigina has installed broadband on a television channel so if you get can get a TV signal you can get free broadband. Government focusing on broadband for rural areas.


• Top circulating materials were books on Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology - not because they're teaching that in schools but because World of Warcraft players are writing avatar essays.


• Kids are smarter than generations past. Top website draws are news, weather, sports, celebrity gossip.


• 1 in every 6 pages viewed on the Web is Facebook.


• Library is the only government entity that people visit by choice.


• Some creative ways to engage patrons - A library in Wyoming got hundreds of mp3 players preloaded with 3 audiobooks and shipped them to overseas military along with library cards so they can continue to use the library's downloadable audiobooks via the Internet.


• Libraries should put up photos of their star staff, storytellers, do podcasts, storytime videos - Number 2 search engine is Youtube. Offer paying fines by Paypal.


• End users value Community, Learning, and Interaction.