Letter from the CEO

By Gary Rautenstrauch

Now that SuperConference 2008 is in the history books, I want to express to conference attendees how much I enjoyed the opportunity to meet in person so many of the people whom I have heard about and perhaps even communicated with over the past year. SuperConference proved to be the perfect venue to do this.

The goal of SirsiDynix employees in attendance was to contact as many users as possible. During the four days of SuperConference, we attended SirsiDynix and UUGI sessions to hear the latest from our colleagues and clients and to interact with customers before and after sessions.

As part of the conference opening session, SirsiDynix executive officers gave a corporate and product overview. We have gotten such positive feedback from these sessions that we will be recording three separate pieces of this original presentation for posting on the SirsiDynix Client Care Portal. Chief operating officer Matt Hawkins and I will provide updates on organizational and operational topics, chief technical officer Talin Bingham will present the SirsiDynix product roadmap (including important information on our new faceted search add-on solution), and John Dickson and Berit Nelson will highlight the upcoming year’s product development activities and schedules.

We hope that these presentations will help us better and more widely communicate important information to SirsiDynix Symphony and Unicorn customers who were unable to make it to SuperConference, as well as Horizon customers. We will send out a note to all SirsiDynix customers when these recorded webinars are available on the Client Care Portal.

In addition to attending breakout sessions to get a better feel for our client base and communicating our goals for the future, I especially enjoyed meeting with the executive committee of the Unicorn Users Group International (UUGI). SirsiDynix executives attended the UUGI board meeting to share insights and plans for the future, as well as to answer specific questions from UUGI leaders. We also had the chance on Monday afternoon to address these same questions during a live question-and-answer session with all 800+ attendees of the conference.

So what did SirsiDynix gain from SuperConference? We got a feel for what we are doing right as well as for areas in which we must improve. Watch over the next few months as we start to implement the changes that we discussed at the conference.

Now we all look forward to meeting next year in the very first joint conference for the entire SirsiDynix family of users. Begin making your plans for this great event now --- Dallas, April 5-8, 2009.

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SirsiDynix management meets with more than 100 library directors during a session of the SirsiDynix Institute Executive Conference. SirsiDynix management also met with all 800+ SuperConference attendees for the opening session and question and answer session.

SirsiDynix Product Development Update

By Berit Nelson

The Software Development Group at SirsiDynix has had a busy spring, and we have a bounty of information to share with SirsiDynix customers for their planning purposes.

First, we encourage everyone to check out the SuperConference presentations about the SirsiDynix User Experience and Public Access roadmap, as well as new information about SirsiDynix Symphony 3.2, 3.2.1, and 3.3, a new version of Director’s Station, Web Reporter against SirsiDynix Symphony and numerous other topics. All customers can access these presentations via the Client Care web site here

Continue reading about updates with Director's Station, Web Reporter and more-->

So What Does Experience Actually Look Like?

By Stephen Abram

Most of us live happily in a benign state. We live from day to day with occasional diversions and moments of extreme excitement or danger. Some experiences are so intense that they sear themselves on our memory and change us forever. Others are just sound and fury. What kinds of experiences change us and what kinds just occur? Can we create library experiences that transform the user -- physically, interpersonally and virtually?

I have been discussing the difference between personal and abstract experience for a while now. I think it is an integral concept to the experience economy and to library strategies of all types. We keep library statistics of our transactions and have too few studies of the impacts of our initiatives and operations. There lies the crux of transformational librarianship. Can we plan for impact; huge, transformational impact? What would our libraries, websites, intranets or portal be if we measured their transformational impact first?

As an example I list a few experiences below that are transformational by nature. Some of my librarian colleagues have vociferously argued with me that there is no real difference between the real experience of the following situations and the results of steady and serious observation and research. I respectfully disagree. But from the debates I’ve engaged in there is some conflict here.

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SuperConference 2008 in Review

SirsiDynix and the Unicorn Users Group International (UUGI) concluded SirsiDynix SuperConference on April 8, 2008 in Detroit. Approximately 1,000 SirsiDynix users, library executives and technology partners from around the world, as well as SirsiDynix team members, convened at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. Beginning on Saturday, April 5, the SuperConference featured two main events: a users’ conference for hands-on users of SirsiDynix products and an executive conference for library leaders. Additionally, more than 25 companies participated in a two-day SuperConference Technology Partner Exhibition, which featured a wide range of industry-leading SirsiDynix and third-party solutions.

SuperConference attendees meet with a sales representative at the SirsiDynix booth in the exhibit hall.

“This is my first SirsiDynix SuperConference, and I must admit that I am very excited about seeing nearly 1,000 attendees gathering for one of the library community’s premier technology events,” said Gary Rautenstrauch, SirsiDynix chief executive officer. “Users, directors, third-party vendors and SirsiDynix representatives all came together for a unique experience, with lots of sharing, learning and enjoyment.”

More than 125 library leaders attended the SirsiDynix Institute Executive Conference, themed “Open Libraries.” Presenters and topics included Peter Morville of Semantic Studios defined the “information architecture” concept for attendees; Deborah Jacobs of Seattle Public Library, who discussed the leading, listening and relationship-building necessary to keep libraries

SirsiDynix Institute Executive Conference presenters, clockwise from left: Kate Duval, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, SirsiDynix; Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project; Stephen Abram, SirsiDynix Vice President of Innovation; Terri Fredericka, Executive Director of INFOhio; Lesley Boughton, Wyoming State Librarian and Deborah Jacobs, City Librarian, Seattle Public Library. Not pictured: Peter Morville of Semantic Studios.

“open” in today’s world. Terri Fredericka of INFOhio and Lesley Boughton, Wyoming State Librarian, also spoke. SirsiDynix’s Stephen Abram, vice president of innovation, defined what being an “open” library entails in an introductory session and Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project gave the closing address – “Maximizing the Power of the Web”. Rainie’s presentation will be repeated as a SirsiDynix Institute session on April 19.

The users’ conference included more than 100 informative sessions presented by representatives of the sponsoring users’ group (Unicorn Users’ Group International) and SirsiDynix product experts. Opening the users’ conference on Monday morning, Rautenstrauch and his management team provided a corporate update, followed by presentations on the latest product updates and entirely new technologies from SirsiDynix.

Next year, the first-ever combined Unicorn, Horizon, and SirsiDynix Symphony users’ event will be in Dallas, April 5-8.

To view all of the presentations from this year's SuperConference and SirsiDynix Institute Executive Conference, visit the client care portal.

Stephen Abram addresses all SuperConference and SirsiDynix Institute Executive Conference attendees during the closing session – “Libraries That Learn: Keeping up with New Technologies.”

New Enriched Content Now Available

Expanded Bowker content 25% off through August 15

SirsiDynix is excited to announce a promotion for a new enriched content offering from Bowker. The Enriched Content Deluxe Package will be available with the following elements

• Awards
• Series
• Video & Music 1
• Spanish
• German
• Italian
• Fiction Profiles
• Find Similar Titles
• Horn Book Reviews
• Kirkus Book Review

SirsiDynix customers who order by August 15 will receive a 25 percent discount for this bundle. Orders received after that date will not be eligible for the discounts.

There are three possible ways to take advantage of this promotion.

• Customers who purchase SirsiDynix Enterprise
• Customers on SirsiDynix Symphony 3.2.1
• Customers on Horizon 7.4.2 - planned for October 2008.

Please contact your SirsiDynix sales representative for more information about this promotion.

SirsiDynix Institute News

The next SirsiDynix Institute live webinar will be Wednesday, May 21, at 11:00 a.m. ET

Trends in e-learning: What does it mean for libraries?

While in some sectors e-learning may seem "old hat", the world of e-learning continues to change at a rapid pace. With newer technologies such as mobile devices, technologies such as Second Life, litigation in the e-learning vendor arena, and evolving standards, e-learning remains a dynamic area that we have to keep our eye on. And while many libraries have fully developed e-learning environments, many are just getting beginning to explore the possibilities. This workshop will focus on issues related to how availability and interoperability are changing the way e-learning is being delivered as well how developments in open source and open access as well as social networking are changing the way e-learning occurs.

Frank Cervone, MSEd, Ph.D., is Professor of Education and Director of the Library, Information, and Media Studies program, Chicago State University. Cervone is also the author of numerous articles and four books on topics related to information technology, he writes a regular column for OCLC Systems and Services: International Digital Library Perspectives and has been an invited speaker at library conferences in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and Brazil. He was a member of the NISO working group on metasearch and is the past chair of the CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois) Learning Objects Task Force. He has a MSEd with a specialization in online teaching and learning from the California State University, an MA in Information Technology Management from DePaul University and a Ph.D. in Management and Information Systems from Northcentral University.