2018 School Spending Survey Report
Automation Marketplace 2010: New Models, Core Systems
Discovery interfaces add a new facet to the marketplace
In a year when a difficult economy presented fewer opportunities for immediate gains, the major industry players have defined their business strategies with fundamentally different concepts of library automation. This is no longer an industry where companies compete on the basis of the best or the most features in similar products but one where companies distinguish themselves through products and services that define different futures for their library customers. New models of automation are beginning to take shape, challenging the traditional integrated library system (ILS) in an industry that has long favored incremental evolution. Some new products and projects remain poised to break free from traditional models, particularly discovery products that can deliver immediate improvement to library users.The ILS remains at the core
This year we estimate the size of the library automation marketplace at around $630 million, accurate to within $30 million. This figure exceeds the $570 million estimate for 2008, not necessarily owing to real increases in revenue but to the inclusion of additional players. Our estimate of the market includes the worldwide revenues for each of the companies with a presence in North America. This year’s total, for example, reflects the revenue of OCLC associated with its Management Systems unit that includes Amlib, Sisis Sunrise, OLIB, and LBS, all non-U.S. automation products, and WorldCat Local. Although ILS sales no longer completely define the library automation market, new sales and ongoing support of these flagship products continue as the largest and most reliable revenue stream. Overall, the current shape of the library automation economy defies naming simple winners in market performance. For firms selling to academic and public libraries, except Biblionix, Equinox, and Ex Libris, all reporting companies revealed fewer contracts signed in 2009 than 2008; in most cases, 2009 represented the fewest contracts in recent history. Biblionix, a relative newcomer on the scene, achieved the largest number of new sales in terms of signed contracts with its 55 concluded in 2009. These, however, went to very small libraries, with a cumulative value smaller than even a single larger institution contract. The 49 ILS contracts made by Ex Libris for combined Aleph and Voyager, mostly to very large multibranch organizations, represent record ILS revenues for Ex Libris in a single year. Ex Libris further extended its reach through its non-ILS products. While Innovative signed fewer contracts for Millennium in 2009 than in previous years, it saw higher revenues owing to larger installations and strong sales of Encore, which attracted 109 contracts. SirsiDynix, one of the largest companies in the industry, elected not to provide data for this year’s survey. While comprehensive sales statistics were not available, public information and narrative provided by the company indicate a focus on its flagship Symphony ILS, Horizon support, and increased attention to web services. The low volume of ILS contracts overall was offset by some very large deals. In Saskatchewan, a new consortium consolidating the province’s ten library systems signed with Innovative for the largest Millennium implementation worldwide, supporting 320 facilities. Ex Libris will supply an Aleph ILS to the University of Oxford, the largest university library system in the UK. Hong Kong Public Library, with annual loans exceeding 61 million items, selected VTLS to provide its next automation platform. Polaris’s gains included the Miami Dade Public Library, FL, and Baltimore County Public Library. Once a company has succeeded in placing its ILS into a library, it gains substantial opportunities for the sale of additional products and services. Incumbents have an advantage given the library automation industry’s enduring relationships between libraries and firms. Alternatively, some companies, such as Ex Libris, leverage sales of supplemental products like its SFX link server or its Primo discovery interface to gain an initial entry into a library, which often turns into additional openings. The Bodleian Library at Oxford University, for example, initially purchased Primo, then moved to Aleph to replace its aging Advance ILS.Legacy migrations
Migrations from legacy products define the vast majority of chances for new ILS sales. The number of libraries needing to move away from an ILS no longer developed represents a major market driver. This year, however, the global economic crisis produced tight budgets that constrained ILS sales. The availability of new discovery interfaces to help a library meet the need to provide better service and the promise of more innovative alternatives ahead led many libraries to defer new ILS procurements, despite the pressure to replace an aging system. Several legacy ILS products remain in play. A modest number of libraries continue to run Dynix Classic, some of which are just now ready to begin formal procurement considerations toward replacement, especially on the international front. The high levels of satisfaction with Dynix Classic, in terms of the stability and rich functionality, have caused libraries to hang on to this system as long as possible. Given the large number of worldwide installations, Horizon continues to receive some new development from SirsiDynix. Meanwhile, SirsiDynix urges these libraries either to shift to its flagship Symphony ILS or at least remain on Horizon for a few more years; competitors aggressively target them as new sales challenges. Despite the incumbent advantage, a number of Horizon libraries have drifted out of the SirsiDynix fold. For example, of the 33 contracts made by Polaris in 2009, 25 involved migrations from one of SirsiDynix’s products. The former Geac systems PLUS and Advance are also winding down. This year saw only a few procurements moving from these legacy systems, most of which went to a current product from Infor, Geac’s corporate successor. On the small library front, the vast number of remaining Athena, Winnebago Spectrum, InfoCentre, and Circulation Plus installations provide great opportunity for vendors with current systems able to offer affordable automation products to these libraries of limited means. Biblionix attracted many of these institutions in the public library sector. Two systems continue to receive ongoing development and support but not as the a primary flagship product. Voyager from Ex Libris and Horizon from SirsiDynix both came into their respective companies through business acquisitions. In both cases, each firm focuses marketing for new sales on Aleph and Symphony, respectively. Ex Libris plans to maintain both Aleph and Voyager to the same extent while it develops URM (Unified Resource Management) as a successor.A new phase of discovery
Last year we noted the remarkable trend of automation companies generally expanding their capacity for development and support despite the pressures of the economic downturn. These investments have begun to bear fruit in the form of some new alternatives for libraries as they make decisions for their automation strategies. In a year where libraries deferred investments in entirely new automation systems, sales for discovery products spiked. This genre of software has been a growing part of the industry for several years. Previous editions of this report have documented the rise of products including AquaBrowser developed by Medialab Solutions, now part of the portfolio of R.R. Bowker and Serials Solutions; Encore from Innovative Interfaces; SirsiDynix Enterprise; LS2 PAC from The Library Corporation; Ex Libris’s Primo; and VTLS Visualizer. Up to now, new versions of each product have incrementally added features. This year saw a major transition in this software genre, incorporating powerful new ways to deliver access to a broader representation of library collections, especially to individual articles. Academic libraries in particular make large investments in subscriptions to resources that aggregate thousands of scholarly e-journals and periodicals. An earlier phase of discovery products transformed the traditional web-based online catalog to a modern interface that offered relevancy-ranked results, a single search box, faceted navigation, and enriched content beyond the basic MARC records. These new web-scale discovery products vie to address the full scope of vetted library content in the same way that search engines such as Google aim to provide comprehensive access to the content of the web. Earlier discovery interfaces handled access to articles databases through federated search add-ins, but this approach generally performed slowly, yielded shallow results, and often required the user to launch a secondary search to explore article content. The new web-scale discovery products include article content in the primary search, with almost instantaneous, relevancy-ranked results. The proportion of article-level content addressed still falls short of comprehensive, though coverage continues to improve. Most of the web-scale discovery products operate by harvesting content from the various publishers and providers of e-journal content and creating a massive central index. These indexes may include full text as well as citation data. Access to the content to populate these indexes becomes possible through agreements made between the publishers and the creators of each discovery product. Serials Solutions broke first ground in this new genre of discovery products with its Summon service, announced in January 2009 and opened for general release in July 2009. EBSCO followed suit with its own Discovery Service, announced in April 2009 though not released until January 2010. Ex Libris described in July 2009 a centralized index of article content, called Primo Central, to add this capability to its strategic discovery product; Primo central saw a beta release in January 2010. OCLC has similar ambitions for its WorldCat Local discovery service. In addition to the traditional content of WorldCat.org involving books and journals, OCLC plans to add increasing quantities of article-level content as it works toward the same goal of comprehensive end-user searching capabilities. Innovative Interfaces likewise intends for its Encore discovery product to address all aspects of library collections, including article-level content. In January 2010, the company announced Encore with Article Integration, which follows a model of XML streams based on web services from each content provider rather than harvesting and indexing of the content ahead of time.Differing strategic paths
Several other companies have leveraged this demand for next-generation discovery interfaces as the starting point for new technology platforms and broader product lines. The implementation of a new platform for the discovery interface affords the opportunity to introduce modern service-oriented architectures that not only improve the end user experience but also provide better access to the core ILS through web services and other application programming interfaces (APIs). Examples of this approach include Chamo from VTLS, Encore from Innovative, Enterprise from SirsiDynix, Iluminar from Auto-Graphics, and LS2 PAC from The Library Corporation. Encore, introduced in 2006 as a next-generation discovery interface, also serves as a framework for providing access to data in Millennium through web services. In January 2010, for example, Innovative released Encore Reporter as a tool for extracting, viewing, and analyzing data. Similarly, the latest version of SirsiDynix’s Enterprise catalog front-end, released in September 2009, integrates Google Analytics for tracking usage. This year Auto-Graphics introduced Iluminar as the basis for a new interface for its suite of AGent products, based on the open source Adobe Flex framework. Auto-Graphics indicates that the new end user interface is just the first phase of a broader project to completely rebuild the AGent product suite on this platform. The next phase will deploy the framework for staff interfaces, eventually culminating in a full migration encompassing all aspects of the AGent resource sharing and ILS products. The Library Corporation began a similar strategy with the launch of its LS2 PAC, the initial module of a new ILS that will be developed over time as a successor to the company’s current Library.Solution and Carl.X products. This year VTLS introduced Chamo, a discovery interface that follows a completely new architecture from its existing Virtua ILS, avoiding the overhead of a central server, interacting directly with the underlying data stores. According to the company, this new architecture is the core of its new development strategy, representing the initial phase of a broader transition of its core automation systems to the Chamo platform.Evolution vs. revolution
Some companies have chosen an evolutionary process that leads to improved automation products with minimal disruption to existing implementations, while others conceive of more revolutionary—if unproven—strategies. SirsiDynix continues to develop its flagship Symphony ILS through a stable and evolutionary approach. One of the key differentiators in the current ILS competition involves ways to deliver more openness in the way that libraries access the data and functionality of the system, primarily through web services and APIs. Symphony offers one of the most complete APIs available with an ILS. This year, in addition to the proprietary APIs already in place, SirsiDynix has begun to infuse Symphony with a new layer of web services, providing a more standard flavor of interoperability. BookMyne, the iPhone app that SirsiDynix launched in January 2010, provides one of the first opportunities to exercise the new web services component of Symphony. In addition to these strategies, several alternatives are emerging that aim to create entirely new conceptual models for library automation. This year saw the launch of three such projects: URM from Ex Libris, the Kuali Open Library Environment (OLE) project, and OCLC WorldCat Management System. However, these models exist so far only in concept and have yet to be tested in the marketplace. Ex Libris has begun to articulate its vision for a new type of library automation platform that will enable libraries to manage all kinds of materials. Such a system would address the functionality now spread among several different products, including the ILS, electronic resource management systems, repository platforms, and others. Development partners for URM include Boston College, Princeton University, and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium; Purdue University will help refine the concept and component functionality. The OLE project likewise aims to create a new technology platform for research libraries that will be developed as open source software with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Following the completion of a one-year planning phase to refine the conceptual model and outline an initial blueprint for the system, a two-year project to build the software has commenced, to be completed in 2011. The Mellon Foundation has provided $2.38 million for the build phase, matched by the eight major development partners, including Indiana University as the lead institution; a consortium of libraries in Florida; Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA; University of Michigan; University of Maryland; Research Triangle Libraries Network, NC; University of Pennsylvania; and University of Chicago. The project has joined the Kuali Foundation and is now known as Kuali OLE. OCLC has announced a strategy to expand into library automation further through the addition of functionality into WorldCat that will displace the need for local automation products. Already well established as a cataloging utility, OCLC has recently positioned WorldCat Local among the alternatives for discovery products. By adding features such as circulation, acquisitions, and license management, OCLC has articulated a vision of a WorldCat Management System that can offer libraries a full library automation solution without the need to operate a local ILS. The development of this new library automation platform is under way, including the deployment of a new global technology platform that will scale in performance and reliability to handle the load to support the operations of the thousands of libraries that it hopes will ultimately adopt this approach. A group of libraries have begun to partner with OCLC to pilot the WorldCat Management System, including Pepperdine University Libraries, CA; the Orbis Cascade Alliance of Oregon and Washington; Linfield College Libraries, OR; selected libraries associated with the Idaho Commission for Libraries; and the CPC Regional Libraries in North Carolina. The product is expected to be available to other OCLC members by around midyear 2012. In previous years we have noted the entry of OCLC into the library automation industry through its acquisition of for-profit enterprises involved in a variety of products and technologies. The acquisition of a number of European ILS vendors placed OCLC as a key competitor in the library automation industry. The impact of these acquisitions seemed less immediate since the companies involved did not have significant presence in North America. As a nonprofit in control of these for-profit business units, OCLC has become involved in a library automation industry that has long been dominated by for-profit companies. OCLC sees the creation of library automation services as consistent with its mission to help libraries operate collaboratively to gain efficiencies and lower costs than they could individually and independently. OCLC can expect vigorous competition as it steps into the thick of the library automation industry.Federated search
Federated search products continue to have a presence in the library automation economy but increasingly as an add-in to a broader discovery platform rather than as a discrete product. Ex Libris uses MetaLib as a component of Primo; Innovative uses Research Pro with Encore. Serials Solutions, while championing the consolidated index approach of Summon, continues to support and market 360 Search, its major federated search platform. In 2008, ProQuest acquired WebFeat, folding it into Serials Solutions. In December 2009, Serials Solutions completed the consolidation of its features and technologies into 360 Search, transitioning all its federated search clients into the single merged platform.Business transitions
On the mergers and acquisitions front, 2009 turned out to be a fairly quiet year. The digestive processes of the previous rounds of acquisitions continue as the consolidated companies complete the integration of their global business units, internal processes, and personnel. Polaris solidified the ownership status of the company through a management buyout by Bill Schickling, Polaris president, and other senior execs. Though it has experienced other transitions, up to now the company has remained under the ownership of the Croydon Company since 1974, when it was founded as the automation division of Gaylord Bros., whose library-related business activities included furniture and supplies. Croydon sold Gaylord Bros. to rival Demco in May 2003, retaining the library automation unit, initially renamed GIS Information Systems and then Polaris in May 2005. An additional partner, Jim Carrick, came into the company as one of the owners and as a strategic business advisor. Though from outside the library industry, Carrick comes to Polaris with previous IT executive experience as the former owner and president of Strategic Computer Solutions. LibLime, once the largest of the firms involved in the open source ILS arena, announced in December 2009 that it would be acquired by Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. (PTFS), which operates mostly in the governmental and defense markets. The transaction was called off in February owing to a disagreement over financial terms but seemed to be on track as of mid-March. This event demonstrates that adoption of an open source ILS does not necessarily exempt a library from the impact of marketplace shifts. LibLime has been successful in marketing the concept of open source software and its services related to Koha, culminating in 108 contracts representing over 500 library facilities, but it also stirred considerable controversy among open source advocates through its recent launch of LibLime Enterprise Koha (LLEK). Though legally consistent with the GPL open source license, the move caused other companies and individuals outside of LibLime to cry foul, insisting that LLEK took advantage of a cooperatively developed resource without the reciprocity of immediately contributing back the features it developed. LibLime saw several key personnel exit the company, shifting from a development operation that relied on employees to externally contracted programming.Open source ILS
In the United States and Canada, interest in open source library automation continues, with Evergreen, Koha, and OPALS standing as the key offerings. Each of these open source products targets different types of libraries with involvement from various commercial support and development firms. In terms of overall industry, the aggregated revenues of the open source support firms represent just over one percent. The number of libraries involved represents a larger proportion, in the two percent to five percent range. Current use of open source ILS among academic libraries remains negligible. Equinox Software continues to exhibit steady growth as it attracts contracts to bring the open source Evergreen ILS to new consortia. The company issued a steady stream of announcements throughout the year as individual libraries went live with Evergreen. Consortia that elected to implement Evergreen through services provided by Equinox in 2009 include Bibliomation, the North Texas Regional Library System, and SC Lends in South Carolina. Equinox also entered into migration and support arrangements with individual libraries such as Washington County in Kentucky and Kirtland Community College in Michigan. While Evergreen continues to be adopted primarily by public library consortia, it began to see some use by academics. Project Conifer, for example, a group of academic libraries in Canada, shifted to Evergreen in August 2009. Koha continues to find adoption by public and smaller academic libraries. Multiple companies provide support for Koha internationally. Prior to this year, LibLime stood as the primary Koha support provider in the United States. In 2009, ByWater Solutions and PTFS began offering Koha support services in this country. In February 2010, Equinox announced its expansion to Koha support and hosting services. OPALS provides an open source alternative for school libraries and has seen adoption by other types of small libraries including those for churches and synagogues. OPALS was developed and supported by Media Flex, the original developers of the Mandarin library automation system. Open source library automation received a boost from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the award of a $998,556 grant to a project spearheaded by the King County Library System, WA, to develop nontechnical infrastructure for public libraries interested in adopting an open source ILS. King County, which has one of the highest volumes of circulation transactions of public libraries in the country, has plans to implement the open source Evergreen ILS. A number of factors indicate that open source library automation will be a growth sector for the industry, although the adoption thus far has moved upward gradually, not climbed dramatically. Any impact of the Kuali OLE project will not be seen until 2012. Generally, while open source library automation continues as a trend worth noting, proprietary software currently dominates.On the horizon
Pressing forward into next year, we expect little relief in the ILS sales slump; increased spending will continue on discovery products until options emerge and economic pressures relent. On the three-year horizon, critical projects anticipated will reach the point where they can impact the industry. Open source ILS, now simmering at a low level, could reach a boil given the right convergence of factors, including new automation models, though a faltering among the businesses involved could stifle interest. OCLC’s potential to disrupt the market cannot be underestimated. Both Kuali OLE and Ex Libris URM set high expectations with new conceptual approaches but will not reach major market impact for at least the next five years. The ramp-up period for products, especially those that invoke new conceptual approaches, can be long. Meanwhile, the evolutionary branch of the industry will see continued growth, establishing ever deeper roots to contrast with divergent alternatives.| NEW CUSTOMERS | TOTAL SALES | 2009 | ||||||||
| COMPANY | SYSTEM NAME | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | U.S. SALES | NON-U.S. SALES | TOTAL INSTALLED |
| Full function multiuser systems for Public, Academic & Consortia | ||||||||||
| Auto-Graphics, Inc. | AGent VERSO | 44 | 23 | 16 | 47 | 24 | 19 | 18 | 1 | 311 |
| BiblioMondo | Concerto | 2 | 470 | |||||||
| BiblioMondo | PortFolio | 4 | 930 | |||||||
| Biblionix | Apollo | 49 | 55 | 49 | 55 | 55 | 0 | 180 | ||
| ByWater Solutions | Koha | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 105 | ||||
| Civica | Spydus 8 / MS | 25 | 25 | 15 | 51 | 30 | 25 | 2 | 23 | 263 |
| Equinox Software | Evergreen | 6 | 15 | 6 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 205 | ||
| Ex Libris | Voyager | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1,245 |
| Ex Libris | ALEPH 500 | 26 | 23 | 38 | 29 | 26 | 47 | 2 | 45 | 2,252 |
| Infor | Vubis Smart | 9 | 6 | 6 | 40 | 46 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 373 |
| Infor | V-Smart | 1 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 36 | ||
| Innovative Interfaces, Inc. | Millennium | 79 | 61 | 34 | 95 | 64 | 45 | 26 | 19 | 1,377 |
| LibLime | Koha | 56 | 40 | 57 | 40 | |||||
| The Library Corporation | Carl.X / Carl.Solution | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | ||
| The Library Corporation | Library.Solution | 35 | 32 | 30 | 35 | 32 | 30 | 26 | 4 | 719 |
| OCLC | Amlib Library Management System | 5 | 5 | 5 | 522 | |||||
| Polaris Library Systems | Polaris Integrated Library System | 22 | 51 | 33 | 32 | 56 | 33 | 30 | 3 | 348 |
| PTFS | Koha Support | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | |||||
| SirsiDynix | Horizon | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |||||
| SirsiDynix | Symphony | 51 | 38 | 121 | 135 | |||||
| Talis | Talis Alto | 2 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 112 | ||
| VTLS Inc. | Virtua | 25 | 26 | 18 | 30 | 39 | 18 | 1 | 17 | 954 |
| Automation Systems for Schools & School Districts | ||||||||||
| Book Systems, Inc | Atriuum | 139 | 149 | 225 | 159 | 179 | 225 | 225 | 0 | 704 |
| Book Systems, Inc. | Concourse | 175 | 125 | 119 | 214 | 125 | 136 | 128 | 8 | 9,700 |
| COMPanion Corp. | Alexandria | 980 | 980 | 914 | 230 | 11,786 | ||||
| Follett Software Company | Circulation Plus and Catalog Plus | 149 | 96 | 174 | 18,472 | |||||
| Follett Software Company | Destiny Library Manager for Districts | 606 | 1,707 | 373 | 639 | 373 | 36,959 | |||
| Follett Software Company | Destiny Library Manager for Schools | 368 | 326 | 275 | 721 | 780 | 3,036 | |||
| Follett Software Company | InfoCentre | 35 | 15 | 8 | 43 | 9 | 3,267 | |||
| Follett Software Company | Sagebrush Athena | 30 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 2,750 | |||
| Follett Software Company | Winnebago Spectrum | 25 | 5 | 27 | 4 | 3,888 | ||||
| LibraryWorld, Inc. | LibraryWorld | 550 | 550 | 483 | 1,717 | |||||
| Mandarin Library Automation | Mandarin Oasis (and Hosted) | 114 | 36 | 114 | 36 | 313 | ||||
| Mandarin Library Automation | Mandarin M3 | 490 | 174 | 143 | 640 | 174 | 143 | 3,117 | ||
| Media Flex | OPALS | 216 | 216 | 627 | ||||||
| Softlink America Inc. | Oliver | 76 | 126 | 610 | 358 | |||||
| Automation Systems for Special Libraries | ||||||||||
| CyberTools, Inc. | CyberTools for Libraries | 30 | 32 | 30 | 32 | 32 | 331 | |||
| EOS International | EOS.Web | 186 | 124 | 14 | 1,073 | |||||
| EOS International | EOS.Web.Academic | 8 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 8 | ||||
| Inmagic, Inc. | DB/Text for Libraries | 179 | 179 | |||||||
| Keystone Systems, Inc. | KLAS | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 108 | |
| *Numbers represented here are as reported by the vendors; blank spaces indicate that no data was provided, or companies gave only aggregate figuresSOURCE: LJ AUTOMATION MARKETPLACE SURVEY 2010 | ||||||||||
| Company | Product Name | New Name Customers | Existing Customers | Total Contracts | Installed |
| Auto-Graphics, Inc. | AGent Iluminar | 32 | 33 | 32 | |
| Axiell | Axiell Arena | 61 | |||
| Civica Pty Limited | Sorcer | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| Ex Libris Group | Primo | 21 | 32 | 53 | 250 |
| Innovative Interfaces, Inc. | Encore | 14 | 95 | 109 | 260 |
| The Library Corporation | LS2 Kids | 49 | 49 | 7 | |
| The Library Corporation | LS2 PAC | 77 | 77 | 92 | |
| Mandarin Library Automation, Inc. | M3 Web OPAC | 1375 | |||
| Medialab Solutions | Aquabrowser | 64 | 64 | 740 | |
| OCLC | WorldCat Local** | 624 | 624 | ||
| Serials Solutions | Summon Web-Scale Discovery Service | 50 | 50 | 50 | |
| Serials Solutions | AquaBrowser Unified Discovery Interface | 13 | 13 | ||
| SirsiDynix | Enterprise | ||||
| VTLS Inc. | Visualizer | 1 | 1 | ||
| VTLS Inc. | Chamo | 2 | 8 | 10 | |
| Link Resolvers | |||||
| Ex Libris Group | SFX / LinkFinder Plus/Discovery Resolver | 86 | 25 | 111 | 1993 |
| Innovative Interfaces, Inc. | WebBridge LR | 14 | 372 | ||
| Serials Solutions | Serials Solutions 360 Link | 216 | 616 | 832 | |
| Federated Search | |||||
| Book Systems, Inc. | Surfit | 0 | 35 | 35 | 283 |
| Ex Libris Group | MetaLib / Encompass ERA/Discovery Finder | 49 | 24 | 73 | 1549 |
| Innovative Interfaces, Inc. | Research Pro | 78 | 306 | ||
| Serials Solutions | WebFeat | 71 | 226 | 297 | |
| Serials Solutions | Serials Solutions 360 Search | 169 | 329 | 498 | |
| Digital Collections Management | |||||
| Ex Libris Group | DigiTool /Curator/ Encompass EDC | 2 | 2 | 4 | 180 |
| Innovative Interfaces | Content Pro | ||||
| OCLC | CONTENTdm | 725 | |||
| VTLS Inc. | VITAL | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Electronic Resource Management | |||||
| Ex Libris Group | Verde/ Meridian | 6 | 1 | 7 | 212 |
| Innovative Interfaces, Inc. | Electronic Resource Management | 30 | 308 | ||
| Serials Solutions | Serials Solutions 360 Resource Manager & RM Consortium Edition | 86 | 143 | 229 | |
| Digital Preservation Platform | |||||
| Ex Libris Group | Ex Libris Rosetta | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| *Numbers represented here are as reported by the vendors; blank spaces indicate that no data was provided, or companies gave only aggregate figures.**Includes WorldCat Local Quickstart free to libraries with FirstSearchNote: EBSCO Discovery Service was not commercially available until 2010 and so was not covered by this year’s surveySOURCE: LJ AUTOMATION MARKETPLACE SURVEY 2010 | |||||
| 2009 | ||||||||
| Company | Development | Support | Sales | Admin | Other | Total | 2008 | % of Change |
| Auto-Graphics, Inc. | 9 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 38 | 38 | 0 |
| Axiell | 62 | 49 | 26 | 25 | 53 | 215 | ||
| BiblioMondo | 37 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 66 | ||
| Book Systems, Inc. | 16 | 24 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 64 | 63 | 1.6 |
| ByWater Solutions | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Civica | 23 | 353 | 18 | 6 | 400 | 392 | 2.0 | |
| Cuadra | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 18 | ||
| EOS International | 10 | 15 | 23 | 5 | 13 | 66 | 79 | -19.7 |
| Equinox Software | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 28 | 13 | 53.6 |
| Ex Libris Group | 165 | 206 | 52 | 32 | 12 | 467 | 467 | 0 |
| Follett Software Company | 59 | 161 | 108 | 22 | 40 | 390 | 402 | -3.1 |
| Infor Library Solutions | 15 | 36 | 13 | 6 | 71 | 72 | -1.4 | |
| Innovative Interfaces, Inc. | 92 | 164 | 24 | 29 | 6 | 315 | 326 | -3.5 |
| Keystone Systems, Inc. | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| LibLime | 28 | |||||||
| The Library Corporation | 39 | 89 | 28 | 13 | 28 | 197 | 204 | -3.6 |
| LibraryWorld, Inc. (was CASPR) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | ||
| Polaris Library Systems | 27 | 41 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 80 | 76 | 5.0 |
| PTFS | 16 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 130 | |||
| Serials Solutions | 43 | 58 | 43 | 5 | 15 | 164 | 142 | 13.4 |
| Talis | 25 | 25 | 13 | 2 | 13 | 78 | 77 | 1.3 |
| VTLS Inc. | 26 | 52 | 9 | 16 | 4 | 107 | 97 | 9.3 |
| *Numbers represented here are as reported by the vendors; blank spaces indicate that no data was provided.SOURCE: LJ AUTOMATION MARKETPLACE SURVEY 2010 | ||||||||
| Author Information |
| Marshall Breeding (staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding) is Director for Innovative Technology and Research, Vanderbilt University Library, Nashville |
COMPANY PROFILES
Auto-Graphics Pomona, CA; 800-776-6939; auto-graphics.com Auto-graphics offers both platforms for large-scale resource sharing projects and for traditional library automation, both at a statewide level and for small libraries. Product News This year, the firm completed an overhaul of the acquisitions module of AGent VERSO, including support for EDI X.12 for the electronic transmission of invoices, orders, and other business transactions. Announced in 2008, Auto-Graphics has completed the initial development of AGent Iluminar, a new platform based on the Adobe Flex technology framework. Iluminar also provides an open platform with greater capabilities for interoperability with external applications. In its initial phase, AGent Iluminar offers a new public interface for the AGent suite of products. Currently, the Iluminar platform has been put into production in two statewide resource sharing implementations and in 15 libraries using the AGent VERSO ILS. The company reports that over 65 percent of its AGent VERSO sites have already signed contracts for Iluminar. Taking advantage of the Iluminar’s web services approach, Auto-Graphics worked with ChiliFresh for integration of patron-contributed reviews. The company also expanded its partnership with Index Data, integrating its open source federated search and connector technologies. People Auto-Graphics named industry veteran Marc Roberson as its North American sales director. He most recently worked with LibLime but has previously held positions with SirsiDynix and Innovative. The company employs a workforce of 38, unchanged from last year; revenue reported in the $5–$10 million range. Axiell Library Group Gothenburg, Sweden; +46 31-710 29 50 axiell.com Axiell provides library automation to libraries in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and the UK. While the company does not have a presence in North America, it is the fifth largest in the global library automation industry, with a total workforce of 215. In January 2009, Axiell acquired DS, whose OpenGalaxy ILS ranks as one of the major automation systems in the UK. Product News One of the major activities for Axiell has been the development of a new discovery product, named Arena, released in 2009. BiblioMondo Montréal, Canada; 800-529-3310 bibliomondo.com BiblioMondo specializes in automation products for public libraries in many international regions. Its flagship ILS, Portfolio, fully web-based, finds use in a handful of U.S. libraries; it has a larger presence in Canada. The company was acquired by ISACSOFT in 2004. Biblionix Austin, TX; 877-800-5625 biblionix.com Biblionix markets its Apollo ILS, offered exclusively as a hosted service, only to small to medium-sized public libraries in the United States. The company reports its largest site has holdings of 140,000 items with around 600,000 annual circulation transactions. In a short period, Biblionix has become established within this niche of small public libraries unable to afford the automation products of the larger companies. Although the 55 sales made in 2009 rank high in terms of the number of contracts signed, the small size of the libraries gives a truer picture of the company. Product News This year saw a major revision of the Apollo item checkout routines for the circulation module and the creation of additional capabilities for library customization. The company upgraded the capacity of its server platforms and expanded its server facilities geographically to ensure redundancy across multiple cities. Book Systems, Inc. Huntsville, AL; 800-219-6571 booksys.com Primarily serving small public libraries and schools and school districts in the United States through its Concourse and Atriuum automation systems, Book Systems reported a strong year in 2009 in terms of new sales and customer support. The 225 contracts signed for Atriuum rank higher than any other year for this product. Product News Book Systems released version 4.0 of its flagship Atriuum web-based ILS. New features include many enhancements to the OPAC related to customizability, report scheduling, and new options for item selection from the circulation module. In addition to its ILS products, Book System offers Booktracks, a textbook management application. This year the company enhanced its optional SURFit federated search tool through a partnership with Infobase Publishing, a leading publisher of supplemental educational materials for K–12 schools. People Book Systems employs a workforce 64, one more than last year, and reports revenues within the $5–$10 million range. All but one percent of the company’s sales are to U.S. libraries. ByWater Solutions Santa Barbara, CA; 888-900-8944 bywatersolutions.com A small consulting firm, ByWater Solutions was formed in April 2009 to provide services surrounding the open source Koha ILS. In its first year the company has signed support contracts with seven libraries representing 77 facilities, including the Nelsonville Public Library in Athens County, OH, the first public library to implement Koha. The firm employs a total of four. Though a small firm, ByWater has entered the Koha support arena at a critical time. Civica Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; +61 3 8676 4400; Englewood, OH; 800-686-9313 www.civica.com.au; spydus.us Civica International offers the Sypdus library management system, primarily to public and academic libraries. Though Civica ranks as one of the major library automation companies worldwide—especially successful in the UK and in the Asia Pacific region—it has only a minor presence in North America. This year also saw only modest success with sales to Hutchinson Community College, KS, and Niagara University, NY. Product News In September 2009, Civica entered the discovery interface arena with a new product called Sorcer, embracing personalization, social networking, and other Web 2.0 features.Sorcer has seen five sales since its initial release, with many others anticipated. People This year industry veteran Jeanne Spala, a former VP at SirsiDynix, joined Civica/CMI as a senior consultant. COMPanion Salt Lake City, UT; 801-943-7277 goalexandria.com COMPanion developed and supports the Alexandria ILS, used primarily by K–12 school libraries, small publics, and some special libraries. Alexandria stands as the company’s flagship product; it also offers other school-oriented software packages including Textbook Tracker and eLunchroom. This year the company made 230 new sales of Alexandria representing 741 library facilities, down from the 914 reported for 2008, bringing the installed base to 11,786. The company employs 68. Cuadra Associates Los Angeles, CA; 800-366-1390 cuadra.com Cuadra Associates, founded as a consulting firm by Carlos A. Cuadra in 1978, provides knowledge management products for special libraries. In 2008, Cuadra was acquired by SydneyPLUS; though both companies serve special libraries, they offer differentiated products in somewhat different niches of the market. The company continues to develop products based on its STAR technology, especially the STAR Knowledge Center for Libraries, a fully web-based solution. Product News This year the web-based STAR Knowledge Center for Libraries was enhanced to include external content resources that extend end user discovery. The company continued the development of STAR/Archives to manage special collections, as a fully web-based application, planned for release in 2010 as STAR Knowledge Center for Archives. People Cuadra employs a workforce of 18 personnel. CyberTools, Inc. Harvard, MA; 800-894-9206 cybertoolsforlibraries.com CyberTools targets special and academic libraries with its CyberTools for Libraries, an integrated library system with sophisticated capabilities for serials management and e-resources. Responding to the economic downturn, Cybertools notes that it has raised its prices only once in the last ten years. Product News Some of the major development for CyberTools for Libraries in 2009 involved major enhancements to its electronic resource management (ERM) component and its integration with the online catalog. The company offers the CyberTools Hosting Program and reports that an increasing number of its clients are opting for this SaaS option. This year CyberTools signed 32 new clients, raising its customer base to 331 libraries. Revenues are in the $1–$2.5 million range. EBSCO Ipswich, MA; 800-758-5995 ebscohost.com In addition to its role as a provider of e-content to libraries, EBSCO Publishing has increasingly been involved in providing technology products. It offers the LinkSource OpenURL link resolver and EBSCO A-Z as a tool for organizing and providing access to e-journal content. In 2009, the company launched EBSCOhost Integrated Search, which adds a federated search engine to EBSCOhost, extending its reach to external information resources not part of its own offerings. In April 2009, the company announced EBSCO Discovery Service, which harvests local library resources, including the materials managed by the ILS and other information repositories in the library to produce a comprehensive centralized index. In January 2010, EBSCO debuted ERM Essentials, a product in the electronic resource management genre. By adding these items to its repertoire, EBSCO enters the competition for automation products in all major categories outside the ILS. EOS International Carlsbad, CA; 800-876-5484 eosintl.com EOS International, originally founded in 1982 as DataTrek, has been producing software, primarily for special libraries, for 30 years, which also finds use in academic and small public libraries. Product News This year, in order to attract additional academic libraries, EOS International developed and released EOS.Web Academic, a version of its flagship ILS extended for academic libraries, including features such as course reserves. Prior to the release of EOS.Web Academic, the company had over 100 academic library clients; Silicon Valley University recently became the first to select EOS.Web Academic. New federated search capabilities were added to EOS.Web through a partnership with EBSCO to make use of the EBSCO Integrated Search technology. An ERM module was released in early 2010. The company offers EOS.Web through local installations or SaaS; EOS performed significant upgrades to its data center that supports its hosted EOS.Web clients. People In 2009, EOS International underwent several changes in executive management, including the appointment of Scot Cheatham as CEO. Cheatham cofounded the company in 1982 with his brother David and had been serving as its president. In that position, he was involved in strategic planning. With the exit of Tony Saadat, CEO since 2002, Cheatham has assumed direct leadership of the company. Other appointments include Greg Leiser as VP finance, Jeff Smith as VP client services, and Jeff Goodwin promoted to VP product development. EOS International employs 66 and reports revenues in the $5–$10 million range. Equinox Software Norcross, GA; 877-673-6457 esilibrary.com Equinox Software provides services surrounding open source ILS products. The development team of the open source Evergreen ILS developed for the PINES consortium of the Georgia Public Library System founded the company in January 2007. The company continues as the primary support firm for Evergreen, providing migration, support, and hosting services; it has recently announced interest in providing services for Koha. In 2009, Equinox completed installations initiated in previous years and signed support contracts with 18 new library organizations representing a total of 205 installations. People Galen Charlton, now VP for data services at Equinox Software, had previously served in a similar capacity at LibLime and even continued his role as the release manager of Koha version 3.2. Dawn Roberts now serves as director of marketing. Equinox Software is privately owned by its founders. In 2009, the company more than doubled in terms of personnel, increasing from 13 in 2008 to 28 this year. Ex Libris Group Jerusalem, Israel; 800-762-6300 exlibrisgroup.com Ex Libris ranks among the largest companies in the library automation industry, focusing primarily on academic and research libraries and consortia. Based in Israel, the company has a broad international presence. In the United States, 59 of the 124 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members use an ILS provided by Ex Libris (Voyager 35, Aleph 24). This year the company saw excellent sales for its ILS products, especially considering the overall economic climate. It was one of the very few companies to achieve higher ILS sales than in 2008. Though the company reported aggregated sales for Aleph and Voyager (49), Aleph continues to receive the vast majority of new sales. Each of the ILS contracts represents large-scale implementations at major institutions, including Aleph to Oxford University, the University of Utah, and Iowa State University. Ex Libris increased the number of libraries licensing its Primo discovery product to more than 250, doubling the total reported last year, and launched the aggregate index-based Primo Central to beta partners. Product News Another new product, the bX scholarly recommender service, was launched in 2009, to provide library users with article recommendations relevant to their research. Based on data mined from the usage logs of OpenURL link resolvers, bX reveals associations among scholarly articles and suggests selections made by prior users. Since its May 2009 release, the bX service has been adopted by more than 200 institutions. Aiming to fill yet another niche in the research library market, Ex Libris developed the Rosetta digital preservation platform. The company announced the beta release of Rosetta Version 2.0 in January 2010. Building on the Open Product Program launched in 2008, Ex Libris continues to institutionalize the use of APIs and web services throughout its products. Initially called the EL Commons Developer Zone, CodeShare is maintained by the company as a repository of customer-developed code extensions that can be shared among users of Ex Libris products. The development of URM, an automation framework planned to supersede many of its current products, is also under way. People Ex Libris reported total personnel at 467, the same as in 2008. Follett Software Company McHenry, IL; 815-344-8700 fsc.follett.com Follett Software Company (FSC), specializing in software products for K–12 schools, maintains the dominant position in this sector of the library automation market. Product News FSC released version 9.5 of its Destiny Library Manager, its flagship web-based automation system. Initially released in 2003, the company’s Destiny Library Manager products have achieved steady growth as libraries replace legacy products such as Circulation Plus, Winnebago Spectrum, and Athena. In addition to Destiny Library Manager, FSC offers Destiny Textbook Manager and Destiny Asset Manager, which help school districts control their inventory of textbooks or other types of assets, providing detailed tracking from initial procurement through final disposition. The company provides data mining and analytical tools for school districts through its TeraData products. People Employing 390, Follett Software Company ranks as the fourth largest company in the industry. Its workforce decreased only slightly from the 402 reported last year. FSC reported revenue in the $90–$100 million range. Infor Library and Information Systems Williamsport, PA; 800-825-2574 vubis-smart.com Within the context of a $2 billion global company, Infor Library and Information Systems continues the tradition of Geac, through the development and support of its flagship Vubis Smart and V-smart library automation systems, as well as support for legacy products including Advance and PLUS. Today Infor’s greatest strength in the library automation industry lies in Europe, though it continues as a minority player in Canada and the United States. Infor reports that this year it has begun restructuring its software following what it characterizes as user-centered architecture, giving functional priority to the end user experience. Product News Infor developed Iguana, an “online platform to promote your library and deliver a collaborative user experience.” This focus differs considerably from that of the genre of discovery interfaces. Release of Iguana is expected for spring 2010. People Infor Library and Information Solutions employs 71, one fewer than in 2008. Inmagic Woburn, MA; 800-229-8398 inmagic.com Inmagic is a privately owned company specializing in knowledge management products for special libraries. Following the $5 million investments by Edison Venture Fund in 2008, Inmagic has accelerated its product development and marketing strategies. Inmagic reported additional investments in 2009. Product News The product and marketing strategy of the company focuses on the concept of social knowledge networks, leveraging user-supplied content and use data to add value to information assets and resources. The flagship product Presto has been enhanced and reengineered to embrace this model. Inmagic did not provide specific sales figures for this year’s report. People In May, Inmagic announced the appointments of Ron Matros as its new CEO, replacing Paul Puzzanghera; Tony Florence as VP for sales and business development; Robert Warren as VP for products. Paul E. Blondin joined the company’s Board of Directors. Innovative Interfaces, Inc. Emeryville, CA; 510-655-6200 iii.com Innovative Interfaces provides library automation products to libraries in many regions of the world and ranks among the largest in the industry. Founded in 1978, Innovative remains privately owned by cofounder Jerry Kline. In 2009, the company made 45 sales of its Millennium ILS, down from the 64 contracts signed in 2008. The deals inked this year included some very large sites such as a provincial consortium in Saskatchewan, which will be the largest Millennium installation. Millennium serves a variety of library types, including academic, public, and special libraries; many new sales come from international regions, especially in Europe and the Middle East. Product News In concert with the increased interest in mobile access, Innovative redeveloped its AirPAC clients, with versions for the iPhone and BlackBerry and enhanced the Circa wireless Millennium staff client. Innovative released Content Pro, a new platform for managing unique digital collections. In 2009, Innovative launched a redesigned customer service web site, CSDirect, with improved tools for communication with staff and users. The company also continues to focus on Encore. The release of Encore Harvesting Services provides the ability for libraries to harvest any resource into Encore that supports OAI-PMH. A new Article Integration capability gives Encore new functions for the discovery of article-level content alongside local resources. Encore Reporter takes advantage of the service-oriented platform to deliver operational and usage data for display and analysis. Other enhancements to Millennium include a web service to provide “My Millennium” account information to a third-party application, SMS alerts allowing libraries to send patrons SMS hold pickup messages, and volume holds. People Innovative reported a workforce of 315, down from 326 last year but more than the 310 in 2007. Revenues reported were in the $80–$90 million range. John McCullough was promoted to VP Encore Division. Keystone Systems Raleigh, NC; 919-782-1143 klas.com Keystone Systems specializes in automation for libraries that serve persons with visual disabilities with its KLAS library automation system. In an industry dominated by large consolidated companies, Keystone demonstrates the ability for small companies to exploit a specialized niche. This year Keystone signed contracts for KLAS to four new sites, bringing the total installations to 108. The company expanded its data center that supports its SaaS clients subscribing to the Keystone Hosted Service. People Keystone employs a workforce of 16, unchanged for the last three years. LibLime Columbus, OH; 888-564-2457 liblime.com LibLime was the first open source ILS support company established in the United States, launched by individuals involved in the implementation of Koha at the Nelsonville Public Library in Athens County, OH, to provide installation, support, hosting, and development services for Koha. Product News In September 2009, LibLime announced LibLime Enterprise Koha (LLEK), a premium version of Koha, implemented on Amazon’s EC2 cloud platform, including features and components not available in other versions. A low-cost version, called Koha Express, provided the same platform and features on a self-service subscription basis. However, as a result of these moves, relations between LibLime and the broader Koha support community have become strained. LibLime did not provide data for this year’s report but made public announcements of 20 Koha support contracts in 2009. The Library Corporation Inwood, WV; 800-325-7759 tlcdelivers.com The Library Corporation, a family owned and operated business established in 1974, focuses on automation products for public and school libraries. Its ILS products include Library.Solution used primarily by small to mid-sized libraries, and Carl.X for consortia and municipal libraries. The company created Library.Solution through its own development. TLC acquired Carl Corporation in 2000 and has since enhanced and developed new generations of the software, culminating in the current Carl.X product. Product News TLC has recently focused its development efforts on its new LS2 platform. Major new capabilities added to LS2 PAC include support for OAI-PMH, Google Analytics, e-commerce, and borrower registration. In 2009, it released LS2 Kids, an interface for the younger set of library users and LS2 Circ, a web-based circulation interface for Library.Solution. On the Carl front, the company completed the upgrade from the older Carl.Solution platform to Carl.X for the Los Angeles Public Library, a large-scale implementation supporting over 17 million annual circulation transactions and a collection exceeding six million items. In a year where opportunities for ILS sales in the public library market were lean, TLC was able to compensate through sales of Library.Solution in the K–12 sector. The company placed its new LS2 PAC into 77 of its customer libraries and LS2 Kids into 49. TLC reported revenues in the $30–$35 million range; the company employs 197, slightly down from the 204 reported for 2008. LibraryWorld San José, CA; 800-852-2777 libraryworld.com LibraryWorld, formerly known as Caspr, offers its namesake ILS through a hosted service for small libraries of many types, though K–12 school libraries dominate. Product News Developments completed in LibraryWorld include support for smart mobile devices in the OPAC, display of book jacket images, report customization, and routing lists for serial publications. The company reported new sales of 550, a 20 percent increase over last year; 90 percent of revenues come from U.S. libraries. The company employs 12. Mandarin Library Automation Boca Raton, FL; 800-426-7477; mlasolutions.com Mandarin Library Automation specializes in library automation products primarily for the K–12 school sector. The company offers two main products, Mandarin M3 and Oasis. In 2009, the firm made many improvements in its web OPAC interface, used for both products. The company recently began offering Oasis as a hosted service. Mandarin M3 continues to be sold and supported to smaller libraries; Oasis targets larger schools and districts for centralized automation. Media Flex Champlain, NY; 877-331-1022 mediaflex.net Media Flex, a library services company founded in 1985 by Harry Chan, has been involved in the development of a series of library automation products, beginning with the Mandarin system. In recent years, the company developed the OPen source Automated Library System, or OPALS, primarily for K–12 school libraries. Media Flex offers support and hosting contracts. In 2009, Media Flex signed 216 contracts. The total number of OPALS now stands at 627, providing automation to 2006 facilities. OCLC Dublin, OH; 614-764-6000 oclc.org OCLC, a global nonprofit member-supported cooperative, has increasingly been involved in the library automation industry. In previous years, OCLC has executed a series of business acquisitions involving for-profit companies primarily in Europe, producing a variety of ILS and other library automation products. WorldCat Local, introduced as a pilot in April 2007 as a platform for end user discovery of library resources, saw greatly expanded use in 2009 through an offering called Quickstart, which allows existing FirstSearch subscribers to use it at no additional cost. This version does not include the reconciliation of the library’s holdings in the WorldCat database with their local ILS and other support options, part of a paid WorldCat Local subscription. OCLC reported 624 libraries using both the Quickstart and full versions of WorldCat Local. Product News In 2009, OCLC announced its development of the WorldCat Management System, which will provide traditional library automation functions through the WorldCat Local platform. This service, expected for general release in 2012, has large implications for the library automation industry, especially those using the ILS products currently under OCLC ownership. This year also saw the general release of WorldCat Navigator, a service for resource sharing for library consortia using the WorldCat Digital Collections Gateway for managing local digital collections to provide increased exposure through WorldCat.org. This year was the first that OCLC provided statistics for its library automation products, though given selectively. Considering the broad scope of OCLC’s organization, only a small portion of personnel are involved in activities directly relevant to library automation and are diffused through multiple divisions, making it difficult to identify the specific number of personnel that should be counted for this report. Polaris Library Systems Syracuse, NY; 800-272-3414 polarislibrary.com Polaris Library Systems offers the Polaris ILS primarily to public libraries in the United States. This year the ownership of Polaris changed hands as its management team, headed by CEO and president Bill Schickling, purchased the company—with the help of an additional partner, Jim Carrick—from Croydon Company, which had owned it from its inception. In addition to Schickling, investors included Polaris stalwarts Anita Wagner, Dave Bendekovic, and Jim Mieczkowski. Polaris created a new unit devoted to customer relations, charged to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction. The company has consistently maintained one of the highest ratios in the industry of customer support staff to customer sites. Product News Polaris added web-accessible APIs to its ILS in 2009, as well as functional improvements to core modules. As it expands into Canadian libraries, the company has added increased support for multiple languages, including the ability to print or email notices in preferred languages. Enhancements also included floating collections processing for multibranch systems. Polaris signed 33 contracts for Polaris in 2009, down from the 65 inked the previous year. However, 2009 contracts included some very large sites such as Miami Dade County, FL, and Baltimore County public libraries. People Polaris increased its workforce to 80 in 2009, up from the 76 reported in 2008. The company has had stable senior executive management, led by Schickling since 2003. PTFS Bethesda, MD; 301-654-8088 ptfs.com Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc., or PTFS, has been involved in the library automation industry since 1995 as a reseller and integrator of automation products, primarily to U.S. federal government libraries. The company has specialized in image and document management; its flagship product, ArchivalWare, is based on the Excalibur RetrievalWare technology developed by Convera. PTFS entered the Koha support arena in September 2008 and continued to build this aspect of its business through 2009. By year-end, PTFS had signed 12 contracts for Koha support. The company has accelerated its involvement with Koha through the acquisition of LibLime. Though the deal initially fell through in February, it appeared to be going forward as of mid-March. Product News Koha fits within the company’s strategy to build a new platform, called Digital Library System, that will combine ArchivalWare and Koha to provide libraries with the ability to manage print and electronic materials. People PTFS employs a workforce of 130 personnel. Serials Solutions Seattle, WA; 866-737-4257 serialssolutions.com Serials Solutions, though outside of the ILS realm, has carved out a role in the library automation industry through its products and services involving management of electronic resources and end user discovery. Serials Solutions, a division of ProQuest, is part of Cambridge Information Group, whose portfolio also includes Bowker. The ownership of AquaBrowser and investments in LibraryThing by Bowker also provide synergies to Serials Solutions. Serials Solutions’ suite of products includes 360 Search for federated search across multiple electronic resources, 360 Link as an OpenURL link resolver, and 360 Resource Manager for electronic resource management. These products all rely on KnowledgeWorks, the company’s proprietary database of e-journal and ebook holdings. Product News In January 2009, Serials Solutions announced a new discovery service, Summon, which includes a single search box and relevancy-ranked results based on a massive index of content from e-content publishers and providers. This index also features local content, such as the library ILS data, with links that provide availability and circulation status. Summon was released in July 2009. This year also saw the completion of the consolidation between 360 Search and the WebFeat federated search technology acquired in February 2008. SirsiDynix Provo, UT; 800.288.8020 sirsidynix.com SirsiDynix ranks as one of the largest companies in the industry, with over 4000 libraries throughout the world using its automation products. Symphony stands as the company’s flagship ILS, though it continues to support and enhance Horizon. SirsiDynix also supports the Dynix Classic ILS, though as a legacy product its user base is diminishing. Product News In recent years, the company has focused on the development of Symphony, extending it with features from its other products, especially Horizon, and layering onto it new technologies. This year the company developed a web services component that adds new interoperability through industry standard technologies. Symphony was engineered to support Microsoft SQL Server in addition to Oracle. The company also put an emphasis on offering Software as a Service (Saas) options for its installations as well. SirsiDynix Enterprise, a faceted interface with fuzzy match and relevancy rankings powered by BrainWare, saw its third version release in September 2009. Developments related to Horizon include the release of PocketCirc 1.0; Horizon 7.5 released in December 2009 now supports server virtualization. BookMyne, an iPhone app for Symphony libraries, was launched in early 2010. There were many new releases of existing products, including Web Reporter 3.3, Symphony 3.3, Enterprise 3.0, Docutek ERES 5.6, and URSA 4.2. SirsiDynix has increasingly attributed new product developments to its Strategic Partner Program, launched in July 2009, designed to give customers more pre-beta input on software design. Some of the company’s major deployments for Symphony completed in 2009 include a statewide implementation in Tasmania, Australia for 240 libraries and an installation for the Shaanxi Province in China including support for 100 district libraries. People Stephen Abram, VP for innovation at SirsiDynix since March 2004, left in December 2009 to take a similar position at Gale Cengage. Keith Sturges, who joined the company in March 2007 and became chief marketing and sales officer in August 2008, exited in August 2009. Brad Whittle returned to SirsiDynix as VP North America sales and marketing in January 2009. SirsiDynix elected not to provide data for this year’s Automation Marketplace report. In the absence of such data, we have relied on statements from the company as well as other sources of information, including press announcements made throughout the year. Softlink International Seattle, WA; 877-454-2725 softlinkint.com Softlink, based in Australia, ranks as the company with the most globally distributed customer base; its products are used in libraries in 108 countries. It has a relatively small presence in the United States, primarily in the special and K-12 school library sectors. People Robert Corrao, who had led Softlink America since 2004, departed in June 2009; Catherine Leonard, formerly manager of Softlink Pacific, will relocate to the United States and assume the reins of this division. Softlink also saw some executive changes in its global organization with the promotion of Nathan Godfrey from CFO to COO. In May 2009, Softlink acquired its formerly independent distributor in the UK to become part of its global organization. Softlink did not report specific sales statistics for this year’s report. Surpass Software Calhoun, GA; 706-625-5399 surpasssoftware.com Surpass Software, founded in 1985, provides automation products for school library and media centers and other types of small libraries. The company’s ILS products include Surpass Centriva for centralized automation of school districts, Surpass Select for individual libraries, Surpass SL for small libraries, and Surpass CL for church libraries. This year Surpass reports 81 new contracts signed across its ILS products. In 2009, the company saw revenues just under $500,000, with nine personnel employed. SydneyPLUS International Richmond, BC; 604-278-6717 sydneyplus.com SydneyPLUS specializes in automation and knowledge management products for special libraries, primarily those for Fortune 1000 companies and law firms, too. The SydneyPLUS Library System, the company’s original flagship ILS, continues to be used in hundreds of corporate and law libraries. kmBuilder provides a convenient way to create web-enabled databases; Information Manager is a web content management system. Product News In 2009, the company launched new products including Director’s Dashboard, a reporting tool designed for the directors of information centers; Recovery Manager, a solution for expense tracking and cost recovery for legal or corporate libraries; and SydneyPLUS Site Map, a tool for selectively exposing resources on an intranet for indexing by search engines. The company also released Version 2.0 of Expertise Management System, an application for identifying individuals within an organization based on a database of profiles documenting areas of expertise and skills. Talis Information Ltd. Birmingham, West Midlands, UK, +44 (0)870 400 5000 www.talis.com Talis offers the Alto library automation system to public and academic libraries in the UK. In addition to its core library automation and resource sharing products, Talis focuses on the creation of the Talis Platform, a service-oriented framework for the creation of Semantic Web applications. Talis offers integration components that allow libraries to interoperate with external applications through web services. Talis Aspire, based on the Talis Platform, connects library resources into learning management systems and other enterprise applications. Although Talis does not actively market Alto in North America, it does maintain a presence at many U.S. conferences and venues, primarily to promote Semantic Web concepts. VTLS, Inc. Blacksburg, VA; 800-468-8857 www.vtls.com VTLS, one of the veteran companies in the industry, began in 1974 as a project of Virginia Tech University to create an automation system for the Newman Library. Establishing itself as a separate company in 1985, the company marks its 25th anniversary in 2010. Virtua is currently the company’s flagship ILS. Product News This year, the company focused on the development of Chamo, a newly architected platform, initially deployed as a discovery interface to work with Virtua, which will be gradually expanded as the company’s strategic automation platform. VTLS has a broad international business. In addition to its Blacksburg, VA, headquarters it maintains offices in Brazil, Spain, Malaysia, India, and Australia. VTLS reports 2009 as its most successful year ever. Following on the heels of the sale of Virtua to Queens Library, NY, last year, this year the Hong Kong Public Library selected VTLS to replace its current Dynix Classic system. VITAL, an institutional platform based on the open source Fedora platform, was originally developed for the Arrow consortium in Australia. The company recently announced sales of VITAL to three public libraries systems in the United States: Queens, NY, Kansas City, MO, and Cumberland County, NC. People VTLS reported 107 personnel employed at the end of 2009, one more than in 2008.
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