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Mick is right that this project will not deliver a digital infrastructure but sets out to “research consumer and library sector needs and create a vision and roadmap for the unified digital platform”. It remains to be seem to what extent the existing (e.g., national catalogue and free access to academic electronic journal articles) national (UK) digital infrastructure will be incorporated. (see http://lglibtech.wikispaces.com/National+Catalogue ) In the section on purpose the SCL’s ITT said that such an (new) infrastructure would (among other things) need to:- · provide compelling user experiences · unify customer access at a national level to both national and local resources, and provide a strong advocacy tool demonstrating the value and purpose of libraries within a digital technology · encourage use of physical libraries · [Incorporate] national catalogue tools and functions (e.g. through WorldCat) and potentially (future potential) for e-lending functionality The existing infrastructure has certainly not provided compelling user experiences. The number of hits on the BookmarkYourLibrary website is extremely low and the very low use of the Access to Research initiative attracted media attention. We did a brief analysis of the social media traffic around BookmarkYourLibrary and found engagement to be very weak indeed. This suggests that the problem to be addressed is not so much the technology of any national infrastructure but rather marketing (I mean in the strategic sense of an understanding of user needs and the library ‘value proposition’). It would seem right therefore that the SCL has put this at the heart of the project being undertaken by Bibliocommons. Furthermore the first page (the Forward) of Sieghart report acknowledged, in quite damning language, the wider marketing failure by stating that one of the themes that “emerged consistently and dramatically” was that not enough decision makers at national or local level appear sufficiently aware of the value of a library service. I have not done any proper research around library *customers* and non-users but over the last few months have asked a number of non-librarians if they knew about BookmarkYourLibrary or Access to Research. To date I haven’t found anyone (even regular library users ) who did know about these services. Any re-imagined national digital infrastructure will surely have to overcome this. Ken Ken Chad Consulting Ltd Tel: +44(0)7788727845 <http://www.kenchadconsuting.com/> http://www.kenchadconsuting.com Twitter: @kenchad Skype: kenchadconsulting From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mick Fortune Sent: 06 February 2015 16:30 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: National Digital Library network Hi Frances This is an intriguing announcement. Bibliocommons work with a number of high profile, relatively wealthy libraries in North America and elsewhere integrating existing library systems onto their own platform. As I understand their model they achieve this by replicating the existing ILS/LMS data on their own servers and synchronising the two systems. According to reports from colleagues in New England the product is so popular that users are happy to accept the slight discrepancies that this process causes from time to time. By adding in another software layer – indeed effectively another LMS – Bibliocommons are able to more easily develop new products that integrate directly with their own software – like the recent award winning “Making the Invisible Visible” project (http://www.knightfoundation.org/grants/201450225/) – one rather reminiscent of Almere’s “Serendipity Machine” (http://serendipitymachine.com/nieuwebieb/) . Rather than replacing an existing solution this approach would, at first sight, appear to require additional investment and a degree of co-operation, and possibly development effort, on the part of other LMS suppliers in order to succeed. It will be interesting to see how this scenario develops. However this award refers only to the creation of a roadmap for delivering a single digital platform for UK public libraries. It is not a supply contract for the Bibliocommons solution - so perhaps it’s a bit early to be expressing any concerns. However as it seems at least possible that any proposed solution may draw heavily on the existing Bibliocommons model of which I believe a key component are North American based servers a 2014 ruling in the US courts about the ownership of Irish data would seem important for SCL to consider carefully http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/29/us-court-microsoft-persona l-data-emails-irish-server . Exciting times! Mick m. <tel:%2B44%20%280%297786%20625544> +44 (0)7786 625544 t. +33 555 61 03 71 e. <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] <http://twitter.com/mickfortune> @mickfortune CEO Library RFID Ltd. Co-owner LIB-RFID From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frances Hendrix Sent: 06 February 2015 13:53 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: National Digital Library network THE BOOKSELLER : 6th February National digital library network gets £30k funding The creation of a unified digital platform for library resources, including book catalogues and IT training, was one of the recommendations of the Sieghart report into public libraries. The Society of Chief Librarians (SCL), which is leading the project, has appointed Canadian firm BiblioCommons to begin research in the project, with the first phase expected to be completed at the end of March. <http://thebookseller.com/news/national-digital-library-network-gets-30k-fun ding> http://thebookseller.com/news/national-digital-library-network-gets-30k-fund ing Frances Hendrix Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs, PR6 7QR Tel: 01257 274 833. Mobile: 0777 55 888 03