[11894] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
All is not golden: Evaluation of Library Automation
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Thom Gillespie)
Mon Jan 5 20:09:49 1998
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 14:25:03 -0600
From: Thom Gillespie <thom@copper.ucs.indiana.edu>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Thom Gillespie <thom@copper.ucs.indiana.edu>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I received the following snippet below from a friend who works in a
library which has a brand new building and state of the art infrastructure
but is having major problems getting all their resources online and not
crashing the system on a regular basis. Part of the problem is the
technology head they hired seems to have over stated his/her skills and is
seriously drowning in technology.
> This is the biggest problem with Library Automation--administrators
> don't feel competent to critique the work of tech folk, so tech folk can
> get away with being incompetent. It would be an interesting article....
The major problems at this particular library is an inability to get their
CD-ROMS up in a timely fashion, integrating the web with the opac, keeping
NT from crashing on a regular basis, and getting the printers to work at
local stations. The type of service which would get folks in private
industry canned but public libraries are civil service so the problem of
evaluation is compounded.
I'd be interesting in talking to folks in similar situations for an
article I'm writing. All reference will be anonymous and no libraries will
be named. My guess is the problems are common to many libraries and
growing and the solution like the truth is 'out there.'
Please contact me directly via email, phone or postal mail. I'll send a
summary of my article to PACS-L.
Thanks, Thom Gillespie
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