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With the acquisition of its last remaining competitor in 2006, OCLC became the only full service bibliographic utility in the U.S. The idea for a new, low-cost, highly functional alternative to OCLC for cataloging arose from a series of conversations with librarians who were interested in having a choice in library cataloging services, removing restrictions on the use of data, and finding a way to reduce costs during tough economic times.

SkyRiver Technology Solutions, launched in 2009, is increasingly seen as a viable alternative to OCLC. Our panel will examine the future for competition in the library cataloging marketplace in light of changing assumptions about library service, new technologies, and unprecedented economic challenges.

During the webcast, Marshall Breeding, noted library automation expert, creator of Library Technology Guides, and formerly the Director for Innovative Technologies and Research for Vanderbilt University Libraries,will review the competitive landscape for bibliographic services today. Cliff Haka, Director of the Michigan State University Libraries, will talk about the need for creative solutions to issues facing academic libraries and describe the path to choosing SkyRiver at Michigan State. Rivkah Sass, Director of Sacramento Public Library and LJ’s Librarian of the Year in 2006, will discuss the challenges facing public library systems in this era of draconian funding cutbacks and how her library has been able to cut costs, while improving staff efficiency and maintaining quality, by moving to SkyRiver. SkyRiver’s Leslie Straus will provide a brief overview of the company’s history and plans.

In the two and a half years since its introduction, use of SkyRiver has grown to some 70 installations serving several hundred libraries. SkyRiver’s bibliographic database, with its associated open data policy, has doubled in size since the utility’s launch date.

Learn what’s possible when you put old assumptions and cataloging routines aside and take a fresh look at available options.

Panelists

Marshall Breeding serves is a speaker, writer, and consultant. He is the creator and editor of Library Technology marshall1 Cataloging at the Crossroads: Challenging the Only Show in TownGuides and the lib-web-cats online directory of libraries on the Web. He regularly teaches workshops and gives presentations at library conferences on a wide range of topics. Breeding was the 2010 recipient of the LITA LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Outstanding Communication for Continuing Education in Library and Information Science. From 1985-2012 he held a variety of technology-oriented positions for the Vanderbilt University Library.

Born and raised in Chicago, Cliff Haka received his undergraduate degree from Western Illinois University, masters degrees in history and library science from the University of Illinois and MBA from the University of Kansas. Prior to coming to MSU, he held positions at the Illinois State Historical Library and the University of Kansas. He joined the staff of the MSU Libraries in 1982 and was appointed director of libraries in 1997. During his time as director, MSU Library endowments have grown from $400,000 to beyond six million dollars.

Rivkah K. Sass is Director of Sacramento, California’s Public Library system. In 2006 she was named national Librarian of the Year by Library Journal for her work at the Omaha, Nebraska Public Library. The LJ article called her “Risk taker, change agent, library true believer.” As deputy state librarian for the State of Maryland, she created the first public access network for libraries. Rivkah received her library degree from the University of Washington in 1978.

Moderator:

After graduating with a library science degree from the University of Toronto, Leslie Straus started her library career as a cataloger at York University Libraries in Toronto. In 2006 she retired from Innovative as VP of Worldwide Sales after 21 years with the company, mostly in the areas of sales, marketing and product management. In 2009, she was invited to lead SkyRiver through its infancy to full production mode.

The April 2012 issue of Against the Grain contains a lengthy interview with SkyRiver’s Leslie Straus, accompanied by a biographical profile.

Full text of the article is linked here: ATG Interviews SkyRiver’s Leslie Straus.

Emeryville, CA—Continuous product improvement has been the hallmark of SkyRiver product development since its initial launch and has resulted in timely support of new browsers, operating systems, and new features that maximize SkyRiver’s usability. As another step in this process, SkyRiver today announced the deployment of Release 3.2 of its cataloging client software. The release has several new features which highlight some of SkyRiver’s exceptional database functionality. Other enhancements have made the SkyRiver bibliographic database even easier to navigate so that catalogers quickly find matching records.

One of the key new features is single click headings verification, which offers superior record validation against the LC authority record database. In addition, the new release includes streamlined browse searching with highlighting of previously viewed entries on browse lists and expanded use of progress bars during searches.

“My copy catalogers are thrilled with the hit rate and the fact that the SkyRiver database is cleaner than that of our legacy utility has been a great help in getting to the exact bibliographic records they need” says Regina Gong, Manager of Technical Services and Systems at Lansing Community College which recently moved to SkyRiver. She adds, “We’re saving processing time, which translates to dollars – and this is in addition to the ongoing savings in cataloging subscription fees that we’ve been able to realize.”

January 19, 2012

SkyRiver announced that it enters 2012 with a significantly stronger market position in terms of customer and database growth and an enhanced software client. Recent milestones include SkyRiver’s 50th installation, bringing the number of libraries served to more than 350. In addition, SkyRiver’s bibliographic database, with its associated open data policy, has doubled in size since the utility’s launch date.

In addition, SkyRiver continues to aggressively develop its client software, rapidly addressing client needs and functional enhancements. As clear evidence of this, SkyRiver’s first 2012 client software release (the fourth in as many months) has just been deployed.

With a continued focus on delivering an economical and productive alternative to legacy bibliographic utilities, the SkyRiver user interface continues to win accolades. “It takes minimal time to train new staff because SkyRiver is so easy to use and there’s a significant reduction in the number of ‘clicks’ from what was necessary with our previous utility to perform the same tasks,” says Carol McGeehon, Technical Support Manager at the Douglas County Library System in Oregon.

SkyRiver @ ALA Midwinter Meeting

To learn more about SkyRiver, the bibliographic utility for cataloging that brings choice, value and open data to the library community, see us at ALA Midwinter Booth #1218, January 20–22, 2012 in Dallas, TX.

The Donohue Group Incorporated (DGI) and SkyRiver announce a collaboration whereby DGI will contribute full and in-process MARC records to the SkyRiver database.

DGI’s clients include several publishers of nonprint and electronic content such as Playaway, Recorded Books, and AudioGo. These publishers have negotiated with SkyRiver to permit DGI to contribute full MARC records for their titles. "As library acquisition of electronic materials grows, DGI’s contribution of these records is a valuable new enhancement to the SkyRiver database," says Georgia Fujikawa, SkyRiver’s VP for Operations. In addition, DGI will be contributing PCIP (Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication) records for hundreds of their small and independent press clients.

DGI’s Manager for Business Development, Pat McCurdy-Crescimanno, notes, "We at DGI encourage sharing of records for the benefit of libraries and, since SkyRiver has a growing presence in the library community, we’re pleased to be able to expand the publishers’ audience in this way."

About Donohue Group

The Donohue Group, Inc. (DGI) is a woman-owned company of professional librarians based in Windsor, CT. Since 1984, DGI has provided a wide range of cataloging, retrospective conversion, reclassification and data conversion services to libraries of all sizes and types. DGI also provides comprehensive cataloging services to publishers, ensuring that the libraries that purchase their products receive high-quality MARC records. For further information about DGI, please visit their website at: http://www.dgiinc.com or contact Pat McCurdy-Crescimanno at info@dgiinc.com.

SkyRiver has announced a unique approach to implementing RDA (Resource Description and Access) that allows libraries to adopt this new cataloging standard on a schedule that fits their circumstances. Effective December 1, 2011, SkyRiver users have three options for viewing and exporting bibliographic data: RDA Mode for libraries preparing for or ready to move into an RDA environment; Hybrid Mode for libraries adopting RDA yet still having a need for non-RDA data elements for their local systems; and Non-RDA Mode for libraries not ready for RDA cataloging at this time. Libraries also may move from one mode of operation to another as they progress in their planning toward full RDA compliance.

The US RDA Test Coordinating Committee’s June 2011 recommendation for national adoption of RDA no sooner than January 2013 acknowledges the reality that AACR2 and RDA coding practices will need to coexist for some time. SkyRiver’s RDA support is designed to accommodate this environment by assisting libraries to position themselves for an increasingly digital world, yet at their own pace.

Along with the choice of operational mode, enhancements to SkyRiver’s cataloging client now make data entry of RDA field sets simpler and accurate. In addition, SkyRiver provides direct contextual links to ALA’s RDA Toolkit, allowing catalogers to check RDA coding rules from within a MARC record without having to log in each time a link is invoked.

Among the adopters of SkyRiver’s RDA Mode are the Utah State University Libraries. Cheryl Adams, Head of Cataloging at USU, is pleased with SkyRiver’s approach. As she notes, “SkyRiver’s RDA support ensures that we will capture all available RDA data and easily add new RDA fields. This will help to make our transition a smooth one.”

Interest in SkyRiver from academic libraries is strong. Several academic libraries, small and large, have chosen SkyRiver for their cataloging services since early summer. Recent additions to the SkyRiver customer base include Alma College (MI), Cameron University (OK), Rhode Island College (RI), San Francisco State University (CA), Utah State University (UT), as well as ARL member, the Kelvin Smith Library of Case Western Reserve University (OH). This interest across a broad swath of the academic library community reflects the growing recognition that SkyRiver provides an excellent resource for cataloging metadata as well as significant savings.

Libraries are finding that implementing SkyRiver has been a step forward for their organizations. Carol Zeile, Library Director at Alma College, says “our library staff found the transition to be as smooth as SkyRiver promised. From my perspective, the positive experience of the staff counts for a lot and, of course, we also have saved money.”

For Case Western Reserve University, although the cost savings that SkyRiver offered were compelling, the library had to ensure that that the move did not consume those savings by increasing the library’s costs for original cataloging. Functionally, SkyRiver needed to demonstrate that it offered time-saving features such as providing seamless vendor data integration for shelf-ready materials. In addition, as CWRU Deputy Director Tim Robson notes, “SkyRiver’s strong customer support and willingness to enhance its services based on the library’s suggestions were significant factors in this successful implementation.”

The University of California Davis Mabie Law Library has switched to SkyRiver for its cataloging services.

As the first law library to embrace SkyRiver, the library’s central concern was whether the database would be appropriate for an academic library with a great breadth of law specialties, ranging from ancient law to cyber law. The answer is a resounding “yes” according to Kathy Lin, Cataloging Department Head. She adds, “In addition to a high hit rate for our new titles, the database is easy to navigate and we find records more quickly since the SkyRiver database is much cleaner than that of our legacy cataloging service.”

“SkyRiver represents a multi-faceted win for us,” says Judy Janes, Interim Director. “Not only can we find the records we need but, since the database is easier to use, it will provide improved efficiencies in our workflow and we’ll also be saving money on an ongoing basis as a result of SkyRiver’s lower cost.”

About University of California Davis Mabie Law Library

The Mabie Law Library was established with the UC Davis School of Law in 1966—the youngest school to be ranked among the nation’s top 25 law schools this year by U.S. News & World Report. The library supports a diverse academic program with specialties such as business, environmental, international, and intellectual property law.