[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Proposed change in Vendor Listing Policy

[Sharp, Chris]

(I just posted this separately to the EG Oversight Board list and Rogan asked me to share my comments here.)

Hi all,

I wasn't officially on the Board when this subject was discussed, so I didn't feel that it would be appropriate for me to speak up during the last meeting.  However, I do have a couple of questions/concerns about this proposed policy:

Is there a particular situation that makes this proposed requirement something people feel is necessary?  Why doesn't the description on the wiki page suffice, assuming that an interested party would contact the vendor for more information, allowing the vendor themselves to determine how their potential customers would be able to receive that information?  I'm working from a position that we probably don't want to get into the business of micromanaging vendor websites.

I'm also working under the assumption that the vendor listing page is intended to be a handy finding aid for people seeking paid support or development from companies/entities that provide such support.  Isn't the onus of reviewing such companies on potential customers seeking support/development work?  I realize not all libraries/potential Evergreen-using entities have good RFP-style processes in place, so I would go more towards the direction of educating people about *that* rather than policing the entities that add entries to the wiki page.  Are my assumptions off base?  Maybe there's more information about this situation than I'm aware of?

Thanks for listening!

Chris

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rogan Hamby" <rogan.hamby at yclibrary.net>
> To: "Evergreen Discussion Group" <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
> Sent: Sunday, September 7, 2014 9:24:36 PM
> Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Proposed change in Vendor Listing Policy
> 
> 
> We (the Evergreen community) have had the vendor listing policy on
> the Evergreen community web site for a little over a year now. In
> discussing possible changes one proposed change that we (the
> Evergreen Board) was favorable to was one that I have proposed. I
> have proposed that on the vendor listings we require a link back
> from the vendor listing on our site to their description of
> Evergreen related services.
> 
> 
> I see this as a positive feature so that when community members are
> browsing the vendor listings they can easily link through to the
> most up to date information on the vendor's site as to what they
> offer, success stories, whatever marketing they want to use beyond
> the brief they give us for the listing.
> 
> 
> However, like the original vendor listing policy we didn't want to
> make this decision without involving everyone the community as a
> whole.
> 
> 
> --
> 
> 
> 
> Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
> Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
> York County Library System
> 
> 
> “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to
> suit me.”
> ― C.S. Lewis

-- 
Chris Sharp
PINES System Administrator
Georgia Public Library Service
1800 Century Place, Suite 150
Atlanta, Georgia 30345
(404) 235-7147
csharp at georgialibraries.org
http://pines.georgialibraries.org/