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

Thu Sep 11 17:31:15 EDT 2014

Rogan (and all),

We're always looking for ways to make the ESI site easier to use, or
provide more appropriate information about the services we provide. So the
short answer is that, yes, we would absolutely want to put together a
specific "Evergreen Services" page if that was what the general Evergreen
community said they would find useful.  If the EOB, and by extension the
community at large by discussion on this very list, makes that
recommendation (or requirement) with the goal being ease of use and
evaluation, then we would take that as, basically, a mandate that it would
benefit them, and us, to have such a page.

FWIW, I (personally) am in favor of the general idea, whether
recommendation or requirement, and ESI as an entity would be happy to
oblige the community's request.

Also, thank you, all, for asking for vendor input.  As community members,
too, it is always nice to be asked our opinion.

Thanks,

On Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 4:27 PM, Rogan Hamby <rogan.hamby at yclibrary.net>
wrote:

> What I'm curious to know from Brad and other vendors is if this is
> something they would want to do.  There have been a lot of comments about
> this being a burden and almost in a tone as if it was a harassment to
> vendors.  I envisioned it as a positive way of pointing community members
> to services they might want and thus helping the vendors.  If this isn't
> something they would want then while I do think it would be better for
> potential customers there probably isn't a reason to proceed.
>
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 4:20 PM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org>
> wrote:
>
>>  Thanks for the feedback Brad and thanks to Chris for his comments!
>>
>> I have to say Chris' comments gave me a moment of pause to rethink the
>> proposal.
>>
>> In thinking back to the time before we implemented the new vendor listing
>> procedures,  the community had a vendor page that included 1) several
>> vendors providing Evergreen services 2) some outdated listings for vendors
>> that were no longer offering Evergreen services and 3) a few vendors who,
>> from all appearances, had never been in the Evergreen business. Even with
>> the new policy, we will always have a problem where we might have outdated
>> listings until somebody notices that the vendor is no longer providing
>> Evergreen services. However, I do think the new policy has been great for
>> removing those vendors who really didn't work with Evergreen. I suppose we
>> could have removed them without the policy, but it's always helpful to have
>> a written policy to point to if somebody questions a removal.
>>
>> Looking at today's vendor page, the listing is smaller, but I can say
>> that each and every one of those vendors does indeed provide some services
>> related to Evergreen. Overall, I think the page provides much more useful
>> information than it did before the policy was implemented because Evergreen
>> users no longer need to go through the process of contacting vendors listed
>> on the page (as I did when I was starting out) just to find out that they
>> really don't do Evergreen.
>>
>> Yes, I think the link to Evergreen services is also another step that
>> might make the page more useful to Evergreen users. However, I'm now
>> reconsidering whether this means we should make it a requirement.
>>
>> Since Brad was the vendor who responded to my query, I'm going to use
>> ESI's page as an example. As Brad mentioned, they don't really have a page
>> that outlines their Evergreen services. It's very easy for a user to find
>> out what their services are by looking at their "What We Do" menu, and,
>> since Evergreen is listed in their "Communities and Software" menu, it's
>> not difficult to see that those services are provided for Evergreen. This
>> is the way the company chose to present their services on their web site.
>>
>> However, in order to comply with the proposed requirement, they will now
>> need to create a new page. Brad kindly said he would have no problem
>> creating this page, but should ESI really be put in a position where they
>> are required to make this change so that they can remain on the vendor
>> list? Let's say it's not ESI, but it's another vendor with a similar
>> Information Architecture on their web site. In this case, the vendor isn't
>> as agreeable to adding a new page to identify their Evergreen services.
>> Maybe the vendor is a one-person operation, and that person is just
>> incredibly busy and can't get to the web site change for a few months. Is
>> it right to keep this hypothetical vendor off the Evergreen vendor listing
>> just because he/she doesn't have an Evergreen services page?
>>
>> Admittedly, I was one of the first people to say "required" when the EOB
>> had the required vs. suggested discussion, but, at this time, I'm leaning
>> towards not requiring. Many thanks to Chris for sharing his thoughts and
>> making me look at the question in another light.
>>
>> Kathy
>>
>>
>> Kathy Lussier
>> Project Coordinator
>> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative(508) 343-0128klussier at masslnc.org
>> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
>> #evergreen IRC: kmlussier
>>
>> On 9/8/2014 9:23 PM, W. Brad LaJeunesse wrote:
>>
>> Speaking as one of the vendors, I don't see a link back requirement as a
>> burden, but rather it seems a simple reciprocal gesture. It seems totally
>> reasonable to me. It's not like you're asking us to cut down the largest
>> tree in the forest with a herring. [1]
>>
>> I couldn't remember, so I just took a look at our website, and while we
>> don't have a link back from any of our "services" pages, we do have a link
>> back from our dedicated Evergreen page. We support multiple open source
>> products, and our services are at least very similar across all of them, so
>> we created a page for each open source community (that don't mention our
>> services, actually) and link back to each community website from there.
>>
>>  So, there are some changes required on our website in order to fully
>> comply with this proposal (as I read it, at least), but we're fine with
>> that.
>>
>>  Thanks for asking for input.
>>
>>  [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DopGxUAoAY
>>
>>  --
>>  W. Brad LaJeunesse
>> | President
>> | Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts
>> | phone: 1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>> | email: brad at esilibrary.com
>> | web: http://www.esilibrary.com
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 5:03 PM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>  Hi all,
>>>
>>> This has been a great discussion so far!
>>>
>>> In addition to hearing from the general user community, I'm also
>>> interested in hearing from the vendors who are part of our community.
>>> Please let us know what you think because I think we ultimately want to
>>> strike a balance between providing useful information to our users while
>>> also not imposing an undue burden on our vendor community.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>> Kathy
>>>
>>> Kathy Lussier
>>> Project Coordinator
>>> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative(508) 343-0128klussier at masslnc.org
>>> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
>>> #evergreen IRC: kmlussier
>>>
>>>   On 9/8/2014 1:28 PM, Rogan Hamby wrote:
>>>
>>> No, I thank you for bringing up those points and I think you're right we
>>> do seem to have a slightly differently view of the intent and so these
>>> discussions are good to have.  I hope we will hear from more folks!
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 1:18 PM, Sharp, Chris <
>>> csharp at georgialibraries.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks again, Rogan, for the continued discussion on this.  I'm glad
>>>> we're able to air our respective opinions.
>>>>
>>>> > There was some discussion during the meeting about it being suggested
>>>> > versus required. To me those elements that make it more user
>>>> > friendly should be required or we start diluting the purpose.
>>>>
>>>> Ah, here is where I think we're disagreeing.  From my perspective, the
>>>> purpose of the vendor page is to provide a simple directory that gives our
>>>> project's end users pointers toward potential vendors for support.  What
>>>> happens after the user sees these listings is beyond the scope of that
>>>> purpose, as I see things.  I think our responsibility from the Evergreen
>>>> community side ends at making sure to the best of our ability that the
>>>> listings *on the page itself* are up-to-date and accurate.  I see a clear
>>>> dividing line between that responsibility and the responsibility of the
>>>> vendors to keep their web pages up to date.  I'm not generally for laissez
>>>> faire policies, but in this case, it seems that vendors will do what's best
>>>> to communicate their services to users without us needing to add
>>>> requirements to do so.
>>>>
>>>> Having said that, I'm satisfied that I've been heard and I'll be quiet
>>>> now and let community consensus decide whether or not this requirement
>>>> becomes part of our vendor listing policy.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for hearing me out,
>>>>
>>>> Chris
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Chris Sharp
>>>> PINES System Administrator
>>>> Georgia Public Library Service
>>>> 1800 Century Place, Suite 150
>>>> Atlanta, Georgia 30345
>>>> (404) 235-7147 <%28404%29%20235-7147>
>>>> csharp at georgialibraries.org
>>>> http://pines.georgialibraries.org/
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  --
>>>
>>> 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 <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> 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 <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
>

-- 
Mike Rylander
 | Director of Research and Development
 | Equinox Software, Inc. / Your Library's Guide to Open Source
 | phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
 | email:  miker at esilibrary.com
 | web:  http://www.esilibrary.com
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