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Notes from the meeting
2/4/99
Attending: Tim Lynch, Oya Rieger, Mike Garcia, Jim Howell, Surindar Ghangas, Howard Raskin, Jim LeBlanc, Linda Westlake, Scott Wicks, Susan Currie, Steve Rockey, Fred Muratori, Diane Hillmann, Tom Hickerson, Lynne Personius (chair), David Block
The only item of business was ALA debriefings. Jim LeBlanc, Susan and Diane gave short reports on their meetings with systems vendors in Philadelphia. Lynne and Tom provided more detail. (Due to the sensitive nature of these reports, the notes to follow are intentionally spare.)
Lynne and Tom met with seven vendors -- Ameritech, Gaylord, VTLS, Ex-Libris, Sirsi, DRA and Endeavor -- (in three days). Of these, only two, Ex-Libris and Endeavor, have fully-developed systems in place that closely approach our needs. Lynne and Tom summarized their visits and offered their impressions. During the summaries, Tim Lynch pointed out that the incredible complexity of library automated systems and the high standards that experienced specialists bring to evaluation make finding software for CUL very difficult. Jim Howell and Mike agreed, noting that, in their opinions, the lack of fit between available software and functional specifications that we are experiencing is typical of projects such as this one. The trick is to select a product with both flexible code and flexible humans.
The result of our discussion was to recommend that we invite Ex-Libris and Endeavor to make campus visits and to authorize us to contact their installations and user groups.
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rev. 3/2/99 peo