Shelley Hostetler, Customer Success, Ex Libris
As libraries move to better support researchers, there is a growing need to develop indexing and discovery of a wide range of research materials, often using locally developed interfaces.
While customers have been using open source discovery with our solutions for years, the continuous, focused conversation on using open source discovery with Ex Libris SaaS began with a community meeting at DLF in 2016. We shared a Blacklight proof of concept implementation over Alma and did a deep dive into the code. We heard how UW Madison had built their own version and what worked well and what, well, needed work.
Since that first meeting in Milwaukee, we’ve had a number of discussions – including at Code4Lib 2017 – about everything from why some libraries prefer a mashup services page while others want access to the data itself, to webhooks, and why we decided to use that technology in our Alma APIs. We’ve seen customers continue to build solutions using these APIs and the University of Pennsylvania go live with a Blacklight instance over Alma using the Summon central index.
What tools or data do your library’s developers need to access to fully implement your preferred open source discovery interface with Ex Libris products? Join us at DLF 2017 on Wednesday, October 25th from 1-3pm to share your experiences working with our APIs, ask questions, and learn about what other Ex Libris users are doing with open source discovery. Hear about the University of Pennsylvania’s experience and talk about what’s next.
Please click here, or email CustomerSuccess@exlibrisgroup.com to register for the event or learn more about becoming a partner in this ongoing initiative.
