In 2010 Marmot implemented the open source VuFind discovery layer and enhanced it to address specific needs in a multi-type consortium of public, academic, and school libraries. In 2011 Douglas County Libraries (DCL) picked up a copy of Marmot VuFind and enhanced it to greatly improve the user experience with ebooks.
A Marmot Ebook Task Force was formed in 2011 to evaluate new ebook products and services. (Their Project Plan (PDF) of February 2012 illustrates early activities of this task force.) Monique Sendze presented the Douglas County Model at the Marmot User Group meeting in the fall of 2011. The Marmot Ebook Task Force quickly agreed to adopt the Douglas County Model as soon as code could be copied from the DCL version of VuFind.
In the spring of 2012 Marmot and DCL combined VuFind code bases, which caused more problems than we like to admit. This step enabled Marmot to implement the Douglas County Model of ebook ownership and circulation. As of August 2012 Marmot continues to collaborate with Douglas County Libraries, Anythink, and others in a dynamic open source community of VuFind developers.
On June 12, 2012, the Task Force reported to Marmot membership on their findings during 9 months of meetings, vendor demos, and reviews of new product information. A recording of that webcast and a copy of the slide deck are posted here: http://marmot.org/node/63.
Running on servers in Grand Junction (CO) VuFind at Marmot presents a seamless catalog discovery layer mashing up content from the following content servers:
- Millennium at Marmot
- Local content database at Marmot
- Adobe Content Server shared by Douglas County Libraries
- OverDrive (screen-scraping today, APIs asap)
- NoveList, Syndetics, Google Books, Open Library, Amazon, and Wikipedia
More details about the architecture utilized by Marmot are posted in the Technologies area of this site…
Following agile software development principles, Marmot enhances VuFind, and releases new code every two weeks. Recorded demos and release notes are posted here: http://info.marmot.org/tiki-index.php?page=Vufind+Documentation
Also, know that the list of Publishers Willing to Sell E-Content being shared between Douglas County Libraries and the Marmot Library Network continues to grow.
How is Marmot Library Network seeking partnerships with publishers? By contacting them, often initiated by phone call or letter. Dear Publisher Partner - Marmot version lays out in a common-sense manner Marmot’s approach.
What about acquisitions and cataloging? Get an inside look at Marmot’s processes for eContent cataloging, ordering and more. It’s a must-read for technical services staff members! It should be noted that this is a wiki site, and as such, is a work in progress.