Fulfillment - Important Questions and Answers

In case you've wondering what's up with FulfILLment, I thought I'd share this short Q&A piece.  It was prepared for a California consortium (thus the reference to a couple of products in use there) but the info is generally useful to everyone.  It includes some info I've grabbed from the FulfILLment and Equinox blogs (e.g. underlying architecture).  The other info comes from conversations with people who should know these things with a spattering of my own opinion.  Oh, and I see Equinox has updated the blog so be sure to go there and read about the Next Generation Discovery Interface component after you get the basics from below....

What is it?

Fulfillment is an open source, resource-sharing (aka ILL) product that will compete with Link+ (Innovative’s INN-Reach product), SuperSearch (SirsiDynix’s URSA product), as well as AutoGraphics Agent Resource-Sharing and RelaisD2D. Who’s developing it? It is being developed by Equinox Software, Inc. under contract with OHIONET.

ILL is Dead: Network Effects and Resource-Sharing

Below is a session description I contributed to the Library 2.011 Conference which will be held online November 2-4, 2011.  My session wasn't accepted, but plenty were, including one by Grace Dunbar of Equinox Software entitled Human Target: Staff is More Important than Software.

 

ILL is Dead: Network Effects and Resource-Sharing

The key is for libraries to start adding data repositories beyond their catalog into their discovery environment.  For example, why shouldn't Ted Talks be searchable within your catalog?  They are well-produced, authoritative videos on a broad array of topics. Every library should include them in their holdings.  But they don't.  OpenLibrary.org has 1.7 million books available online.  Are these in every library's discovery interface.  No. But this needs to change.  And it is. 

FulfILLment spins off Evergreen as Independent OS Project

A new state-of-the-art resource sharing software has been in the works at Equinox (with sponsorship from ohioNET) for some time now.  And while it isn't ready for download, it did cross a new threshold recently.  As of August 2, 2010, FulfILLment was established as its own open source project (as opposed to a piece of Evergreen).

Work begins on open source ILL product: FulfILLment

Equinox has been talking about it for quite some time but there appears to be actual movement on a true open source ILL module for linking not just open source library systems but all ILS products (pending some standards compliance issues I imagein).

The name of the product is FulfILLment and the website says "it will provide library users seamless access to materials owned by libraries using FullfILLment—no matter which integrated library system his or her library uses."