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 <kluss...@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 vendors providing Evergreen services 2) some outdated listings for vendors 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 the new policy, we will always have a problem where we might have outdated 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) 343-0128kluss...@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: b...@esilibrary.com > | web: http://www.esilibrary.com > > On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 5:03 PM, Kathy Lussier <kluss...@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) 343-0128kluss...@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 <csh...@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> >>> csh...@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>