(1 May 2025) The library technology industry showed its maturity in 2024. Businesses have become increasingly stable and robust products delivered rich functionality. But decades of consolidation have created a narrower slate of competitors, resulting in a smaller number of products available for each type and size of library. The marketplace is seeing more specialized…
(1 May 2024) The library technology industry had a quiet year in 2023. But in the absence of major business moves and acquisitions, companies set their sights on executing strategies to strengthen their market position. Previous cycles of business consolidation have yielded a layered landscape with distinct levels of competition. At the top, a…
(16 May 2023) Andreas Mace, Systems Librarian at the National Library of Sweden, shares views on the 2 posts regarding the limitations of the unified vision for library systems, and also some loosely coupled software and services, that together create a modular library systems landscape. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can…
(2 May 2022) Events of the last year have reshaped the library technology industry. Previous rounds of acquisitions pale in comparison to the acquisition of ProQuest by Clarivate, which has propelled the leading library technology provider into the broader commercial sector of scholarly communications. This deal signals that the gap in size among vendors is…
New catalog information service corresponding to digital resources to be introduced from 2022 (7 Jul 2021) National Institute of Informatics (NII; Director General: Dr. KITSUREGAWA Masaru, Tokyo, Japan) has begun reconstruction of NACSIS-CAT/ILL, a catalog information service used by more than 1,300 institutions, mainly university libraries. This project is based on “The Vision on Future…
(3 May 2021) In a year complicated by a global pandemic, the community of vendors providing technologies to libraries made important strides to meet pressing needs and make ongoing progress in their longer-term initiatives. Though the pandemic disrupted library services—as well as funding—in 2020, concerted efforts were made to fulfill the demands of users to…
(1 May 2020) From the introduction: The library technology industry took some significant turns in 2019. Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, acquired Innovative Interfaces and shifted the balance of power, strengthening Ex Libris’s position in technology for academic libraries and propelling it as a major player in public libraries. This move narrows the slate of competitors in…
New technologies enable an expanded vision of library services By Marshall Breeding (1 May 2018) A plethora of integrated library systems (ILS) with long lineages pervades the industry. In many respects these products have not only matured in functionality but have also adapted to changing expectations. The ILS continues to be the dominant solution for…
(4 May 2017) The 2017 edition of the annual industry report produced by Marshall Breeding since 2002 has been published by American Libraries. The report is available online and in the May 2017 print issue. The library technology industry has entered a new phase: business consolidation and technology innovation. Development of products and services to…