Page PageSusan M. Johns
Report of CODI President from the DUG/HUG Conference
11th Annual DUG/HUG Conference
York University
Heslington, York, United Kingdom
September 2-4, 1998
The 1998 DUG/HUG Conference was held at York University, UK, Wednesday-Friday, September 2-4, 1998. Housing was provided on the campus of Alcuin College, and the Department of Chemistry served as the central meeting campus for lectures, exhibits, and discussions. Over 110 Dynix and Horizon customers participated in the conference. Topics for the three-day conference included Tools for Efficiency (making the backroom run more smoothly); Empowering the Customer (the library's clients and the Library as client); and Making Quality Happen (quality issues in libraries worldwide).
All lodging and meals (except evening banquets) were provided for in student housing at Alcuin College. Meals were cafeteria style, but were excellent. Housing was sparse dorm rooms and no en-suite bath facilities, but was adequate and helped to cut down on the price of the total conference. The conference was active and engaging and one rarely had time to be in the room other than for 5-6 hours each night.
The program was set up so that meals, lodging, and evening events were equally shared by DUG and HUG clients together. Keynotes (such as the international session and various Ameritech presentations) were jointly attended by both DUG and HUG attendees; when breakout sessions occurred, two or three options for each group (up to a total of 6, I think at any one time) split out for maximum coverage of session topics.
Opening Sessions and Keynotes: Opening session introductions were very brief, introducing Vaughan Whibley, DUG Chair, Brian Hackett, HUG Chair, and Elizabeth Heaps, Acting Librarian, University of York. They quickly yielded to a panel of ALS folks, including Ron Passmore, Director Marketing and International Product Manager; Ed Riding, Product Manager; and Chris Ezekiel, Marketing Director (UK). The session covered mostly new product developments.
An Ameritech UK slogan bantered about was "We are the Systems Integrators"; discussion on product and marketing strategies, also customer services strategies, and discussion on various strategic partnerships with other organizations.
Ron Passmore discussed the balance between existing customers and new customers; indicated that new accounts tend to be catalysts which often move the product forward in various directions; indicated a desire for continued understanding between the existing account holders and the pace that existing sites need to take to incorporate new IT products; balance of functionality between markets, i.e., public, academic, school, special, and in this regard continuing to strive to make the product more configurable so that the specialized markets can use the same product in different levels of functionality.
Ron also indicated they do not want to leave customers, or sites, "behind" with the new technologies. He indicated that Ameritech is becoming a global company, described a bit of the Toronto amalgamation, and encouraged the user group to become more of a global user community.
Ed Riding rounded out the session with future product development and specifics concerning works in progress, most very similar to what US clients have been hearing at CODI and ALA meetings this past year. Most of Ed's information was new and to the UK Clients and they had many questions and were highly attentive to the product plan and direction Ed described.
A final breakout session in the afternoon that I attended was Colin Sinclair's CAT for Windows II update. The session generated much discussion, and Colin eagerly shared experiences from the CODI Conference in Salt Lake and his tour of HQ (ALS offices in Provo) with the group.
After a full day of keynote and breakout sessions, the group departed on coaches to the National Railway Museum (the UK's national collection of historic railway locomotives, rolling stock and railway artifacts - it also has a sizeable library but is not an Ameritech customer!). An excellent buffet dinner was had among the various royalty and specialty coaches in the South Hall
After a rousing breakfast, breakout sessions on Thursday morning included WebPAC, with Peter Marshall (Ameritech UK); Gil Hamilton (Napier University); and Rob Smith (Liverpool John Moores University). A second breakout session was chaired by Steven Heywood on Graphical Services for Disabled Users. Both were highly informative.
After proper tea, Colin and I sat in on a portion of the Horizon group's Enhancements Session. Alta Linthicum, US GPO Patents Office, was the other U.S. rep to the DUG/HUG conference. She was in attendance at this session and brought much insight to various releases to the Horizon users. The discussions were not unlike many we have in states for the CODI product line: new releases, bugs, enhancements, timeliness and cleanliness of releases. Probably the biggest urgent concern was the incorporation of the Euro into ACQ and Circ and statistical functionality, which is needed by Ireland, the Netherlands, and most of Europe beginning in January 1999.
Another breakout session was held concerning Self-Service Checkouts, this one presented by Leigh Atkinson, University of Sunderland; George Geddes, University of Strathclyde; and Rob Smith, LJMU.
Lunch was served efficiently and effectively, and the group re-convened in general session for the afternoon, two sessions back to back on Global Company (Ameritech speakers) and Global Users (Susan Johns, Alta Linthicum, and Brian Hackett). The Global Company was presented by Ron Passmore and Ed Riding, although Ed barely had five minutes to present his portion of the presentation.
The second session was presented by Brian Hackett, Chair of the HUG UK group; Alta Linthicum, chair of the Horizon Enhancements Committee; and myself, bringing greetings initiatives, and issues particularly germaine to enhancements, JAD, and other cooperative ventures among the two groups. Brian presented the HUG proposal for a federated user group, one which all of us need to think on and begin working towards.
Tea and refreshments were served in a short break, at which time the group once again split up into respective tracks, for Dynix users the tracks were PAC Product Review, and the second, which I chose, was Whither or Wither EIS? This session was presented by George Bye, (London Borough of Newham Public Library), and Ed Riding and Peter Behrend, Ameritech and dealt with the UK implementation of the Executive Information System, similar to the US product Bibliostat.
After a short break, conference participants spiffied up for the coach ride to the Yorkshire Air Museum, located at a former WWII Bomber Base RAF Elvington, for the official DUG Conference Dinner. Before dusk set in, conference attendees made their way through at least two hangars full of vintage planes (including a completely restored Handley-Page Halifax WW2 Bomber, a Mosquito night-fighter, Victor Tanker of Falklands/Gulf War vintage, and several jet aircraft of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s). Restoration hangars, Quonset huts of WWII memorabilia, the original control tower, and various displays relating to the base's history, such as a chapel, officers' and enlisted men's quarters, were also available for viewing.
The banquet proper was a four-course meal held in the museum restaurant (a building restored to excellent dining facilities). Exhibitors provided complimentary wines with dinner and sponsored various sections of the event. After dinner, Lord Hattersley (Roy Hattersley) spoke about library and writer issues in the UK, particularly under the new regime of Tony Blair. Lord Hattersley has published several books, mostly dealing with his time served in the short-lived UK Labour Governments of the 1960s and 1970s. He admitted that the book that will probably make him the most amount of money is one coming out in press at the end of September, written from the viewpoint of Buster, his dog, who "tells all" about Lord Hattersley's life in Parliament and in politics.
After the dinner, many adjourned to an adjoining Quonset hut that was decorated in 1940s style, where we enjoyed another band, "Jump the Q", who performed an excellent set from Glen Miller to the Blues Brothers. The DUG/HUG folks are not shy dancers, as DUG Chair Vaughan Whibley whisked me off to the dance floor. I barely had time to catch my breath when George Kerr found me and brought me back to the floor; and a yet a third time I was escorted to the front by Rob Smith. By the time the last dance was ended, close to all the conference participants were on the dance floor. We adjourned to our coaches and arrived back at the University dorms by around 1 a.m.
After a rousing breakfast, the first session was Q&A preparation with the customers (no Ameritech personnel present). This was to review questions that had been submitted earlier, to group them together, and to see if any additional questions had arisen as a result of the previous two days meetings. The Dynix Annual General Meeting was also held, with reports from 1997-98 officers, and election of officers for 1998-99. In similar fashion to the differences between Parliament and Congress, officers who do not wish to continue their terms "stand down"; those who wish to continue in a certain term (Treasurer, or Secretary, for instance) must still be approved for a 2nd term. Those seeking a first term must also be approved, but there's not a lot of hand waving or yeas or nays. It's a rather quiet and efficient process, not to mention confusing to the Yank in the back row who was waiting for a show of hands that never happened :_)
New officers for the 1998-1998 year are Lesley Ray, London Borough of Greenwich (Public Library), President; Rob Smith, Liverpool John Moores University, Vice-President; Andrew Muirhead, Stirling (Scotland) Council (Public Library); Treasurer; and Kathryn McKee, St. John's College, Cambridge University, Secretary. Steven Heywood, Rochdale Public Libraries, will continue as newsletter editor, and the Enhancement (er, JAD) position will be filled after some Board discussion at their next meeting.
The second Q&A session was with all Dynix clients and their Dynix support reps from both the Chesham office and the US. Unfortunately, Ron Passmore had to miss this session from ALS US, but Ed Riding and Shelley Neville were in attendance, something that the UK folks appreciated greatly.
Lunch was served, and the session after lunch, Quality Issues in Libraries, was presented by George Kerr, West Lothian Library Service, and Judith Adam, Sheffield Libraries and Information Service. Both dealt with various approaches to management (and service) by statistics.
The final session, unfortunately attended by only a few dozen as many rushed to catch buses and trains departing at 3 or 4 p.m., involved wrapups, thank yous, exchanges of gifts, expressions of satisfaction, appreciation, and then was concluded by a mad dash to get the luggage in the cars across a bridge which ran over a dual carriageway, etc, and which permitted many to hit the road precisely at peak Friday rush hour in York :_)
The DUG/HUG Conference in the UK is invaluable to CODI Board members to attend. Our use of Dynix_l as global customers has indeed made us a world-wide user group long before 1995, and certainly long before Ameritech perhaps realized we were conversing with one another and sharing information about the product among each other. This year the UK group, particularly the Dynix users, were pleased with their participation in WebPAC testing, and I believe with encouragement, will continue to be very valuable JAD partners in product development.
Some needs and concerns are perhaps more local at first glance, such as having a product which can be easily customised to British spellings (Unicode should help facilitate this) so that each button and prompt does not have to be re-keyed in order to correct words such as "catalog" throughout the screens. The impact of the EURO, while legally and technically may be of immediate concern to Ireland and the Netherlands and France, does have universal impact on all of us. We live, order books, and breathe in a global society.
As a benefit in 1998, I was able to draw a few comparisons from my attendance (while on sabbatical at PSU) from the DUG meetings in 1995. The group continues to grow in size, is fairly close-knit, knows how to have a great time, fun, and discuss serious issues. The liaison with CODI over the past several years goes back even further than 1995, to when both Jacqueline Gilmartin and Trevor Peare attended CODI conferences long before CODI began sending official reps. As the products continue to become more global, it will be even more critical for CODI to take a leading role in working with the various Boards around the world and working side by side with the global users in development, enhancement, and implementation of the products. The product information, contacts, and camaraderie experienced by the CODI representative to the DUG/HUG conference is invaluable. The return on the investment is clearly demonstrated in the cooperation, communication, and commitment of users on both sides of the pond.
A final note: re: DUG/HUG joint conferences. As one of the challenges for the Board this year is to begin working on ways to meet jointly with Horizon users, the UK conference is held up as "model", so to speak of having one centralised conference for both user groups. The UK group has several things going for it, one being a smaller size than CODI. In addition, many of the 30- 35 Horizon users were formerly Dynix clients; while new ones continue to be added and join the group, the majority were part of the "family", so to speak in earlier days. This aids significantly in the overall atmosphere. There was less distinction in whether you were a DUG/HUG user than there was, say, that a user was from London vs. Scotland.
DUG/HUG does have size in their favor. They have the disadvantage of relying on a lot of volunteer work: no conference planner, no membership services coordinator. Their Board is an energetic and scholarly group, as was last year's group, and their willingness to participate with CODI, Ameritech, and other global initiatives is a welcome and treasured experience which I hope I have conveyed adequately to you through this report.
Send comments to: suzyq@pittstate.edu
Susan M. Johns-Smith
Axe Library
Pittsburg State University
1605 South Joplin Street
Pittsburg, KS 66762
Phone: 620-235-4115
This page last updated Monday, 28-Oct-2002 15:58:34 CST