Get Up, Stand Up: Participate in the 2008 Perceptions Survey


Attention, Evergreen users/followers/consider-ers! Step up to the plate and participate in the Perceptions 2008 International Library Automation Survey, produced by library-automation industry pundit Marshall Breeding.

Marshall’s 2007 survey received “a total of 1,779 individuals from 47 different countries.” That’s a good start, but this survey would benefit from higher turnout. While the latest survey doesn’t mention a due date, a conversation with Marshall indicated that he would be closing out the survey by mid-January (as in, two more weeks), so don’t let this slide.

A strength of Marshall’s survey is that it probes perceptions and attitudes — not simply the opaque body count of who’s using what, but the satisfaction levels with products and services. This means that the Perceptions survey can reach below the surface and pull up trends that may not be visible  — such as libraries that may not be in a position to migrate to a new ILS today or tomorrow, especially if they are distracted by the train wreck of our current economy, but are strongly considering open source software in the future.

Happy New Year to all of us in the Evergreen community!