Moving from iBorrow to FLIN
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009The URSA products–Alleycat and iBorrow–were great ideas, when they came along. So was the League of Nations. And the Apple Newton. Unfortunately, none of them was able to live up to their expectations. The necessary environment wasn’t there to support them.
We can’t do much about the Newton or the League, but we do have a plan to enable Florida libraries to continue doing cost effective, patron initiated resource sharing, after we close the door on iBorrow at the end of this fiscal year. The plan involves assembling a number of “tools” that already exist and combining them in a new way. Think “MacGyver”. We’ve submitted a grant proposal to the State, and we expect to hear their decision by the end of July. Assuming they give us the green light, we’ll launch the FLIN project in October.
You’d probably like to know more about it before it starts. And you can. Beth and I have a road show that we’ll be happy to present to you and your staff. It takes about an hour, and that includes time for your questions. There’s no charge, but having some bagels in the room would be a nice gesture on your part.
If you’re interested–and you should be–contact Beth or me to make an appointment. I’m carlsoa@tblc.org and Beth is farmerb@tblc.org.  Want to call us? Dial 813-622-8252. Enter 237 for me and 228 for Beth.
–Al Carlson