I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!
As I’m settling back into my routine, I’d like to update you on the newly-reformed KDAC. The KLAS Development Advisory Committee had their first meeting last week. After a round of introductions, I reported to the committee about what the KLAS developers have been up to, and what they’re planning to do next.
It was a long list—with the push towards large-scale duplication and the need to address certain behind-the-scenes structural issues, we have a lot going on. Naturally, the committee members were curious how, with such a full development schedule already in place, they fit into the process. It’s a good question.
We can always think of plenty of things to work on and improve, come up with new features, and generally decide how we think KLAS should look and work. However, what we think is important to implement might not be what you, the users, really want to see. Some things we know need to get done, such as Gutenberg support and the update to KLAS’ character handling (which will accommodate the diacritics that keep coming up in the NLS MARC records, and should be available soon), but others are less sure. There are only so many hours in a day, so what stays on the developers’ to-do list and what gets tabled? If one library calls Support to request a feature, do we push to implement it, or help them find a work-around?
A big part of how we see KDAC functioning is to help us make some of those calls. By bringing together representatives from different types of libraries, we have a ready-and-willing sounding board to help us know which features will benefit a lot of users, and which wouldn’t see as much use. We also hope that they will be able to serve as a contact point for the rest of the Users Group, reaching out to people and getting a feel for what people are excited about, concerned about, and what people haven’t even heard of.
We're also looking ahead to the future of KLAS, past the next upgrade and all the various things we're working on right now to the new, Browser-based KLAS. Those of you who were able to join us for the last conference will remember that we did some usability testing on a prototype patron module. That got us a ton of useful information--but we can't wait for the Users' Conference every time we need feedback. The start of a re-design of this magnitude involves a lot of very important decisions, so we're very grateful for those users who are volunteering their time and experience to KDAC.
So continue to contact KLAS Customer Support or post in the forums when you have questions and suggestions, but feel free to contact the members of KDAC as well! With their help, you can be sure that your voice is heard, and we'll be able to not just make KLAS better but to make it better at doing what you need.
Current KDAC Members
Erin Pawlus - KLASusers' Officer Liason
John Phillos - Delaware Library Access Services (small Talking Book Library)
Dianne Keadle - South Carolina Talking Book Services (mid-sized Talking Book Library)
Amy Ravenholt - Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (large Talking Book Library)
Ricardo Cisneros - San Franciso Public Library - Talking Books and Braille Center (subregional Talking Book Library)
Cyndi Hammond - California Clearinghouse for Specialized Media & Technology (IRC / IMC)
Donald Salvato - Xavier Society for the Blind (schools and special organizations)
Next meeting will be September 25, 2018 at 2:30pm Eastern Time.
