Library Services Platforms: A Maturing Genre of Products

The genre of library services platforms helps libraries manage their collection materials and automate many aspects of their operations by addressing a wider range of resources. They take advantage of current technology architectures compared to the integrated library systems that have previously dominated. This seminal category of library technology products has gained momentum in recent years and is positioned to reshape how libraries acquire, manage, and provide access to their collections as they go forward into the next decade. This issue of Library Technology Reports explores this new category of library software, including its functional and technical characteristics. The issues covered includedifferences with integrated library systems, which remain viable for many libraries and continue to see development along their own trajectoryan up-to-date assessment of library services platforms, ranging from those that have well-established track records to those that remain under developmentthe relationship between library services platforms and discovery servicesa general overview of major products, discussing their high-level organization of functionality, and adoption patterns relative to size and typesa look at libraries that have implemented platforms and how these libraries perceive their performance.