Philip is a media archive and asset manager with nearly 20 years of stock library, postproduction and archive operations experience. He has managed large commercial film and video archives in their efforts to digitize, catalog, preserve and monetize content. He has successfully transitioned from a physical to digital archives in order to create transparency and access. Philip is fluent in the technical, operational and sales realms.

Most recently, he was the Director, Video Product Operations at National Geographic Digital Motion, an archive management and content licensing group within National Geographic Television based in Washington, DC. Prior to that he was the Director, Archive & Cataloguing at the National Geographic Film Library and led efforts to digitize, catalog and make accessible the video libraries assets to internal and external clients via web-based DAM (Digital Asset Management) tools.

Prior to National Geographic, Philip was the Manager, Post Production at Corbis Motion in New York City and provided management services for postproduction, mastering, archive vault services and order fulfillment for multiple sales offices. Before Corbis, Philip was the Film Operations Manager at Getty Images in New York City where he managed day-to-day operations supporting archive, post production and mastering operations. Highlights from his tenure with Getty Images include the consolidation of Image Bank, Archive Films and Energy Films archive operations into one facility and being an early adapter of HD mastering processes.

Philip has been active in the professional community and has participated as a panelist and presenter at various DAM and Archive events. He is a member of the Association Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). Philip is also an active blogger on DAM and media archive issues. His blog, “DAM Ideas" (http://www.spiegelams.com) covers the challenges of DAM, metadata, rights and other issues around the business challenges of successfully transitioning from a physical to digital archive.

August 4th, 2010
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

Goddard College Partners with ByWater Solutions for Koha Support and Implementation

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that Goddard College, of Plainfield, VT. has partnered with them for the implementation and support of their official Koha integrated library system installation.

ByWater Solutions will provide the Eliot D. Pratt Library of Goddard College with a full Koha Installation, data migration of their over 42,000 records, customization of their staff and public interface, 24/7 comprehensive support, and hosting services.

"Any software is only as good as the services that it provides and a database is only as good as its retrieval system." Stated Clara Bruns, Director of Information Access at the Eliot D. Pratt Library. She continues; "The Open Source model means that we'll pay for the services that the system provides and programming as needed, rather than paying for the use of a private company's proprietary system. It's a different business model that seems more directly in line with what a system really is because a piece of software has no "intrinsic' value."

When asked about the open source model and how it fits with her library needs, Clara Bruns stated; "Open Source will give us more independence in the long run. With ILS vendors, the larger libraries and contracts determine what companies are offering and there is the risk that system ownership will change or that they no longer support a product. We are a small institution and are currently paying too much for a system that only marginally meets our needs."

She then went on to say that ByWater Solutions "met our criteria to find the most cost- effective solution for our library system and they have a great reputation with the libraries who have used their services."

“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with Clara and the staff of Goddard College” stated Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Solutions. “Our two institutions share the same excitement and enthusiasm about open source, and we look forward to giving them the personalized levels of support that they deserve.”

The Eliot D. Pratt Library is targeted to go live by the end of 2010.

About Goddard College:
At Goddard you will encounter a unique learning environment where adult learners are encouraged to pursue their passions. Supported by expert faculty and dedicated staff, students seeking to complete a bachelor’s or a master’s degree individualize study that integrates personal interests, professional commitments and creative aspirations.
Goddard programs engage students in learning that is personally meaningful and socially responsive. Each person who comes to Goddard College enters a collaborative community that is committed to achieving academic excellence, deepening intellectual curiosity and developing the skills needed to promote social justice.
Goddard is nationally and internationally recognized for its leadership in educational innovation, its deep commitment to the ideals of democracy and for its active efforts to live consciously as stewards of the earth. For more information, please visit: www.goddard.edu

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies--XHTML, CSS and Javascript--making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: www.koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: www.bywatersolutions.com

Integrated Technology Group adds another experienced librarian to its team

Norcross, Ga. – August 2, 2010. Bernadette Hill has joined ITG as its Northwest Region Account Manager. Hill is based in Seattle and will be serving ITG customers in Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Western Canada.

She brings over 20 years P&L, entrepreneurial, software/hardware new market business development experience across multiple sectors including libraries, education, fiber-optic high-speed networks and information technology. Bernadette has held executive positions at Dynix, Ameritech, and Expanets, and is known for opening new markets and developing outstanding client relationships.

“It’s great that we have a strong core of experienced librarians here at ITG,” says CEO Shai Robkin. “Field-level experience is so very important when consulting, problem-solving, and planning for the future. Today’s libraries are charged with balancing increasing usage with shrinking budgets and no one understands that better than those who have been in the trenches.”

Hill received her MLS from the University Of Washington, Seattle, and began her career as a librarian at Kitsap Regional Library in Bremerton, WA. A former elementary school teacher, she later founded the K-12 business division of Dynix Library Systems (now SirsiDynix).

“Her unique experience with both libraries and information technology make her uniquely qualified to assess best practices and maximize ROI for ITG’s library clients,” says Ken Evans, ITG Vice President of Sales. “Bernadette understands our customers and the benefits that ITG products can deliver to them. That’s the kind of expertise libraries need to make smart decisions,” he notes.

“While I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of interesting things over the past two decades, libraries have always been my first love,” says Hill. “I am delighted to be working again in the library world, particularly for a company that is so dedicated to customer service.”

Hill’s husband is a retired English professor and their daughter is an undergraduate at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. Whenever possible, they enjoy travelling throughout the world. She also sits on the Board of Directors of the Lucina Foundation, whose mission is to find the underlying causes of serious diseases affecting women’s health.

About the Integrated Technology Group (ITG):
ITG (www.integratedtek.com) develops, markets, and supports library automation technologies that empower librarians to make operations more efficient and better serve their patrons. ITG's products include patron self-checkout, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Automated Materials Handling (AMH) systems, library materials security, and public computer reservation and print management solutions. With nearly 40 years’ experience in the library industry, ITG combines smart technology and progressive design to create standard solutions that can be easily customized to meet site-specific requirements. ITG, a division of Vernon Library Supplies, Inc., is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.