The Common Good In 2004, wanting to do something he “felt good about,” Internet industry veteran Matt Moran traveled from New York City to West Africa as part of the International Rescue Committee to evaluate a database application used to reunite separated families in conflict zones and train Liberian refugees in its use. On his return to the United States, he was yearning, he says, to find “some way to give back to the community.” That opportunity came in 2007, when he joined The Library Corporation (TLC) as its senior product developer and began working with librarians, strategists, and fellow developers to bring better web technologies and concepts to the library world.
“I wanted to build something different that helped people instead of trying to sell them something,” says Moran of why he joined the company. “I hope technology truly gets to a place where it can help connect trained librarians with more and more people.” Within a year, Moran's work had culminated in the release of the next-generation public access catalog interface LS2 PAC (known as Indigo during its project phase), currently being used by the Shenandoah County Library System, VA. The software, available as part of any TLC integrated library system, includes such features as tagging, list sharing, user reviews, genre browsing, and item mapping (watch a demo at www.ls2delivers.com/index.html).
Moran says librarians often tell him, “We need to compete with Amazon.” Lucky, then, that his background with Amazon competitors gives him an edge in crafting products that libraries really want. “The less users need to think in order to find what they want,” says Moran, “the happier I am.”
