Endeavor Debuts Voyager 6.1

By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 8/15/2006

Endeavor Information Systems came to ALA with the latest incarnation of its flagship system, Voyager 6.1. Among its new features is the ability to support an expanded OCLC number and the looming ISBN 13, which goes live in January 2007, including new indexes and modifications to both acquisitions information and Electronic Data Interchange messages for interacting with the extended ISBN. Other enhancements are expanded keyword search options and the power to search record holdings. The vendor said the new release also is more tightly integrated with its Meridian ERM tool.

In a sit-down with LJ, Roland Dietz, Endeavor’s president and CEO, said the development process has changed and that vendors “have more interaction with users to get closer to what they want.” He also said that the development process necessarily has gotten faster because previously it took so long that “customers’ needs changed by the time the product was finished.” In response to criticism of vendor OPACs and other ILS elements, Dietz contends vendors “need to understand users better and find out what they do with the information.”