With Alma now in live use IGeLU and our partners in ELUNA felt that this next generation system now needs an active user community and voice.
A call for participation in a join IGeLU/ELUNA Alma Product Working Group went out earlier in the year, and was answered by 15 enthusiastic colleagues, mainly from institutions engaged as Alma development partners or early adopters.
The new PWG will start with 11 members, 1 from Canada, 2 from the UK, 3 from Australia, and 5 from the USA. For the development of consortial functionality we regard it as very important that there will be representatives of consortia within the group.
IGeLU and ELUNA will support the first face-to-face meetings of the Alma PWG at the IGeLU conference in September. In May 2013 the group will meet again in Athens, Georgia (USA).
The main task of the group will be a regular exchange of information with the product managers of Alma; coordination of, and participation in, future focus or advisory subgroups; preparing Alma sessions at the user conferences; and presenting the group and its activities on the IGeLU and ELUNA websites.
One regular task for PWGs – the conduct of an enhancement process – will be initiated as part of a later phase of the Alma development.
Jirka Kende, Chair of IGeLU