24 Hour Library: Making History

As most readers of this blog are probably aware, we have had a momentous couple of months here at EnvisionWare, Inc. On October 29, the first self-service 24 Hour Library in the United States was unveiled at the Pioneer Library System in Norman, Oklahoma. For all of us at the company, this event represented the culmination of years of intensive work and preparation, and the capstone of our "Solution Revolution" year. I can still recall my first glimpse of the 24 Hour Library prototype in the EnvisionWare warehouse a couple of years ago. Although it sat inert and without power, it practically hummed with possibility. It clearly had the potential to be a game-changing innovation.

Not too long afterward, I got to know the inner workings of the Library while supporting the EnvisionWare booth at the American Library Association conferences. I got to see firsthand all the moving parts--the hardware and software components coalescing in elegant symbiosis.

The Man in the Purple Shirt (who is not actually wearing a purple shirt in this photo) inside a 24 Hour Library.

We continued refining the product, and it was thrilling to watch each new iteration take shape. Now, in our collaboration with Pioneer, all that hard work has come to fruition. Construction of a second Pioneer 24 Hour Library is now underway, and deployment at a number of other US libraries is soon to follow.

This is what I love about working for EnvisionWare: I get to see dreams--which sometimes seem at first to be pure flights of fancy--manifest themselves in physical form. And I get to see the pleasure and satisfaction these realized dreams bring to our customers. Viva la revolución.