Welcome to our new blog, Corroboree. Its name is drawn from the same Australian aboriginal roots as our company’s name and means “gathering place.” We hope this blog will become just that: a place for the Altarama community of users and friends to meet and exchange experiences, best practices and suggestions. We hope that you’ll find it to be worth a few minutes now and then to review and perhaps to contribute.

The new conference season is nearly upon us, and we look forward to these gatherings as opportunities to meet with and learn from many friends and colleagues. On our lengthy list of preparations, we have the often difficult task of revising our “elevator pitch.”

Wikipedia defines an elevator pitch as:

… a short summary used to quickly and simply define a product, service, or organization and its value proposition. The name "elevator pitch" reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary in the time span of an elevator ride…

We have made many attempts to reduce our story to something simple and concise, yet all it takes is someone walking into our exhibit booth and asking what we do to remind us that the robustness of our tools can easily lead to discussions that are more lengthy or complex than people may have time for.

Some of our internal discussions bring to mind the story of the blind men and the elephant—where the elephant is described as a pillar, a rope, a tree branch, a winnowing basket, a wall, etc., according to which part each man touched. Altarama, like the elephant, has many aspects, each critically important to some, less so to others. 

A person could rightly observe that libraries use Altarama tools to help with statistics; while another might insist that remote patron outreach is the objective. Still another could point to better balancing of workloads among very busy staff, and so on.

Whatever value our clients enjoy in using Altarama tools largely derives, in turn, from the advice and feedback we’ve received from them over the past 10-plus years. We’ve learned the importance of listening to our fellow librarians, and of acting on what we learn.

In that spirit, we have a specific favor to ask:  can you tell us in a sentence or two (or longer if you have a tall building or a slow elevator J) what you say when asked just what is it that Altarama does for your library? Thank you in advance for your feedback—hearing from our customers is our most valued resource.

As we launch into this new year, we wish you and your library all the best for a successful year, and renew our commitment to help you achieve your 2012 resolutions!