Opening Session · Day 1
Clarivate presented AI principles guided by the public library community: Transparent, Ethical, Safe (human in the loop). 2026 AI focus: Polaris Data Explorer, Content Creation, Natural Language Analytics. Pursuing natural language search and AI agents/chat in Discover.
Vega Promote July release for libraries and consortia. Scaled mass email, 1000+ integrations, triggered automations, personalization. SSO with Vega Staff and AI tools.
Rapido Consortial Borrowing with SearchOhio and OhioLINK. 1,000 requests/day since launch, connecting 120+ libraries across 4 different ILSs. Vega Discover as the central request interface.
Known Issues Portal — AI-powered, went live April 12. Browse, subscribe, track issues. Unified Knowledge Portal — new docs experience, goes live April 15.
91 new Vega Discover features. 27 new Sierra features. 32% reduction in case resolution time. 42% reduction in case backlog (126 Discover PRs fixed). 60 Ideas Exchange suggestions implemented.
The first-ever Clarivate Library Innovation Awards — 50+ entries from 11 countries. Winner: Rochester Hills Public Library for themed Vega catalogs creating developmentally-appropriate discovery for children through teenagers. Finalists: Santa Clarita PL (mobile library) and Suffolk PL (rural branch expansion). (finalists)
Next year's conference: Boston, MA — April 1–3, 2027.
Presented by previous IUG Chair Jeff Campbell. Rhonda is Assistant Dean & Associate Professor at Kraemer Family Library, UCCS, and former IUG Chair who led the first all-virtual conference in 2021.
Yoel Goldenberg, new SVP & GM of Library Software Solutions.
Joins from the enterprise AI space — previously CPO at Jacada (conversational AI) and SVP Product Management at Uniphore (AI agents & conversational analytics).
Mike Dicus presented the Sierra roadmap: 22 releases and 98 new features over 3 years, serving 129M patrons. Two releases planned for 2026 with four pillars: customer-driven enhancements, simplified operations, modernized solutions (Admin Corner → Sierra client), and expanded APIs/integrations. ERM replaced by Alma Starter. Vega Interact for SMS/voice notifications. UPC-based cover images coming for non-book materials. Full writeup →
Six teams demoed projects from the IUG Hackathon pre-conference. Winner: Shelf Defense (Wes & Bryan) — a SIP2-based offline circulation tool built on PocketBase. Other projects: FindIt (shelf mapping for Vega), Browsr (collection browsing), Leap SQL Template Manager (parameterized SQL for consortia), Auto-Suggest-a-Purchase (patron requests), and Microprojects (Sierra bulk editing via API). Full writeup →
Amazon Business EDI integration — CHPL (Cincinnati) launched mid-April as early adopter. Full writeup →
Libby / OverDrive — print copy availability when eBook/audio unavailable; combined ILS + OverDrive circulation reporting. Seeking early access partners.
Vega Reports launched April 7, built on a data lakehouse architecture. Pre-built dashboards, custom reports, visitor engagement tracking. (iii.com)
Amazon Business EDI integration with Sierra — Cincinnati Public Library as early adopter, implementation strategy and best practices for acquisitions workflows.
Six hackathon projects solving real library problems: FindIt, Browsr, Shelf Defense (winner), Leap SQL, Auto-Suggest-a-Purchase, and Microprojects.
3-year Sierra roadmap: 22 releases, 98 new features. May and November 2026 releases, Admin Corner migration, ERM to Alma Starter transition, and API expansions.
