Pros
I've worked at LSSI/LS&S for nearly 20 years now -- and I moved here from the public sector precisely because the company gave me the opportunity to try new things and improve the way libraries operate absent the stifling bureaucracy and 'group think' that characterizes so many public library management. And it gave me the opportunity to work with a group of wonderful colleagues like Frank and Judy Pezzanite, Gordon Conable, Mark Smith and many others who were just as interested in improving the way libraries worked and moving fast. For most of my career here, the company has lived up to that promise -- we created the first virtual reference product on the market, we centralized our acquisitions and ILS systems (not so easy with a library system that stretches all the way across the country, and we've developed all sorts of other new products and services -- some of which have worked, and some have not -- but the important thing is that the company has always given us the permission and support we needed to experiment.
Although the original founders -- Frank and Judy Pezzanite -- have now retired, I believe the executive team we have in place now, has the ability to deliver on the promises that attracted me here in the first place -- the ability to innovate quickly and to help libraries run better.
Cons
Not a place to be if you just want to do the 'same-old' thing. Or if you think that libraries should not be run like efficient businesses.
