Blog
Long-term partnerships | langdurige samenwerking
Long-term partnerships | langdurige samenwerking

The benefits of long-term partnerships

It’s essential for public and school libraries to have collections that cater to the reading interests of their patrons. In addition, their catalogue must inspire readers and encourage exploration. However, due to the ever-increasing choices available, selecting new titles can be overwhelming. Fortunately, NBD Biblion is there to help, offering personalised recommendations and supplying libraries with the necessary books and media titles. We’ve had a long-term partnership with NBD Biblion, starting over twenty years ago. We’ve developed many of their in-house systems and commercial websites and delivered technical advice and software support. NBD Biblion recently asked BSL to support their system management team, helping to support software and services not developed by BSL.

NBD Biblion – modernising their business

Over the last few years, NBD Biblion has undergone a metamorphosis, investing in new technology such as AI and evolving its business by introducing many innovations and services. They have invested in products such as Skillsdojo,  which takes children on fun online missions in technology and science. For example, they can design a robot, work on artificial intelligence, build an app or learn how to program. And by acquiring Bookarang, they can now automate metadata production for their vast collection of titles. And by applying AI techniques, they can predict the popularity and sales of individual titles.

NBD Biblion and BSL

We’ve worked alongside NBD Biblion for over twenty years – an extraordinarily long period in the IT sector. This long-term partnership, our flexibility, and constantly evolving technology within BSL allow us to match the tempo of change within NBD Biblion.

Initially developing their Media Information and Production System (MIPS) and (later) their More over Media database (MOM), we’ve regularly enhanced and improved these systems, keeping up with current trends and technologies and fulfilling the many change requests we receive each year. Along with developing other NBD Biblion products, such as their online web databases (Literom and Uittrekselbank), we’ve created many APIs and web services, sharing and transforming MIPS and MOM data for use by many other products, both within NBD Biblion and also by third parties.

Long-term partnership with clear benefits

We’ve enjoyed a good, constructive, long-term relationship with NBD Biblion. At their request, we have recently expanded our role, temporarily taking over various system management tasks while their IT team focuses on migrating to a new ERP system. This is straightforward for BSL, as we are familiar with their organisation, infrastructure and technology and can respond quickly. We are also assisting NBD Biblion in other ways, moving some of their systems to the Cloud and linking their data with services provided by other organisations, such as the Dutch national library service. In the following text, we describe some of our recent work on their behalf.

MIPS Bookarang

We previously integrated our Media Information Production System (MIPS) with Bookarang, a unique service that can quickly determine book metadata, such as title, author, genre, keywords and review text. As a result of our long-term partnership with NBD Biblion, we’ve been able to devise and introduce many optimisations. For instance, in managing metadata requests, exchanging title processing information with Bookarang, automatically cleaning up archived titles, and recognising and merging earlier title editions to match existing metadata with attributes derived from Bookarang. For the latter case, we present Bookarang metadata alongside existing metadata in a comparison window so that users can choose the best values.

Processing PDFs from publishers and via OCR

Publishers send PDFs of new books to NBD Biblion daily, and an external company delivers digital copies created using OCR. For processing reasons NBD Biblion requires an ISBN number within the name of each file, which many publishers fail to include. Therefore, working closely with NBD, we developed various methods to automatically read the ISBN from the PDF, renaming the source file to include the missing information.

MIPS keyword management

NBD Biblion assigns keywords using MIPS, but they have over 50.000 different terms in their thesaurus, which can slow the selection process. However, we have now further optimised the interfaces so that users can select the correct keywords more quickly.

MIPS-API service for metadata

We developed the MIPS-API service to deliver the edited metadata of titles as XML. However, before the metadata is output, we sometimes apply hundreds of edits and transformations, as the data comes from many different sources. As a result of recent development work, we can perform these edits and transformations in advance and cache the results. The service now returns the results for (often several hundred) titles as much as 500 times faster.

SISO Online Drupal 9

We (re)developed the website (originally from NBD Biblion) for viewing and browsing through hundreds of hierarchically structured SISO codes using Drupal 9. Previously, the developers used Oracle functions to return the data. However, in the new system, the data is stored in MySQL, meaning that BSL had to rewrite the Oracle functions for MySQL. After migrating the data, rewriting the Oracle functions and redeveloping the functionality within a new interface design (provided by an external agency), the project was a great success. The site is available online, for use by their clients.

Management and support

NBD Biblion has transferred the management of a broad range of services to BSL. Under these new agreements, we also support NBD Biblion with production systems we did not supply. As part of this work, we are migrating several Oracle databases from internal servers to the Cloud and upgrading the databases to the latest Oracle releases. Our research indicated that Amazon Oracle RDS was the best option, and we made several costed recommendations.

After demonstrating a proof-of-concept and obtaining the client’s approval, we’ve migrated a set of databases to an acceptance Oracle RDS service. The migration of the production databases will take place shortly. Some of the many advantages include an up-to-date (supported) Oracle version, well-regulated backups, easy recovery, automated upgrades, a single service fee (including hosting and Oracle licenses), and the ability to adjust storage or CPU capacity to meet demand dynamically.

Placing these management activities with BSL has the advantage that we can quickly carry out installations and configuration changes, delivering a highly optimised support service.

Get in touch for dedicated support

We’re flexible and offer dedicated long-term support and development services that we can tailor to meet specific demands. If you’re looking for software developers with more than 25 years of web development experience or would like help from BSL to migrate your systems to the Cloud, we’d like to help. Please get in touch.

Introducing a new Graphic Workflow system at NBD Biblion

Introducing a new Graphic Workflow system at NBD Biblion

NBD Biblion supplies media and books to Dutch public libraries and school media centres. We developed their Media Information and Production System (MIPS), which catalogues hundreds of new titles each month. Our most recent project encompasses the design and development of their new Graphic Workflow.

New developments for the Keylane Careers website

New developments for the Keylane Careers website

Keylane is a provider of SaaS software for the insurance and pensions industry. With rapid growth and employees in four countries, the company is constantly seeking new talent. Keylane has engaged BSL to create new pages for the “Keylane Academy” to showcase career development opportunities within the company.

Pulse – enhanced user experience and embedded AI

Pulse – enhanced user experience and embedded AI

Pulse just got better! Our latest Pulse release, developed for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) by BSL, leverages cutting-edge Azure AI technology. It introduces new AI-based features such as translation, summarisation, and sentiment analysis. We’ve also redesigned the user interface for an improved user experience.

Progressive Web Apps in EU undermined by Apple?

Progressive Web Apps in EU undermined by Apple?

If you aren’t familiar with mobile app development, you may not know that Apple has recently thrown a rather large spanner into the iOS ecosystem. Since the early betas of iOS 17.4 were made available, developers noted that so-called “Progressive Web Apps” (PWAs) were no longer functional in the EU. Our blog explains more.

The role of AI in Business Intelligence for multinationals

The role of AI in Business Intelligence for multinationals

BSL delivers Business Intelligence solutions to multinational organisations, integrating content from thousands of publications worldwide and delivering daily themed news alerts and briefings to business users. Recently, we’ve introduced AI technologies to these services, and our latest blog post highlights some of the benefits.

Whiteboards and the Canon of the Netherlands app

Whiteboards and the Canon of the Netherlands app

Recently, a digital whiteboard supplier called CTOUCH reached out to BSL, requesting permission to include the Canon of the Netherlands app in their store for use on their digital whiteboards in classrooms. We liked the idea and recently created a special version of our app designed specifically for the big screen.

Google Looker Studio: Making sense of big data

Google Looker Studio: Making sense of big data

In today’s fast-paced world, making quick and well-informed decisions is crucial. Google Looker Studio is a free tool that can give you a significant advantage. It can help you transform your vast amount of Analytics data into informative, easy-to-read dashboards and reports that are completely customizable.

Let BSL take care of your website maintenance updates

Let BSL take care of your website maintenance updates

We understand the importance of regular website maintenance updates for WordPress and Drupal. Hackers sometimes target popular open-source products, so keeping your CMS and any plugins up-to-date is essential. Trust BSL to keep your website up-to-date and secure while you focus on crafting persuasive content for your audience.

BSL Summer event on the water

BSL Summer event on the water

It was time for our annual summer event with the whole company. This year, Diana arranged a boat trip in a salon boat along the Vecht towards Loenen and Vreeland. After the boat trip, the summer event continued in the restaurant of Bistrotel ‘t Amsterdammertje, where everyone enjoyed a delicious dinner.

Adobe Firefly and Photoshop Beta with generative fill

Adobe Firefly and Photoshop Beta with generative fill

After the success of ChatGPT and Midjourney AI – both already in use at BSL – Adobe didn’t want to be left behind and made public their Beta releases of Adobe Firefly and Photoshop AI. With the arrival of the Adobe Betas, we’ve turned our attention to the new kids on the block, comparing them with Midjourney.

Midjourney prompts – Describing your perfect image

Midjourney prompts – Describing your perfect image

In an earlier blog, we introduced Midjourney as a tool we use within BSL when designing websites and banners for blogs. To direct Midjourney to create the image you have in mind, you need to write a prompt describing the image. This new blog discusses Midjourney prompts and some of the commands and parameters you can use.

Drupal 9 development using Tailwind CSS

Drupal 9 development using Tailwind CSS

Using Drupal, BSL has developed an extensive Intranet site to which we all have access. We’re developing a new version of the site, and in this blog, one of our developers talks about some of the tools we are using, including Twig templates, the Entity and Form APIs and Tailwind CSS.

Midjourney AI – Turning your ideas into images

Midjourney AI – Turning your ideas into images

Over the past few weeks, BSL has been exploring the many possibilities offered by Artificial Intelligence. This latest blog describes the use of Midjourney AI, a web service that generates images based on natural language descriptions (“prompts”). The results are impressive. Read our blog to find out more.

ChatGPT for business information analysis

ChatGPT for business information analysis

After the initial enthusiastic response to the introduction of ChatGPT and AI, attention switched to the unreliability of many ChatGPT answers. However, using Azure OpenAI (ChatGPT) and Cognitive Search with reliable data, we can deliver reliable, high-quality business information in response to natural language queries.

Browser engine wars – Part 2 – The impact of Apple’s iOS monopoly

Browser engine wars – Part 2 – The impact of Apple’s iOS monopoly

The Apple iOS monopoly means that every app on iOS – including browsers from Apple’s competitors – must use WebKit to display web content. While it’s not uncommon for browser developers to use a third-party engine, they can usually control which engine features they use in their browser and – if needed – add custom features.

Browser engine wars – Part 1 – How did we get here?

Browser engine wars – Part 1 – How did we get here?

The Register recently reported that Google is working on an iOS version of Chromium. A few days later, a second article claimed that Mozilla is working on an iOS version of Gecko, Firefox’s browser engine. Both reports suggest that the Apple browser engine on iOS, WebKit, is in danger of losing its monopoly.

Donation on behalf of earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria

Donation on behalf of earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria

On Monday, 6 February, several powerful earthquakes and aftershocks hit Turkey and Syria. This disaster affects as many as 23 million people, including many who are already in desperate need due to the conflict in Syria. If possible, please join us in making a donation on the Giro555 website.

WordPress and page-builders such as Divi and Elementor

WordPress and page-builders such as Divi and Elementor

For building websites on behalf of clients, we often use WordPress together with page-builders, making it easy to prototype and develop modern, responsive websites. With page-builders such as Divi and Elementor, you can easily and quickly design and build pages to match almost any design.

2022 and the Bright Side of Life

2022 and the Bright Side of Life

Taking the time to reflect regularly on the things we are grateful for at the Bright Side can help shift our perspective to focus on the positive aspects of our work. So, here are the things for which I’m grateful in 2022.

SEO benefits, and the power of good-quality content

SEO benefits, and the power of good-quality content

Many business owners still think their websites are merely visiting cards. Their “go-to” expression is: “our clients/audience already know where to find us…”. This may be true, but optimizing your website will reach new clients and audiences.

New Keylane Careers website

New Keylane Careers website

Keylane asked BSL to help design and build a new Careers website. The main aim is to increase the number of visitors by improving the organic search performance. To achieve this, we’re introducing a new design and adding blogs.

Cloud provider migration: What are the benefits?

Cloud provider migration: What are the benefits?

The focus of Cloud computing is to improve the efficiency of IT services. By choosing a cloud-based solution, organisations can stay up-to-date with technology innovations and benefit from higher scalability, lower expenses, and enhanced security.

A new website for BoekWijzer

A new website for BoekWijzer

We’ve completely revamped the BoekWijzer website! The website was built to support the BoekWijzer app, the mobile guide to the world of Dutch literature. Using the app, you can quickly and easily stay up to date with the latest literary news.

New developer / web designer at BSL

New developer / web designer at BSL

If you have any questions about your website or web design in general, then Patrick van Bennekom is ready to help you five days a week at BSL. Patrick helps to design and create websites and apps for our customers, including the design of logos and house styles to deliver a professional end product.

Migrating to the Cloud, benefits and opportunities

Migrating to the Cloud, benefits and opportunities

Several of our clients are migrating to the Cloud, and some that aren’t yet ready for this step are reviewing their legacy systems, intending to migrate to the Cloud in the future. We’ve recently completed two migrations on behalf of multinationals, and our experience has taught us that a direct approach (simply redeploying existing databases and applications on virtual machines) is not always the best route…

Beleev: Controlled Multisensory Environments

Beleev: Controlled Multisensory Environments

Perhaps you have never heard of snoezelen, a Dutch term that describes controlled multisensory environments (MSE) that stimulate various senses within a custom environment – a so-called “Snoezel” room. On behalf of St. John the Baptist special education school in Kerkrade, we’ve created custom software to create and manage so-called “Snoezel” rooms, controlling, lights, audio, switches and a video projector.

Goodbye 2021 and COVID-19 lockdowns – It’s time to look back

Goodbye 2021 and COVID-19 lockdowns – It’s time to look back

So who, in early 2020, thought that we’d still be operating under COVID-19 lockdown measures in January 2022? Luckily, my skill set has given me a better understanding of software development and technology than catering or hospitality. As director of an IT company, I’m happy to say that Bright Side of Life has taken to remote working as a fish to water. Let me tell you about our year.

Canon of the Netherlands apps now available in stores

Canon of the Netherlands apps now available in stores

The Dutch Canon of the Netherlands (2007) tells the story of how the Netherlands was formed. Using the Canon, BSL developed the popular EnToen Nu apps for iOS and Android a few years later. In 2020, the Canon was extensively revised, so we’ve completely rewritten the Canon apps, bringing them up-to-date, making them faster and even more fun to use. They’re now available in the app stores.

Integrating powerful AI search capabilities within apps and web-services

Integrating powerful AI search capabilities within apps and web-services

Search technology is continually evolving, so we’re always ready to adopt new technologies to meet specific client needs. This blog outlines our recent experiences with Azure Cognitive Search and Cognitive Search AI services – classifying thousands of new documents each day, delivering customised briefings to subscribers. Using Machine Learning and AI we can create intelligent search prototypes in just a few weeks.

4

Previous

5

Next

Contact BSL