<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Thanks Jason. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I'll check out Archipelago.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Diane<br clear="all"></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Aug 22, 2020 at 12:00 PM <<a href="mailto:evergreen-general-request@list.evergreen-ils.org">evergreen-general-request@list.evergreen-ils.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Send Evergreen-general mailing list submissions to<br>
<a href="mailto:evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org" target="_blank">evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org</a><br>
<br>
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br>
<a href="http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general</a><br>
<br>
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br>
<a href="mailto:evergreen-general-request@list.evergreen-ils.org" target="_blank">evergreen-general-request@list.evergreen-ils.org</a><br>
<br>
You can reach the person managing the list at<br>
<a href="mailto:evergreen-general-owner@list.evergreen-ils.org" target="_blank">evergreen-general-owner@list.evergreen-ils.org</a><br>
<br>
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>
than "Re: Contents of Evergreen-general digest..."<br>
<br>
<br>
Today's Topics:<br>
<br>
1. Re: questions from a newbie (Jason Stephenson)<br>
<br>
<br>
----------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Message: 1<br>
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2020 10:11:03 -0400<br>
From: Jason Stephenson <<a href="mailto:jason@sigio.com" target="_blank">jason@sigio.com</a>><br>
To: <a href="mailto:evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org" target="_blank">evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org</a><br>
Subject: Re: [Evergreen-general] questions from a newbie<br>
Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:ce4119eb-e0f7-4141-9df7-764d95414372@sigio.com" target="_blank">ce4119eb-e0f7-4141-9df7-764d95414372@sigio.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8<br>
<br>
Hi, Diane!<br>
<br>
Thanks for your interest in Evergreen! I'm going to be blunt and tell<br>
you that Evergreen does not sound like the right tool for your use case.<br>
<br>
It is designed and implemented for a traditional library setting where<br>
physical items are circulated to patrons. It is not geared for managing<br>
collections of electronic materials or tracking their use. It requires<br>
that records for materials are entered in standard MARC format, familiar<br>
to libraries and alien everywhere else.<br>
<br>
It is difficult to set up and maintain. It requires a certain level of<br>
knowledge of GNU/Linux to be able to maintain an Evergreen system on<br>
one's own. That said, the knowledge can be acquired, and there are<br>
companies that will host an Evergreen installation and maintain it for<br>
you, albeit for a fee.<br>
<br>
You more likely want a dedicated electronic resource management system.<br>
I am not very familiar with the software in that area, though I was<br>
recently made aware of Archipelago. If you get past the marketing speak<br>
on the main page, it sounds like it might be what you're looking for:<br>
<a href="http://archipelago.nyc/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://archipelago.nyc/</a><br>
<br>
Hope that Helps,<br>
Jason<br>
<br>
<br>
On 8/22/20 9:40 AM, Diane Silver wrote:<br>
> Dear Evergreen community --<br>
> <br>
> I stumbled upon Evergreen while researching options for web-development<br>
> software to create a small resource library for our organization.<br>
> It seems that Evergreen is far more powerful than what we need. We're<br>
> not sure if that will be a hindrance (way too complex for our small<br>
> operation), or if it doesn't matter.<br>
> <br>
> We have a few basic questions, which I'm hoping someone can answer:<br>
> <br>
> 1) It looks like Evergreen is back-end software for a library catalog of<br>
> existing items. i.e., it helps you build your library catalog using<br>
> ISBNs of published books or works from the library of congress. It<br>
> doesn't look like it's intended for orgs who want to display _*their<br>
> own*_ materials. Is this right, or could we use it to create an online<br>
> library for our own documents, videos, powerpoints, etc.?<br>
> <br>
> 2) We don't need to manage circulation. All of our resources are<br>
> electronic, and free. Our users would just download each file. We DO<br>
> want some analytics to track page views, number of downloads for each<br>
> item, searches, and similar usage. And we want access to the site to<br>
> require an authorized log-in, so it's not completely open to the<br>
> public. Do you think Evergreen is the right tool? I know Evergreen is<br>
> used by large public library systems. Would all it's capability get in<br>
> the way of the much smaller scope of what we want to do, or could we<br>
> just ignore the functions we don't need (like circulation)?<br>
> <br>
> 3) It looks like getting set up is a bit complicated for non-tech-savvy<br>
> folks like me. I took a peek at the documentation and quickly concluded<br>
> that we would need a system administrator to do this for us. Is this a<br>
> function that can be contracted out? Are there folks out there (maybe<br>
> on this list) who would be interested in such a role? Would this list<br>
> be an appropriate place to post an RFP or would that violate the<br>
> community culture? Could this be a discrete contract to set up the<br>
> back-end system, and maybe even build the front-end website, and then<br>
> once it's built, would it be simple enough to maintain ourselves (i.e.,<br>
> add new resources as they get developed, manage users, etc.)? I imagine<br>
> the answer to that is, "it depends," so let's say it would be a library<br>
> of 100s but not 1000s of items, and maybe a few hundred users, and we're<br>
> pretty proficient at _*using*_ various systems, just not building them.<br>
> So I guess the question is, how much technical maintenance would it need?<br>
> <br>
> 4) What kind of time-frame (ballpark) would it take to set up an online<br>
> library with a few hundred items, for someone who has lots of experience<br>
> with Evergreen and wouldn't have the steep learning curve that we would?<br>
> <br>
> Thanks to anyone who can provide some insights for us. We love the<br>
> spirit and intent of the Evergreen community.<br>
> <br>
> - Diane<br>
> <br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> Evergreen-general mailing list<br>
> <a href="mailto:Evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org" target="_blank">Evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org</a><br>
> <a href="http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general</a><br>
> <br>
<br>
<br>
------------------------------<br>
<br>
Subject: Digest Footer<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Evergreen-general mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org" target="_blank">Evergreen-general@list.evergreen-ils.org</a><br>
<a href="http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general</a><br>
<br>
<br>
------------------------------<br>
<br>
End of Evergreen-general Digest, Vol 1, Issue 4<br>
***********************************************<br>
</blockquote></div>