[OPEN-ILS-DOCUMENTATION] introducing ourselves

[Paul J. Weiss]

Karen and I were thinking that with the renewed interest and energy on 
documentation, it might be a good idea to have us list subscribers 
introduce ourselves to each other. I would be particularly be interested 
to know what your interest/need in Evergreen documentation is, how you 
might like to get involved (or not), and any experience you have with 
documentation that might be relevant.

I'll start:
[I can be long-winded at times; your intro can be as brief as you like :-) 
]

My name is Paul Weiss, and I am currently working on a project for the 
Sage Library System of Eastern Oregon, a 69-member multitype library 
consortium covering the rural eastern half of the state. Sage has an LSTA 
grant to test out Evergreen with 11 of our member libraries. I am leading 
the profiling effort, and my initial need for Evergreen documentation was 
some basic system architecture information (system overview, record types, 
non-MARC fields and their functionality, how code lists work, indexes, 
record linking, etc.), so that I could recommend profiling decisions. I 
was frustrated that there wasn't any such documentation, because that 
meant profiling has taken much longer to accomplish. On the other hand, I 
am excited by the new functionality that the developers are working on, 
and don't want to slow them down unduly by having them be pulled away to 
document the system. So I communicated with Karen Schneider at Equinox 
about documentation issues, and a month later find myself helping to lead 
the Evergreen documentation effort.

I worked at Innovative Interfaces 1999-2001, overseeing staff who did 
profiling and migration of new III customers, among other tasks. I 
initiated a reconceptualization of our profiling process to make it more 
user-friendly and efficient, and drafted new documentation. I have written 
documentation of one sort or another at every job since library school, 
including the 48-p. Conversion Specifications for MeSH from MODEL 204 to 
USMARC Authority Format when I was at the US's National Library of 
Medicine. The funny thing is I started out as a math major in college 
because I hated writing. I found out later that actually I loved some 
kinds of writing--technical, procedural, etc.

I have a bit of experience with DocBook and the oXygen XML Editor, from 2 
projects last year on ALA's forthcoming RDA and its member handbook.

I am happy to do at least writing, editing, and file markup for DIG.

And who are you?

Paul 
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