[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] SPAM: Re: Open-ils-general Digest, Vol 10, Issue 3

Susan Matveyeva susanmva at gmail.com
Fri Apr 6 14:54:59 EDT 2007


Greetings,

I am not a technical person, but content specialist with background in
social sciences and humanities.  In our mid-sized university library (over
1,600,000 bib records), I work with MARC (Voyager) and Dublin Core (DSpace)
metadata records (creating, enhancing, editing, linking, conversing).   My
interests in open source systems connected to my work with DSpace as
coordinator of the institutional repository implementation project.

I am here because I think that better library systems need better
communication of "technical" and "content" people.  I am curious if there
are any "content people" on this list.

Thank you
Susan

Susan Matveyeva, Ph.D., MLIS, B.Mus.
Asst. Professor & Catalog Librarian
Wichita State University Libraries
1845 Fairmount
Wichita, KS 67260-0068
phone: (316) 978-5139
fax:       (316) 978-3048
e-mail: susan.matveyeva at wichita.edu

On 4/6/07, open-ils-general-request at list.georgialibraries.org <
open-ils-general-request at list.georgialibraries.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: interest in Evergreen (Chris Hirt)
>   2. RE: Open-ils-general Digest, Vol 10, Issue 2 (Fitzgerald, Carol)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:57:28 -0400
> From: "Chris Hirt" <cjh8 at calvin.edu>
> Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Re: interest in Evergreen
> To: <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
> Message-ID: <46150042.3405.003D.0 at calvin.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> Hi all,
>
> Brad - thanks for the prod for some of us to stop lurking and acknowledge
our
> membership in this list.  I expect that Evergreen and Koha mailing lists
will
> see a steady increase in subscribers following recent shake-ups involving
> SirsiDynix.  The Hekman Library at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI runs
> SirsiDynix Unicorn GL 3.1 but we're starting to open our eyes a bit to
what
> other options are out there.  From what I've heard and read, Rome
(SirsiDynix's
> latest idea) is basically a repackaged GL 3.2 with some extra features
they
> couldn't not include from Horizon/Corinthian.  I'm hear on this list
basically
> to see what it will take to get a test instance of evergreen up and
running -
> and I know there are probably 100 of us thinking the same thing.
>
> My background is in computer science and I have been the Library Systems
> Programmer here for almost 3 years.  I'm very interested in open-source
and
> have dabbled in contributing (very minorly) to a few other open-source
> projects.  I really want to see systems like Evergreen and Koha succeed
and
> become easy to use, easy to setup, and competitive products to what the
current
> paid-for ILS market offers.  That's always the challenge with this type of
> effort.  Imagine what could happen if 100 libraries around the world
committed
> their ILS ear-marked support money to hiring a full-time open-source ILS
> developer contributing to the project and developing for the library's
needs?
> That would be amazing.
>
> I'd don't know if my exploration of Evergreen will amount to any actual
bug
> fix contributions (although that would be nice) but it seems that
regardless of
> what my library decides to do, I believe the conditions are very right for
a
> "perfect storm" in the ILS world, one that will offer an open-source ILS
(or
> two or three?) the opportunity to leap ahead of its current state and
become a
> real alternative to the traditional ILS vendors.
>
> Go open-source!  Go Evergreen!
>
> - Chris Hirt
> Library Systems Programmer
> Hekman Library - Calvin College
> Grand Rapids, MI USA
> http://library.calvin.edu
>
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > You know, there are 226 subscribers to this list. That's really
> > amazing. So, anyone care to break the ice and introduce themselves?
> > It's awfully quiet in here. I'm sure someone has something more
> > interesting to say than I do. :)
> >
> > Well, ok, fine, twist my arm... I'll go first and introduce myself.
> > I'm Brad LaJeunesse, one of the instigators behind the Evergreen
> > project here at the Georgia Public Library Service. I'm not a software
> > developer, but rather a systems administrator type, and I am primarily
> > responsible for the servers that support the PINES consortium's
> > installation of Evergreen. I'm also a degree-toting professional
> > librarian.
> >
> > In addition to my sys-admin duties, I also act as a project manager
> > for the Evergreen software development project, yet I will readily
> > admit that kind of work is not exactly my forte. There's just some
> > sort of similarity between being a 'project manager' and a 'cruise
> > coordinator' that I just can't get my head around. (Trust me, you
> > never want to be on a cruise that I've coordinated.) Thankfully I have
> > a great team to work with.
> >
> > So, with my introduction out of the way, why are we all here? Well,
> > ok, you're all here because you've heard of Evergreen, are interested
> > in Evergreen, something like that... or you're just in the wrong
> > place. :) I'm here because this was my crazy idea, so I'm stuck. But
> > the rest of you-- what do you want to talk about? What questions do
> > you have? What do you want to see on this mailing list?
> >
> > If you wish to remain anonymous and send questions/comments directly
> > to me, I'd be happy to post them back to this list for you.
> >
> > Look forward to hearing from ya'll. If no one speaks up, I'll be
> > forced to resort to more devious measures, such as singing karaoke.
> >
> > --Brad
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 12:14:32 -0600
> From: "Fitzgerald, Carol" <Carol_Fitzgerald at nrel.gov>
> Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] RE: Open-ils-general Digest, Vol 10, Issue
>        2
> To: <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <FA6B643B3766DF4EA6AC422146B4DF950143187B at mail-4a.nrel.gov>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>
> Jason, I'm an MLS who ended up being the systems person, by default, and
> have been serving in that position for more than 5 years.  Open source
> alternatives have been looking more attractive, since S/D dropped the
> unwelcome Horizon/Unicorn/Rome news.  Currently, we are a Horizon ASP
> customer.  I've been wondering if anyone is seeing a niche market there:
> open source suppport + server/storage services?
>
> I'm very glad you asked about academic and special libraries' needs--we
> are a small national laboratory library and our users (scientists,
> engineers, and administrative support staff) are more like those of an
> academic library.  Our researchers are also able to check out a large
> portion of our collection for as long as they need them (and can recall
> items that others have had for at least 30 days).  In our previous ILS
> and now in Horizon, we've never had a good way to handle that policy.
> We often have overdues that aren't valid show up in the system.
>
> However, we are different from both academic and public in several ways:
>
> 1.  We do not fine our users for overdue items.  We don't need any of
> the code that's written to handle fines.  Horizon has created some
> hassles by blocking checkouts and not allowing us to simply delete the
> fine.
>
> 2.  We circulate individual print serial issues (we do not bind issues).
> Which also means that we barcode individual issues.
>
> We also need acquisitions and serials modules, though more and more of
> our serials subscriptions are for electronic only.  I often wish for a
> system that could check to be sure an issue is posted and accessible
> (versus the traditional, "received in library")!
>
> We are also interested in ease of data migration (since we just went
> through that in Fall 2005).  Our data is (finally!) in MARC, about
> 40,000 bibs plus a very large set of authority records.
>
> We are very interested in LDAP or an equivalent standard:  patron
> recognition from initial login to the LAN would be very helpful to our
> researchers.
>
> Carol Fitzgerald
> Library
> National Renewable Energy Laboratory
> Golden, CO
> carol_fitzgerald at nrel.gov
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 13:22:26 +0930
> From: "Peter Newman" <Peter.Newman at cdu.edu.au>
> Subject: RE: academic libraries Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] 226 subscribers
> To: <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
> Message-ID:
>
> <21AD91B56BA911488DAB45EEDBF3AD2D011F9FAF at CDU-MAIL.cdu-staff.local>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="US-ASCII"
>
>
> Hi Jason
>
> Sorry I missed this email last week as I was sorting by subject to
> monitor both the OPEN-ILS-DEV and OPEN-ILS-GENERAL lists in the one
> folder and missed this email as it was sitting right up the top of them
> all!
>
> You've pretty much hit the nail on the head with the concept/feature
> list.  Acquisitions with EDIFACT capability and Serials are functions
> that are important here at CDU.  We pretty much currently use all 3
> points you listed although the first 2 don't work particularly well from
> an implementation point of view.  The 3rd we get daily extracts from
> both staff and student systems which update the ILMS but we currently
> haven't setup authentication to use a central service as it is
> distributed across staff and student systems.  That means library portal
> profiles are accessed using a barcode and pin which always causes some
> confusion.
>
> Other important functions are notices (for recalls, requests available
> for pickup, pre-overdue and overdue items).  Then flexible reporting and
> having them emailed automatically to particular people.  Since these are
> already in Evergreen it would be a case of evaluating them to see if
> that can meet current requirements (or to see if they can be improved
> easily - an option for open source products).
>
> Since we're in the midst of upgrading our ESX infrastructure - I've yet
> been able to get access to a new machine to install Evergreen to start
> :-(.
>
> Another thing is how well can Evergreen handle importing large amounts
> of marc data?  Say ~22000 records and being able to match bib/item ids
> or use LDR format for matching and deleting marc records?
>
> These are the things I want to test anyway :-)
>
> Regards
> Pete
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org
> [mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of
> Jason Etheridge
> Sent: Thursday, 29 March 2007 6:10 PM
> To: open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org
> Subject: academic libraries Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] 226 subscribers
>
> On 3/29/07, Peter Newman <Peter.Newman at cdu.edu.au> wrote:
> > All our servers here run on VMWare ESX infrastructure
>
> Very cool.  I'm a big vmware fan, though I've never used it for servers.
>
> > Are there many academic institutions running Evergreen?
>
> There isn't.  The only live in-production instance of Evergreen
> currently is with the PINES consortium and its 265 public libraries,
> though I don't expect that to remain true for very long. :)  There's
> certainly academic interest and some volunteer contributors from
> academic institutions, and recently the Georgia Public Library Service
> has partnered with the University of Windsor to develop an
> acquisitions/serials module.
>
> I'd like to see Evergreen support not only academic libraries, but mixed
> consortia where you have academic, public, and special libraries.  With
> that thought, I'd like to pick some brains and see how some academic
> needs and concepts might map to public libraries and/or Evergreen.  I'll
> throw out a few that come to my mind, and you guys can correct me if I
> misinterpret any of them, and add any others you can think of.
>
> 1) Recalls.  Basically, you can have someone like a Professor borrow an
> item indefinitely, until someone else wants the item, at which point the
> Professor gets notified and is supposed to return the item.
> This is probably do-able under the hood now, though there isn't
> interface support for it currently.  We basically create a hold type of
> Recall and let it trigger such actions as emailing the current borrower,
> and maybe resetting the due date for the existing circulation.
>
> In fact, I think PINES could use something like this.  PINES policy says
> Staff don't accrue late fees for items they have out, though technically
> they still have due dates.  A Recall could be an easy way of getting a
> specific item back from Staff.
>
> 2) Reserves.  Basically, materials are set aside (by say, a Professor)
> to be used by a specific group of people (maybe everyone taking a
> particular course or class).  One way this could be done today is by
> creating a shelving/copy location of Reserves (maybe one for each
> course) for a library and giving it default properties of Non
> Circulating and Non Holdable for items in that location.  Then it would
> be a matter of putting patrons/students into certain permission or
> profile groups for those courses making use of reserves, and having the
> circ rules make exceptions when it encounters those.  For example, a
> shelving location of Reserves - Math 101 is non circulating to students
> by default, but if a student is a member of the Math 101 Reserve group,
> then the circ rules will allow them to circulate an item from that
> location.  What we're missing today is an easy GUI for such group and
> circ rule manipulation.
>
> 3) External patron file/data.  This came up in a talk recently;
> basically some libraries would like to
> feed/create/update/synchronize/etc. the ILS patron records with
> information from a central/external patron database (from say, the
> Registrar's office), and maybe go in the other direction as well (the
> school's account for a student could get flagged if the student has
> unresolved issues at a library).  This is doable, and was basically done
> in PINES with the migration of Patron data from the old system to
> Evergreen.  In general, given any consistently formatted (and keyed or
> indexed) data, we can map that data into Evergreen.
>
> Does anything else come to mind?
>
> Thanks!
>
> --
> Jason Etheridge
> GPLS -- PINES Development
> http://open-ils.org/
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> End of Open-ils-general Digest, Vol 10, Issue 3
> ***********************************************
>
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