[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Next Steps: Was Re: Late Bloomer

[Bill Hudson]

> Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:53:48 -0400
> From: Lynne Welch <welchly at oplin.org>
> Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Late Bloomer
<snip>
> SIRSI Horizon decision. My question to you-all is:  if the librarians
> got together and prepared a list of must-have's and would-like's, would
> it be feasible for a group of masters-level students and teachers at
> either one or several state-funded universities to collaborate on a
> tweaked version (for example of Evergreen) that would work for various
> sizes of libraries throughout Ohio?
<snip>


Hi Lynne et al,

You've hit on something that has been rolling around in my head for several
weeks now and was given a big kick at the recent Computers In Libraries
(CIL) conference in DC. Before I go further, a quick introduction. 

I'm the IT manager for a 14 member/16 building library system in south
central PA. We have approximately 750,000 items in the collection and around
2.8 million circs a year with a service area approaching 500k people. We've
been an Innovative Interfaces' (III) Millennium site since our migration
from Gaylord's Galaxy system back in 2002. 

While I'm generally pleased with the III system, I'm frustrated by 1: the
relatively slow pace of innovation in the system specifically on behalf of
public libraries, 2: the cost of yearly support (I can easily see in five
years that our support cost are within spittn' distance of 6 figures); and
3. the closed nature of the software, i.e. there are very finite limits as
to what we can change, extend, or ways to access our own data.

At a presentation at CIL, Marshall Breeding expanded on the technological
and financial reasons for the above issues. While I understand them and
sympathize with the challenges faced by the ILS vendors in a relatively
small vertical market, I am certainly willing to entertain a different way
of doing things. From what I've seen, Evergreen represents the best option
to date for medium to large sized libraries to take control of their ILS
systems and advance them at a pace far greater than the half dozen or so ILS
vendors that operate in this space. It can also be great for smaller
libraries but in most cases, they need the turnkey solution and don't have
the time or expertise to do a lot of "tweaking."

Though I run an IT department, I have no experience in coding or software
development so I plead severe ignorance with regards to the challenges of
developing a large scale software package, let alone one done as an open
source project. Even so, I am being to believe that PINES has created the
nucleus of something that could become a serious option for many libraries
and I am willing to push for broader adoption and support. 

To that end, I spoke to a member of our own state library group on Monday
about the possibility of that organization getting behind the Evergreen
project. As we all know these organizations move slowly and need lots of CYA
data to make this kind of move, but the curiosity about my proposal IS
there.

As Lynne alluded to with her comment about universities and the talent pool
there, I think there is a tremendous opportunity for us to tap into this
talent as well as the talent in many public libraries across the world. One
only has to look at some of the cool library 2.0 stuff across the net to see
that there are some smart, talented and motivated coders working in
libraryland. Beyond that, with additional dollars from other entities put
towards the project (read states, universities, big libraries and consortia)
you aren't limited to a few core staffers at PINES and a legion of
"volunteer" coders.

So my question to the good folks running the Evergreen project is: do you
have a strategy for developing partnerships outside of your organization to
broaden and deepen the support for Evergreen? Do you have a plan in place to
accommodate a measurable increase in funding (from potential development
partners) to grow the project?

I'd greatly appreciate some discussion about the long term strategy for the
Evergreen project. With a concrete plan, many of us can use that to rally
others to fund the project and speed development.

I look forward to a vigorus discussion about moving Evergreen from a state
wide initiative to one of national and broader scope.
Thanks,
BH
 
****************************************************************************

Bill Hudson, Deputy Administrator
Manager, Information Technology Services
Library System of Lancaster County
1866 Colonial Village Lane, Suite 107
Lancaster, PA 17601
V. 717.207.0500 x1269 F.717.207.0504



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