[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] need pointer on deciding "Is Open-ILS right for us?"

[Don McMorris]

On 2/28/07, john <lists.john at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>  This is my first posting to the list. My name is John and I am one of two
> full time tech folks that
>  work for a small school district.
Hi John! Welcome!

> We are keen to leave the world of
> proprietary software behind in
>  all of our work, and this includes our library catalog solution.
Very Cool!
> I'm
>  excited about the reading I've done around OPEN-ILS and I hope that you
> folks
>  can help me to get my bearings as I struggle to understand whether such
>  a move is feasible for our small district. Perhaps if I give you a
>  little background you can let me know what you think:
>
>  Userbase: 1400
>  Titles in current catalog: 30,000+
>  Librarians: 3 at 3 different schools on a single fiber connected campus
>  current solution: SirsiDynix/Horizon
This shouldn't be an issue.  Based on
http://www.georgialibraries.org/lib/pines/PINES_flyer.pdf the PINES
consortium consists of:
-252 libraries in 123 counties (note: I think a few have been added
since this count)
-8 million items
Based on the information at http://open-ils.org/blog/?p=56, PINES runs
on the following configuration:
-4 database servers
-2 central logging servers
-30 application servers
-2 load balancers/firewall combo boxes

Evergreen is made to run on any amount of hardware, from a single
all-purpose server to the complexity of PINES (and even moreso).

>
>  Our SD/Horizon solution is:
>  1. slow
>  2. plagued by data corruption issues
>  3. expen$ive with high start up costs and 3 year contract cycles
>  4. proprietary
>  5. hard to use for Librarians
>  6. Not especially useful to students
Welcome to the world of Proprietary software! ;)
>
>
>  Potential blockers to a switch:
>  1. Neither techie is a programmer
>  2. Neither techie has any ILS background
I think *nix experience (especially Linux), PostgreSQL, Perl, Apache
experience would be helpful for administration.  The hard part is
installation, which isn't terribly hard at all.
>
>  Unknowns:
>
>  1. In consideration of trying to demo Open_ILS what format should we
>  request our current records from SirsiDynix/Horizon? They have been very
>  reluctant to part with the records, but if I had a format that would
>  facilitate a transfer I'd push aggressively for that.
Mike will get back to you on this... He's at Code4LibCon right now.

>
>  2. Is there a standard/evolving migration path for these records. I see
>  that this appears to be
>  a commonplace task for some folks
> http://list.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/2007-January/000056.html

>
>  Thanks! I look forward to hearing your (collective) ideas.
>
I would urge you to demo the system.  A staff client (along with
usernames and passwords) can be downloaded from
http://www.open-ils.org/cvs.html.  The hostname is demo.gapines.org
for the current "stable" edition, and dev.gapines.org for the
"bleeding edge" version.  The OPAC is web-based, demoed at
http://demo.gapines.org and http://dev.gapines.org.

The original Evergreen developers' have also formed a support company
ESI Library (http://esilibrary.com).  They offer
installation/migration services, hosting, and the like.  Not to
mention these lists and the ever-growing community interest.

Hope this helps!
> John
>
--Don