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

[john]

Thanks Kyle,

I looked briefly at Koha as I was looking at what was out there. Thank you
for the advice. I'll give it a closer second look based on your
recommendation.

John

On 2/28/07, Kyle Banerjee <kyle.banerjee at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Howdy John,
>
> I know Evergreen is all the buzz now, but since you have a small
> library with what sounds like might be simple needs, you might want to
> investigate the open source Koha alternative http://www.koha.org/
>
> For a small institution, the installation will most likely be much
> simpler, there will be significantly fewer dependencies, and the
> support community is more mature.
>
> Given that your techie folks do not have an ILS background, I would
> strongly recommend consulting with someone who does. People tend to
> think of the ILS as a catalog, but it really is a specialized database
> optimized towards library workflows. If the people handling the
> migration don't "get" what needs to be done, it's highly likely that
> lengthy (i.e. expensive and time consuming) cleanup will be necessary.
> Regardless of the system you opt for MARC or MARCXML would be ideal.
> Generally speaking, MARC is a good way to go with migrations.
>
> kyle
>
> 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. We are keen to leave the world of
> > proprietary software behind in
> >  all of our work, and this includes our library catalog solution. 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
> >
> >  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
> >
> >
> >  Potential blockers to a switch:
> >  1. Neither techie is a programmer
> >  2. Neither techie has any ILS background
> >
> >  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.
> >
> >  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.
> >
> > John
> >
>
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