[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] 226 subscribers

[Natasha Stephan]

Hi all,
My name is Natasha, and I am the database/ILS admin for a partnership
between two special libraries (one art reference, one science research)
in Kansas City, MO.  That arrangement came about in 1994 when both
libraries wanted to automate but neither could afford the money and
resources to do it on their own.  Like so many others on this list, we
will someday be refugees from Horizon.  I suspect we will stay on 7.3.4
as long as possible, though.  Where we (and I) go in the future depends
on whether the partnership stands.

Using Evergreen in production is just a pipe dream right now, since one
of the libraries has over 40,000 serials titles and uses the Acq module
in Horizon to do crazy things like purchase a million-dollar rare book.
Although (as Josh suggested) it would be fun to see the look on the
faces of staff if I told them they had to go back to the Kardex and
paper purchase orders.  As such, we will be watching the U of
Windsor/PINES partnership very closely!  Whichever direction we go in,
we won't go it alone; we'll contract with someone to provide support.  I
also hope to find a community of users like we had with Horizon; without
them, I could not have done my job these last 8 years.

Like Art, we remember Notis Horizon.  We actually signed our original
contract with Notis to get Horizon, but we ended up with Ameritech
selling Notis rebranded as Horizon.  Boy was our library director
pissed!  I started working here about 5 years later; even then, we
weren't completely over it. :)

I'm not sure whether I have anything to contribute to the development of
Evergreen.  I have no formal library or computer education, or training
in programming; I was a copy-cataloger at one of the libraries that got
moved into Systems because I kept playing with the computers.  So almost
all my knowledge is tied up in Horizon and Sybase.  I think my favorite
task is writing SQL queries against our database (not that I'm a guru; I
don't usually manipulate data, only pull it out).  So I guess I'll be
playing with PostgreSQL once I get my data in there.  I usually rely on
the expertise of "the guys" in my office (I share space with the Systems
department that I formerly worked for) when installing or
troubleshooting Linux.  I'm currently planning to install Evergreen on a
spare machine donated to the cause by "the guys".  We put CentOS on it
yesterday, since my other servers are RHEL4 and I'm relatively familiar
with that flavor of Linux.
Thanks for being out there,
Natasha

> -----Original Message-----
> From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org
[mailto:open-ils-
> general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of LaJeunesse,
Brad
> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 7:45 PM
> To: open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org
> Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] 226 subscribers
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>