[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Winnebago Spectrum to Open-ILS - How?

[Edward Corrado]

Kevin Landers said the following on 09/24/2007 4:31 PM:
> On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:35:20 -0400, "Dan Scott" <denials at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> On 24/09/2007, Kevin Landers <support at bezaleel.net> wrote:
>>     
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>>  I have several schools in South Carolina that are currently utilizing
>>> Winnebago Spectrum for their library administration system. After
>>>       
>> performing
>>     
>>> the latest 5.X update, I was informed that there would be no more
>>>       
>> updates to
>>     
>>> Spectrum. As an option, I would like to offer them the opportunity to
>>>       
>> move
>>     
>>> toward Open-ILS.
>>>
>>>  Has anyone ever attempted such a migration? Does anyone have any
>>>       
>> advice,
>>     
>>> direction, etc?
>>>
>>>  I am planning to grab a copy of the latest data and install of Spectrum
>>>       
>> and
>>     
>>> Open-ILS and attempt the migration. I just have no clue where to really
>>> begin.
>>>
>>>  Thanks in advance,
>>>  Kevin L.
>>>
>>>       
>> Hi Kevin:
>>
>> Does Winnebago Spectrum support the export of MARC bibliographic
>> records, holdings, and patron data in some format? That would be a
>> very good place to begin. From there, you could start working towards
>> importing that data into Evergreen (aka Open-ILS).
>>
>> --
>> Dan Scott
>> Laurentian University
>>     
>
> Dan,
>
> I am not sure what export capabilities Spectrum supports. I will try to do a bit of research today via the web.
>
> I am currently grabbing a database dumb from one of our schools and will be grabbing Spectrum install files tonight as well. That will probably take a while.
>
> I will also attempt to contact Winnebago tomorrow for information related to exporting.
>
> Also, sorry for the multiple postings. My connection is having issues with sending out mail at the moment. My apologies.
>
> Thanks again,
> Kevin L.
>
>   
Hi Kevin,

As Dan said, the big trick would be getting the data out in an easy 
manner. Patron data is often the hardest, and I know libraries that have 
migrated to other (non-OSS) ILS's that just decide it isn't worth it and 
start with a clean patron file, so that might be an option.

Incidentally, I didn't here anything about Winnebago Spectrum not being 
updated anymore. Was there an official announcement about this? A quick 
internet search didn't find anything. Are they pushing you towards 
Athena, something else, or are they giving up on marketting an ILS 
altogether?

Edward




-- 
Edward M. Corrado
http://www.tcnj.edu/~corrado/
Systems Librarian
The College of New Jersey
403E TCNJ Library
PO Box 7718 Ewing, NJ 08628-0718
Tel: 609.771.3337  Fax: 609.637.5177
Email: corrado at tcnj.edu