SPAM: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Is Evergreen the right choice for my project?

[evergreen at copelan.com]

Lindsay, 
I am a newbie to the world of Evergreen so please consider the below comments in that light.  
Also, I, by profession, work on business processes and IT systems so am not an expert on library 
topics.  Any of the regulars here should feel free to correct what I have wrong. 

For a year or so now I had been looking at various Open Source library systems for our home 
collection. (fiction, Computer related, some non-fiction, VHS, DVD, Audio).  About a month or so 
ago I made the decision to give Evergreen a try.  That wasn't based on installing and trying any 
other system as much as it was on the fact that I live in Georgia and my wife uses the PINES 
catalog extensively. (that is important for acceptance!!) 

Here are my experiences so far:

1. Installation:  Deibian installs right off the Deibian install CD.  Evergreen has step by step 
instructions.  Both were easy to install. The few glitches were easily solved by posting questions 
on this mailing list. (very helpful and open people here).  

2. Server support:  I'm running this on a 5 year old Pentium IV 2.4 GHz PC.  Started with 256MB of 
RAM which is WAY under the reccommended size.  It worked but very slow and with timeouts. After 
upgrading from 256MB RAM to 1.2 GB RAM ($24 at Fry's) the system works flawlessly and very fast. 
So far I have loaded aboug 180 items.  For the final server I would probably install something 
with redundant disks  or 2 redundant systems (PC's are low cost these days) and implement a 
regular backup for data protection.

3. Loading bib records:  I use the Library of Congress Voyager database to lookup books by ISBN, 
LCCN, Title or Author.  For books that the LOC has this works fine.  The import of the MARC into 
Evergreen is fast.  A couple of clicks and you have the bib record, MARC and volume, complete with 
value if you choose to use it.  What has been loaded is searchable in the OPAC (online catalog). 
The LOC lookup as well as for other Z39.50 servers (OCLC is there at install time) is built into 
the system 

4. Patrons:  I plan to use the patron functionality in 2 ways.  A. If I loan out a book then I 
will create a "patron" record for the person who borrows the book and then check the book out to 
them.  This is the traditional use... B. If I temporarily move a book to another location (as in 
your case might happen if something is loaned to a museum or other organization) then a "patron" 
record will be created for that group and the book (or other item) will be "checked out". 
Advantage here is that there will be a reminder (aka: overdue list) that can be used to follow-
up.   

5. Items not found in the Library of Congress database are a bit of an issue for me right now. We 
have a lot of paperbacks and books from Germany, the UK.  My goal is to get the European MARC from 
some library system over there.. The Paperbacks will probably have to be manually coded one by 
one.  Not the end of the world... In your case you have OCLC doing that for you so this shouldn't 
be an issue 

6. Staff client:  The interaction with the system is via a program called the staff client that 
runs on the PC (Windows or Linux/Unix based).  This is the same program used by the PINES 
libraries and handles the interaction that a librarian or custodian of the collection would need. 

7. Web based catalog:   To see the functionality in the catalog go to http://gapines.org.  That is 
the production version for the GA PINES system.  The one I have here on my installation is the 
same just with only my holdings.  

Since you have OCLC doing the custom cataloging then if you decide to give Evergreen a try ask the 
OCLC people if they can give you access to the MARC via the Z39.50 lookup.  Then you won't have to 
manage stacks of text files.  There is a support script that will dump the MARC back out of 
Evergreen into a file if you really need it that way.  As mentioned above, the load via Z39.50 
server is only a few clicks to go from nothing in the system to a full MARC record with volume, 
value and location info.   

Regarding the hosting and access.  There are various ways to get access to the web catalog.  
Depending on the Internet connections that the owner is using for other purposes it could be as 
easy as setting up a route through her firewall to the Evergreen server for the Apache port. Her 
technical support people should be able to give some ideas there.  It's hard to say without 
knowing more about the infrastructure that is available.


There is much more to learn about how it works but I am very happy so far. Hope this is of some 
help to you.

Regards,
Robert
 

On Mon Jun 30 17:24 , "Lindsay Negrello"  sent:

> 
>I am writing in hopes of getting some good advice regarding using Evergreen for the project that 
I am currently working on. I am organizing and cataloging the personal library (which is still 
just a huge pile of 3000 books with no rhyme or reason) of a very well-known philanthropist/art 
collector here in the SF Bay Area. The books are in two locations, her office and her home. 
Thusfar the office books are all art books and exhibition catalogs. 
>
> 
>I have Connexion Client and am doing some of the copy and all of the original cataloging myself, 
though the majority of the copy has been sub-contracted out to OCLC's custom cataloging 
department. I am also adding 655s using the Getty AAT and am also adding some provenance notes. 
The reason I am doing "proper" cataloging using OCLC is that she plans to eventually donate the 
collection and she wants the receiving institution to be able to add the collection without having 
to do much processing.
>
> 
>Once I have finished cataloging everything and have received all of the MARC records from OCLC 
(they send them in batches in an email), I need a place to put them!   I would like the database  
to be very user-friendly for the owner of the collection (no one else will use this database), it 
must also be private as she is a very high-profile person and does not want anyone contacting her 
to borrow the books. In fact, we had to work out a deal with OCLC so that when users mouse over 
the holdings for books that she owns, no information would come up under the acronym for her 
library. She would also like the database to be web-based so that she can access it from anywhere 
(she travels a lot), and above all, it must actually display the information that I am taking so 
much time to add to the MARC records. Would Evergreen be a good choice? Can I upload MARC records 
with relative ease to Evergreen? I apologize if I seem really ignorant, but I am a student and 
this is the first project of this kind that I have ever undertaken.
>
> 
>If Evergreen doesn't seem like it will fit our criteria, I would be eternally grateful for any 
other web-based application you can suggest. OCLC suggested EOS web enterprise, but the owner of 
the collection does not want to pay $3500 per year just so that the records for her own books can 
be accessible to her.  
>
> 
>Thanks so much for your time!
>Lindsay