[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Which open-ils system would be easier to use/configure in k-12

[Stuart Miller]

I can't speak to the specific needs of K-12, but I DO have an opinion about your questions: - Is the assumption that an open ILS installation will be cheaper
hosted solution true or should our librarians not assume that Free Software means cheaper software? We would very likely be looking to have this solution hosted.

Most advocates for open source do NOT claim that it saves money. Rather, it allows you to redirect expenditures to more productive uses, allows for competition for your support dollars, and eliminates what can be a very high initial license fee for a new system. That said, you still might be able to reduce IT costs--but like everything else, it depends. 

You can obtain Koha or Evergreen for "free" in the sense that do not pay an upfront, one-time initial license fee such as you paid for Horizon. If you choose to support your open source system, you will save the annual maintenance you pay for Horizon. However, my guess is that you will want to continue to contract for support from Equinox or LibLime, the two companies currently offering support for Evergreen and Koha. I THINK LibLime can also host Koha for you. I can't tell where you are geographically but some states are creating consortia to run open source as a shared system (as Georgia PINES did with Evergreen). Unless you can join a consortium where at least some of the overhead costs are absorbed at another level, your annual IT costs may not be any less with an open-source system. However, if you are currently running your own Horizon server, it might indeed be cheaper to move to a hosted open source solution. But it's hard to believe that some costs, e.g., desktops, local support staff, etc. will go away under any scenario.   

Hope this helps your thinking. I'd encourage you to get some ballpark figures for support, hosting, etc. from LibLime or Equinox.

Stuart Miller
University of Chicago

-----Original Message-----
From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of john
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 4:42 PM
To: Evergreen Discussion Group
Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Which open-ils system would be easier to use/configure in k-12

Hello all,

I have two questions that I could use some help with. Please excuse
the broad strokes but we are just starting to consider a move and
haven't zeroed in on particulars yet. Generally though, we are
wondering if it be cheaper to move to an Open-ILS system (in the short
and long term) or stick with a tried but expensive solution? And which
open-ils solution is more appropriate for a K12 institution.

Background:

We are a small School District of approx. 1600 pupils with 1 primary,
1 middle and 1 high-school. We have approx 30K books in our catalog
which
is currently hosted by Sirsi Dynix/Horizon. Our librarians are
interested in moving to an Open Source Solution because we think it
will be cheaper to operate in the long run. We currently spend 5K a
year for hosting and library budgets are being cut way back next year.

We've spent a little time looking at KOHA and Evergreen. Both seem
generally to fit the bill, but there are specific things our three
librarians don't like about either system.  They're general response
seems to be that neither system seems "just right" for needs
particular to a K12 institution e.g. an environment where students
might be identified by name rather than patron bar-code, where patrons
are created in bulk via import from a SIS (we use Skyward), etc.

So here's some questions that I hope folks can help me with:

- Does anyone know of a hosted KOHA or Evergreen Demo that has been
tailored to a K12 setting? I'd like to help the Librarians to find a
demo to try out that is based on such an environment.

- Does one system or another enjoy a clear advantage in terms of
flexibility of design? I noticed that EverGreen is based on XUL, so I
assume it is meant to be very adaptable.

- Is either system more clearly suited for the K12 environment?

- Does either system win points from the standpoint of maturity of the
project or availability of paid hosting and support?

- Is the assumption that an open ILS istallation will be cheaper
hosted solution true or should our librarians not assume that Free
Software means cheaper software? We would very likely be looking to
have this solution hosted.

I hope that you'll take a moment to help me refine my thinking so that
I can help the librarians in our district refine theirs!

Thanks for your ideas!

John