[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Help for a tiny library?

[Rogan Hamby]

I'm trying to address the original question.  I appreciate that you have
your own perspective but addressing the issue at hand requires looking at
it in context of the person asking the question, not your background and
your resources.  Nor mine.

I've made several inferences from his question.  Resources are extremely
limited for Ben.  This includes hardware, finances and expertise.
Furthermore, I suspect that time is also limited.  I think it's also likely
that most of their resources are Microsoft oriented, not the least being
user experience.  How I discuss technology solutions for different
organizations will vary depending upon the resources that organization
has.  If I'm incorrect in any of this Ben can tell us and my response might
change.  But this is the reality of many small libraries.

If he as a volunteer for a small library thinks he has adequate time and
resources to work out all of the issues that will be inherent in this
endeavor then I wish him well.  I advise against it.  So, other options?
I'm going to echo Terran and say that hosting is great but it may be
outside the financial scope of options.  I'm not familiar with Surpass but
that might be one.

There are some cheap Windows softwares meant more for personal collections
that might have some limited circulation ability or function that could be
bodged together for that.  There's always building a very simple Microsoft
Access application if the library has access to that.  I'm not a fan of it
but it's an option.



On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 11:26 AM, Mark Ehle <markehle at gmail.com> wrote:

> We ran everything in VirtualBox for a long time. Is it the PC hardware you
> object to? Or just VM's in general.
>
> On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 11:24 AM, Mark Ehle <markehle at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> When you have quad-core PC's with 8gb of ram, the difference is not that
>> much. I've run production VM's on my PC in a pinch and our staff never
>> knew.
>>
>> What do you suggest Ben does?
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 11:12 AM, Rogan Hamby <rogan.hamby at yclibrary.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Mark,
>>>
>>> There is a big difference between running a production system on a
>>> desktop VM and playing with it.  Running Evergreen in Virtual Box is common
>>> for developers, documenters, etc....
>>>
>>> And it's important for those who don't have a systems background that a
>>> VM in a server environment and throwing up a VM on a desktop with limited
>>> resources are very different things.
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 11:00 AM, Mark Ehle <markehle at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Not at all dubious, Rogan. We run Sirsi Symphony as a VM and have been
>>>> for years. We pretty much don't run our servers on anything else *but*
>>>> VM's. It's just how things are done now. I've run Evergreen in Virtual Box
>>>> (totally free) on my PC to play with it and it works just fine. Given a
>>>> decent enough PC,mainly enough memory, I'm sure you could run Evergreen on
>>>> a VM for a few clients for a small library.
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 10:49 AM, Rogan Hamby <
>>>> rogan.hamby at yclibrary.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Ben,
>>>>>
>>>>> This was alluded to but to be clear, Evergreen isn't Windows
>>>>> software.  Evergreen was built to run on Linux and is commonly run on
>>>>> Debian though I know it's used successfully on other distributions as
>>>>> well.  Honestly, as much as I love to spread the love of Evergreen from
>>>>> what I can infer from your post I don't think this would be the right
>>>>> direction for you.
>>>>>
>>>>> Running a production system on a VM is dubious though possible but
>>>>> then connecting clients, doing the configuration, etc... these are going to
>>>>> require a big investment of time and energy on the part of staff.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Jan 17, 2015 at 6:25 PM, Ben T. <t.ben38 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello All,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I volunteer for a tiny library that is growing.  At this point we're
>>>>>> looking for a way to manage our check-outs/returns some way more efficient
>>>>>> than paper and pencil.  Evergreen seems like it could be a good solution
>>>>>> for us, however we are not able to afford a server at this point nor a
>>>>>> subscription (we basically have no money).  Is there any way (hopefully a
>>>>>> simple one) to run Evergreen just on a single Windows (7) machine, keeping
>>>>>> the catalog and patron information locally?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>>> Ben
>>>>>> Librarian Volunteer
>>>>>> Kendall Clawson Library
>>>>>>
>>>>>> p.s. I am decently tech savvy, but not VERY tech savvy.  I won't be
>>>>>> able to do any major amount of coding on my own.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>>
>>>>> Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
>>>>> Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
>>>>> York County Library System
>>>>>
>>>>> “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to
>>>>> suit me.”
>>>>> ― C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
>>> Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
>>> York County Library System
>>>
>>> “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to
>>> suit me.”
>>> ― C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
>>>
>>
>>
>


-- 

Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
York County Library System

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit
me.”
― C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
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