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

Sun Jan 18 19:19:07 EST 2015

Ben,

Ouch, I didn't see Surpass's price tag. There's something called ResourceMate that has a "Lite" edition for $295, and another called PrimaSoft Small Library Organizer Pro for $245, both of which are designed for very small libraries to run on a single machine. Again, I haven't used either, but they might be worth investigating. Maybe you could do a bit of fundraising so you don't have to pay out of pocket?

Good luck!

Terran McCanna 
PINES Program Manager 
Georgia Public Library Service 
1800 Century Place, Suite 150 
Atlanta, GA 30345 
404-235-7138 
tmccanna at georgialibraries.org 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben T." <t.ben38 at gmail.com>
To: "Evergreen Discussion Group" <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2015 6:39:17 PM
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Help for a tiny library?

Thank you for all the responses.

Rogan, you inferences are generally correct.  I do not have much
experience.  I have worked with virtual machines before, and I use Ubuntu
on my personal computer, but I have never really been a sys admin.  As for
time, I do not have much time per week, but I have a soft deadline to make
something work by June.  So I possibly could set up a VM and make this
work.  However, our computer is shared with a bunch of volunteers at the
community center, many of whom are not very computer literate.  My
intuition tells me that a VM would not survive meddling from other folks.
So if a VM is the only available solution with Evergreen, I think I will
keep looking.

Terran, Surpass looks amazing, except for the ~$3000 price tag on it.
Anything purchased is likely coming out of my pocket at this point, and
there is no way I can afford that.

Yunus, Openbiblio also looks good, except it runs into the same server
problem that evergreen does.

So I think I'll keep looking for solutions.  Thanks, everyone.

On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 1:47 PM, Rogan Hamby <rogan.hamby at yclibrary.net>
wrote:

> It does still require Linux skills as it's a virtual machine whether he
> has that skill set or is willing to invest the time to learn it is a
> pre-requisite, something I wouldn't assume from the question.
>
> On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 12:12 PM, Mark Ehle <markehle at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Ben did say he was decently tech savvy and asked for a way to run
>> Evergreen on a pc. VirtualBox fits the bill.
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 12:08 PM, McCanna, Terran <
>> tmccanna at georgialibraries.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Regardless of whether it's feasible in a Windows VM environment or not,
>>> I really think that Evergreen is too complicated to set up and maintain for
>>> someone who doesn't have a strong skillset in system administration. A
>>> hosted ILS would be a better option, but a lot of tiny libraries can't
>>> afford that either.
>>>
>>> Personally, if I were in Ben's position, I would investigate some of the
>>> library automation system offerings that are designed specifically for
>>> small libraries. Does anyone have any experience with Surpass? I haven't
>>> used it, but it looks like it was designed for tiny libraries (less than
>>> 5000 items) and has a standalone license option for running on a single
>>> non-networked PC: http://www.surpasssoftware.com/surpass-sl.html.
>>>
>>>
>>> Terran McCanna
>>> PINES Program Manager
>>> Georgia Public Library Service
>>> 1800 Century Place, Suite 150
>>> Atlanta, GA 30345
>>> 404-235-7138
>>> tmccanna at georgialibraries.org
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Mark Ehle" <markehle at gmail.com>
>>> To: "Evergreen Discussion Group" <
>>> open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
>>> Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2015 11:26:53 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Help for a tiny library?
>>>
>>> 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>
>