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

Mon Jan 19 09:30:10 EST 2015

Just a brief addition.  This looked interesting.  It's basically turnkey
and a hosted solution.  As you can see, I linked the pricing/features
page.  Why not get straight to the bottom line?  I +1 Terran's fundraising
idea.

http://www.libraryworld.com/pricing.html

On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 7:19 PM, McCanna, Terran <
tmccanna at georgialibraries.org> wrote:

> 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>
> >
>

-- 
Ruth Frasur
Director of the Historic(ally Awesome) Hagerstown - Jefferson Township
Library
10 W. College Street in Hagerstown, Indiana (47346)
p (765) 489-5632; f (765) 489-5808

Our Kickin' Website <http://hagerstownlibrary.org>  Our Rockin' Facebook
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