Current Status and Future Prospects

(1)

(2)

General Dissatisfaction with

Commercial ILS

y Not just with Aleph

y SIRSI / DYNIX

(3)

Dissatisfaction

y Development slow – broken promises y We can’t fix things, even if we know how y Procedures cumbersome for y Library staff y _{Systems staff} y OPAC User interfaces falling behind commercial sites y Google, Amazon

(4)

Locked in to a single vendor

y For support y For product development y Switching means y Large purchase $$$$$ y _Migration y _RFP

(5)

What do you we get for the

Support $$$s

y Support y Development y Enhancements y _{What the Vendor wants to give us} y _{What they think will sell systems}

(6)

On the positive side: Full function ILS

y OPAC y Cataloging y Circ y Course Reserves y Booking y Inventory y Serials y Binding y Acquisitions y EDI y ILL

(7)

On the positive side –

Completeness, Standards & Security

y MARC Format for Holdings (MFHD) y Robust, granulated security y Consortium Features y Ownership of Records y Audit Trails

(8)

Aleph Outlook

y ExLibris bought by private equity firm y Endeavor (Voyager) bought by same firm y Difficult and expensive to support multiple y Product lines y _{Customer bases}

(9)

Aleph Outlook

y New product under development as successor to both Voyager and Aleph y Means migration sometime in next few years no matter what y Anyone think new product will be included in maintenance fees? y _{Purchase $$$s} y _RFP y _Migration

(10)

There will be a last major

release of Aleph

y Ver 21? 22? y Amount of change will slow y Bug fixes only y Most development will be in new product y Will find out more at ELUNA 08

(11)

Ex Libris

y Will support Aleph and Voyager “indefinitely”

(Couldn’t move whole customer base rapidly in any case)

(12)

Next Moves:

y _{Bolt on a new user interface} y The Discovery Tool (implemented by PALS) y OCLC WorldCat.org, WorldCat Local y Primo, Endeca …. y _{Choose and implement new ILS}

(13)

Open Source ILS, an Alternative

to Commercial ILS?

(14)

What is Open Source?

(15)

What is Free Software?

y

FSF ‐ Free Software Foundation (1985)

y

Free as in Free Speech

y

Software should be free for ethical reasons

y

www.fsf.org

y

Software must be licensed following certain

guidelines (e.g. GPL)

(16)

What is Open Source Software?

y

OSI ‐ Open Source Initiative (1998)

y

Free as in Free Kittens

y

Software should be free for practical reasons

y

www.opensource.org

y

Most open source software is also Free software

(17)

Our Experience With Open

Source

y

LAMP Solution Stack

y

_{Linux (the operating system)}

y

Apache (the Web server)

y

_{MySQL (the database management system)}

y

Perl, PHP, and/or Python (programming languages)

(18)

Our Experience With Linux

y

The Operating System for...

y

Some development workstations

y

_{Servers running Proxy Services}

y

Server running the Discovery Tool

y

_{Servers running the MnPALS Home Page, Forum,}

Wiki, and Mailing Lists

(19)

Our Experience With Apache

y

_{The web server for...}

y

WebPALS

y

_Aleph

y

LibProxy

y

_{Discovery Tool}

y

MnPALS Home Page, Forum, Wiki, and Mailing

Lists

(20)

Our Experience With MySQL

y

_{The database management system for...}

y

LibProxy

y

_VUFind

(21)

Our Experience With

Perl, PHP, and Python

y

Perl is the programming language for...

y WebPALS y _PLIF Loader y _{Many server side administrative scripts}

y

_{PHP is the programming language for...}

y _{MnPALS Home Page, Forum, Wiki, and VUFind} y

Python is the programming language for...

y _{Mailman and fac‐back opac}

(22)

Open Source ‐

Free as in “Free Kittens”

(23)

Open Source ILS Costs

y Migration y Server operations y Training y Help Desk y Sponsored development instead of maintenance payments y Replacement of missing functionality

(24)

Koha and Evergreen ‐

Two OS ILSs

y Many have seen the 1‐hour gee‐whizz presentations y _{Not enough information for serious analysis} y Two‐day training sessions from support organizations y _{Liblime (Koha)} y _{Equinox (Evergreen)} y _{Look under the hood} y _{First look: Are these viable alternatives to Aleph?}

(25)

Koha

y Design, Architecture, Security y OPAC y CAT y CIRC y ACQ y _SER y ILL y Systems y Reports

(26)

Koha ‐Design, Architecture,

Security

y Relational Database MySQL

y PERL – interpreted language – will it scale?

(27)

Koha ‐ Consortium features not

part of original design

y “Branches” all at one level y No concept of record ownership – patrons or bibs y Permissions by module not function y _{Need increased granularity} y Lots of global settings y Consortium features under development

(28)

Koha OPAC

y FRBR “light”

y Facets, book covers, reviews

(29)

(30)

(31)

(32)

Koha Staff Interface

y

Has No Staff Client – Entirely Web‐Based

y

+ No Client to install, configure and update

y

_{‐ Might be slower, uses http for everything}

(33)

(34)

(35)

Koha Search Catalog and Reservoir

to Edit MARC Record

(36)

Koha Edit the Bib Record (older

MARC Editor)

(37)

Other Cataloging Features

y Authorities good y Biblio Editor y _{Advanced MARC Editor Created by Liblime} y _{Javascript application.} y _{Similar to OCLC Connexion.}

(38)

Koha Tools – Stage MARC records

for Import

(39)

(40)

(41)

(42)

(43)

(44)

Circulation – Outstanding Issues

y Calendar ‐ Only daily not hourly

y _{Daily Loans and fines}

y No Course Reserve Module

(45)

Koha Acquisitions/Serials

y Current acquisitions and serials piece is quite simple y _{No Fund Hierarchies} y _No EDI y Waldo is working with Liblime to develop more robust acquisitions and serials modules (Sponsored Development) y Fall ‘08?

(46)

Opening page for Acquisitions

(47)

Go to vendor page to add an order

Uses basket (collection for orders)

(48)

(49)

(50)

(51)

(52)

Serials

y

_{Subscription shows next}

expected issue

y

_{Can do routing and claiming}

(53)

Koha & ILL

y No ILL Module y Plan links to third‐party ILL systems y "There will be an announcement from Koha sometime in May concerning their plans for ILL. Indications are that Koha will probably interact with existing ILL systems and include a discovery component."

(54)

Koha & ILL

y Can do inter‐branch circulation of returnables IF both are on the same instance of Koha y Where would we manage ILL? y ILLAD, VDX, Other? y Additional $$$ for an ILL System

(55)

(56)

(57)

(58)

(59)

(60)

(61)

Koha Reports – Guided Report

Wizard

(62)

Evergreen

y Design, Architecture, Security y OPAC y CAT y CIRC y ACQ y _SER y ILL y SYSTEMS y Reports

(63)

Evergreen Disclaimer

y The following is what we have discovered by ourselves

y We have not had our 2‐day session with Equinox yet

y We will have more information after the Equinox session

(64)

Evergreen

Design, Architecture, Security

y Database – PostgeSQL y “C” and PERL y Apache, Mod_Perl y Does have a staff client (cross platform)

(65)

Evergreen

Design, Architecture, Security

y Clustered hardware configuration y Consortium – oriented design y Hierarchical entities and branches y Don’t know yet y _Permissions y Record ownership

(66)

Evergreen OPAC

y FRBR Display

y Facets, book covers, reviews

(67)

(68)

(69)

(70)

Evergreen Client

(71)

(72)

(73)

(74)

(75)

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(82)

(83)

Evergreen –Serials and Acquisitions

y None at this time!

y In development with University of Windsor.

(84)

Evergreen & ILL

y Can do inter‐branch circulation of returnables

y No ILL Module

(85)

Evergreen & ILL

y Must use third‐party applications

y Where would we manage ILL?

y _{ILLAD, VDX, Other?}

(86)

(87)

(88)

(89)

Aleph, Koha and Evergreen –

Summary

Feature Aleph Koha Evergreen*

Design, Architecture RDMS + Control Files, scalable Cobol My SQL PERL – Scalability issues? PostgreSQL, C, PERL, Mod_PERL Scalable Hundreds of Libraries Consortium Friendly Somewhat No, Some development underway Yes Robust, granulated security Yes No Yes? OPAC Old, difficult to use Facets, Web 2.0, FRBR lite FRBR, facets, Web 2.0 MFHD Yes No No

(90)

Aleph, Koha and Evergreen – Summary ‐ 2

Circ Complete but difficult Simple, consortium elements missing Better for consortium? Course Reserve Yes No, under

development

No ?

Booking Yes No No ?

Serials Yes, complete but difficult

Simple, No, Expected soon Acquisitions Yes,complete but

difficult

Simple ,Ver. 2 soon No, Expected soon

EDI Yes No No Binding Yes No No ILL Yes No No Inter‐branch Callslip for Returnables Yes in 18, (we haven’t implemented) Yes, if on same instance Yes

(91)

Aleph, Koha and Evergreen –

Summary – 3

Reports Difficult, not everything is in tables Yes, Prepackaged, Builder, SQL Yes Ownership of Records Yes No ? Audit Trails Yes No ?

Staff Client Yes No Yes

Time and Effort to Use and Maintain – Library staff

Very High Low? Low?

Time and Effort to Maintain–system staff

Very High Low? Low?

Total Cost of Ownership Very High After sponsored development, probably low After sponsored development, probably low

(92)

Conclusions

y Aleph – Complete but difficult y _{Limited life} y _{High cost of ownership} y OS ILS y _{Modern design, architecture and presentation} y _{Incomplete from a academic and consortium} perspective y _{Some sponsored development underway} y More sponsored development needed for MnPALS to use

(93)

Next Steps

y Lean more about Ex Libris’ plans for Aleph and successor product y Track OS ILS development efforts & projects y _{Academic features} y _{Consortium features} y _{Missing functionality} y Sponsor development or find alternatives y Assess options y Provide additional informational and participative opportunities to the consortium

(94)

Discussion Questions

y How important is a shared ILS and shared records such as bibs, patrons, and vendors? y What role does the ILS play in our Consortium? y What will it take for Open Source Library System software to be ready for your library? y What can you live without? y _{What functionality can be provided in some other way?} y Can some libraries move to a new system sooner and others later?