Presentation about the Open Source resource-sharing product, Fulfillment, and what is happening in California with it (small pilot testing group), and how it could affect the future of resource-sharing in California.
The short presentation was followed by an energetic discussion about resource-sharing issues in California.
The latest issue of Collaborative Librarianship is out along with my Technology Matters column entitled "The Golden Ratio and Community."
My column begins like this....
"I recently read The Secret Code: The Mysterious Formula that Rules Art, Nature, and Science by Priya Hemenway. It is a book about the Divine Proportion or the Golden Ratio. The Golden Ra-tio is roughly five to eight (more precisely the square root of five). It turns up in nature in nu-merous ways and you see these proportions over and over again in art and architecture be-cause it resonates with us in some mystical way.
Evergreen (the Open Source ILS) is in the process of transitioning from a technology heavy on the Javascript (JSPAC) to one utilizing the Template Toolkit (TPAC). Right now, some of the JSPAC features are absent from TPAC. But since the developers want to phase out JSPAC entirely, they need to be sure to get all the critical functionality that users rely upon from JSPAC into the new TPAC.
Thanks to Michael Peters you can provide this critical feedback to the developers. What JSPAC features do you think are most important? Which features should the developers make sure get into TPAC before JSPAC is end-of-lifed?
How to do it? Respond to this informal survey and make your voice heard.
Worked with Catamount Library Network to evaluate Koha and Evergreen, two open source ILS options, under consideration. The project included fleshing out two documents that comprehensively define Koha and Evergreen functionality, to articulate the short- and long-term objectives of the network, and then to identify the differentiating factors.
Lori Ayre worked with the group to capture information about their needs and to help prioritize them. Ultimately, the group was able to identify for themselves the ILS choice that best met their needs.
Developed a new website for the State Library of California's Get Involved project. The objective of the project is to provide an easy-to-use website for library staff working with library volunteers. The concept was based another site built and maintained by the Group, the Rural Initiative's Resource Round-Up website, https://resourceroundup.net/.
News from the Vermont Department of Libraries Newsletter:
At their February 23 meeting, members of the Catamount Library Network, which includes the Department of Libraries (DOL), Brooks Memorial Library (Brattleboro), Springfield Town Library, Rutland Free Library, Fletcher Memorial Library (Ludlow), and Waterbury Public Library, made the unanimous decision to proceed with their project using the Evergreen Open Source software system. The DOL is participating in this project with the vision that the new Catamount Evergreen Network will develop into a statewide integrated library system that includes public, school and academic libraries and which will also support the DOL catalog and the statewide interlibrary loan network.
This decision came after months of investigation, meetings and phone calls with members of Koha and Evergreen library projects around the country (including Vermont’s VOKAL Koha group) and conversations with Vermont librarians from public, school and academic libraries. The decision was also based on documentation and recommendations from Lori Ayre, a consultant with the Galecia Group. The DOL hired Galecia Group, based in California, in 2011 to create a set of “features” for the Koha system that could be used as a comparison with a similar Evergreen “features” list. Ayre is highly regarded in the library open source world and is knowldegeable about both the Koha and Evergreen systems. Her expertise and evaluation was a critical, objective component of the investigation process. The new Koha and Evergreen features comparison list, which was an essential tool in the Catamount review and selection process, is now being reviewed by the greater Koha and Evergreen communities. A working copy is available here: http://tinyurl.com/CatamountProject
Presented Open Source and RFID Update at the Edgy Librarian online conference. This PDF file includes the slides as well as speaker notes.
Available here.
In case you've wondering what's up with FulfILLment, I thought I'd share this short Q&A piece. It was prepared for a California consortium (thus the reference to a couple of products in use there) but the info is generally useful to everyone. It includes some info I've grabbed from the FulfILLment and Equinox blogs (e.g. underlying architecture). The other info comes from conversations with people who should know these things with a spattering of my own opinion. Oh, and I see Equinox has updated the blog so be sure to go there and read about the Next Generation Discovery Interface component after you get the basics from below....
What is it?
Fulfillment is an open source, resource-sharing (aka ILL) product that will compete with Link+ (Innovative’s INN-Reach product), SuperSearch (SirsiDynix’s URSA product), as well as AutoGraphics Agent Resource-Sharing and RelaisD2D. Who’s developing it? It is being developed by Equinox Software, Inc. under contract with OHIONET.
This was a joint presentation with Henry Bankhead of Los Gatos Public Library, Kevin Pischke of William Jessup University, Scott Hines of Palo Alto University, and Deborah Lipoma of Santa Cruz Public Library. I began with an overview of the ILS and Open Source ILS marketplace. Then, each presenter talked about their own benefits and challenges along the way to moving to Koha or Evergreen. Finally, each presenter provided some useful procurement tips.
Joint presentation with John Thill of Napa City-County Library. I provided an overview of the Open Source ILS marketplace and John covered new developments on the proprietary side.