Is Michigan ready for Evergreen?
August 22nd, 2007 Randy Dykhuis
On and off over the past several years, I have fielded questions about whether MLC was interested in running a shared integrated library system. Up to now, we have declined to offer such a service. Lately the questions have become more numerous and with the added twist of whether we would consider running Evergreen, the open source ILS used by public libraries in Georgia.
Many of the libraries talking to us have implemented MeLCat and through that process realized that they wanted more than their current ILS was offering. Coupled with the recent surge of interest in open source software, we have begun to investigate whether the time is now right for MLC to offer libraries that have limited resources and choices an opportunity to join a shared system. In June, I took a small delegation to Atlanta to have a first-hand look at Evergreen and to talk to librarians actually using it. We came away impressed with what we saw and heard from users. (The delegation included Sheryl VanderWagen, Lakeland Library Cooperative, Bill Ott, Grand Rapids Public Library, and Debbi Schaubman, MLC.)
We have also had some informal talks with commercial vendors because we did not want to simply jump on a currently popular bandwagon without considering other options. Open source software offers some benefits but so do systems from established companies.
At this point, we have not made any final decisions about how or when to move forward but continue to examine our alternatives and weigh all the factors. We would love to hear from you. Are you looking for a new ILS? Would you consider an open source system that was shared among a number of other libraries? Are you more comfortable with a commercial system?
Entry Filed under: Director, Technology
8 Comments Add your own
1. Kathy | August 28th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Interesting, I was looking into this Georgia Pines project too. In the Library Media Connection Nov/Dec 2006 issue an article on open source sofware and its applications in the schools was discussed. If you are considering starting this program I wonder if media centers could participant? This would be a great way to save our districts money.
2. K. Engels | August 28th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
If you haven’t done so already, I’d suggest talking to the folks at liblime.com. They support both Koha ILS and Evergreen ILS.
3. John Cargo | August 29th, 2007 at 8:35 am
I became aware of Evergreen at the 2007 Merit Conference. We use open-source solutions for a few of our applications; item catalog terminals (Firefox web browser on Linux), content filtering and caching (Dansguaridan and Squid), and most recently public wifi (via WifiDog running off Apache, and routers running DD-WRT firmware). My personal distribution of choice is Xubuntu Feisty Fawn which I run on my personal ThinkPad T41p, and it serves all my needs well. Feisty Fawn is also running on the content filtering server.
The idea of switching to an open-source ILS solution is appealing in that we’d have greater flexibility in customization and hardware access to the source code, and more rapid software development. Open Source software is usually more stable because of the ability for several people to provide feedback, review the source code, and provide fixes. The most obvious advantages are that there are no fees to be paid for the software and the required hardware can be something inexpensive and common. Most important of all, there would be no vendor lock-in.
However, the trade-off is that the technical knowledge needed to deploy an open-source solution could be greater than a commercial one; you’d be more-or-less on your own. Depending on the project and its popularity, open source software may have little or no written documentation and limited technical support (though there are exceptions); especially in a project’s infancy.
I suppose then that my opinion could be summed up with this: if you are someone with little or no technical knowledge and want the safety net of a company to provide support, then a commercial solution is something to consider. On the other hand, if you have technical savvy, are willing to experiment and would dare to challenge the status quo, then you should give open-source a look.
Given the high cost of ILS software, and the disappointing turns that some companies have taken with the development of their products, I think Evergreen is worth pursuing.
4. Stephanie John | August 29th, 2007 at 8:40 am
PALnet is a SirsiDynix Horizon consortium. We’re watching the development of Symphony closely and may end up writing an RFP some time after this year for a new ILS.
PALnet has 2 items in this year’s action plan related to open source ILS’s: Investigate and monitor all open source ILS’s, and mount a VMWare installation of Evergreen for us to examine.
We’re lucky to have the resources for a commercial ILS, but have been unhappy with using Horizon by a consortium. It’s possible, but the customizations and issues have been significant. Then came Sirsi merging with Dynix, then came the redlining of Horizon in favor of Symphony on the Unicorn platform. So it’s only prudent for us to watch the marketplace.
We already use open source for servers (RedHat Linux) and for network management software (Nagios) and are broadening our use of MySQL and PHP. We’re happy to see that MLC is considering this and feel that important things can be learned in this process, even if MLC ends up NOT supplying an open source ILS.
5. Nancy Studebaker | August 29th, 2007 at 11:06 am
We are using Dynix Classic which means we obviously need to upgrade at some point in the coming year or two. We would very much welcome the opportunity to participate in a shared system.
6. Chris Turner | September 10th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Due to several factors (our ILS has been end-of-lifed and we recently passed a bond initiative) our district is in the process of reviewing new integrated library systems, and I would be open to seeing what open source system solutions are available.
7. Bill Ott | September 11th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Consider the following…
Evergreen and Koha are actually just products in the ILS marketplace. Equinox Software or LibLime will sell you installation and support, perfect for those who lack the in-house technical ability or just need a place for the buck to stop.
Yes, these two products are open-source, and while that’s a feature it doesn’t wholly define them. The unique aspect of open-source is not that there is no one to turn to for support, but there are so many more places.
Take your pick of the traditional ILS vendors. If their product won’t do what you want, who can you turn to — to try and add the feature you desire? Now, what if that product was open-source? There are a lot more software developers around than ILS vendors. If you provide them specifications and they have the current source code available, your custom feature may show up years before the single source vendor decides to implement it into their product.
Now, return your customization to the community. How much faster will the feature list grow if a handful of other users do the same?
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