Enabling Your Ripples: Library Software

Ann Pool PNACL 2015 Conference Vancouver, WA

Why automate? No more producing cards and spine labels by hand

Put the catalog on line and make it publicly accessible

Manage circulation and communications with users

NOTE: Automation is not all or nothing!

Before you start: things to consider What do and don't you have in place now?

How much can you afford to spend?

What skills are available: your own and those of available volunteers? Don't just think about

technical skills. Someone who's good with spreadsheets can be a huge help.

Do you want to make your catalog accessible online? Available to the general public?

Will the library be staffed while in use? Do you want self checkout? Is there sufficient security to

keep a computer in the library?

Most of all: what do you want to get out of an automated system? What inconveniences and

shortcomings would you like to eliminate or reduce?

Evaluating your options Cost: up front and ongoing

Features that you care about

Support: from the company itself and/or other customers

Skills required to install, maintain, and operate the system

Hardware and software requirements

Company stability: established user base, professionalism, signs of financial trouble

Ability to import and export data in a standard (non-proprietary) format is critical! This helps

insure against obsolescence and gives you freedom to change systems in the future.

“Free” commercial software Warning: watch out for abandonware!

Open source software Free software: free both as in speech (you can get the program itself and change it) and as in

beer

Usually requires significant technical skills to install and maintain, and sufficient hardware to run

Day-to-day operation may be as easy as on good commercial software

Support options exist, but cost can be comparable to going commercial

Active user communities can provide peer support

A couple of major providers (take a look at who's using them – often large libraries with in-

house IT staff)

o Evergreen

o Koha (Careful: koha.org is a support vendor's website! Koha's site is koha-

community.org)

Other options Good old LibraryThing: mostly a catalog but they've recently added circulation features

Librarika: ILS from the ground up, but rough around the edges

Make a case for a budget and go with commercial software! Look at ways to economize.

Contacts and References Email: annpool@alumni.washington.edu

My LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/AnnPoolMLIS

Slides from this presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/AnnPool/enabling-your-ripples

Link to slides from Aldersgate United Methodist Church's presentation to the Seattle Chapter in

March 2015 (for PNACL members): http://pnacl.org/newsite/members/going-digital/

This handout, complete with links: http://www.slideshare.net/AnnPool/enabling-your-ripples-

handout