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Ask Slashdot: Tech For Small Library Automation?
Kozz writes "I've recently been tapped as 'the tech guy' at my church where a group familiar with library automation wants to get digital with the relatively small catalog. Right now all the materials are simply on shelves, and people take an item down, fill out the paper card and drop it into a box, and we hope that people correctly calculate their own due dates and return the materials. We had a card catalog, but it went largely unused. We're looking for a complete solution for both administration and self-checkout; label printing, checkout receipts, and so on. Have any Slashdot readers found yourself in this position, and do you have recommendations based on your experiences?"
Keep it simple use access with a form
I don't know how small your library is but if it's large enough to warrant a card catalog then I'd suggest first putting all the books in the correct order and making sure the card catalog is accurate. dewey decimal system is your friend here.
Once you have that down and not before, you can set up a basic database for your books.
See if this works... first hit on google:
http://www.primasoft.com/pro_software/library_software_pro.htm
245 dollars for a complete package is dead cheap. This is a way better idea then programming your own access database. Do that if you're a bigger library or want customization. You probably don't care.
Look around for some sort of complete all in one package. I just posted the first hit on google for this stuff. They have demos... try it out. Apparently they have barcode compatibility which will make check in and out a lot simpler.
But all of that said... the books have to be in order and the card catalog has to be accurate. If people are going to procrastinate about organizing the books until the software is installed then do it backwards. But that's way more important then the database. A library with the books out of order is dysfunctional unless it's tiny.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
... what makes you think people will bother learning and using an even more complicated electronic system? Non univerisity library users (generally) tend to be the older generation. They don't have the ooo-shiny! approach to computers so if its a hassle they won't use it. End of.
I've never used it myself, but I once worked with a librarian who tried out Koha and found it pretty feature-full.
http://www.koha.org/
It might be a bit of overkill, but it has a large user-base and probably has every feature you could want.
3M SelfCheck System (BCS-Series) is what I've seen some libraries use. May not fit your situation cost wise, and definitally isn't FOSS.
I ask because the public library services pays a yearly fee and the small print in most books prohibits lending without permission. Just throwing that out there. I'd say go for it, but I lack moral guidance.
I've noticed that the copyright holders of religious material are some of the most zealous about demanding their royalties, even to the point of performance rights for hymns, etc.
They would definitely not like this.
The "Evergreen" library system is free and open source, and was initiated by the Georgia Public Library System in 2006, and is currently in use by over 850 libraries, including a "parish" library. You can check it out here: http://open-ils.org/about.php. The site also has a link to a showcase of libraries already running, and on the Internet. The "client" runs on Windows, Mac or Linux. I think the server runs on Linux.
The main advantage of this is that anybody can browse the library's collection anytime they want. On Sunday mornings they flash the URL up on the stage.
We're still using the paper checkout process though. The old ladies that run the library are 80+ years old, and are former librarians back when Eisenhower was in office. I figure one tech upgrade at a time is all they can handle.
He who laughs last is at 300 baud.
Why not use something as simple as possible? Keep the card system in place, and track it all using a collection manager like Tellico. I use Tellico for my personal library, which is probably about the size of the library you're managing. I'd say keep the card system in place - you're never going to get people to fill out online forms etc. And then use Tellico to answer the questions "What have I got?," "What's been checked out?" and "to Whom?" Seems like that's all you need at this stage.
If this were Usenet, I'd killfile the lot of you.
Why would scanning and ebooks make Jesus cry?
Isn't he the guy who copied all that fish and bread and distributed it for free to all those hungry people?
That's kind of like we now copy and distribute knowledge, information and culture for free to people starved to learn and enjoy culture?
I imagine the bakers and the fishers industry associations of judea (BIAJ and FIAJ, respectively) were real pissed back then .
If we can give knowledge, information and culture to people for free, we obviously should, just as we should copy the fishes and the bread to feed the hungry if we had the power.
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
You wouldn't download a wine cask.
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
See also Integrated library system
If your library is small and you have no tracking what-so-ever installed, or only trust-based tracking, Delicious Library might be the right thing. It's a personal solution focussing on private collections, but it is very fun and easy to use, supports barcode scanning with simple webcams and retrieves its item/katalog data via the web by scraping amazon and other sources when adding items, so you'll save yourself the hassle of data entry.
Even if you use a different solution in the end, the data retrieval system might be worth looking at, to save yourself data-entry headaches.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
speak for yourself. i would download a whole fucking winery if i could
You're making several inaccurate presumptions. First, non-academic library users do come from all generations. Second, electronic systems are not more complicated than card catalogs from the user perspective -- most libraries find that general use of the library goes up when an electronic catalog is established, due to their making it easier to find materials. As for the topic at hand, if the group is familiar with library automation, I presume that some of them may also be familiar with cataloging enough to be able to make good use of something like Evergreen -- it scales down to small libraries quite well. Delicious Library sounds like a good idea but it can't handle MARC records like you can download from the Library of Congress for many books (or using the Z39.50 protocol, from many other institutions including research libraries), and I've found it to be rather weak on authority control. Evergreen and similar will allow for proper copy cataloguing from LC or other major libraries instead of just Amazon, which Delicious seems to use.
My only experience with Library software was with Follett's package in a school library with about 8000 items. I do not recommend Follett. It runs fine and user complaints were minimal. As I recall, the database self destructed a couple of times, but reviving the DB was fairly straightforward. On the other hand installation and upgrade were unpleasant. The maintenance instructions verged on incomprehensible and one upgrade required rebuilding the entire data base -- a process that turned out to be appallingly slow. I had to wait for a vacation to do that. And from I'm told it is expensive. Fortunately, it didn't come out of my budget.
On my last visit to our local library, the librarian -- who was not a fan of Follett either -- told me that they had just upgraded from Follett to an open source product of some sort thereby saving a bundle of money. She was quite enthused about the new software. I didn't have a lot of time, but I did look at the screens a user would encounter and they looked fine. It looks like the program they changed to is Koha. Here's a link to their catalog on line http://brownell.kohavt.org/
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
When a church -- or other small organization's -- library falls into disorder, it's usually because the little old lady, who served as the volunteer librarian since she was middle aged, has gone to her reward.
Unfortunately, no amount of automation can make up for this. Your system -- no matter how advanced, primitive, simple or whatever -- really requires an owner. Without this, it will fall into disorder just as the previous one did and you'll be back to square one.
If you can't find a new volunteer librarian, don't do it. You'll spend most of your time cataloging, and then entropy will take over.
I am not a crackpot.
Amen Winecask? If there isn't a tribute act by that name, there should be.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
B-b-but, Elvis is alive!
That is the most ridiculous description of Pascal's Wager I've ever heard.
A proper library automation system can save considerable time on an ongoing basis and allow you to actually do what you describe with minimal overall effort.
Such a system would have NISO Z39.50 protocol client support for downloading and working with machine readable cataloguing, MARC, records well catalogued at another library for copy cataloguing to populate the records of an automated library system. Downloading records over Z39.50 directly from most libraries with Z39.50 servers, including the Library of Congress, is free and does not generally involve copyright issues as cataloguing records are almost entirely mere collections of facts prepared according to cataloguing rules.
Such a system would also have a degree of granular permissions to support automated self-checkout with a bar code scanner without also giving every user permission to erase the database. Self-checkout systems are often currently assumed to be RFID based, however, systems using a bar code scanner which are much cheaper to implement should be supported for self-checkout. The cheapest solution is to buy sheets of simple bar codes and obtain a used bar code scanner on Ebay. Using product bar codes already printed on material may have inconsistent encoding and non-unique numbers.
Check the support and possible extra price for such features in any candidate system.
1. Set Up Work.
Real work is often required for anything worth having.
Some minimal assistance from a professional librarian, who may be a member of your church or otherwise available in the community, would be invaluable help at least to start. Most library automation systems support configuration options designed for use by people who are not professional librarians but such support would not negate the great value of obtaining some minimal assistance of a professional librarian at the outset. Check the support for non-professional configuration.
The complexity of setting up such software may entail either paying a library support company to set up the software; or at least a few days of time from someone sufficiently familiar with Unix administration willing to read the documentation and seek answers on the mailing lists to set up a free software library automation system without using a professional support company. Some set up complexity might be avoided by using an implementation hosted by a library support company but that would involve a long term support contract which could be avoided with sufficient initial set up effort.
2. Lists of Library Automation Systems.
There is no single source of library automation system options which is comprehensive and up to date.
A library automation system is referred to as an integrated library system, ILS, in the US and a library management system, LMS, in many other English language countries.
2.1. Library of Congress List.
The Library of Congress maintains a list of automation systems which function with MARC records which includes some systems which are not comprehensive library automation systems, http://www.loc.gov/marc/marcsysvend.html .
2.2. Library Technology Guides List.
Library Technology Guides maintains a list of library automation system companies. Library automation companies. - http://www.librarytechnology.org/companies.pl . - In Library technology guides / maintained by Marshall Breeding. - http://www.librarytechnology.org/ .
2.3. Library Journal Guide.
Library Journal publishes an annual overview of the library automation system market. Automation Marketplace 2011 : The New Frontier / by Marshall Breeding. - In Library Journal. - April 1, 2011 - http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889533-264/automation_marketplace_2011_the_new.html.csp .
2.4.