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?"

Comments

Start with the basics

[Karmashock]

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.

Evergreen by Georgia Public Libraries

[C0L0PH0N]

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.

Re:Evergreen by Georgia Public Libraries

[migla]

I noticed that the FAQ about Evergreen states the following:

"Evergreen was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of a very large (more than 270-member) library lending consortium whose members collaborate but are not in lockstep on policies. Evergreen needed to be able to handle large indexing and transaction loads while supporting highly-configurable policies for each member library. "

Also the above mentioned KOHA seems to flaunt very complex features (not that these two would then necessarily be complicated or overkill).

Openbiblio, claims to be targeted at smaller libraries.
http://obiblio.sourceforge.net/

I don't know anything about any of these, but maybe worth a look.

From the main site, it doesn't look like much is happening, but a post in the dev part of the forums indicates a new version is being worked on.

librarything.com

[ScottyKUtah]

I set up an account with Librarything.com, and we're going through the process of adding all of the books to the website.

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.

Re:Go completely digital!

[migla]

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.

Re:Koha?

[dingram17]

If you are going to use Koha, I suggest going to the community based library that developed it, not the company that grabbed the source and grabbed trademarks all around the world. The 'original' developers are at http://koha-community.org/. LibLime (the other guys) have even tried to stop the Koha developers using the name Koha - the very name they came up with. Koha is Maori for 'treasure', and this free software is certainly a treasure for libraries that don't want to spend a fortune on software.

Re:keep it simple

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't listen to the "write your own" crowd.
ILS software has been done to death, and there is alot more to it than you might think even for a small collection, just ask any library sciences grad.
We have used koha several times and very much like it. There are other solutions. Web based is definately a bonus.
Given the isbn may of these systems will fill out the book info for you.