ILS Symposium: PINES Consortium
Evergreen: The ILS is Open and Everyone is Invited!
(Brad LaJeunesse, Linux Systems Administrator, Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES) Consortium; Mike Rylander, Development Consultant, PINES Consortium; David Singleton – Deputy State Librarian Georgia; Julie Walker, Program Director, PINES Consortium)
Overview of PINES
- 44 public library systems
- 252 member libraries
- 123 counties
- over 8 million items in a single bibliographic database
What makes PINES different?
- single card for all PINES libraries
- users may request delivered from any PINES library to local library at no charge
- in 2006 452,000 loans
- PINES libraries agree to a common set of policies and procedures with the goal that users have a consistent experience at any PINES library
- individual libraries continue to do their own collection development
Governance
- executive committee: nine elected reps (library directors) from member libraries
- function-specific subcommittees make policy recommendations
- executive committee meets quartely and as needed
PINES benefits
- for users: increased access to local library collections
- for libraries: the state of Georgia assumes the costs of the automation system
- access not ownership is the key
- economy of scale for the state: annual cost of PINES $1.6 mill; if the libraries had to do it on their own, it would be $15 m
What do users like best?
- do user surveys regularly
- users like the ability to use any library they drive by
- access to a much bigger collection
The Evergreen project
- 5-yr software contract for PINES ended in June 2005
- 2003-4: PINES staff conducted a survey of the library automation marketplace
- at issue: unique needs of a statewide consortium sharing a centralized database and utilizing a statewide library card
- what do PINES libraries need? Enterprise-class relational database, flexible sys admin, granular permissions structure, complex holds matrix, ability to treat member libraries as individual entities, reports designed to correspond to annual reporting requirements
- Evergreen ILS was developed using open source software
- released under GPL
- alpha release debuted July 2005
- beta release in early 2006
- cost comparison:
– server hardware: evergreen=350,000 vs vendor=1.5 m
– hardware support: evergreen=included for 3 years vs vendor=200,000/yr
– software licensing: evergreen=0 vs vendor=200,000/yr
– local tech staff: evergreen=4 vs vendor=2
- fringe benefits: self-sustaining and control their own destiny; they get to decide on development priorities; no more difficulty trying to convince a vendor to develop important features for them; users of the software have direct access to the developers.
- they did focus groups around the state before they built: 800 people attended (librarians? library staff? users? not sure). the notes from these focus groups formed the blueprint for Evergreen.
Evergreen Online Catalogue Features
- streamlined searching from a single search box
- google-like spell-checking and search suggestions
- ability to select specific material formats from the online catalogue’s front page
- added content, including book cover images, reviews, excerpts
- randomized holds that include geographic location as a factor
- my account: change personal login name, change own password, place/cancel/view holds, RSS (for searches too!), “book bag” feature
Demo: http://gapines.org/opac/en-US/skin/default/xml/index.xml
- working on incorporating user reviews
- browse options on the left (ability to expand and collapse these options – good!)
- my account functionality: set defaults like number of results displayed, default font size, default home library, default search. etc.
- “book bag” feature: can save items for later review, can share the book bag with others (in a study group, etc.).
- “shelf browser” to view what’s on the shelf next to the record on the screen – hugely powerful for users! Browse the shelves from home before you go to the library!
- the idea is that Evergreen is a portal for all library user information needs. So far, they have taken the first step in getting there.
Core technologies
- Database: PostgresQL
- Logic/clue languages: C and Perl, Javascript
- Webserver: Apache mod_perl, C modules
- Client side software: XUL
- Server OS: Linux
- Messaging core: Jabber
[snip] I skipped the sys admin bits, sorry! It was thoroughly fascinating but there was no way I could capture it all.
Open Application Program
- a traditional ILS is a catalogue, an opac, a circ system, cataloguing tools (a monolith!)
- they wanted more – they wanted a platform
- they needed a framework that: is easy to cluster, takes care of all the dirty work, have very low overhead, makes writing applications simple, is built on open, standard protocols
- given this, they decided to create components as they were needed to provide solutions on demand – they decided that they didn’t need to anticipate every problem!
They built OpenSRF. Features and benefits
- a framework that can trivially scale from a single server to hundreds on a tiered, redundant fashion (i.e.: there’s never any downtime!)
- manages everything but the application logic, abstracting away everything to a consistent set of method calls
- can easily handle hundreds of transactions per second, per server without any administrator turning off the underlying components
- turns writing applications, including entire ILS modules into a matter of translating business logic into a set of simple Perl or C routines
- leverages existing open standards and open source software to avoid both duplication of effort and component lock-in.
Benefits of all this
- decreased time to go from service prototypes to production implementations
- allows developers to focus on core ILS issues
- increased capacity as needed using any source – no hardware vendor lock-in!
- no single point of failure for any critical system or service
- rolling upgrades – no need to take the system offline to upgrade backend services!
Where do they go from here?
- migration of the six library systems waiting to become part of pines
- develop acquisitions and serials modules
- work with others on a protocol to share info across automation systems (open NCIP)
- want to develop a children’s portal
- online bill paying for users
- enhance social aspects of the catalogue: user ratings, reviews, comments – users have expressed an interest in this but it’s new ground for libraries; how to also protect user confidentiality while doing this?
- complete the spanish translation for the online catalogue
- to use on mobile devices
- possible partnerships with other institutions – anything is possible with enough time and enough money and the right partners!
- have developed a product that can be used in lots of settings and in lots of institutions
Check them out!
- PINES online catalogue: gapines.org
- Evergreen development log: open-ils.org
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