Directors Report: PALS R&D activities - Open Source ILS

January 23, 2008

Dear MnPALS members,

I wanted to send you all a brief update on some of the R&D activities we are planning at the PALS office. As you know, there is a lot of discussion about Open Source software and the future of library systems. Open Source Integrated Library Systems (ILS) such as Koha and Evergreen are making a splash. Many of us have attended some presentations about Evergreen and Koha. These have been very stimulating, but limited to an hour or two, and in that time, one only can get a tantalizing glimpse of what these systems might offer. As I was thinking one day (a very dangerous thing to do, I know) I thought that maybe a more in-depth look at Koha and Evergreen might be useful in planning for the future. Are these systems really capable and complete enough to offer a consortium like ours a viable alternative to vendor software in the future? The recent signing of an agreement between LibLime (Koha) and the WALDO consortium in New York, seems to indicate that they might.

Therefore, we have arranged with LibLime to do a two day training session here at the PALS Office on Monday, March 24th and Tuesday, March 25th. Day one will be a technical seminar and include how to download, install, and configure Koha and how to become a member of the Koha community of developers. At the end of day one, we should have a working installation of Koha here at the PALS office. Day two will be an in-depth review of the functional modules: OPAC, cataloging, acquisitions, etc.

These sessions are intended primarily as a briefing for the PALS staff, as LibLime has requested that a maximum of 20 people attend. It is possible that we could also have the User Council representatives or their alternates attend the day-two functional module review. We are also exploring the possibility of making the meetings available online, but that would depend on getting the permission of the presenters.

In addition, we are talking with Equinox about doing something similar with Evergreen, perhaps in April.

I know the potential interest is huge, so additional in-depth reviews of Evergreen and Koha could be scheduled in the future. In fact, Bill DeJohn is working on setting up a similar in-depth Koha session in the Twin Cities, sponsored by MINITEX.

Watch this space for future developments!

Stephen F. Elfstrand
Executive Director, PALS
(507) 389-5059
(507) 381-6999 mobile