The Potential Death of Koha in Pennsylvania Libraries
The State Library her in Pennsylvania has started planning for a state-wide ILS. My Director, John Brice attended a tech committee netting this past Friday, bringing myself and Cindy Murdock as well. At the meeting, it was announced that HSLC and Equinox will be installing Evergreen in 33 libraries currently using Millennium. In all likelyhood, in the future all the libraries in the state will be required to switch over to Evergreen. Needless to say, my boss and myself are extremely upset by this proposition to say the least. I would applaud the choice of a FOSS ILS, but the choice would not bring any advantage. It appears to me to be a strictly financial decision. The idea being pushed at the meeting was to give libraries as little choice as possible to keep down costs. If we were forced to switch to Evergreen, not only would our huge investment in Koha via time and money be thrown away, but we would be forced into a new system over which we would be no control or ability to customize. We would have no control over the quality of service, as the servers are planned to be centralized somewhere within the state. I do not relish the idea of our current freedoms being taken away. Kyle http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org )
Wow, does the State Library really have that much authority over individual libraries (legal or otherwise)? I would find that hugely surprising. But then here in NH we don't even have any county-wide systems. For the most part, it's every town/ city library for itself ... Cab Vinton, Director Sanbornton Public Library Sanbornton, NH On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
The State Library her in Pennsylvania has started planning for a state-wide ILS. My Director, John Brice attended a tech committee netting this past Friday, bringing myself and Cindy Murdock as well. At the meeting, it was announced that HSLC and Equinox will be installing Evergreen in 33 libraries currently using Millennium. In all likelyhood, in the future all the libraries in the state will be required to switch over to Evergreen. Needless to say, my boss and myself are extremely upset by this proposition to say the least.
I would applaud the choice of a FOSS ILS, but the choice would not bring any advantage. It appears to me to be a strictly financial decision. The idea being pushed at the meeting was to give libraries as little choice as possible to keep down costs. If we were forced to switch to Evergreen, not only would our huge investment in Koha via time and money be thrown away, but we would be forced into a new system over which we would be no control or ability to customize. We would have no control over the quality of service, as the servers are planned to be centralized somewhere within the state. I do not relish the idea of our current freedoms being taken away.
Kyle
http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
I personally don't know. I'm not well versed in state library politics myself, but this is what my Director believes is coming down the road, and he's not happy about it. Kyle http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:57 AM, Cab Vinton <bibliwho@gmail.com> wrote:
Wow, does the State Library really have that much authority over individual libraries (legal or otherwise)?
I would find that hugely surprising. But then here in NH we don't even have any county-wide systems. For the most part, it's every town/ city library for itself ...
Cab Vinton, Director Sanbornton Public Library Sanbornton, NH
On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
The State Library her in Pennsylvania has started planning for a state-wide ILS. My Director, John Brice attended a tech committee netting this past Friday, bringing myself and Cindy Murdock as well. At the meeting, it was announced that HSLC and Equinox will be installing Evergreen in 33 libraries currently using Millennium. In all likelyhood, in the future all the libraries in the state will be required to switch over to Evergreen. Needless to say, my boss and myself are extremely upset by this proposition to say the least.
I would applaud the choice of a FOSS ILS, but the choice would not bring any advantage. It appears to me to be a strictly financial decision. The idea being pushed at the meeting was to give libraries as little choice as possible to keep down costs. If we were forced to switch to Evergreen, not only would our huge investment in Koha via time and money be thrown away, but we would be forced into a new system over which we would be no control or ability to customize. We would have no control over the quality of service, as the servers are planned to be centralized somewhere within the state. I do not relish the idea of our current freedoms being taken away.
Kyle
http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
What can we do to help? I'm in PA (not in your county - but still). Nicole On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:59 AM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
I personally don't know. I'm not well versed in state library politics myself, but this is what my Director believes is coming down the road, and he's not happy about it.
Kyle
http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org )
On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:57 AM, Cab Vinton <bibliwho@gmail.com> wrote:
Wow, does the State Library really have that much authority over individual libraries (legal or otherwise)?
I would find that hugely surprising. But then here in NH we don't even have any county-wide systems. For the most part, it's every town/ city library for itself ...
Cab Vinton, Director Sanbornton Public Library Sanbornton, NH
On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
The State Library her in Pennsylvania has started planning for a state-wide ILS. My Director, John Brice attended a tech committee netting this past Friday, bringing myself and Cindy Murdock as well. At the meeting, it was announced that HSLC and Equinox will be installing Evergreen in 33 libraries currently using Millennium. In all likelyhood, in the future all the libraries in the state will be required to switch over to Evergreen. Needless to say, my boss and myself are extremely upset by this proposition to say the least.
I would applaud the choice of a FOSS ILS, but the choice would not bring any advantage. It appears to me to be a strictly financial decision. The idea being pushed at the meeting was to give libraries as little choice as possible to keep down costs. If we were forced to switch to Evergreen, not only would our huge investment in Koha via time and money be thrown away, but we would be forced into a new system over which we would be no control or ability to customize. We would have no control over the quality of service, as the servers are planned to be centralized somewhere within the state. I do not relish the idea of our current freedoms being taken away.
Kyle
http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
_______________________________________________ Koha-devel mailing list Koha-devel@lists.koha.org http://lists.koha.org/mailman/listinfo/koha-devel
I used to work there (the State Library of Pennsylvania). And I believe that, technically, it is the "Office of Commonwealth Libraries" (OCL) that would be in the authority position. (The "Office" consists of two "bureaus": the Bureau of State Library (BSL), and the Bureau of Library Development (BLD). BSL is a large library in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. BLD hands out money across the state, deals with certification, and grants, and cooperative contracts, and so on.) If your library wants to go it alone, I don't see how the OCL or BLD can stop you. But if your library doesn't play the game it won't get any of the meager funds that are still available in an extremely tight state budget. That means you'd have to seek local funding to pay for things (ILS, databases, ILL, etc.) that would have higher non-consortium prices. And few, if any, of the local systems in Pennsylvania can afford to think of doing that. And it's easier for the administrators in Harrisburg to decide on something and then tell libraries that 'this is what we're supporting'. As Kyle wrote, I too think it is 'a strictly financial decision.' Those administrators don't necessarily "have that much authority over individual libraries". But they do hold the purse strings to an ever-shrinking state purse. It always comes back to who holds the purse strings. My personal guess is that a Koha library in Pennsylvania could remain a Koha library. It just won't be able to use the support system that the state administrators are setting up for an Evergreen-based system. But that Koha library wasn't getting state support for its ILS beforehand, so is there a loss? Kurt Bodling Technical Services Librarian George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens -----Original Message----- From: koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Cab Vinton Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 8:58 AM To: Kyle Hall Cc: koha; koha-devel Subject: Re: [Koha] The Potential Death of Koha in Pennsylvania Libraries Wow, does the State Library really have that much authority over individual libraries (legal or otherwise)? I would find that hugely surprising. But then here in NH we don't even have any county-wide systems. For the most part, it's every town/ city library for itself ... Cab Vinton, Director Sanbornton Public Library Sanbornton, NH On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
The State Library her in Pennsylvania has started planning for a state-wide ILS. My Director, John Brice attended a tech committee netting this past Friday, bringing myself and Cindy Murdock as well. At the meeting, it was announced that HSLC and Equinox will be installing Evergreen in 33 libraries currently using Millennium. In all likelyhood, in the future all the libraries in the state will be required to switch over to Evergreen. Needless to say, my boss and myself are extremely upset by this proposition to say the least.
I would applaud the choice of a FOSS ILS, but the choice would not bring any advantage. It appears to me to be a strictly financial decision. The idea being pushed at the meeting was to give libraries as little choice as possible to keep down costs. If we were forced to switch to Evergreen, not only would our huge investment in Koha via time and money be thrown away, but we would be forced into a new system over which we would be no control or ability to customize. We would have no control over the quality of service, as the servers are planned to be centralized somewhere within the state. I do not relish the idea of our current freedoms being taken away.
Kyle
http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
_______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
In this vein, you may be interested in a new OCLC report: "Research Libraries, Risk and Systemic Change" http://www.oclc.org/research/news/2010-03-25.htm which is not just about research libraries. They discuss risk management and delineate many of the risks as: "Many of the risks rated as high (impact and certainty) pertain to: - human resources and organizational culture, including a lack of attention to cross-training and reallocation of existing staff - lack of critical skill sets for managing data sets, engaging directly with research faculty, or retooling technological infrastructure - an organizational culture that inhibits innovation - difficulty in attracting and retaining staff in a competitive environment where fewer credentialed library professionals are available - uncertainties about the appropriate qualifications for library managers who may require skills developed in other sectors." Then on p. 16 under "Strategies for Mitigation," they continue: "We believe that increased reliance on *shared infrastructure* along with increased outsourcing and regional consolidation of services will enable more rapid deployment of the services that research library users want and need moving the following risks into a more acceptable range of impact and occurrence: - Library cannot adjust fast enough to keep up with rapidly changing technology and user needs (Risk 19). - Increased inefficiencies and expenses due to lack of functionality of legacy systems and IT support (Risk 20). - Due diligence and sustainability assessment of local or third party services is not completed, tracked or analyzed (Risk 21)." Their solution of a shared infrastructure would seem to mirror your case in Pennsylvania. While I understand such a conclusion, the upshot of if seems to be "we sink or swim together." I think that instead of having everyone crowd into the same lifeboat, it would be just as logical to foster individual initiatives, while making sure everyone shared their work. Still, I can understand that going to this level of trust (the foundation of the entire open source movement) does not come easy to an administrator who is responsible for results. Perhaps you can reach some level of agreement. I am sure that everyone is nervous and still in the search for answers. James Weinheimer j.weinheimer@aur.edu Director of Library and Information Services The American University of Rome via Pietro Roselli, 4 00153 Rome, Italy voice- 011 39 06 58330919 ext. 258 fax-011 39 06 58330992 -----Original Message----- From: koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Kyle Hall Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 2:44 PM To: koha; koha-devel Subject: [Koha] The Potential Death of Koha in Pennsylvania Libraries The State Library her in Pennsylvania has started planning for a state-wide ILS. My Director, John Brice attended a tech committee netting this past Friday, bringing myself and Cindy Murdock as well. At the meeting, it was announced that HSLC and Equinox will be installing Evergreen in 33 libraries currently using Millennium. In all likelyhood, in the future all the libraries in the state will be required to switch over to Evergreen. Needless to say, my boss and myself are extremely upset by this proposition to say the least. I would applaud the choice of a FOSS ILS, but the choice would not bring any advantage. It appears to me to be a strictly financial decision. The idea being pushed at the meeting was to give libraries as little choice as possible to keep down costs. If we were forced to switch to Evergreen, not only would our huge investment in Koha via time and money be thrown away, but we would be forced into a new system over which we would be no control or ability to customize. We would have no control over the quality of service, as the servers are planned to be centralized somewhere within the state. I do not relish the idea of our current freedoms being taken away. Kyle http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
Very thoughtful and appropriate responses, James. I certainly hope the conclusion Kyle's boss has come to is wrong. It would indeed eliminate many of the benefits of moving to an open source ILS. Moving the state or any other entity into the role of all-powerful ILS vendor (even if they have more control than in previous times) doesn't do libraries any good. I love the fact that so many states have made jumping onto a shared bandwagon an option but it shouldn't be a requirement. To me, this makes it all the more urgent that we get a good resource-sharing tool developed that works AT LEAST between Koha and Evergreen. And it must work really well! Our plan in California is to get a few Evergreen and Koha clusters going and then focus on just that. We could never impose a common will on California libraries but we'd like to make it easy to share systems when they want to and share resources with anyone. God help us all. (My use of "god" should be interpreted in the most generic sense possible) Lori Ayre On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 6:05 AM, Weinheimer Jim <j.weinheimer@aur.edu> wrote:
In this vein, you may be interested in a new OCLC report: "Research Libraries, Risk and Systemic Change" http://www.oclc.org/research/news/2010-03-25.htm which is not just about research libraries.
They discuss risk management and delineate many of the risks as: "Many of the risks rated as high (impact and certainty) pertain to: - human resources and organizational culture, including a lack of attention to cross-training and reallocation of existing staff - lack of critical skill sets for managing data sets, engaging directly with research faculty, or retooling technological infrastructure - an organizational culture that inhibits innovation - difficulty in attracting and retaining staff in a competitive environment where fewer credentialed library professionals are available - uncertainties about the appropriate qualifications for library managers who may require skills developed in other sectors."
Then on p. 16 under "Strategies for Mitigation," they continue: "We believe that increased reliance on *shared infrastructure* along with increased outsourcing and regional consolidation of services will enable more rapid deployment of the services that research library users want and need moving the following risks into a more acceptable range of impact and occurrence: - Library cannot adjust fast enough to keep up with rapidly changing technology and user needs (Risk 19). - Increased inefficiencies and expenses due to lack of functionality of legacy systems and IT support (Risk 20). - Due diligence and sustainability assessment of local or third party services is not completed, tracked or analyzed (Risk 21)."
Their solution of a shared infrastructure would seem to mirror your case in Pennsylvania. While I understand such a conclusion, the upshot of if seems to be "we sink or swim together." I think that instead of having everyone crowd into the same lifeboat, it would be just as logical to foster individual initiatives, while making sure everyone shared their work.
Still, I can understand that going to this level of trust (the foundation of the entire open source movement) does not come easy to an administrator who is responsible for results.
Perhaps you can reach some level of agreement. I am sure that everyone is nervous and still in the search for answers.
James Weinheimer j.weinheimer@aur.edu Director of Library and Information Services The American University of Rome via Pietro Roselli, 4 00153 Rome, Italy voice- 011 39 06 58330919 ext. 258 fax-011 39 06 58330992
-----Original Message----- From: koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Kyle Hall Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 2:44 PM To: koha; koha-devel Subject: [Koha] The Potential Death of Koha in Pennsylvania Libraries
The State Library her in Pennsylvania has started planning for a state-wide ILS. My Director, John Brice attended a tech committee netting this past Friday, bringing myself and Cindy Murdock as well. At the meeting, it was announced that HSLC and Equinox will be installing Evergreen in 33 libraries currently using Millennium. In all likelyhood, in the future all the libraries in the state will be required to switch over to Evergreen. Needless to say, my boss and myself are extremely upset by this proposition to say the least.
I would applaud the choice of a FOSS ILS, but the choice would not bring any advantage. It appears to me to be a strictly financial decision. The idea being pushed at the meeting was to give libraries as little choice as possible to keep down costs. If we were forced to switch to Evergreen, not only would our huge investment in Koha via time and money be thrown away, but we would be forced into a new system over which we would be no control or ability to customize. We would have no control over the quality of service, as the servers are planned to be centralized somewhere within the state. I do not relish the idea of our current freedoms being taken away.
Kyle
http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
Weinheimer Jim wrote:
In this vein, you may be interested in a new OCLC report: "Research Libraries, Risk and Systemic Change" http://www.oclc.org/research/news/2010-03-25.htm which is not just about research libraries. [...] Their solution of a shared infrastructure would seem to mirror your case in Pennsylvania. While I understand such a conclusion, the upshot of if seems to be "we sink or swim together." I think that instead of having everyone crowd into the same lifeboat, it would be just as logical to foster individual initiatives, while making sure everyone shared their work.
Not only would it be logical, it would be a very cooperative-minded approach! I cannot believe that our fellow cooperative OCLC would mean to promote a shared infrastructure that did not also allow for autonomy and independence of libraries (cooperative principle 4). That's not to say that a state government wouldn't interpret it in a way that denied library autonomy, though, so that probably doesn't do us any good. If anyone finds out for sure OCLC's thinking is informing them, maybe OCLC would comment in favour of autonomy if asked. By the way, are there any OCLC members on the list who could ask them what a worker co-op has to do to get an answer from their membership enquiries department? We last asked about two months ago. Good luck, -- MJ Ray (slef) Webmaster and LMS developer at | software www.software.coop http://mjr.towers.org.uk | .... co IMO only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html | .... op
participants (7)
-
Cab Vinton -
Kurt Bodling -
Kyle Hall -
Lori Ayre -
MJ Ray -
Nicole Engard -
Weinheimer Jim