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Presentation at the 2011 International Evergreen conference, co-presented with Shasta Brewer.
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Becoming Our Own Vendor
Rogan Hamby
South Carolina State Library
Shasta Brewer
York County Library
Please Interrupt
This is intended to be an informal presentation and
open to questions as we go.
Rapid Prototyping Deployment
We went from a small mad
idea to 1/3rd of South Carolina in
two years in a state with a history
of fierce local independence and
governance.
All For One, One for All
High discrepancy among libraries.
All pitch in however they can.
On the Run
There was little precedent.
We designed as we built.
Initial Gathering (November 19th 2008)
First Go Live (May 28th 2009)
Knowledge Professionals
During early stages of
development, we relied
heavily upon individual
expertise and still struggle
to replace that with
institutional knowledge.
Individuals have left and we’ve
had to re-invent. Long term
stability requires services that
are independent of the
individuals.
Built on a model of contributed
and distributed labor.
Very sparse infrastructure.
State Library was an organizer
and member, not policy
determiner.
A New Paradigm
We said “this is open source” but we still didn’t
fully understand what it meant to operate without a
traditional vendor.
The Sandbox
We knew we would have to operate in a shared
environment. But, we didn’t fully know what that
meant.
Governance
The “Advisory Group” consisted of 1 director and 1
vote from each member library.
The Help Desk consisted of three staff from the
State Library.
Level 1 Support incumbent upon us.
State Library
Contracts
Finance
Help Desk
Project Management
Communication
Volunteer Working Groups
Systems
Cataloging
Circulation
Training
Hosting by ESI
While Equinox is not a traditional vendor they do
offer some vendor services especially in training
and migration. However, since Open Source allows
wide variations among organizations only we are
suited to best provide those services.
Our Own Vendor
SC LENDS has to become (and is becoming) a
turnkey vendor for our own consortia. Using open
source means you roll your own solution.
Support Roles
Small libraries can not do this
without turnkey support.
Challenges
Technical support in the beginning didn’t
understand service needs and didn’t conceptually
understand how Evergreen works.
We are still learning everything from how xml files
map database tables for reporting to how
inconsistent behavior may point to application
servers.
Help Desk
Libraries are still becoming comfortable with what
Level 1 Support means. With the relationship to a
central help desk that liaisons with the hosting and
higher support provider. And the central help desk
is still developing means to provide support to
libraries that need more direct assistance evaluating
technical issues.
Help Desk as Vendor
In some ways the bar has been raised in terms of
understanding the ILS, understanding networks,
WAN links to the consortium server and more.
How much do we compensate? How much of a
vendor do we become?
Think Green
We needed to learn why the system worked the way
it does. We began “thinking green” a little late.
We thought about it terms of
MARC and cataloging. Later on
we realized we should have
known that a circ mod is just a
label.
Version 2.0
At some point we decided that distributed,
contributed labor was valuable but centralized
management at the State Library on an ongoing
basis was critical.
Organizational Evolution
There has to be a point person that keeps the agenda
and makes spot decisions.
The executive body is still the directors of member
libraries.
The AG has grown in terms of who is brought in to
advise.
The Open Source Spirit
At some point we began taking control of our own
fate more than looking to ESI for solutions (though
in fact we still rely on their expertise). They have
been great partners. We’ve also built more
relationships with other Evergreen libraries.
Self Sufficiency
“Ask not what your consortium can do for you but
what you can do for your consortium.”
The next thing I want to hear after “I don’t like
this” is “and here’s how I can help.”
Our Own Vendor
If we don’t like the product, we’re responsible for
making the change for our customers (members)
unless we’re just going to hope someone else does
in the OSS community.
Beyond Turnkey
Migration (more hands on then ever), PR
Deduping and Cataloging and Training
Networking and Troubleshooting
Peripheral support
Addons (OPACs, SIP)
Reporting
Questions?