WiLSWorld #3

live blogging at WilsWorld in Madison
afternoon Plenary Session

Georgia PINES: Adventures in Statewide ILS Development
Dr. Lemar Veatch, Georgia State Library

A little friendly banter - how 'bout those Dogs/Badgers

A little color - Lemar has a great Hawaiian shirt. Says he ordered it for this occasion from a shop in Honolulu

There are 50 state libraries, and 50 ways of doing things

PINES - Public Information Network for Electronic Services
46 public library systems
254 facilities and BKMs
8.8 million items
1.7 million actives cardholders from all 159 Georgia counties
Single almost state-wide library card

Started out as a Y2K project. Shook a lot of money loose in the public sector. Georgia appropriated a whole bunch of $$$ to fix Y2K problems. Lots of small libraries had no or very inadequate Winnebago systems that were not Y2K compliant.
David Singleton wrote a white paper, which is what became PINES

Georgia environment:
159 counties
59 systems
375 facilities
25% state money. 75% e-rate money. High speed lines into every library (many multiple)
45th concerning local funding. 5th concerning state funding.
state pays for librarians
tremendous dependency on state funding
in rural areas even higher ratio
where there is more state money, comes more power (executed "benignly")
have power to make people come together to do the right things for the right reasons

How is PINES unique?
free to any resident of Georgia
Card good at any PINES facility, materials returned to any PINES library
Completely transparent
***new books protected from intra-PINES loans for 6 months
FY07 480,000 intra-PINES loans, in FY00 6000 loans
Statewide courier service began in October 2004. service to all headquarters libraries in PINES
PINES libraries agree to a common set of policies and procedures - a consistent patron experience
Common fine structures
Fines and fees paid at any PINES library
Overdue notices processed centrally for all member libraries

Reality of buying a vendor ILS dictated agreement on policies. Locked librarians in a room until they came up with an acceptable agreement.

many small libraries hang on to older items, they become the long tail of older items that get requested

Governance
9 representatives from member library systems compose Executive Committee
Elected by member systems annually - staggered terms
Meet quarterly or as needed
Module-specific subcommittees make policy recommendations
Executive Committee sets policies (not GPLS)

Benefits for libraries
One easy interface
Local identity
Increased access
Centrally administered
Significant ILS costs paid by state
Regional training, convenient to member libraries and staffs
Centralized helpdesk and support for software and common policies
Centralized overdue notices - mail and email

Cost-Benefit
Estimate to install stand-alone ILS in all PINES libraries: $15M
Estimate annual maintenance: $5M

PINES annual operations: $1.6M
$/per registered customer
1/10 of cost of purchasing individual automation systems
These figures resonate with legislators

Library patrons don't care about legislative jurisdictions or geographic boundaries

Conduct annual satisfaction survey. 3900 responses. very good responses

Crossroads for PINES
Initial 5-year software contract for PINES ended in June 2005
2003-2004: comprehensive survey of the library automation marketplace
Is the software drive the policy/procedure, or vice versa?
Drumbeat for "open-source" ...foolish, crazy, suicidal?

New librarian said he'd like to develop an ILS (Brad)
Told Brad +2 to take a year to see where he was
Conducted focus groups

What do PINES libraries need?
Enterpres-class relational database
Scalable and standards compliant
Ease of use
Flexible & reliable
Data security
Stats and reports to correspond to annual reporting requirements

Evergreen ILS developed in a fully Open Source environment
Software development began in June 2004
All PINES libraries migrated to Evergreen software on 9-5-06
Evergreen debuted with Online Catalog, Circulation, Cataloging, and Reports
Transactions, customer records, and online catalog records were migrated from the former system (on Labor Day weekend)

First iteration of Evergreen intended to get out from under vendor software.
Get basic functionality with room to grow

Evergreen features:
Search capabilities similar to popular commercial websites
Live circulation data in the OPAC
Google-like spell-checking and search suggestions
Added content, book covers
Scalability for growth
Enhanced security features
Customer empowerment
Works with JAWS
Virtual books bags
RSS
Local flexibility for authorizations down to desktop
Surveys
Virtual containers for batch changes
Simplified merging of bibliographic records
OPAC view in staff client
Use of tabs
Search any field in patron record
Randomized olds which work in a tiered structure

Core technologies
Database: PostgreSQL
C++ and Perl
Abache mod-perl
Linux
Jabber
XUL

Evergreen Design
Cost-effective
Reliable
Flexible

Where do we go from here:
Develop children's catalog
Complete Spanish translation for OPAC
French/Canadian version completed
More self-service options, including online bill pay for customers
Enhanced links with GALILEO - Georgia's state-wide database portal
5 systems waiting
Work with partners on protocols to share information with other automation systems (Open NCIP).
Partnership with U Rochester - extensible catalob project
Develop the A/S - Partner with U Windsor, BC Libraries, and Equinox
Enhance social networking
Partnerships with libraries worldwide
Cooperative systems with universities

development team says they stand on the shoulders of lots and lots of other developers
developed in open environment

http://www.open-ils.org/ software development

http://www.gapines.org/ online catalog

demoed catalog
Shelf browser - neat!

Only circulating/reserving books, not AV, Board policy

Bookbags, have multiple bags. Share the bag, with RSS

You'd never buy a car with the hood welded shut. Georgia wants to get in there and tinker.

Staff of 8-9 for PINES