Osils Comparison 20090414

PTFS Europe Evergreen vs. Koha Jonathan Field – Technical Director

Procuring a LMS in 2009

The Case FOR ... Proprietary Open Source Tried and tested I can directly influence future development I can point the finger of blame at the company if anything goes wrong! I can get my hands on the code and adapt it to my local needs Functionally very rich (packaged) No licence fees Vendor professional Services (training, support etc.) Open standards and security Easy adoption (although becoming less so all the time) The software never disappears (even if the vendor does!) Regularly and easily upgradeable Community code review Bug fix turnaround

So, what’s out there?

Some facts to start with ... Evergreen Koha First Deployed 2006 January 2000 First Customer Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) Horowhenua Library Trust ( 4-branch library with only about 30-40K records) Number of Installations >100 (mainly public and academic) >300 (including academic, public, school, special) Biggest Installation Georgia PINES Consortium (over 270 public libraries) North East University (2 million records) Windows Version? via a virtualized Unix-guest OS (e.g. VMware) Yes, but not version 3.0 yet Client Standalone staff client 100% web based

Some facts to start with ... Evergreen Koha Database PostgreSQL MySQL and Zebra Consortia Built from the ground up for consortia
One-level main-branch relationships (branches rely on main for rules)
Independent branches with unique circulation and cataloging rules
Clustering supported? Yes Yes Internationalisation Version 1.4 Yes Character encoding UTF-8 UTF-8 Core modules Acquisitions and serials coming in Version 2.0 (2009) Yes EDI Support EdiFACT in Version 2.0 No (but in progress)

So which way to go?
If you need Acquisitions and Serials TODAY , Koha
If you have a complex consortia setup – Evergreen
If you want thin client - Koha
Otherwise, you need to determine which features and functionality are important to you (and there are some great features!)
Evergreen could be more complex to manage?

Possibly?
Public, large academic - Evergreen
Special, government, small academic – Koha
Complex consortia – Evergreen
Multi-lingual – Koha today
But ..... You need to think about the needs of your own library
We can advise you on this

Feature List - Koha
Linux, Unix, Windows and MacOS platform
Web Based (thin client)
Copy cataloguing and z39.50
MARC21 and UNIMARC for professional cataloguers
Tailored catalogue module for special libraries
RSS feed of new acquisitions

Feature List - Koha
E-mail and/or txt patron's overdues and other notices
Print your own barcodes
Serials management module
Full catalogue, circulation and acquisitions system for library stock management
Web 2.0 based OPAC system
Simple, clear search interface for all users
acquisitions options

Feature List - Koha
Export and Import Records
The public interface (OPAC) conforms with XHTML1.0 standards: and is compatible with alternate browsers. In particular, the OPAC can be used by people needing special assistive technology (Braille browsers, voice synthesis, text-based browsers, etc.).
Reservations (holds) management

Feature List - Evergreen
Google search syntax and spell checking
Book bags and RSS feeds
Patron Self Service
Circulation and patron interface
Cataloguing
Z39.50 client
MARC editor with contextual help
Basic authority support
“ bucket” support

Feature List - Evergreen
Reporting Interface
Offline circulation
“ slimpac” supports accessibility and mobile devices
Powerful permissions control

Evergreen and Koha Side by side
Evergreen has “real-time” indexing
Koha relies on regularly scheduled cron jobs
Evergreen has a thick client installation
Koha is thin client
Evergreen has a “copy editor”

Evergreen has “book-bags” with RSS
Koha has “Lists”

Evergreen’s Offline is part of the staff client
Koha’s Offline is a separate installation

Evergreen has the concept of “buckets”
For working with records

Evergreen has patron groups

Evergreen can “merge” records together

Evergreen has “metarecords” (“FRBRize” search results)

Koha supports internationalisation

Koha supports OAI-PMH

Koha has a label creator

Koha has a “thin” web client

What’s on the Roadmap?
Release 2.0 (2009)
Acquisitions (including EDI support)
Recalls
Reserves (print and electronic)
Serials
More language sets
Post 2.0 and higher (2009 and beyond)
Inbound telephony
Outbound telephony
Inventory management
FulfILLment

What’s on the Roadmap?
Release 3.2 (2009)
Improved granular permissions
Ordering workflow improvements
Refining funds and budgets
Search history
Fast add capability
Support for multiple PAC interfaces

PTFS Europe Evergreen vs. Koha Jonathan Field – Technical Director

Osils Comparison 20090414

by Mark Hughes on Apr 20, 2009

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Osils Comparison 20090414 — Presentation Transcript