(Guest blog post from Abdrahamane Anne of the Library of the Faculty of Medicine Pharmacy and Dentistry, University of Bamako, Mali. This workshop was part of the eIFL-FOSS Skills and Tools Workshops initiative.)


"Yesterday,I tried to install PMB on my office desktop, but failed. The system was telling me that a file was missing," a participant at our recent PMB workshop told me just before we started a new day. It is a good indicator that some of the participants were already experimenting at their own libraries.

From 13 to 17 July  2009, 14 librarians from academic, scientific and public libraries from Bamako, Mali attended a workshop on the PMB library management system. The workshop was one of a series of three organized by the Malian Library Consortium (COMBI), the Malian Documentation Network (REMADOC) and the Malian Linux and Free Software Association (AMULL). The objective of the workshop was to show participants how to catalogue documents, register library users, and manage circulation using PMB.

During the 5 days of the workshop librarians went through installation, configuration, data entry and data migration. Every participant installed PMB several times. The goal of repeatedly going through installations was to be certain they can cross the installation barrier at their own library later. Since PMB is a PHP/MySQL application the installation process is different to what participants were used to and thus this required spending more time on it. They also learned how to uninstall the application.

Next they learned how to set parameters that are essential for using PMB such as library facilities, reading rooms, and reader categories. By the end of the day, the look and feel of PMB on each participant's machine was different. Everyone chose a style that pleased him. When a trainee asked, "Why am I not having that box on my screen?" another participant was able to give him the answer, "Because you've chosen a different style." It was a clear sign that the skills were beginning to sink in. Styles in PMB are what is referred as templates or themes in some applications. They determine the colour, the layout and how things are displayed on the screen.

When it came to bibliographic descriptions, I became the learner. "What information should go in this field?" At each of my questions the participants would have answers. Sometimes divergent but all correct. We also covered how to import marc records in the files. Little by little, we learned new things and people started aligning their priorities through specific questions. "Let's make certain we cover this aspect and that aspect, and then if we have time we can look at other functionalities," was the general opinion. All of them were interested in the data migration from CDS/ISIS, and some wanted to see how to create alerts.

Unfortunately the participants did not put into practice the migration process, but the process was clearly explained several times. "First of all you need to find the UNIMARC equivalent of your CDS/ISIS database  fields. Secondly you create a file selection table  to reformat your data. Next you export your data from CDS/ISIS using the file selection table. Then you use MARCEdit software to convert CDS/ISIS output file into UNIMARC. Finaly you import into PMB". I then showed them how to do it. This is one of the parts of the training that interests the librarians the most.  More training needs to be done on this issue since many libraries have their bibliographic data in CDS/ISIS. We also covered during this workshop the management of periodicals, library user management and circulation management.

"I did not expect that we would be able to cover so many things in five days, I told my colleague who helped me with the logistics. I was impressed how interested and dedicated the participants were during this workshop. They were never late and were regularly asking questions and seeking clarifications. "I will need your assistance in that ISIS to PMB data migration. If we can get the data out of ISIS in the right form, many people will want to go with PMB. It has all the functionality we need in our libraries," one participant told me. "I will talk to my institution administration before I come back to you," another participant said. "Does it mean that if I have PMB on my desktop in the library, people can access it from their offices?," asked a participant. "This might have very positive effect on the library image within our organization," he added when I told him that his OPAC can be searched by the director from his office if the computers are networked.

To evaluate the workshop, each participant was asked to write down comments and impressions. The workshop was very much appreciated and interested all of them. They had a positive opinion about the trainer, even though he is sometimes fast. Almost all of them suggested to run another workshop on PMB to consolidate what has been seen and go into more advanced functionalities.

One week after the end of the workshop, I received an email from of the participants reporting problems she is encountering when she tried to install PMB at her institution. That is an indication that people are starting the use the new knowledge they've during the workshop. And also a sign that there is more work to do in the future.


Abdrahamane Anne
Bamako, Mali