Call for Participation – Koha and Evergreen Pilots

eIFL-FOSS is an eIFL.net program advocating free and open source software (FOSS) use in libraries in developing and transition countries. eIFL-FOSS ILS is a project supporting evaluation of and migration to free and open source (FOSS) integrated library systems (ILS). It is an opportunity for librarians in eIFL member countries to engage directly with the Koha http://www.koha.org/ or Evergreen http://www.open-ils.org/ development communities and to contribute to that ongoing development. In particular it is an opportunity for pilot institutions, in conjunction with the active participation of the eIFL-FOSS country coordinators, to identify and draft support documentation to aid themselves and other libraries that may wish to pursue this FOSS ILS path.

Call for participation:

At this time we invite any eIFL.net library that is interested in participating in a pilot of either Koha or Evergreen to make themselves known to the eIFL-FOSS Program Manager, Randy Metcalfe randy.metcalfe[@]eifl.net , by no later than 28 February 2008. An initial meeting of pilot institutions will take place as soon after that date as is feasible. Please be sure to identify which ILS you are most interested in piloting. The full application details are available below.

Pilots: A pilot in this project is a library that is undertaking evaluation, testing, and/or migration to either Koha or Evergreen. Becoming a pilot does not entail that your library will in fact migrate to Koha or Evergreen. But it does demand full participation in the project's activities, especially in the effort to develop needed support documentation. Pilot institutions can expect the full support of the project team including the country coordinators and Advisory Board. In addition they must agree to host a 2 to 3 day visit by two members of the project team whose task will be to write a case-study of what has taken place during this pilot and to gather learning points for the project. Pilots must agree for the case-study to be published for wider distribution. Note: we appreciate that some libraries will already be engaged in ongoing investigations of Koha or Evergreen; this is not a barrier to participation as a pilot institution in this project.

We intend to conduct a total of 6 pilots (3 Koha pilots and 3 Evergreen pilots) over the life of the project, ideally in 3 separate phases. Please express your interest in participating as a pilot even if you will not be ready to pilot either ILS for up to 6 months. There will still be an opportunity for you to benefit from the project. Note: if the overwhelming majority of those expressing interest in piloting prefer one ILS, the project plan will adjust to accommodate demand.

Because we anticipate that interest in Koha and Evergreen will outstrip the scale of the project, we have established a set of selection criteria to guide us in selecting suitable pilot institutions.

Pilot Selection criteria

Pilot sites must act in their country or region as a Centre of Excellence for implementing, piloting and disseminating information about the FOSS ILS option(s) to libraries, archives, and museums.

The piloting site must be a library or group of libraries, with a medium to large size collection (ideally greater than 200,00 volumes per library), and:

• must be willing to install, localize and test at least cataloguing and circulation modules of a FOSS ILS (either Koha or Evergreen);

• must have at least Pentium3 or Pentium4 computers, medium to high Internet bandwidth, and medium to high IT experience;

• should already have at least an online catalogue, and be interested in migrating to a FOSS ILS;

• should be able to write draft support documentation in one of the suggested languages: Arabic, English, French, or Russian;

• should be willing to help develop documentation on the software and migration scenarios, including translation of documentation and selected ILS localization where appropriate;

• should be willing to assist in developing appropriate training courses in the usage of a FOSS ILS for different groups of users, including but not limited to:

• System librarians;

• Cataloguers;

• Circulation staff;

• Library patrons.

In addition to the requirements for the pilot site, there are specific requirements for IT staff from the pilot site. The main IT contact from the pilot institution must be:

• fluent in English;

• able to install, test, and troubleshoot various FOSS products, or be willing to learn how to do so;

• willing to report to the eIFL-FOSS Project Coordinator on progress and operational status of the pilot on a regular basis;

• willing to serve as a focal point for promoting the vision, mission, values, strategic goals and outputs of eIFL-FOSS in the piloting country;

• able to network with the Project Coordinator, Program Manager, Advisory Board and the larger support community to ensure that organizational, functional and technical issues are solved in a unified and co-ordinated manner;

• willing to participate and contribute to the various activities offered by the Advisory Board;

• willing and able to respond promptly to all calls for information by stated deadlines.

Countries eligible to participate (i.e. eIFL.net member countries)

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Croatian, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Kosova, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine Territories (Gaza and West Bank), Poland, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Application procedure

At this time we invite any eIFL.net library that is interested in participating in a pilot of either Koha or Evergreen to make themselves known to the eIFL-FOSS Program Manager, Randy Metcalfe randy.metcalfe[@]eifl.net , by no later than 28 February 2008. An initial meeting of pilot insitutions will take place as soon after that date as is feasible. Please be sure to identify which ILS you are most interested in piloting. You will then be requested to complete the detailed application below:

1.Organization/library name

2.Country or region name

3.Full address

4.Phone and fax contact

5.Email contact

6.Institution URL

7.Collection size

8.Language(s) supported

9.ILS currently deployed

10.Migration goals: why do you wish to migrate to a FOSS ILS?

11.Current cataloguing format

12.Library technical infrastructure – please describe in detail: kinds of hardware and specifications; library automation products apart from the ILS (e.g., link resolver, federated searching, OpenURL, institutional repository), etc.

13.Type of Internet connection and bandwidth

14.Skill level of library IT staff, especially systems administrators and system librarians

15.Language skills of library IT staff. Do you have anyone who could help localize the interface and/or write support documentation?

16.Level of institutional commitment. Will you be able to commit staff time, hardware budget, and other resources to this migration? Does this pilot fit with any other institutional goals?

Information about Koha and Evergreen

Koha ILS

(details gathered from http://www.koha.org/ )

Koha is the world's first open source intergrated library system. Koha is feature-rich but the core features are, and always will be:

• a library catalogue front end/OPAC

• a library system intranet

• a circulation tracking system

• an acquisitions/budgeting system

For detailed information on Koha see the Koha FAQ http://www.koha.org/about-koha/faq.html

Current stable release: version 2.2.9 (version 3.0 is currently in alpha release)

Licence: GNU General Public License (GPL)

Evergreen ILS

(details gathered from http://www.open-ils.org/ )

Evergreen is an enterprise-class library automation system that helps library patrons find library materials, and helps libraries manage, catalog, and circulate those materials, no matter how large or complex the libraries. As a community, our development requirements are that Evergreen must be:

• Stable, even under extreme load.

• Robust, and capable of handling a high volume of transactions and simultaneous users.

• Flexible, to accomodate the varied needs of libraries.

• Secure, to protect our patrons' privacy and data.

• User-friendly, to facilitate patron and staff use of the system.

For detailed information on Evergreen see the Evergreen FAQ http://www.open-ils.org/faq.php

Current stable release: version 1.2.1.2

Licence: GNU General Public License (GPL)