Overview

The eIFL-FOSS ILS project provided an opportunity for libraries within the eIFL.net network to evaluate and potentially migrate to a free and open source software (FOSS) integrated library system (ILS). It promoted direct engagement with the FOSS communities of a chosen ILS. We hope it also laid the groundwork for a mutual support network across eIFL.net for further libraries investigating migration to a FOSS ILS.

The project focused on evaluating two FOSS ILSs with robust and open development and support communities: Koha (http://www.koha.org/) and Evergreen (http://www.open-ils.org/).

Following a general call for participation in early 2008, libraries from 12 countries representing 11 language groups submitted applications to become pilot sites. From these, 7 sites were selected that represented a wide range of libraries and regions. All applicants joined an email discussion list in order to follow the progress of the pilot sites. The 7 pilot sites were:

• Fundamental Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences, Armenia (Evergreen);
  
• National Scientific Library, Georgia (Koha);
  
• Mzuzu University, Malawi (Koha);
  
• Library of the Faculty of Medicine Pharmacy and Dentistry, University of Bamako, Mali (Koha);
  
• Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, Nepal (Evergreen);
  
• Midlands State University Library, Zimbabwe (Evergreen); and
  
• An-Najah National University Library, Palestine (West Bank).
  

Each pilot library participating in the project was invited to participate in an intensive technical training workshop in Yerevan, Armenia, in June 2008. Unanticipated logistical difficulties prevented our colleagues from Nepal and Palestine participating in this workshop. Nonetheless, through close contact with the trainers the Nepal pilot was able to proceed. Regrettably, the Palenstine pilot eventually chose to postpone its participation until a later date. But this still left us with 3 Evergreen and 3 Koha pilot sites.

From June 2008 to the present, each of the pilot sites has committed considerable effort to investigating their chosen FOSS ILS. In some cases this entailed significant challenges in terms of key skills (e.g. needing to learn Linux systems administration first before proceeding) or environmental factors (e.g. a number of sites experienced periods of severe infrastructure breakdown over the course of their piloting efforts). Learning to fully engage with FOSS development and support communities was equally challenging. And some technical challenges were (or have been so far) insurmountable.

Milestones

The eIFL-FOSS ILS project has seen a number of milestones.

• Every pilot site managed a full trial installation of its chosen ILS.
• Technical leads for the pilots participated on the email discussion lists and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels of their FOSS ILS development and support community.
• Translations of the user interface have been contributed to the Koha and Evergreen development teams for Armenian.
• A plethora of small software bugs were spotted by the pilot sites and these, with one exception, were all resolved by the developers of the software.
• A substantial set of catalogue records in Armenian (10,000) has been contributed to the Evergreen project to serve as testing material for internationalization for ongoing development versions of Evergreen.
• Two of the Evergreen pilots have gone live, in Armenia and in Zimbabwe. The Armenian Evergreen instance includes the 29 libraries of the National Academy of Science in addition to the lead library, the Fundamental Scientific Library.
• Two of the Koha pilots have gone live, in Mali and in Malawi. The Malawi Koha installation has been integrated into the training programme of the Information Sciences course at Mzuzu University.

Case studies

The following case studies attempt to capture learning points from each of the pilot sites. Each pilot revealed distinctly different challenges and opportunities. And so the learning points from each are largely unique though clearly with some relevance to each other. At present, the pilot in Georgia remains inconclusive; they have faced severe technical challenges with Koha that were unique to their situation and, at least for now, irresolvable. We hope they will soon either be able to resolve this technical difficulty or decide to change courses with regard to their preferred ILS. But this too is a learning point and proves the value of piloting and testing software first prior to committing your library to it. We hope these learning points may prove as advantageous for the An-Najah National University Library, Palestine, when it embarks on its initial foray into trialling a FOSS ILS as they may for others.

• Fundamental Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences, Armenia (Evergreen);
  
• Mzuzu University, Malawi (Koha);
  
• Library of the Faculty of Medicine Pharmacy and Dentistry, University of Bamako, Mali (Koha);
  
• Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, Nepal (Evergreen);
  
• Midlands State University Library, Zimbabwe (Evergreen)