Thanks Jason. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I'll check out Archipelago.
Diane On Sat, Aug 22, 2020 at 12:00 PM < [email protected]> wrote: > Send Evergreen-general mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Evergreen-general digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: questions from a newbie (Jason Stephenson) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2020 10:11:03 -0400 > From: Jason Stephenson <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Evergreen-general] questions from a newbie > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > Hi, Diane! > > Thanks for your interest in Evergreen! I'm going to be blunt and tell > you that Evergreen does not sound like the right tool for your use case. > > It is designed and implemented for a traditional library setting where > physical items are circulated to patrons. It is not geared for managing > collections of electronic materials or tracking their use. It requires > that records for materials are entered in standard MARC format, familiar > to libraries and alien everywhere else. > > It is difficult to set up and maintain. It requires a certain level of > knowledge of GNU/Linux to be able to maintain an Evergreen system on > one's own. That said, the knowledge can be acquired, and there are > companies that will host an Evergreen installation and maintain it for > you, albeit for a fee. > > You more likely want a dedicated electronic resource management system. > I am not very familiar with the software in that area, though I was > recently made aware of Archipelago. If you get past the marketing speak > on the main page, it sounds like it might be what you're looking for: > http://archipelago.nyc/ > > Hope that Helps, > Jason > > > On 8/22/20 9:40 AM, Diane Silver wrote: > > Dear Evergreen community -- > > > > I stumbled upon Evergreen while researching options for web-development > > software to create a small resource library for our organization. > > It seems that Evergreen is far more powerful than what we need. We're > > not sure if that will be a hindrance (way too complex for our small > > operation), or if it doesn't matter. > > > > We have a few basic questions, which I'm hoping someone can answer: > > > > 1) It looks like Evergreen is back-end software for a library catalog of > > existing items. i.e., it helps you build your library catalog using > > ISBNs of published books or works from the library of congress. It > > doesn't look like it's intended for orgs who want to display _*their > > own*_ materials. Is this right, or could we use it to create an online > > library for our own documents, videos, powerpoints, etc.? > > > > 2) We don't need to manage circulation. All of our resources are > > electronic, and free. Our users would just download each file. We DO > > want some analytics to track page views, number of downloads for each > > item, searches, and similar usage. And we want access to the site to > > require an authorized log-in, so it's not completely open to the > > public. Do you think Evergreen is the right tool? I know Evergreen is > > used by large public library systems. Would all it's capability get in > > the way of the much smaller scope of what we want to do, or could we > > just ignore the functions we don't need (like circulation)? > > > > 3) It looks like getting set up is a bit complicated for non-tech-savvy > > folks like me. I took a peek at the documentation and quickly concluded > > that we would need a system administrator to do this for us. Is this a > > function that can be contracted out? Are there folks out there (maybe > > on this list) who would be interested in such a role? Would this list > > be an appropriate place to post an RFP or would that violate the > > community culture? Could this be a discrete contract to set up the > > back-end system, and maybe even build the front-end website, and then > > once it's built, would it be simple enough to maintain ourselves (i.e., > > add new resources as they get developed, manage users, etc.)? I imagine > > the answer to that is, "it depends," so let's say it would be a library > > of 100s but not 1000s of items, and maybe a few hundred users, and we're > > pretty proficient at _*using*_ various systems, just not building them. > > So I guess the question is, how much technical maintenance would it need? > > > > 4) What kind of time-frame (ballpark) would it take to set up an online > > library with a few hundred items, for someone who has lots of experience > > with Evergreen and wouldn't have the steep learning curve that we would? > > > > Thanks to anyone who can provide some insights for us. We love the > > spirit and intent of the Evergreen community. > > > > - Diane > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Evergreen-general mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Evergreen-general mailing list > [email protected] > http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-general > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Evergreen-general Digest, Vol 1, Issue 4 > *********************************************** >
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