[OPLINLIST] Results of Community Library's migration to Evergreen - Crash & Burn ?

[Bob Neeper]

Did we crash and burn ?     Not even close !

Migration went briefly like this:

First: COOL consortium was formed with Principles of Cooperation, etc.
  A worthy item of note:  you pretty much keep your own song sheet.
  Do, or don't, charge for overdue books,  have a special fine structure, etc. ? 
   Your call.

Next: Pre-work before the migration.

4 &1/2 days (last week of January) introductory training at OhioNET, for various 
staff on certain days.
Consortium and migration meetings and conference calls.
Data cleanup and addition collection weeding.
Test data extracts & analyzing. Data map assignments. Lending, fee, etc. policies.
Etc., etc.

The technical work (my area) inside the library was a piece of cake.
Opened a port for a certain IP access through the firewall, to our server.
Verified Remote Desktop was enabled on the server.
Installed the Evergreen client on 15 workstations at about 3-5 minutes each.

Finally: Actual migration and switch to Evergreen.

Monday, Tuesday Wednesday   March 12, 13, 14
    Used Evergreen Offline Mode for checkout only.
    Returned items went on carts, shelves, etc.
    Patron and item data migrated to Evergreen

Thursday  March 18
    Library closed to the public
    Chauncey Montgomery (Director) gave training presentation with hands-on.

Friday March 16
    Library closed to the public
   More hands-on in the morning
   Afternoon the staff checked in accumulated items with Evergreen.

Saturday March 17
   Library closed to the public
   Everyone (except maybe Chauncey and Joni) took the day off.

Sunday March 18
  Always closed on Sunday

Monday March 19
  Open for business just like normal but running Evergreen.
  A few glitches but nobody quit and patrons were satisfied.

During this week OhioNet and Equinox fine-tuned the migration.

There have been relatively minor (no show stopper) issues to address.
I'd elaborate but have no clue, as not my area of expertise.


Why'd we do it ?

Years and years ago we heard about Koha, so visited Nelsonville Library and did  
a cold call on Joshua Ferraro at LibLime
Also a visit to Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library.
Koha seemed very good, but we decided Liblime was too much money for us.

After Jo Budler held State Library meetings on Evergreen, we started following 
it's development.
Eric Maynard's Functional Comparison to Horizon was very thorough and helpful.
Evergreen features, phenomenal growth and the backing of major library systems 
really sold us.

I personally envisioned a state data center running Evergreen.
No longer would every library need a new server, s/w upgrades, backup solution, 
etc. every 3 to 5 years.
Duplicate ILS vendor support, upgrade  and h/w cost would be reduced.
Libraries could share these reduced costs saving money.
So those bushel baskets of $$$ libraries yearly send out of state (to ILS 
vendors) remain in Ohio
     (All this would look good to the state legislature at budget time)

   ( But best was, offsite program and data storage. No more circ backup worries 
!   Yesss! )


Some benefit to Community Library and Patrons

A feature rich ILS,  library driven and continually improving.
Seamless consortium resource sharing.
Offsite servers and internet professionally managed.
Reduced long term cost providing more money for acquisitions.


Thank you's to the groups making migration possible

OhioNet for vision. overall guidance and support, excellent project supervision, 
Tier I support, etc.
State Library of Ohio LSTA grant award to the COOL Consortium.
COOL Consortium libraries for their vision.
Equinox for migration support.
Library staff for adoption to change and overall support.


BTW  Most, if not everything, is my thoughts and opinions. And, your mileage may 
vary.

-- 

R. W. (Bob) Neeper
Community Library  <http://sunbury.cool-cat.org>
44 Burrer Dr.
Sunbury, Oh 43074
Tel:  (740)-965-3901

cool-cat.org  <http://info.cool-cat.org>

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