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Did we crash and burn ? Not even close !<br>
<br>
Migration went briefly like this:<br>
<br>
First: COOL consortium was formed with Principles of Cooperation,
etc.<br>
A worthy item of note: you pretty much keep your own song sheet.<br>
Do, or don't, charge for overdue books, have a special fine
structure, etc. ? Your call.<br>
<br>
Next: Pre-work before the migration.<br>
<br>
4 &1/2 days (last week of January) introductory training at
OhioNET, for various staff on certain days.<br>
Consortium and migration meetings and conference calls.<br>
Data cleanup and addition collection weeding.<br>
Test data extracts & analyzing. Data map assignments. Lending,
fee, etc. policies.<br>
Etc., etc.<br>
<br>
The technical work (my area) inside the library was a piece of cake.<br>
Opened a port for a certain IP access through the firewall, to our
server.<br>
Verified Remote Desktop was enabled on the server.<br>
Installed the Evergreen client on 15 workstations at about 3-5
minutes each.<br>
<br>
Finally: Actual migration and switch to Evergreen.<br>
<br>
Monday, Tuesday Wednesday March 12, 13, 14<br>
Used Evergreen Offline Mode for checkout only.<br>
Returned items went on carts, shelves, etc.<br>
Patron and item data migrated to Evergreen<br>
<br>
Thursday March 18<br>
Library closed to the public<br>
Chauncey Montgomery (Director) gave training presentation with
hands-on.<br>
<br>
Friday March 16<br>
Library closed to the public<br>
More hands-on in the morning<br>
Afternoon the staff checked in accumulated items with Evergreen.<br>
<br>
Saturday March 17<br>
Library closed to the public<br>
Everyone (except maybe Chauncey and Joni) took the day off.<br>
<br>
Sunday March 18<br>
Always closed on Sunday<br>
<br>
Monday March 19<br>
Open for business just like normal but running Evergreen.<br>
A few glitches but nobody quit and patrons were satisfied.<br>
<br>
During this week OhioNet and Equinox fine-tuned the migration.<br>
<br>
There have been relatively minor (no show stopper) issues to
address.<br>
I'd elaborate but have no clue, as not my area of expertise.<br>
<br>
<br>
Why'd we do it ? <br>
<br>
Years and years ago we heard about Koha, so visited Nelsonville
Library and did a cold call on Joshua Ferraro at LibLime<br>
Also a visit to Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library.<br>
Koha seemed very good, but we decided Liblime was too much money for
us.<br>
<br>
After Jo Budler held State Library meetings on Evergreen, we started
following it's development.<br>
Eric Maynard's Functional Comparison to Horizon was very thorough
and helpful.<br>
Evergreen features, phenomenal growth and the backing of major
library systems really sold us.<br>
<br>
I personally envisioned a state data center running Evergreen.<br>
No longer would every library need a new server, s/w upgrades,
backup solution, etc. every 3 to 5 years.<br>
Duplicate ILS vendor support, upgrade and h/w cost would be
reduced.<br>
Libraries could share these reduced costs saving money.<br>
So those bushel baskets of $$$ libraries yearly send out of state
(to ILS vendors) remain in Ohio<br>
(All this would look good to the state legislature at budget
time)<br>
<br>
( But best was, offsite program and data storage. No more circ
backup worries ! Yesss! )<br>
<br>
<br>
Some benefit to Community Library and Patrons<br>
<br>
A feature rich ILS, library driven and continually improving.<br>
Seamless consortium resource sharing.<br>
Offsite servers and internet professionally managed.<br>
Reduced long term cost providing more money for acquisitions.<br>
<br>
<br>
Thank you's to the groups making migration possible<br>
<br>
OhioNet for vision. overall guidance and support, excellent project
supervision, Tier I support, etc.<br>
State Library of Ohio LSTA grant award to the COOL Consortium.<br>
COOL Consortium libraries for their vision.<br>
Equinox for migration support.<br>
Library staff for adoption to change and overall support.<br>
<br>
<br>
BTW Most, if not everything, is my thoughts and opinions. And, your
mileage may vary.<br>
<br>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="80">R. W. (Bob) Neeper
<a href="http://sunbury.cool-cat.org" target="_blank">Community Library</a>
44 Burrer Dr.
Sunbury, Oh 43074
Tel: (740)-965-3901
<a href="http://info.cool-cat.org"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 100px; height: 107px;" alt="cool-cat.org" src="cid:part2.03050201.01050002@oplin.org"></a></pre>
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