Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager: A Comparison of Their Staff Modules Ten Years of Experience, A Future of Possibilities VALE / NJ ACRL/ NJLA CUS Tenth Annual Users' Conference Friday, January 9, 2009 Sharon Yang, Melissa A. Hofmann, and Meghan Weeks Rider University Libraries

Overview of the Presentation Introduction ▫Open source & GNU General Public License ▫Open source ILS ▫Koha and Evergreen Staff client comparison Comparison of staff functions ▫Acquisitions ▫Cataloging ▫Circulation ▫System administration Behind-the-scenes technologies Cost analysis Conclusion

Introduction: Open Source & GNU GPL GNU General Public License ▫GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix" ▫Free to run, study, modify, and redistribute the software ▫Support is not free Other open source licenses ▫Mozilla Public License ▫Creative Commons licenses ▫BSD License ▫Apache Software License ▫GNU Free Documentation License

Introduction: Why Open Source ILS? Financial considerations Ability to tailor to fit local needs or customization No restrictions on use User driven vs. profit driven Dissatisfaction with current ILS No vendor lock-in

Introduction: Open Source ILS Avanti MicroLCS ( Emilda, Finland ( Evergreen, US ( Koha, New Zealand ( Learning Access ILS, US ( NewGenLib, India ( OpenBiblio ( PhpMyLibrary, Philippines ( PMB (PhpMyBibli), France ( PYTHEAS, US ( OPALS, US ( WebLIS, UNESCO & Poland ( In conceptual stage: OLE: The Open Library Environment (

Introduction: Koha & Evergreen English language More mature that other open source ILSs More complete functions/modules More users Available technical support and planned future releases

Comparison of Staff Modules: Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager “A thorough process of evaluating an integrated library system (ILS) today would not be complete without also weighing the open source ILS products against their proprietary counterparts." - Marshall Breeding, Chapter 4, "Open Source Integrated Library Systems"

Comparison: Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager KohaEvergreenVoyager First developed First implemented by a US library First became a turnkey system with technical support Number of libraries as of 1/

Staff Modules KohaEvergreenVoyager Acquisitions  Cataloging OPAC Circulation System Serials  Reports Comparison: Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager Note: Evergreen Acquisitions & Serials modules are currently under joint development by Equinox, Georgia Public Library Service, and several Evergreen libraries. No release date yet.

Staff Client Comparison Koha-web browser Evergreen-locally installed client (Windows, Linux, Mac) CatC Voyager-locally installed client (Windows) Circulation Cataloging System Admin Acquisitions System Admin CirculationCataloging

Acquisitions Comparison ActivitiesVoyagerKoha Search parameters Vendors, Ledgers, Funds, Rollover Rules, PO #, Line Items, Invoices, EDI Profiles, Routing Lists, Pub. Patterns Vendor name or title/vendor name only Import MARC records YesNo (use existing bib, use suggestion, or create short bib). View/edit MARC records Yes (cataloging module must also be open and same operator signed in) No, must search in catalog; edit in catalog (takes you away from P.O. screens) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) YesNo (in planning stage) Fiscal Period Close/Rollover YesNo Selection lists NoNo? Unless requesting through OPAC Patrons suggestions via OPAC and notification NoYes

Acquisitions cont. ActivitiesVoyagerKoha Connect to university accounting software No Add requestor information to an item YesNo (Notes field only) Ability to notify requestor of status NoOnly if from OPAC. Flagging an order (rush, etc.) YesNo (Notes field only) Receiving/marking monographs Yes Subscription maintenance (patterns) YesYes (Serials module) Serials check-in YesYes (Serials module)

Koha Acquisitions: Issues for Libraries Sample WALDO Requirements for Acquisitions before moving to Koha ▫Print out P.O. or as PDF ▫Print cancellations and claim notices ▫Flag orders upon receipt (rush, hold, reserve, ILL) ▫Allow budget hierarchies ▫Print out listing of all fund codes ▫Standing order functionality ▫Serials acquisitions: EBSCO invoice handling, building POs for serial items, mark for automatic renewal) From: “WALDO Development Projects Enhancements for Academic Libraries, Core Development Projects,” June 2008 Issues raised by Arcadia University: ▫ Unable to search by order number ▫ Unable to view a particular fund and see orders from that fund

Evergreen Acquisitions Timeline Evergreen Acquisitions and Serials Timelines (Beta, Early 2009) ▫Federated Z39.50/Evergreen Bibliographic Search ▫Basic Fund, Provider, Funding Sources, and Picklist management interfaces ▫Support for loading vendor order records for creating POs ▫PO creation from selected items ▫Initial receiving interfaces ▫Rich permissions infrastructure ▫Support for EDI ordering and acknowledgment ▫Support for creating brief bibliographic order records 1.0 (Evergreen 2.0), Spring 2009 ▫Serials Check-in (prediction) ▫Distribution patterns ▫Automatic claiming Later ▫Vendor web services for bib discovery ▫Amazon Discover API ▫Advanced shipment notification via EDI From:

Cataloging Comparison VoyagerKohaEvergreen Import from file (non-Z39.50, e.g. export from OCLC Connexion) Yes. Bibs and authority. Yes* Bibs only. Through “Tools” module (not in Cataloging). Two step process. Records stay in “reservoir” indefinitely? Yes* (Coming in version 1.4). Bibs and authority through “Vandelay” batch MARC import/export Bib import from Z39.50 Yes Holdings export Yes (MARC)Yes, MARC or XMLYes Authority controlYesYes * but ease and logistics of loading records Yes * but how do you access authority records? Automatic update of bib records from authority records Yes* Global Headings Change option requires a few steps both in Cataloging and Sys Admin. Not truly automatic; has limitations in function. No?No

Cataloging cont. VoyagerKohaEvergreen Overlay/merge records YesYes* Preserve MARC fields in target record? Suppress bibsYesNo Mini/short bib flagging/catalog review YesNoNo? “Mark for overlay”? Bib templates (where fields are pre-populated with text) YesNo (“Framework” under Admin., but this defines 008 values “form of material”) No. ( Item templates only.) Diacritic entryYesNo

Cataloging cont. VoyagerKohaEvergreen Tracking of changes/operator history Yes. (Update, merge, overlay, un/suppress. Tab in module. Yes Link on screen, uses Tools (Add, delete, modify only.) No (Only “last edited by” and library I.D.) Global data changeNo. Soon (2009, V. 8) No Metadata choices (Dublin Core, etc.) No. MARC only. No. Maps MARC to Koha SQL No (Create/import MARC) Reorder MARC fields YesNo. Reorder subfields only. No MFHD (MARC for Holdings Data) YesNo Supplies ISBD punctuation No Spine LabelsNoYes* But under Tools, Label Templates Yes

Circulation VoyagerKohaEvergreen Patron imageNoYesNo Bulk import of patrons Yes*YesNot easily RecallsYesNo Course ReservesYesNo CalendarYes No Offline TransactionsYesNoYes

Circulation Comparison: Patron Search Koha Barcode Partial name Browse by last name Evergreen Last name First name Middle name Phone Barcode ID Street address City Zip code Voyager Last name Barcode ID

Evergreen Circulation Enhancements Release candidate 1.4 (October 2008) ▫New interface for circulation rules ▫Credit card payments ▫Pre-overdue (reminder) notices Release 2.0 (Winter 2008/2009) ▫Recalls ▫Reserves (Print and Electronic) Release 3.0 and higher (2009 and beyond) ▫Netflix-style hold queues ▫Web based patron self registration From: evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=faqs:evergreen_roadmap

Comparison: System Administration Koha Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation Security System Evergreen Cataloging Circulation Security Voyager Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation OPAC Search Security System

Behind the Scenes Technologies Koha (3.0) Server software: Linux (Debian), Apache, MySQL, Perl Client: web browser Limitation: any amount of data that MySQL can handle Evergreen ( ) Server software: Linux (Debian, Gentoo, and Ubuntu), Windows (via a virtualized Unix-guest OS such as VirtualBox or Vmware),PostgreSQL Client: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Evergreen Client Voyager (7.03) Server: Solaris, Windows, Linux, Oracle Client: Windows, Voyager client (Acquisitions, Cataloging, Circulation, Reporter, System Admin)

Behind the Scenes Technologies: Installation According to a 2008 survey of 361 libraries of Koha, Evergreen and proprietary ILS, libraries did not choose Koha or Evergreen for three reasons (Riewe 2008): 1.Hard to install the system and some parts do not work. 2.Lack of good documentation 3.Lack of functionality

Behind the Scenes Technologies: Labor Costs Initial labor cost may be higher than proprietary ILS. “The higher initial labor costs of open source ILSs in some categories corroborate the view that OSS requires greater technical sophistication to use than proprietary software” (Riewe 2008). Collection Size (items)KohaEvergreenProprietary >=1,000 & <10,000$1,358$250 >=10,000 & <25,000$3,232$1,350 >=25,000 & <50,000$5958$953$375 >=50,000 & <100,000$9,167$14,600 >=100,000 & <1,000,000$18,02334,719

Initial Cost of ILS Collection Size by Items KohaEvergreenProprietary >=100 & <500$250 >=500 & <1,000$1,950 >=1,000 & <10,000$1,407$25,125 >=10,000 & 25,000$3,859$9,700 >=25,000 & 50,000$5,958$953$8,000 >=50,000 &100,000$19,250$78,364 >=100,000 & <1,000,000$21,675$217,609 >=1,000,000$266,719 Software, License fee, installation, configuration, migration of data, documentation, training (Riewe, 2008)

Annual Cost of ILS Collection Size by ItemsKohaEvergreenProprietar y >=100 & <500$250 >=500 & <1,000$450 >=1,000 & <10,000$664$4,708 >=10,000 & 25,000$1,429$3,200 >=25,000 & 50,000$1,917$1698$10,281 >=50,000 &100,000$2,550$18,167 >=100,000 & <1,000,000$6,023$38,870 >=1,000,000$69,250 Support Contract, Maintenance, License Fees (Riewe, 2008)

Conclusion Staff Modules 1.Voyager 2.Koha 3.Evergreen OPAC 1.Koha 2.Voyager 3.Evergreen Libraries need to evaluate resources (budget, staffing, etc.) vs. needs

Questions?

References Ayre, L. and Kress, L. (2008). Software requirements specification for the acquisitions module of an integrated library system. March Retrieved Jan. 5, 2009, from Breeding, M Automation Marketplace 2008: Opportunity Out of Turmoil. Library Journal 133 (6), Breeding, M Next-generation library catalogs. Library Technology Reports 43 (4). Riewe, L. M. (2008). Survey of Open Source Integrated Library Systems. Unpublished master's thesis, San José State University, 210 North 4th Street San Jose, CA Retrieved January/February, 2009, from The Evergreen Community. (n.d.). Evergreen [F&Q, documentation, download]. Retrieved January 8, 2009, from “WALDO Development Projects Enhancements for Academic Libraries, Core Development Projects,” July 2008