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PINES Library System: Enhanced Access and Services for Georgia Residents

Find out why the PINES library card is a game-changer for Georgia residents, providing free access to library collections and convenient borrowing options. Explore the benefits, governance, and user feedback of the PINES system.

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PINES Library System: Enhanced Access and Services for Georgia Residents

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  1. David Singleton, Deputy State Librarian Julie Walker, PINES Program Director Brad LaJeunesse, Systems Administrator Mike Rylander, Development Consultant

  2. Georgia Systems PINES Systems

  3. PINES Anticipated Growth

  4. PINES Today • Y2k project started in 1999 • 44 public library systems • 252 member libraries • 123 counties • 8.8 million items • 1.6 million active cardholders from all 159 Georgia counties.

  5. What Makes PINES Different? • The PINES library card is free to any resident of Georgia, and may be obtained from any PINES library. • The PINES library card can be used at any PINES facility as if at the home library. • Materials may be returned to any PINES library.

  6. What Makes PINES Different? • Users may request materials delivered from any PINES library to local library, at no charge. • In FY06, over 452,000 loans between PINES libraries. • PINES libraries agree to a common set of policies, and procedures, with the goal that users have a consistent experience at any PINES library.

  7. PINES Governance • Executive Committee: Nine (9) elected representatives (Library Directors) from member library systems. • Function-specific subcommittees make policy recommendations. • Executive Committee meets quarterly and as needed.

  8. What are the Benefits? • For users: increased access to local library collections • For libraries: the State of Georgia assumes the costs of the automation system. • Access, not ownership, is the key. • Economy of scale: PINES annual cost = approximately $1.6 million. Individual library automation systems = over $15 million + approximately $5 million per year to maintain those systems.

  9. Services from PINES Central • Training for 1,400 PINES staff in libraries across the state. Training is conducted regionally to reduce travel demands on libraries. • Responsibility for printing and mailing of overdue notices for all PINES libraries • Helpdesk via phone, email or web, available 24 hours/day.

  10. WHAT DO USERS LIKE BEST ABOUT PINES?Comments from the PINES User Survey • “It SIGNIFICANTLY expands the choices of books and other materials available to me. I appreciate this so much because I live in a rural part of the state with a very small local library.” • “Allowing books to be checked out from other libraries is WONDERFUL. This way, the Pines System is like one gigantic library making available a tremendous selection of books regardless of where the books are physically housed.”

  11. The Evergreen Project • The 5-year software contract for PINES ended in June 2005. • 2003-2004: PINES staff conducted a comprehensive survey of the library automation marketplace • At issue: the unique needs of a statewide consortium sharing a centralized database and utilizing a statewide library card. • Is the software driving the policy/procedure, or is the policy/procedure driving the software?

  12. The Evergreen Project • What do PINES libraries need? • Enterprise-class relational database • Flexible system administration • Granular permissions structure • A complex holds matrix • Ability to treat member libraries as individual entities • Reports designed to correspond to annual reporting requirements

  13. The Evergreen Project • Evergreen Integrated Library System was developed using Open Source software. • Released under General Public License (GPL). • Alpha release (Online public access catalog, Cataloging, Circulation) debuted in July 2005. • Beta release in early 2006. • All PINES libraries migrated to Evergreen software on September 5, 2006. • Transactions, user records, and item records were migrated from the former system.

  14. Evergreen Vendor ILS Server Hardware $350,000 $1,500,000 Hardware Support (included, 3 years) $200,000/yr Software Licensing $0 $200,000/yr Local Tech Staff 4 2 Cost Comparison

  15. Fringe Benefits • We’re self-sustaining and control our own destiny. • We decide on development priorities. • No more difficulty trying to convince a vendor to develop important features for us (a minority customer in some ways). • The users of the software have direct access to the developers.

  16. Evergreen Online Catalog Features • Streamlined searching from a single search box. • Google-like spell-checking and search suggestions. • Ability to select specific material formats from the online catalog’s front page. • Added content, including book cover images, reviews, and excerpts. • Randomized holds that include geographic location as a factor. • Scalability in anticipation of PINES growth.

  17. Evergreen Online Catalog Features • In ‘My Account’, patrons can: • change personal login name; • change password; • place, cancel, and view holds; • modify how they would like to be alerted of available holds; • view fines; • view address information; and • view Bookbags (and share them)

  18. Let’s take a look… http://gapines.org

  19. Evergreen Core Technologies • Database: PostgreSQL • Logic/glue languages: C and Perl, Javascript • Webserver: Apache mod_perl, C modules • Client side software: XUL • Server operating system: Linux • Server hardware: x86-64 • Messaging core: Jabber (Ejabberd)

  20. Evergreen Design • Server-side software is designed to run on inexpensive commodity hardware with Linux as the operating system. • The software is designed to run in a clustered environment, giving it enterprise-level high availability and failover. • Evergreen's staff client is cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux).

  21. Open Application Plaform The traditional ILS is • A catalog • An OPAC • A circulation system • Cataloging tools We wanted more – we wanted a platform

  22. Open Application Platform We need a framework that • is easy to cluster • takes care of all the dirty work • has very low overhead • makes writing applications simple • is built on open, standard protocols Given this we can create components as they are needed to provide solutions on demand – we don't need to anticipate every problem!

  23. OpenSRF: Features and Benefits We built a framework that • can trivially scale from a single server to hundreds in a tiered, redundant fashion • manages everything but the application logic, abstracting away everything to a consistent set of method calls • can easily handle hundreds of transactions per second, per server without any administrator tuning of the underlying components • turns writing applications, including entire ILS modules, into a matter of translating business logic into a set of simple Perl or C routines • Leverages existing open standards and open source software to avoid both duplication of effort and component lock-in

  24. OpenSRF: The Pieces OpenSRF consists of • A Jabber server – PINES uses eJabberd, and has tested jabber2d and an in-house custom server • The OpenSRF Router – provides application load balancing and failover services • OpenSRF Application Infrastructure – libraries and tools that turn simple business logic functions into seamless applications • OpenSRF Gateway – an Apache web server plugin that turns URLs into OpenSRF requests, and OpenSRF reponses into web-accesible content • OpenSRF DocGen – serves API documentation from the OpenSRF Introspection Service

  25. Benefits to Evergreen • Dramatically decreased the time to go from service prototypes to production implementations • Allows developers to focus on core ILS issues • Increase capacity as needed using any source – no hardware vendor lock-in! • No single point of failure for any critical system or service • Rolling Upgrades – no need to take the system offline to upgrade backend services!

  26. Where Do We Go from Here? • Migration of the six library systems waiting to become part of PINES. • Develop the Acquisitions and Serials modules. • Work with others on a protocol to share information across automation systems (Open NCIP). • Develop the children's portal for the online catalog.

  27. Where Do We Go from Here? • Implement online bill pay for users. • Enhance social aspects of the catalog: user ratings, reviews, and comments. • Complete the Spanish translation for the online catalog.

  28. Where do we go from here? • Deep links into the GALILEO databases. • Online catalog that can be used on mobile devices. • Possible partnerships with other institutions.

  29. PINES online catalog: gapines.org Evergreen development: open-ils.org

  30. David Singleton dsingleton@georgialibraries.org Julie Walker jwalker@georgialibraries.org Brad LaJeunesse bradl@georgialibraries.org Mike Rylander mrylander@georgialibraries.org

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