ABOUT THE RESOURCE
TYPE:
Case Study
DATE:
December 2010
DOCUMENT LANGUAGE:
English
OTHER LANGUAGES:
The EIFL-FOSS ILS project provided an opportunity for libraries within the EIFL network to evaluate and potentially migrate to a free and open source software (FOSS) integrated library system (ILS). It promoted direct engagement with the FOSS communities of a chosen ILS. We hope it also laid the groundwork for a mutual support network across EIFL for further libraries investigating migration to a FOSS ILS.
Following a general call for participation in early 2008, 7 sites were selected that represented a wide range of libraries and regions. One of three pilot projects was implemented in Armenia.
Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (MPP http://madanpuraskar.org/) is a non-governmental, non-profit library. It maintains an archive of books, periodicals, ephemera, and other collections in the Nepali language which grew out of the personal collection of MPP's founder and chairman Kamal Mani Dixit. MPP currently uses an in-house cataloguing system with non-standard data (such as MARC21) which makes them dependent on in-house support and development, and unable to take advantage of new features in other systems. A move to a FOSS ILS would need a migration to a more standard format. MPP had already investigated Koha, and therefore opted to pilot the Evergreen ILS. Dibyendra Hyoju carried out the installation and testing under the direction of MPP Director Amar Gurung.
2010 Update
In Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, Nepal, although the installation of Evergreen was successful, still issues remained with migration of records in MARC21 standard. Because of this the library decided that Koha was the best FOSS option for their context. Records from the in-house ILS are being converted into MARC standard and imported into Koha – so far over 5,000 records have been migrated this way. When the migration reaches 10,000 records, MPP plans to open the OPAC for the system to the public.
RESOURCES
- Full Nepal Evergreen Case Study (Download below the text)
- Nepal Evergreen Handout (including 2010 update)
What is the Evergreen?
Evergreen is an open source Integrated Library System (ILS). Evergreen includes circulation and cataloguing features, OPAC, SIP2.0 support for interaction with management software and search/retrieval through Z39.50.
Evergreen also features the Open Scalable Request Framework (OpenSRF, pronounced 'open surf'), that allows developers to create applications for Evergreen with a minimum of knowledge of its structure. Operates on Debian or Ubuntu Linux servers. It is operable in English and issued under a GNU General Public License (GPL)
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