Open Source ILS: Preparing Your Data

Carol Love

Choosing Open Source: Make Your Own Set of Tools

• Your library’s characteristics– Type, patrons, collections, branches

• Open source software features– Some traditional ILS features– Some new with open source

• Support from within the library, or outside– Your own IT staff– Open source support vendor

Open Source Players and Products

Implementing the Software:Bibliographic Database Decisions

• Migrate a substandard database – Brief Record Upgrade

• Create an entire database from scratch (or add a collection not yet in the catalog)– Retrospective Conversion

Implementing the Software:More Database Decisions

• Correct names and subject headings– Authorities Processing

• Add content to help retrieval– TOC, Fiction/Biography, Summaries– Accelerated Reader, Lexile, Reading

Counts• Create smart barcode labels

Case Study: Gunston Hall and George Washington’s Mt. Vernon

• No existing catalog, limited number of staff– General collection plus manuscripts,

deeds, personal papers, genealogy architecture, rare books

– Web access, multiple formats, date-format call numbers, display of notes

• Decision to use Koha with PTFS support because of flexibility, scale, and cost

Sneak peek at Gunston Hall and George Washington’s

Mt. Vernon Libraries Catalog

Types and locations

Extensive notes were keyed as

part of MARCIVE

retrospective conversion

Advice: Quality of Data Reflected in System

• Authorities processing is critical. Currently, open source systems lack authority control. – Keyword searching dependent on correct,

current terms.

– Authority records built from headings.

• Up-to-date coding allows features to function correctly. Current data fields.

• Content accessed by keyword search. More content means more discovery.

Know What You Need and Ask For It

• Functionality to fit your situation• Clean, consistent, content-rich data to load

into open source system• Result: Patrons experience increased

satisfaction with search results in new system.

Make the Most of Your New Open Source System with Better Data

Contact MARCIVE for

database evaluation

detailed information

pricing

www.marcive.com

info@marcive.com

1-800-531-7678