[Web4lib] Integrated Library Systems whose only client is a browser

[Mike Rylander]

On 9/16/05, Mike Taylor <mike at miketaylor.org.uk> wrote:
> > Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 09:48:29 +0100
> > From: John Fitzgibbon <jfitzgibbon at Galwaylibrary.ie>
> >
> > Are there any large Integrated Library Systems whose only client is
> > a browser? By a browser only client, I mean, it is possible to
> > catalogue, and issue and return books using a web browser.
> 
> I believe that Koha meets this description:
>         http://www.koha.org/

There is also Open-ILS/Evergreen, which is currently in Alpha and
under heavy development.  It is being built to run 255 public
libraries in Georgia, with more to come.  Though it won't support IE
for the staff client portion, it /is/ based on Mozilla/FireFox's XUL
infrastructure so a Mozilla based browser is all you need.  If and
when IE gets support for MS's Avalon that may also be a interface
target for the staff client.

You can learn more at http://open-ils.org/ .

> As a very pleasant bonus, it is free (i.e. open source).

As is Evergreen ... :)

>  If you don't
> want to install it yourself, and prefer to have a vendor to call on,
> there are companies such as LibLime
>         http://liblime.com/
> that exist precisely in order to offer these kinds of services in
> support of Koha.

LibLime is planning on offering support for Open-ILS/Evergreen when it
is released for production use, and you can get in touch with the
developers (I'm the database and architecture guy) any time.

Koha has the advantage of being available for production use today,
but Open-ILS/Evergreen is being built specifically for very large
consortia if that's of any concern to you (PINES has about 8 million
items on 2 million bibliographic records).  Each has its strengths and
weaknesses, and I would suggest evaluating both, and getting in touch
with both of the development groups.

-- 
Mike Rylander
mrylander at gmail.com
GPLS -- PINES Development
Database Developer
http://open-ils.org