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

[Joshua Ferraro]

On Wed, Sep 21, 2005 at 11:15:45AM -0700, Karen Coyle wrote:
> For the developers, yes, that is probably the case. But the fact is that 
> most libraries do not do development work on their own systems, they 
> rely on vendors. 
As do most libraries using open-source ILSes like Koha ;-)

> I often feel like we are comparing the purchase of a 
> vendor system with running your own open source system, and those are 
> not comparable. The open source "gestalt" is very do-it-yourself, while 
> the library approach to systems grows out of a recent (and pretty much 
> ongoing) experience of purchasing "turnkey" solutions. There are many 
> libraries that don't have "root" on their own system, which is reserved 
> by the vendor for maintenance and repairs (and to keep the library from 
> getting itself into a mess that the vendor will then need to fix). So 
> library "system staff" may not be doing programming or development 
> currently, and the library may not have staff that can create applications.
So the bottom line is, you can't avoid maintenance and support costs.
What you can avoid is a $40,000 license fee. So if you're wondering
how much it will cost for your library to use an open-source ILS like
Koha, get some quotes from some proprietary vendors, and subtract the
itemized license fee ... then call me :-)

-- 
Joshua Ferraro               VENDOR SERVICES FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
President, Technology       migration, training, maintenance, support
LibLime                                Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS
jmf at liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS