[Web4lib] ILS options for small libraries

[Sanbornton Public Library]

I'm a relatively recent subscriber, so apologies if this topic has already
been beaten to death.

We're a small, rural library looking to automate in the next 6-12 mos. When
I say "small," I mean 2.2 FTE's & around 16,000 volumes, town population
under 3000. As for the IT person, that would be me.

I don't believe we have the manpower or skillsets to handle local
administration of an ILS, much less an open source solution, leaving us with
the option of going with an ASP vendor that does the best job of providing
next-gen features for the most reasonable price ($2k per year is probably
the most I could justify to our Trustees.)

I've been following some of the recent technology discussions with interest
(L2.0, open source, OPACS suck meme, etc.), but with everything else on my
plate, it's enough to make your head spin. The vendor directory on
http://www.libdex.com lists over 200 ILS products ...

I've sought guidance from our State Library but the information they were
able to provide was pretty limited in scope. I'll also be posting a message
to our state's listserv for librarians soon.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear the collective web4lib wisdom with respect
to the best way of approaching this project given our constraints; specific
products worth taking a closer look at; particularly useful resources, etc.

Many thanks in advance,

Cab Vinton, Director
Sanbornton Public Library
P.O. Box 88
27 Meetinghouse Hill Rd.
Sanbornton, NH  03269
603-286-8288
spl at metrocast.net