Library Management Systems?
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| techiem2 Jun 18, 2007 3:53 PM EDT |
Ok, our church library is in the process of being fixed up and organized and whatnot.
My sis says that they would like a management system of some sort.
So I'm trying to find something foss (of course). Here's the requirements I know of so far (some I'm assuming): Record all book information (duh) Easily search for books (title/topic/category/author/etc. maybe?) Support for a barcode system (she said they do want this eventually) Track checked out books Anybody know any good foss library management systems? And along with that, how barcode support would work and suggested barcode scanners? I assume barcode generation would basically be generated by a pre-defined set of data from the database and then printed on stickers (or paper to be cut up and stuck on...). I don't know what generation of computer we'll have to work with. I'm thinking a foss system like this would likely use a mysql backend and possibly be web based. Thanks all! Mark II |
| dcparris Jun 18, 2007 4:16 PM EDT |
This should be of some help:
http://library.rider.edu/scholarly/ecorrado/il2004/ossfeatur... Koha is the one I heard about somewhere. Unfortunately, I don't know much more about this area. |
| techiem2 Jun 18, 2007 4:22 PM EDT |
Thanks. I ran across most of those in a quick search. That chart is a nice comparison. |
| dcparris Jun 18, 2007 4:24 PM EDT |
I found this at DebianHelp:
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/tools.htm Scroll to the bottom. You may have seen that, too, though. ;-) |
| jdixon Jun 18, 2007 4:32 PM EDT |
The one project I know of which isn't covered by that link would be Evergreen. You can find it at http://www.open-ils.org/ Information and support for both Koha and Evergreen appears to be available at http://liblime.com/ |
| techiem2 Jun 18, 2007 5:03 PM EDT |
Nice. Lots to look at. Now to figure out which ones support barcode scanners... |
| rijelkentaurus Jun 19, 2007 4:10 PM EDT |
Evergreen accepts barcodes for logging in, so one would assume that it would for books also. Go to the demo, and the barcode scanner is a logon option. |
| techiem2 Jun 20, 2007 7:23 AM EDT |
I'm playing with Koha right now as it appears to be one of the more mature ones. In researching I've also realized that lots of barcode scanner work like keyboards. So no special setup required. Just plug it in. When you scan a barcode, it translates the code into the keyboard codes and sends those. So technically, anything that supports text input supports barcode scanners. :) Koha has the option to generate the codes for you if you like. I still need to look over the other projects too and see if one's better. Though Koha seems to support everything you might ever want to do. hehe. |
| dcparris Jun 20, 2007 8:23 AM EDT |
Glad you found something useful! You should consider writing a comparison of the ones you try out. |
| rijelkentaurus Jun 20, 2007 9:15 AM EDT |
Quoting: Glad you found something useful! You should consider writing a comparison of the ones you try out. Totally agreed. I have churches as clients who use proprietary software for this, and they pay through the nose and it's really not that good. I'd be interested in hearing a review and a todo setup. |
| techiem2 Jun 20, 2007 10:28 AM EDT |
K.
I'll definitely write up something. My sis about passed out (ok, bad joke as she does now and then due to health issues...) when I told her I was researching free library systems and probably about the only stuff we'll need to actually buy is a printer and a $40-$50 barcode reader. :) |
You cannot post until you login.