Evergreen in 45 minutes

Introducing Evergreen: eIFL-FOSS open source ILS workshop

June 10, 2008

Dan Scott

Agenda

History Some sample Evergreen systems Current capabilities Development roadmap Architecture Some ideas for hands-on sessions

History

Y2K crisis Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) forms

PINES consortium Proprietary library system can't handle 250

branches GPLS decides to build their own open source

library system in 2004 September 2006: Evergreen goes live

Sample Evergreen systems

Georgia PINES 9.6 M items, 1.8 M patrons, 275 branches Handles peaks of 12,000 circs / hour

British Columbia “Sitka” University of Prince Edward Island

360,000 items, single-server system Conifer

5 M items, 250 K patrons, 4 universities + 10 small partners

Cataloguing (1.2)

Cataloguing Full MARC editor with context-sensitive help MARC21 import from Z39.50 & command line Unlimited MARC templates Authority validation Bucket operations:

Merge bibliographic records Delete or edit records and copies Transfer copies to a different call number Export records

Circulation (1.2)

Duration and fine rules based on item type, patron type, location

Pre-cataloged and non-cataloged items Robust off-line circulation including

patron registration Holds:

Bib record, call number, and item-level holds Hold freezing and thawing Hold protection (prevent holds on new items)

Reporting (1.2)

Access to any element or transaction Filters and aggregate functions Scheduling, email notification Excel, CSV, and HTML output

Catalogue (1.2)

Every URL can be shared Easy to customize look and feel

Themes for colour Skins for behaviour, text Plain old HTML and JavaScript

Basic catalogue (“slimpac”) supports accessibility, mobile devices

Catalogue (1.2)

Search: Sort by relevance, publication date, title, author Limit to author, title, subject, series, keyword Spell checking for low or no results

Results: Content enrichment supports covers, table of

contents, reviews, author biographies Group results by format and edition Browse nearby results by call number RSS feeds

Development roadmap

1.2 – already available 1.4 – summer 2008

Move circulation rules into the database Internationalization SRU / Z39.50 server

2.0 – winter 2008 Academic reserves Acquisitions Dynamic authority support MARC import Serials

Internationalization

1.2: All data is stored in Unicode (UTF-8) Catalogue (via DTD)

1.4: Translations stored in gettext PO format

(complete) All in-database strings (complete) Staff client (80% complete)

Acquisitions

Tracking and notification from request through item delivery

Sharable selection lists Currency support MARC order record loading Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) support

for EDIFAC, Tradacoms, ANSI X12 Development version visible at

http://acq.open-ils.org

Serials

MARC Format for Holdings Data (MFHD) support

regularity patterns, issuances, holdings statements and textual summaries

Per-library subscriptions, check-ins, predictions

Bonus: improved e-resource management as URLs become full per-library objects

Entity relationships

Bibliographic records(MARC record)

Call numbers

Copies(Barcodes)

Organization units

Users Profile

Organization type

Architecture

PostgreSQL

JabberJabber

open-ils.cstore

open-ils.*

open-ils.rstore

open-ils.*open-ils.*

open-ils.*

ApacheApache

GatewayRouter

OpenSRFRouterStaff client

Web browser

Web service

A little about OpenSRF

OpenSRF is a protocol that supports the development of highly scalable distributed applications

In a nutshell: OpenSRF applications register themselves

with an OpenSRF router All communication is JSON-via-XMPP (Jabber) C, Perl, and Python are client / servers Java is client-only

Technology

Linux operating system Apache 2 Web server Jabber server (typically ejabberd) PostgreSQL database server Mozilla XUL-based staff client Languages:

Current applications are Perl and C Python and Java are also supported

Why not Windows?

Staff client does run on Windows New functionality is simply a higher

priority Lack of porting expertise in the project:

libdbi/libdbi-drivers for database connectivity open-ils.cstore and open-ils.rstore

applications Apache mod_gateway for HTTP->OpenSRF

But... we do have a student working on standardizing the build process...

Hands on session ideas (1)

Circulation Create some patrons Localize phone, zip code validation rules Circulate some items Modify circulation rules Place record/call number/item holds

Internationalization: Translate some strings (1.2 vs. 1.4)

Hands on session ideas (2)

Cataloging Import records via Z39.50 Add call numbers and copies Create new records from template Create a new template!

Catalogue Searching & bookbags SlimPac tips and tricks Modify look and feel Define and index some new fields

Hands on session ideas (3)

Administration: Modify the organization hierarchy Modify the patron hierarchy Create new copy locations and item types Create some reports Import bulk records, holdings, and patrons

OpenSRF guts: Use srfsh for some example requests Walk through some of the source code