oss4lib About - Contact    History 
Listserv         Projects
Readings         Submit  


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Open architecture ILS?



> 
> I'm a librarian by trade, but have been developing Web applications for =
> our library for a couple of years.  Lately, I've become frustrated by our =
> ILS (Unicorn), mainly in the inability to openly communicate with it.  We =
> have a wonderful patron database that is inaccessible from anywhere except =
> Unicorn. We cannot link to pre-defined searches (i.e. New Books, all books =
> on molecular biology of lung cancer, etc.). These are the two main =
> examples.=20
> 
Hi Karen (& everyone!),

VTLS and Voyager at least are built on top of SQL-accessible databases,
there must be others. There are also a number of initiatives afoot to try
to offset the lack of "open architecture" ILS options for libraries by
targeting open source solutions. Peter Shlumpf is working on a project
called Avanti (http://nsksikus.org/~shlumpf/avanti/) with an open API
(Application Programmer's Interface). JavaISIS, the java-based
client/server version of ISIS has gone open source
(http://web.tiscalinet.it/javaisis/) and builds on the base provided by
UNESCO's widely-installed software. I am working on one of the projects at
the OSDLS (Open Source Digital Library System) site on a system called
PYTHEAS (http://osdls.library.arizona.edu) and there are a number of
Information Retrieval systems that are library and/or MARC-savvy listed on
Dan's project page (http://oss4lib.org/projects). 

I think in almost all these cases the projects are the results of one or
two individuals working away on a piece of an ILS that either interests
them or that they would like to see more flexibility in. It would be great
if some entity like the "Java in Higher Education" group (or whatever it is
called) would pick up and run with one of these projects so that more
developers could tackle the challenges of a modern ILS. I have been working
hard to move PYTHEAS into an EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) framework so that
I can pull in components like a general ledger and a calendar from other
sources without having to build them from the ground up. I don't know how a
system on the scale of an ILS can come together without positioning itself
to farm out some of the complex pieces. The commercial systems have always
had this dilemma, some are very good at several aspects of an ILS (OPAC,
circulation, serials control, etc.) but fall down on at least one module
because the sheer size of the system overwhelms their development
resources. It seems to me that an open source system has the advantage of
utilizing more external building blocks because there isn't a profit margin
negating these kinds of relationships.

So, ironically, I see the possibilities of an open source ILS, which in
commercial terms is a "niche" market, more plausible than ever before
because the availability of mainstream components to plug in to such a
system is growing. Application servers, XML-based integration technologies,
and the nature of programming are opening up options that didn't exist in
the 1970s and 1980s when libraries or their parent
institutions/municipalities/organizations were attempting to build
"in-house" systems. Still, I don't know if many library administrators
recognize the differences and will continue to pay for systems that usually
have some major deficiencies rather than support open source. I don't think
there is anything out there yet that could take on all the functions your
ILS currently provides, but hopefully open source will eventually
be a force to be reckoned within the ILS marketplace. I suspect your vendor
will be a lot more responsive if an open source ILS gains momentum. 

art


SourceForge Logo © Copyright 1999-2005, The oss4lib Community, except for readings and comments, which are owned by their posters.
oss4lib is graciously hosted by the good folks at sourceforge.net.
Site URL: http://oss4lib.org/ Questions or comments to maintainers.


library