Questions from the peanut gallery

[Henboy]

I just wanted to ask some questions and state a few things.
First off Koha does z39.50. We have the John C. Fremont LIbrary demo
Z39.50-ing the LOC. It will work for Swift.
Second, when people are talking about one ILS for the state of
Colorado, are we talking shared data or just like a big consortium?
Third, I keep hearing (at CAL and a bit on the tech forum audio file)
that open-source will cost as much or more as a commercial vendor.
Has anyone actually compared prices? Are you including data migration
or just the platform and support?
What does "white paper" mean?
Thanks
Karen

[Stephen P. Gregory]

Hi Karen,

I would like to learn more about Koha's Z39.50 capabilities.
I understand that Koha includes a Z39.50 client which allows
you to search remote catalogs such as LOC, and that Koha-Zoom
also includes a Z39.50 server with which you can expose your
catalog to other institutions. We need to have the Z39.50
server in order to interoperate with SWIFT. Is the John C.
Fremont Koha demo based on Koha Classic or Koha-Zoom? Since
the Z-server is a new feature for Koha, I feel that it would
be useful to test how well it works with the SWIFT Z-client.
e.g.: Can it be used to query item availability in real time,
or does it only provide bibliographic data?

-Steve Gregory
Senior Programmer
Colorado State Library

[Jesse Weaver]

On Nov 14, 10:26 am, "Stephen P. Gregory" <greg...@aclin.org> wrote:
> Hi Karen,
>
> I would like to learn more about Koha's Z39.50 capabilities.
> I understand that Koha includes a Z39.50 client which allows
> you to search remote catalogs such as LOC, and that Koha-Zoom
> also includes a Z39.50 server with which you can expose your
> catalog to other institutions. We need to have the Z39.50
> server in order to interoperate with SWIFT. Is the John C.
> Fremont Koha demo based on Koha Classic or Koha-Zoom?

We are using Koha Classic.

> Since
> the Z-server is a new feature for Koha, I feel that it would
> be useful to test how well it works with the SWIFT Z-client.
> e.g.: Can it be used to query item availability in real time,
> or does it only provide bibliographic data?

I couldn't tell you, to be honest. The only z3950 server for Koha that
I've seen is this: http://web.archive.org/web/20041021125205/http://kados.org/LibraryScience/zed-koha-server.pl
It would return item data as part of the marc. Should I set it up, so
you can play with it on your end? What port do you guys use?

---
Jesse

[Jim Duncan]

All good questions. Adding them to the gigantic list of questions...

My definition: White paper - a short document that clearly, succinctly
lays out the topic. Often used in technology industries. Is typically
less formal than a journal article or peer-reviewed article. Written
to actually be read.

For our purposes, a straightforward document that will lay out:
Pros
Cons
Costs

I want us to synthesize the wisdom of our group's discussion and fact-
gathering into something tangible, something to provide to library
decision makers and stakeholders around the state. Something concrete,
to spark discussion and strategic thinking and planning. Particularly
if this looks like an initiative we want to tackle seriously as a
library community.

If we were to simple say: "Let's implement a statewide ILS. Let's
start tomorrow." some would say, "Great!" but others would say, "Wait
a minute, what's the benefit? What will we lose? How much is this
going to cost to launch and maintain?"

I'd like for us to all be prepared when when those big questions get
asked...
-Jim