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I’m sure it is not a perfect solution, but I’ve been working on setting up a small library for the charter school my sons attend, and we are using libraryworld.com. It is only $365 a year and seems to have all the basic features that a small library would need (circulation, cataloging with Z39.50, an OPAC, etc. ). Another plus is that it is simple enough for anyone to understand and use. We are still cataloging and have only just begun circulating our collection so we will have to wait and see how it works for us, but so far I am pretty pleased.

What about ResourceMate (http://www.resourcemate.com/)? I work in a small college library and we recently purchased this product. You can purchase it for as little as $195 (one time fee). And what’s nice about it is that as your library grows, you can purchase add-ons as needed.

Hi Jessamyn

There are a couple of open source small library systems out there through Sourceforge.net

OpenBiblio
Senayan

Also Right On has a library automation program for small libraries though it’s gotten pricey.

http://www.rightonlibrarysoftware.com/

Hope this is helpful

Yes, cut all librarians before any cop. Protection from crime is a more essential task of the state — long, long before providing library services.

Of course, if we legalized drugs, we wouldn’t need as many cops, but that’s another issue….

I am in the process of setting up OpenBiblio for my church’s library (about 1,600 items). It has many shortcomings, but in general it provides a good platform for those needing cataloging and circulation functions for a small collection. I would guess that a collection of up to 5,000 items would pose no problems; not sure what the upper end would be.

It can run on a hosted web server, which an organization can obtain for less than $100 per year (and do quite a bit more with it as well – website, blog, wiki, etc.). It is as easy to install as WordPress, and configuring the software is fairly straightforward.

Strengths:
* MARC record importer
* Only need web browser and internet connection (no client software to install)
* Easy to create/edit patron and bibliographic records

Weaknesses:
* OPAC needs work (it is fairly limited – I am hoping to customize ours once we finish record clean-up)
* Report module is too complex for the average user (php/sql scripting required)
* No serials or acquisitions

Jessamyn – if you would like to look around the staff areas of our installation to see it for yourself, let me know and I can arrange for temporary access and a brief description of some of the things I’ve noticed while working with it.

Heh, love your small library questions. I went into a beautiful small library in the country a while back, next to a local gallery, and the spirit was much the same. It would be a lovely place to work, I think.

[...] has posted (librarian.net) a link to a video that came out of a “Smithsonian 2.0” 2-day conference which is [...]

[…] can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here […]

I’ve done several lectures for the SLIS program in Tuscaloosa over the past couple of years. They use Wimba, which allows the students to see my slides, but not me. I can’t see them, but we can hear each other, and there’s a chat function. The first time I did it, it was very awkward — I hadn’t fully realized just how much I depended on seeing the audience to pace myself (and time my jokes). So now I think of it as if I’m on the radio (those NPR folks manage to sound intimate & spontaneous without audience feedback) and it has worked really well. The students are more familiar with it now as well, which helps.

It seems to me that this question on online costs to conversation very sharply as some people are simply compelled to do it because of that that them divides big enough distance.

i don’t get why each library seems to think it needs a cutesy name for its opac. can’t they just be named the [your library name here] online catalog? every time i visit another library’s website, i have to think, “ok, keep your eyes peeled for what these guys have named their opac.” GACK! maybe early on, to encourage use, it helped to make the user feel as if the opac was another (human) member of the library’s staff [speculating! this is totally a theory! no source to cite!]; but in our world of the web heterogeneity is not always advantageous.

ironic that we have no controlled vocabulary to facilitate our finding each others opacs ~

Here’s a story about how one library accidentally gave their OPAC a personal name:

In 1999 I was working at a community college library, and we were about to go live with our first ILS. Judie, a staff member who had been with the library since it had opened, had retired the day before the server was to be installed. I had been promoted to her position, and so found myself, freshly promoted, standing in the server room with a half-dozen people watching the Sun technician set everything up.

The Sun tech announced that he would need a name for the server. “Library” was the first one suggested. I recall that I suggested “Herman”, after George Harrison’s favorite drink. Someone else suggested “Judie”. We all thought it was fitting.

Of course, we later found out that the name became part of the address of the server (http://judie.foo.bar) and that we couldn’t change it without a great deal of messiness. I felt we should go with the situation and and personalize the OPAC, but it didn’t happen.

Five years later we bought a new server, changed the name to “Library” (and changed all our bookmarks, handouts, etc.) and went forth with a good, solid, generic name for the server.

The best memory, for me, was that the real Judie wouldn’t believe me (or anyone else) about the server being named after her. I think it was several months before she finally accepted that we weren’t pulling some practical joke on her…

[…] at AskMetaFilter has inquired about why so many library OPACs have human names, and Jessamyn has asked for comments, so here is what I posted as a […]

I actually agree with Mary. I lived in Maine when the state-wide library system held a naming contest for the online resources they provide. Instead of going with something obvious and intuitive, that you wouldn’t need to be a librarian to figure out what it means (like “online resources”), they went the clever route and came up with the name MARVEL, for Maine Virtual Library or something. Not that I’m against being clever and creative, but the library profession has far too much jargon acting as a barrier to entry to uninitiated patrons. And this might be my only bad memory of Maine.

On a related note, if CatNYP is pronounced catnip, how should one pronounce NYPL?

It practice isn’t limited to libraries, I remember that when the first ATM machine came to our town it was called “Super Susie” and had a little cartoon of a bank teller on it.

Don’t we always give inanimate objects names to personalize them? Like buildings from the turn of the century that have the builder’s name or a woman’s name on them. How many people name their cars? Mary’s right, it makes them seem friendlier.

Simon — As a former NYPL employee, we pronounced it among ourselves as you might imagine we would have. Also, the main research library was “The Big NYPL”, the ancient bound catatlogs were “the old NYPLs”, etc.

Not interested in paying $5 just to leave this comment on MeFi, so here it is: My undergraduate library named the catalog after the first librarian at the university. We had a contest to suggest names, and that was the one selected by the librarians.

Personalizing technology with human touches like names, voices, and anthropomorphic interfaces is supposed to help us overcome our fear of new tech, become familiarized with it and use it more often. Of course, it is possible to go too far. But I think cute names, while perhaps cloying, are appreciated by students and community users. It’s a lot easier to refer to MORRIS or HOLLIS than, “Hey, you know how to use the OPAC?” So long as users find it accessible, I don’t have a problem with it.

There is some good advice in that thread. Since I don’t have a metafilter account, I thought I’d post my thoughts here.

Back in the days when I was just learning programming, I found the books from Peachpit Press to be the best. Now that I’ve got more experience, I find O’Reilly to be my publisher of choice for technical/code related books.

some titles that I’ve found useful:

Writing Basic PHP Scripts
http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321481631

PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide
http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321186486

PHP for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide, 2nd Edition
http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321245652

Learning PHP 5
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnphp5/

Learning PHP & MySQL, Second Edition
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514013/?CMP=AFC-ak_book&ATT=Learning+PHP+%26+MySQL

But, no matter what book you get, the best way to learn is to do. Pick a simple project, define the details of what you want it to do and learn via the books and trial-and-error experimentation.

It is best if the project is real, something that you have genuine motivation to get right — but creating an imaginary project that is needed by a fictional organization can be just as effective.

Most importantly, ask questions! find your local techie and ask — you’d be shocked, but those shy geeks that have no social skills actually love to share knowledge (and some are even good at it). Also, do searches on the web for answers when you hit problems. don’t give up. Remember that when people say that they taught themselves to program, what they really mean is that they found the right resources to ask for help and guidance from as they assimilated knowledge at their own pace.

Hey Eric, thanks for the advice! See, this is why AskMetafilter is awesome - not only did I get great answers there, but I got one here, too.

[…] php es a konyvtaros: http://www.librarian.net/stax/2248/php-for-librarian/ « előző | Takács Dániel — 2008. 02. 26. […]

[…] php es a konyvtaros: http://www.librarian.net/stax/2248/php-for-librarian/ « előző | Takács Dániel — 2008. 02. 26. […]

Llyfrgellyddes would be the right word. The male version is llyfrgellydd.

Sorry Paul, but I don’t think there’s such a word as Llyfrgellyddes, or even if there is, it’s never used. Both a male and female librarian would be refered to as Llyfrgellydd

ZOMG! Those questions are like totally funny! SRSLY!

[…] Aashish Dalal, Chief Whiz wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI used up my April Fools energy making an April Fool AskMe page on MetaFilter. Those of you in reference positions may appreciate the jokes even if you’re not closely acquainted with the community. If you reload that page, you’ll get to … […]

Brill.

simply brill.
thanks!

“Where do babies come from? I asked over at Yahoo Answers but I’m all like NOWAI and they’re all like SRSLY. Hope me hivemind! ”

Just like everyday on Virtual Ref.

One spelling correction on your april fool AskMe page. Wookiee - is the correct spelling. I learned that while trying to confirm the name of Homer Simpson’s high-school cologne, “Scent of a Wookiee”

[…] [email protected] (Todd Bishop) wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOne spelling correction on your april fool AskMe page. Wookiee - is the correct spelling. I learned that while trying to confirm the name of Homer Simpson’s high-school cologne, “Scent of a Wookiee” […]

I think that all us MeFi librarians should create some sort of an adhoc reference service to make sure there is always a “ref librarian” monitoring AskMeFi at all times. (Razzle Bathbone - MeFi badge # 3003)

Not all the library staff on Metafilter are librarians. Some of us are support staff.

But, I’ve kind of gotten used to being left out of anything that people with the Magical MLS do.

I should get more careful about using library workers when I mean “anyone who works at a library” but I link to all the library workers on MeFi and I have no idea who has an MLS (in fact, I have an MLib myself, similar but different)