Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager: A Comparison of Their OPACs

1
Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager A Comparison of
Their OPACs

• Ten Years of Experience, A Future of
  Possibilities
• VALE / NJ ACRL/ NJLA CUS Tenth Annual Users'
  Conference Friday, January 9, 2009
• Sharon Yang, Melissa A. Hofmann, and Meghan Weeks
• Rider University Libraries

2
Overview of the Presentation

• Introduction
• Open Source GNU GPL
• Open Source ILS
• Koha and Evergreen
• Ten visions for the Next Generation Catalog
• Comparison of the OPACs of Koha, Evergreen, and
  Voyager based on the ten visions
• Conclusion

3
Introduction Open Source GNU GPL

• GNU General Public License
• GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix"
• Free to run, study, modify, and redistribute the
  software
• Support is not free
• Other open source licenses
• Mozilla Public License
• Creative Commons licenses
• BSD License
• Apache Software License
• GNU Free Documentation License

4
Introduction Why Open Source ILS?

• Financial considerations
• Ability to tailor to fit local needs or
  customization
• No restrictions on use
• User driven vs. profit driven
• Dissatisfaction with current ILS and vendors
• No vendor lock-in

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Introduction Open Source ILS

• Avanti MicroLCS (http//www.avantilibrarysystems.c
  om/)
• Emilda, Finland (http//www.emilda.org)
• Evergreen, US (http//evergreen-ils.org/)
• Koha, New Zealand (http//koha.org)
• Learning Access ILS, US (www.learningaccess.org)
• NewGenLib, India (http//www.verussolutions.biz)
• OpenBiblio (http//obiblio.sourceforge.net/)
• PhpMyLibrary, Philippines (http//phpmylibrary.com
  /pml/)
• PMB (PhpMyBibli), France (http//www.sigb.net)
• PYTHEAS, US (http//web2.uwindsor.ca/library/leddy
  /people/art/pytheas/index.html)
• OPALS, US (http//www.opals-na.org/opals-fac.html)
  
• WebLIS, UNESCO Poland (http//www.unesco.org/isi
  s/)
• In conceptual stage
• OLE The Open Library Environment
  (http//www.oleproject.org)

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Introduction Open Source OPACs

• VuFind
• http//www.vufind.org
• Blacklight
• http//blacklight.rubyforge.org/
• XC Extensible Catalog
• http//www.extensiblecatalog.org

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Introduction Koha Evergreen

• English language
• More mature that other open source ILSs
• More complete functions/modules
• More users
• Available technical support and planned future
  releases

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Comparison Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager
Koha Evergreen Voyager
First developed 1999 2005 1994
First implemented by a US library 2002 2006 1994
First became a turnkey system with technical support 2006 2006 1994
Number of libraries as of 1/09 400 305 1179
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Introduction Status Quo

• How many libraries?
• Koha 400 (9 academic libraries)
• Evergreen 305 (1 academic library)
• Voyager 1179
• Who provides support/services?
• Koha Liblime and others
• Evergreen Equinox and others
• Voyager Ex Libris
• Why do libraries hesitate?
• Hard to install and some parts do not work
• Lack of good documentation
• Lack of functionality

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OPAC Comparison Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager

• A thorough process of evaluating an integrated
  library system(ILS) today would not be complete
  without also weighing the open source ILS
  products against their proprietary counterparts."
  
• Marshall Breeding, Chapter 4, "Open Source
  Integrated Library Systems"

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Ten Visions for the Next Generation Catalog

• In addition to all the features of a legacy
  catalog, the Next Generation Catalog should also
  include the following (Breeding 2007)
• Single point of entry for all library information
• State-of-the-art web interface
• Enriched content
• Faceted navigation
• Keyword searching
• Relevancy
• Did you mean?
• Recommendations/related materials
• User contribution ratings, reviews, comments,
  and tagging
• RSS feeds

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Comparison A Single Point of Entry for All
Library Information

• A single search box that includes all traditional
  ILS content and the full text of all the
  electronic resources to which a library
  subscribes (Breeding 2007). Article full text
  level access.
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

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Comparison State-of-the-Art Web Interface

• Library catalogs should be intuitive interfaces
  and visually appealing sites that compare well
  with other Internet search engines (Breeding
  2007).
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

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Comparison Enriched Content

• In addition to printed materials, enriched
  content includes images of book jackets, movie
  cases, table of contents, summaries, reviews,
  etc.
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

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Comparison Faceted Navigation

• Use of facets to narrow the search results. It
  allows users to interact with an information
  resource by discovering the information held
  within rather than having to guess in advance.
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

16
Comparison Keyword Searching

• A simple keyword search box with a link to
  advanced search for libraries.
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

17
Comparison Relevancy

• In addition to relevancy based on the frequency
  and positions of a keyword, a library catalog
  should also consider other factors such as the
  number of times an item has been checked out, the
  number of copies in a library, the number of
  times an item has been cited, etc.
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

18
Comparison Did you mean?

• A technique to detect common spelling errors in a
  query and suggest possible search terms. Goes
  beyond a simple spell-check.
• Demonstration
• Koha ??
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

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Comparison Recommendations

• A library catalog will recommend materials when
  it does not hold an item a user is looking for.
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

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Comparison User Contributions

• A resource isnt just a one-way presentation of
  information, but rather invites user
  participation and involvement such as reviews,
  comments, summaries, tag clouds. (Breeding 2007)
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

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Comparison RSS Feed

• RSS stands for really simple syndication or rich
  site summary. When incorporated into a librarys
  catalog, it can broadcast new additions or other
  information to users.
• Demonstration
• Koha ?
• Evergreen ?
• Voyager ?

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Koha Evergreen Voyager
Single point of entry for all library information ? ? ?
State-of-the-art Web Interface ? ? ?
Enriched Content ? ? ?
Faceted Navigation ? ? ?
Keyword Searching ? ? ?
Relevancy ? ? ?
Did you mean? ?? ? ?
Recommendations ? ? ?
User Contributions ? ? ?
RSS Feed ? ? ?
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Features that need work

• Navigation
• Koha (must use Internet browser)
• Subject heading browse
• Voyager (both a starts with and keyword in
  heading browse) vs. Koha (poor) and Evergreen
  (none)
• Advanced search
• AND, OR, NOT options available/explicit?
• Highlighting of search terms

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Conclusion Who Is Closer to Next Generation
Catalog?

1. Koha (6/7 out of 10)
2. Voyager (4 out of 10)
3. Evergreen (3 out of 10)

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Questions Answers

• The next presentation will cover
• A comparison of staff modules of Koha, Evergreen,
  and Voyager
• Technologies behind the scene
• Cost analysis
• Recommendations

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References

• Anderson, J.D. and Hofmann, M.A. 2006. A fully
  faceted syntax for Library of Congress Subject
  Headings. Cataloging Classification Quarterly
  43(1), 7-38.
• Boss, R.W. 2008. Open source integrated library
  system software PDF document. Retrieved
  December 26, 2008 from Public Library Association
  http//www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/pla/plapublicati
  ons/platechnotes
• Breeding, M. 2008. Automation Marketplace 2008
  Opportunity Out of Turmoil. Library Journal 133
  (6), 32-38.
• Breeding, M. 2007. Next-generation library
  catalogs. Library Technology Reports 43 (4).
• Riewe, L. M. (2008). Survey of Open Source
  Integrated Library Systems. Unpublished master's
  thesis, San José State University, 210 North 4th
   Street San Jose, CA 95112 . Retrieved
  January/February, 2009, from  http//users.sfo.co
  m/lmr/ils-survey.html
• Wikipedia the Free encyclopedia. 2008.
  Integrated Library System. Retrieved December
  29, 2008 from http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki