Gathering Data for the New Server

Last week I ran the MARC export reports to create the first set of "item record" files to be sent to ByWater Solutions (BWS). We have a total of 160,745 records, so I configured the report to include 50,000 records in each of 3 files and the remaining 10,745 records in the fourth. I clicked the check boxes to include the "999 holdings tags", the "local and junk tags" and to export the Symphony catalog key to MARC tag oo1". The files were very large, 190 mb in total, but they are the bibliographic records for every item in our catalog.

This week, using PSFTP (PuTTY's secure FTP utility) on my workstation and the remote connection instructions from Brendan, I was able to "put" (that is the Linux command to copy files from my local location to a remote location) all the files into a folder on a BWS server. BWS will convert the data into a format that is usable in Koha and then will import that new data format onto our server.

In the mean time, BWS has connected remotely to our new server and installed the remaining components for Debian server and the Koha software. It is an empty shell at the moment, without any profiles, properties, patron data or item records, but it is exciting to watch each step of this project unfold.

Cathi

Moving Ahead

We were pleased that our new Koha project was passed by the City Council. This gave us the funds needed for a new server, the consultant's maintenance charge, and training on the new system.

Once July came we were all ready to start... we had the funds, the energy, and enthusiasm. We had discussed the needed server requirements with ByWater Solutions and then we asked our City IT staff to purchase one for us.

The requirements were:

• A Linux server: Debian is what most people use.
• Apache
• MySQL
• Perl
• Root on the server
• A reasonable level of comfort with the command line
• Database administration skills

This photo shows all five of our servers. Our new server is the third black box on the left on the lowest shelf. Cathi's workstation is on the other side of the room.

We received our new server this week from Dell. This included:

• PowerEdge T310 Chassis w/ up to 4 Hot-Plug Hard Drives & LCD Diagnostics
• 4GB Memory (2x2GB) 1333MHz Dual Ranked RDIMM, Memory for 1CPU Platform
• X3470 Xeon Processor, 2.93 GHz8M Cache, Turbo,HT PowerEdge T310
• HD Multi-Select
• No Operating System
• On-Board Dual Gigabit Network Adapter
• iDRAC6 Enterprise
• 16X DVD-ROM, SATA, Internal
• 146 GB 15K RPM Serial-Attach SCSI 3Gbps 3.5 Hotplug Hard Drive
• RAID 5 - Add-in PERC6i/H700 , 3-4 Hot Plug Hard Drives
• Power Supply- Redundant, 400W

Of course, various cables, monitor, and keyboard were included. Now we need the software. We will be working with ByWater Solutions staff on this.

Jackie

We're On Our Way

Good News! We just signed our contract with ByWater Solutions for the migration, installation, training, and maintenance of our new Integrated Library System--Koha. But... Wait! Wait! Perhaps I need to tell you a bit about our Library first.

Arcadia Public Library is a small city library in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County. At this time, we have 161,145 bibliographic records, 200,216 item records, and our annual circulation for 2009-10 was 729,000. We have 61, 025 borrowers, and a staff of 27 full-time and 16 part-time employees.

We have had three different ILS systems in the past 20+ years. We started with Inlex, migrated to DRA's Taos in 2000, and then migrated in 2002 to SirsiDynix's Unicorn. Our current version of Unicorn is Symphony 3.3.0. Our needs for an ILS are minimal. We are a one building library, so no branches. We have only the basic modules...cataloging, circulation, reports, OPAC, and collections. We had considered adding more modules (acquisitions and serials) but never could afford them and, in fact, we felt since we were so small we could do without them.

The past two years have been financially tough for public libraries; Arcadia Public Library is no exception. We had been asked by the City to either hold the line in costs or to reduce as much as feasible. We ended up freezing a couple of positions. Costs for our ILS maintenance, hardware, and content enhancement continued to climb, even though we pleaded poverty to SD. In 2008-09 that we started investigating open source software.

Our intention in writing this blog is to document our project, from the decision to go with Koha and every step along the way to our goal of "going live"...and perhaps beyond.

There will be at least two contributors to this blog, Jackie Faust-Moreno, Library Services Manager, and Cathi Wiggins, Information Systems Specialist. There maybe additional bloggers as we go along. Each blogger will give their name at the end of the blog so you know their perspective. Enjoy the story of our journey...

Jackie and Cathi