[ale] Linux in libraries (a heads-up for June 2002)

[Newcombe at mordor.clayton.edu (Dan Newcombe)]

On Tue, 17 Jul 2001, Wandered Inn wrote:
> Douglas Knudsen wrote:
> > What software?  IIRC, many libraries use LYNX to do queries for books, etc..
> Cherokee County libraries uses Windows with a Netscape browser.

I was just getting ready to mention something about this.  A lot of the
State of Georgia libraries use the PINES system (http://pines.lib.ga.us/)
which is a unit of the University System of Georgia.  Their catalog is
stored at the central server - not sure where - probably GA State or UGA,
and as Geoffrey mentioned, the libraries just use standard PC's with
Winders and Netscape or IE on them for the patrons to access it.  It is an
okay system...however due to the session variables, the back button causes
issues.

I'm not sure what system our library at Clayton State uses, but it is some
commercial software running one Windows (for checkout/checkin) and seems
to be very functional.  

In the simplest terms, it's just a big ole database of customers and books
with a front-end for patrons to look things up, and a front-end for the
librarians to check things out, and manage the inventory/user databases.

If using a standard database that supports ODBC or some other
semi-standard network connection, it wouldn't really matter what the front
end was written in/for - as long as it was simple for both the librarians
and the patrons to use.  Of course a web interface is even better, because
I can now see if a book is in from home/work and decide if I should stop
by or not.

	-Dan




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