I wonder if Marshall gives any other group of folks this much input into his survey :)<br><br>With that being said, I think with the way the library software market is going it would make sense to add a vendor field separate from the "Current Automation System" field. (since the survey includes questions about the software you use and the vendor that supports it) It could even have a lovely asterisk that leads you to a footnote similar to this:<br>
<br>"If your library uses more than one support vendor, please list what you consider to be your main support vendor. If you do not contract with a support vendor please list 'Independent'."<br><br>Then those people listed as "Independent" could go in and rate their in-house support team with the highest marks and go buy them cookies, or donuts, or pavlova, or whatever ...<br>
<br clear="all">Josh Westbrook<br>Prescott Library Mngr/District Technology Mngr<br>Walla Walla County Rural Library District<br><a href="mailto:joshw@wwrurallibrary.com">joshw@wwrurallibrary.com</a><br><a href="http://www.wwrurallibrary.com">http://www.wwrurallibrary.com</a><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 8:47 AM, Chris Cormack <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chris@bigballofwax.co.nz">chris@bigballofwax.co.nz</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On 11 December 2010 05:33, MJ Ray <<a href="mailto:mjr@phonecoop.coop">mjr@phonecoop.coop</a>> wrote:<br>
> Breeding, Marshall wrote:<br>
>> -With Koha, unlike the other ILS products, I have an association<br>
>> between the product and the support provider. I'm open to either<br>
>> aggregating them together or to treat the ILS / Vendor pairs<br>
>> separately. I've already had one inquiry suggesting that they not<br>
>> be aggregated.<br>
><br>
> Well, the current situation seems absurd, with only 15 of the Koha<br>
> support providers listed and one of those listed under three names,<br>
> while some Koha survey responses are discarded because there aren't<br>
> enough libraries for a name.<br>
><br>
> I think all Koha official community releases should be listed<br>
> together, with support providers listed separately, just as I think<br>
> you currently record LMS version number separately.<br>
<br>
</div>I agree.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
><br>
> If people are running some Koha-based PTFS/LibLime system or some<br>
> bleeding-edge prerelease/maybe-never-to-be-a-release Koha, then that<br>
> probably should be listed separately.<br>
><br>
> Would other list subscribers be OK with that?<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I certainly would, grouping libraries running actual Koha (its quite<br>
easy to tell they will be running a version that is an official<br>
release) and those running some variant of Koha in another group.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
>> How common is it that a library will sign with multiple support<br>
>> vendors for Koha support? I'm not aware that this is a common<br>
>> arrangement at all.<br>
><br>
> At least among the co-op's libraries, it's not that rare.<br>
><br>
> I think this is more common with a web-based catalogue, where we can<br>
> co-operate with existing library IT support providers rather than<br>
> replace them. Of course, I'd prefer it that everyone bought internet<br>
> connections and hardware from our partners, but some libraries have<br>
> contracts they won't break and I feel it's not ethical to duplicate<br>
> them unnecessarily.<br>
><br>
> How would you be aware of it? It doesn't seem possible for library to<br>
> register this multi-provider situation accurately on lib-web-cats.<br>
> I'm sure I've mentioned at least one library where the co-op is<br>
> providing services but isn't credited as such.<br>
><br>
</div>Yes, we certainly do it too, HLT for example gets support from<br>
Catalyst and Katipo. There are other of our clients that have similar<br>
arrangements. It is quite common with free software.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Chris<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5">_______________________________________________<br>
Koha mailing list <a href="http://koha-community.org" target="_blank">http://koha-community.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz">Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha" target="_blank">http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>