[Koha] Barcode question.

[Tom Redfern]

Members of the list:

We have here in Seattle Washington a project in which I thought this
list may have some interest.  Of course, this involves Koha.

Some background is in order.  There was a library here called the "As
You Like It Library", a private and not-for-profit collection dealing
in unusual materials and, in particular, the esoteric, religion and
all manor of stuff not normally of interest to the public libraries.
It was, years ago, a most interesting collection of things unusual.
It was known to it's members affectionately as the "Love It Or Shove It"
and there was, within its walls, something to offend anyone.

The library was well conceived, but poorly executed, having had a
significant endowment originally and a few substantial donations along
the way and, at one time, it boasted an active membership of around 600
paid members.  It was an important community asset.  I cannot speak
before any politically active group in this area today without running
into someone involved in the old library.  It was more than anything,
a haven for intellectuals.

The downfall was that it did a poor job of controlling it's assets.
As the old books achieved a value over the years, they were, one or more
at a time, removed from the library by various scallywags and sold for
private profit, and as this ravaged the resources of the library over
the years, it also caused the membership to withdraw not only monetary
support, but many people became afraid to commit their prized collections
knowing they would wind up on eBay or book dealer shelves.  The library
degenerated from a 3000 sq. feet of floor space to 300 sq. ft. in a
basement floor and can no longer make it's rent, holding about 10,000
titles, few of which are ever checked out, and, almost all available at
any library or any "New Age" book store.  A very few patrons, dedicated
to what the library once was, keep coughing up pennies each month keep
it afloat.  I can't tell you why.

A few of us, dedicated to the spirit of the old library, have come up
with what we believe to be a better idea.  We want to create a virtual
library where the books remain in the control of the members, those with
books to lend to be listed as their own branches.  When a bibliography
is reserved, the library can look for someone with that particular book
to find if he is willing to lend to the particular potential borrower.
The lender is never required.

It is a most important aspect of this system that we keep tabs of the
return history of members, not by name, but by identification (card)
number and it is expected that those with even a slight hiccup of
dissatisfaction will have a very tough time borrowing.

We believe we will be able to deal in rare and hard to find materials
this way.

We have been working on a set of rules to address many of the issues
that harmed the old library, so we gain from the old experience.

As to Koha, there will probably be some modifications required, which
we will certainly offered up to anyone who is interested in doing something
similar.  The first modification is that the installation is being modified
now to be installed on OpenPKG systems under RPM.  One of the people
involved here are a very experience perl programmer who has been with
perl since the very first days, and I am a perl hack myself of some sort,
so such modifications are well within our abilities.

What we lack is real library experience, especially as to cataloging
and all, but we are working at that.
  
There is a significant number of people interested and knowing each
other to allow this to get started here, but we are just beginning and
have much work to do.  As this requires little financial support and
has no money to get started, it will remain a hobby for us all for some
period of time, but we can see where it can easily reach a critical mass
and begin to operate on it's own.

I have a general question now which I'll post in other message, and I'm
sure I'll have a few questions as time goes on, but I look forward to
working with you people and pray that in time, we can be of assistance
to you as you have already been to us in making your wonderful Koha
project open source.

Thank you.

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*  Tom Redfern | Address: 12225 Fremont Av N, Seattle WA, 98133   *
*              | Phone:   (206) 365-4077                          * 
*              | Email:   thos at fonebone.net                    * 
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