Many of you have not heard from me for a very long time.  I find myself at the beginning of this new decade without a job.  The last few years have been rough.  The job market is terrible.  So what to do?  I think this is a blessing in disguise.  I have all the time in the world to do something.

As I look at around, I sometimes feel like a Rip van Winkle.  So much has happened that I have not been a part of.  Yet, I have been quite aware of it all from the very beginning.  I've watched open source and free software happen and evolve in libraries.  I am pleased.  Koha exists.  And Evergreen.  They are very good alternatives to commercial offerings.  But Avanti has not lived up to its name.  Now it is time.

After many years of neglect, I am getting back to work on Avanti, picking it up from where I left it.  I will do so as long as I have a network connection and the lights stay on.  I plan to keep whatever it turns out to be open source.  So I ask you, the library community, what do you want in an opac? Would it be something different than what we have thought of as a opac?   I want to redesign the opac from the ground up beginning with basic concepts.  What would you tell someone who has nothing better to do with his time than to build such a thing?

Come January 4th, I will go to work.  Best wishes, and good health to all in the new decade.

Peter Schlumpf
http://www.avantilibrarysystems.com