Hi Dave

It's an honesty system, card based, the way most community libraries used to
work before computers. Because it's unstaffed about 15% of books aren't
returned but we get a similar amount of donations. So we have that constant
churn to take in and out of a card catalog manually.

We need borrowers to be able to check out books. I was thinking maybe with a
scanner attached to an iphone running an app. I didn't think librarything
could do circulation. I thought it was just a catalog.

What do you reckon?

Cheers
Rowan

On 23 September 2011 21:34, David Mayo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I think it's going to be difficult to find a solution that's entirely cloud
> based.
>
> What functionality do you need? If you have a very limited subset of
> ILS/OPAC functions in mind, theoretically a LibraryThing paid account or
> similar quasi-library service might suffice.
>
> I'm having trouble understanding how circulation works/is expected to work
> when librarians aren't present.  Is there a sign-out sheet?  How do you
> monitor for lossage?
>
> - Dave Mayo
>
> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:42 PM, rowan eisner <[log in to unmask]
> >wrote:
>
> > Thanks Esme
> >
> > No, the library is open all hours but volunteers just come in 2 hrs a
> week.
> > I'm not sure how it could work but if we leave anything plugged in it
> will
> > get stolen or struck by lightning. We're in cloud forest.
> >
> > With koha and open-ils do we have to run the software on a server or do
> we
> > just get an account on an existing system? Running a system ourselves
> might
> > take a lot for us to figure out.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Rowan
> >
> > On 23 September 2011 16:38, Cowles, Esme <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > Rowan-
> > >
> > > Having a hosted catalog and circ system seems very easy to do.  There
> are
> > > several open source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen that
> might
> > > suit your needs:
> > >
> > > http://www.koha.org/
> > >
> > > http://open-ils.org/
> > >
> > > Are there volunteers present the entire time the library is open to
> > > borrowers?  Or are you counting on borrowers having smartphones to
> > complete
> > > self-checkout?
> > >
> > > -Esme
> > > --
> > > Esme Cowles <[log in to unmask]>
> > >
> > > "I don't need to be forgiven." -- The Who, Baba O'Reilly
> > >
> > > On Sep 23, 2011, at 3:27 PM, rowan eisner wrote:
> > >
> > > > Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but if anyone can point me in
> the
> > > > right direction...
> > > >
> > > > We have an unstaffed library and can't leave a computer in it. Is
> there
> > a
> > > > way to automate
> > > >
> > > > 1) with no computer - do circulation and catalog in the cloud.
> > Volunteers
> > > > bring in laptops to do circulation and clients access catalog with
> > > iphones
> > > > 2) that doesn't cost a fortune
> > > >
> > > > Thanks so much
> > > >
> > > > Rowan
> > >
> >
>