PTFS Europe Ltd would like to invite you to a seminar at Manchester Central Library on Open Source Library Management Systems and the ArchivalWare Digital Archiving software.

Open Source: With growing financial pressures faced by every organisation there is an increasing need for close scrutiny of the costs incurred in every department, and the questions every library manager must ask are:

Is it possible to significantly reduce ongoing costs, introduce the very latest technology and gain freedom from the tie in of the traditional library systems supply market?

The answer to these questions is “yes”.

Open Source Library Management Systems are now mature enough to warrant serious consideration and this seminar provides the opportunity for library managers to judge for themselves the suitability of open source for their library.

The seminar will focus on key issues. What are the benefits and drawbacks of going open source? What functionality do the open source products offer? How would they be implemented and supported? What are the cost implications of taking the open source route?

Open source is the fastest growing sector in the library management systems marketplace, not simply because of the free software but also because there is:

• support of a vibrant and active “global” support and development community
• Freedom from the “lock-in” of propriety software and dependence on a single supplier
• the ability to benefit from other users’ customisations and contributions
• Significant financial benefits with lower implementation and annual support
  costs

During this seminar we will outline PTFS Europe’s role in promoting open source library management systems where we provide project management, training, data conversion services, software development and importantly on-going software support. There will be a comprehensive demonstration of one of the leading open source library management systems – Evergreen.

We will also present the benefits of having the library system hosted either by the library or delivered through a “Software as a Service” (SaaS) environment.

ArchivalWare Digital Archiving Solution –

The exponential growth of the Internet and rapid advances in technology has caused a
proliferation of digital information. PTFS’s digital archiving solutions offer advanced,
affordable tools and services to manage and rapidly search valuable expanding digital
collections. ArchivalWare, in its latest release, combines a suite of high-volume digital
capture and production tools with a sophisticated web-based retrieval engine.

We will provide an outline of the technologies underlying ArchivalWare and examples of the integration possibilities available. A demonstration will include the searching and administration interfaces together with a look at examples of how a wide range of material can be handled.

There will be consideration of the issues involved when implementing ArchivalWare and the migration capabilities from pre-existing systems.

Where and When:     Thursday 1st October 2009 from 10.15 – 16.00, at 2nd Floor Committee Room, Manchester Central Library, St Peters Square, Manchester, M2 5PD

The Days Agenda:

10.30 – 10.45               Introduction & Welcome

10.30 – 11.30               Overview of the Open Source sector

11.30 – 13.00              Evergreen Open Source Demonstration

13.00 –14.00               Lunch -

14.00 – 15.30               PTFS ArchivalWare Overview & Demo

15.30 – 16.00               Q&A’s & Tea

16.00                           Close.

To attend: Reply by email to seminar@ptfs-europe.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it before 20th September 2009.

About us: PTFS Europe is implementing and supporting the Koha and Evergreen open source library management systems as well as distributing and supporting the software products of PTFS, Inc., the leading provider of digital archiving solutions in North America.  PTFS Europe is able to provide the full range of services needed to implement a library or digital archival solution, ranging from initial help defining the scope of the opportunity through to project management, installation, configuration, data conversion, scanning and digitisation, training and ongoing customer support.