What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Maria Elena Laude

What is your official Job Title?

Application Support Librarian

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

Not that I can share in public.

What’s your favorite color?

Blue

What’s your favorite food or meal?

Sushi  - The Tampa Roll

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

CHOICE.

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Big Dog, definitely.

Do you have any pets?

I’m on the road too much to have any pets that would still be around when I get home!

Why did you want to work with LibLime? 

Because of Marc Roberson  :-)   But seriously, because the company is doing exciting things with technology and has broken out of the mold (and moldiness!)  of big “Corporate America”.

What did you know about open source before taking on this job?  

Not much.  But I sat next to and had a delightful conversation with Eric Raymond last year!

What have you learned since taking the job?

I have learned how to use a Mac for the first time in my life. And  I’m learning that open source requires some patience and acceptance of how dynamic development can be, and that sometimes you have to be a little flexible.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

New developments should be supported for both Firefox and IE.  There are just too many libraries out there using IE to ignore it.

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop? 

I would like to get more resources devoted to Koha.  The possibilities are endless if the resources were available.  The software is great now, but imagine all the little tweaks and enhancements we could build into Koha if more money and people were available for development.  We would put all those “other vendors” right out of business.

What are your top three favorite websites?

• pandora.com
   
• xkcd.com
   
• www.madsci.org/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~lynn/jardin/SCG

What would you do if you won the lottery?

After paying off my debts, I would love to open a non-Starbucks coffee place.  But this would be a 24-hour coffee and wine bar, with plenty of seating areas and wireless access (of course!), live music, subdued lighting.  A place you can go in the morning for your caffeine, and in the evening for your nightcap! 

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

Organized. I’m so organized that sometimes I delete things and realize I should have kept them!

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

I’m not your typical librarian.  But then again, I don’t think any of us at LibLime are!

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Cecelia Jacqueline Wolfrom

What is your official Job Title?

Customer Support Specialist

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

Cookie (I’ve not been called Cecelia since grade school)

What’s your favorite color?

Teal

What’s your favorite food or meal?

Fresh Maine lobster

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

Peachy, as in “that’s just ‘peachy!”

Are you a dog or a cat person?

At this time in my life I’m a cat person. They require a lot less work than dogs.

Do you have any pets?

I’ve recently adopted a beautiful long hair black and white kitty named Lexi who is the new ‘love of my life’.

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

When I learned that LibLime offered a hosted solution for Koha it made me realize that it would now be possible for libraries without the technical skills to set Koha up on their own, to move to an Open Source ILS. Along the way, I became so impressed with LibLime, that I decided I wanted to work with them.

What did you know about open source before taking on this job? What have you learned since taking the job?

I’d done a lot of research on the open source concept and spent about 3 years traveling to different library conferences talking to groups about the benefits of Open Source - from operating systems, word processing, web page development, and through to an ILS system.

I’ve learned and been amazed at just how quickly enhancements, bug fixes, etc. can occur in the open source environment. This is great for the users, but it certainly requires me to stay sharp to make sure I don’t miss anything! (I’m having the time of my life doing it though, I know it helps keep me young!)

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

I’m too busy keeping up with all the improvements in each latest version that I’ll leave that wish list to the librarians who are out there using it on a daily basis.

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop?

A way for people to help people one-on-one around the world - to be nicer to the planet and each other - so many resources and too little time to search site by site.

What are your top three favorite websites?

• http://greeningyourlibrary.wordpress.com/
• http://www.fsf.org/
• http://www.plinkit.org/

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Help both my daughters pay off their homes, as well as set up a tidy college fund for my young grandson. For me, I’d love to do some traveling abroad and maybe buy a newer home. I then would take whatever was left to help find the small niches that don’t usually get funding for projects for one reason or another and help them.

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

I start each day as an organized desk person but can’t say that always carry through each day, so mostly yes, but sometimes ‘no’

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

My first job ( college internship) was working for UNIVAC, a division of Sperry Rand Corporation in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. If you’d like to see a little history of the computer industry, you might find this Wikipedia link interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I - we’ve sure come a long way since then…….

Ian Walls twittered the Coming Soon talk at the LibLime booth at ALA (read from the bottom up):

• Library calendar doesn’t have iCal import/export as part of the request, but should be straight forward.
• All this in next few weeks, though Acq will take a little longer. Should be in 3.2, provided that customers paying for it sign off.
• Other stuff: fine thresholds, offline circ, patron proxies, serial display, granular permissions, sydentics integration
• MFHD import/export, but not stored that way. Fine by me, so long as it maps.
• Not hooked into serials checkin yet, but will be. Good for multi-volumes. Multiple summaries per bib. Free-text add or MFHD.
• Ooooh, now summary records! A way to group items together that don’t necessarily have item records. Not required at all
• New notifications can have defaults per patron type.
• New notifications: patrons pick which to receive and how. SMS is possible.
• Term loans: transact between two dates, have static due date regardless.
• And, of course, the much-anticipated hour-based loan rules! Minute option, too. Library calendar has support for this, too.
• On to new Circ features: policies matrix info pulled out into applicable fines/circ rules. Neat; increases reusability.
• Action buttons will have associated privilege flags. Not Gears, but similar interface tech (XJS).
• Lots of stuff still forthcoming, includig search and UI enhancements.
• Has send feature to mail letter, email or send EDI file. Encumbers on click.
• Very interesting. Looks like biblios (Gears?) and has more fields than the #koha 3.0.3 install I have. Shiny.
• At LibLime’s demo of what’s Coming Soon to #koha. First off: GetIt acquisitions

ALA is right around the corner and so it’s time to tell you what will be going on in the LibLime booth (#1134)

Saturday, July 11th

• 10:00 a.m. – We Give Back: LibLime’s Contributions to the Library Community
  Learn more about LibLime’s open-source business model and what the impact is on the library community. LibLime’s CEO, Joshua Ferraro, will review three ways that LibLime ‘gives back’: ‡biblios.net, Koha with Class and LibLime’s Koha Community Contributions.

• 1:00 p.m. – Mission Possible: the LibLime Data Migration Process
  Extraction, field mapping, normalization, oh my! LibLime’s Senior Vice-President Operations, Debra Denault, presents an overview of the process of migrating to Koha through LibLime.

• 3:30 p.m. – Koha Demo: OPAC
  An introduction to Koha’s next-generation OPAC. LibLime’s Application Support Librarian, Maria Laude, presents Koha’s OPAC, including some of the new customer-sponsored enhancements and third-party integration.

Sunday, July 12th

• 9:30 a.m. – 4,000 Users and Growing! ‡biblios.net
  ‡biblios.net is a FREE browser-based cataloging service with a data store containing over thirty-five million records. Records are licensed under the Open Data Commons, making the service the world’s largest repository of freely-licensed library records!

• 2:00 p.m. – Coming Soon!
  A sneak peek at the new functionality that will soon be available to LibLime’s customers. LibLime’s Senior Business Analyst, Daniel Sweeney, gives an overview of customer-sponsored projects including a new acquisitions solution, improved consortial support, and academic functionality.

• 3:30 p.m. – Koha Demo: OPAC
  An introduction to Koha’s next-generation OPAC. LibLime’s Application Support Librarian, Maria Laude, presents Koha’s OPAC, including some of the new customer-sponsored enhancements and third-party integration.

Monday, July 13th

• 9:30 a.m. – We Give Back: LibLime’s Contributions to the Library Community
  Learn more about LibLime’s open-source business model and what the impact is on the library community. LibLime’s CEO, Joshua Ferraro, will review three ways that LibLime ‘gives back’: ‡biblios.net, Koha with Class and LibLime’s Koha Community Contributions.

• 1:00 p.m. – Koha Demo: Staff Side
  An introduction to Koha’s staff modules. LibLime’s Senior Vice-President Operations, Debra Denault, presents on Koha’s Circulation, Technical Services and Administrative functionality.

• 3:00 p.m. – Coming Soon!
  A sneak peek at the new functionality that will soon be available to LibLime’s customers. LibLime’s Senior Business Analyst, Daniel Sweeney, gives an overview of customer-sponsored projects including a new acquisitions solution, improved consortial support, and academic functionality.

Tuesday, July 14th

• 9:30 a.m. – Koha Demo: Staff Side
  An introduction to Koha’s staff modules. LibLime’s Senior Vice-President Operations, Debra Denault, presents on Koha’s Circulation, Technical Services and Administrative functionality.

• 11:00 a.m. – 4,000 Users and Growing! ‡biblios.net
  ‡biblios.net is a FREE browser-based cataloging service with a data store containing over thirty-five million records. Records are licensed under the Open Data Commons, making the service the world’s largest repository of freely-licensed library records!

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Michele Marie Maenpaa

What is your official Job Title?

Data Migration Specialist

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

Not really.

What’s your favorite color?

Red

What’s your favorite food or meal?

I don’t really have one. I like all food that is fresh, properly prepared and locally grown or raised.

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

shoot.

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Neither, I have a fondness for Holstein cows.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, Fish, because they do not cause allergies.

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

I was looking to learn something new and be part of the modern age of computing.

What did you know about open source before taking on this job? What have you learned since taking the job?

Just what my son discussed at the kitchen table of what he was doing in his spare time. I have picked up lots, I can now intelligently participate in his discussions of open source.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

To remove the item 952 tags from marc blob in the biblioitems table.

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source
application would you like to develop?

An easy to use quilting design website that works with colour.

What are your top three favorite websites?

• For better or For worse comics

• the weather website
• quilting websites

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Pay off debts, go on a nice vacation, take classes on colour theory, create a quilting studio with lots of windows and a quilting design wall.

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

An in between person, I start and end the week with a clean desk but during the week it is a mess.

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

I am a quilter.

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Susan Joan Wright Buchanan

What is your official Job Title?

Vice President, Library Partners

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

Not one that I’d really like to make public. Too silly.

What’s your favorite color?

yellow - sunshine, sunflowers

What’s your favorite food or meal?

Boxing Day, or day after Thanksgiving, lunch - turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and dressing on multi grain bread. Ideally, two of them.

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

Friday

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Can you be both? I’m both. I currently own neither but have had one or the other most of my life. If my condo board rules and travel schedule permitted, I’d have one or the other.

Do you have any pets?

No, but I do have a (real) plant that I’ve managed to not kill for 5 years.

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

I see open source solutions for libraries as the next logical step for the community. The technology has finally come to the point where this was the natural evolution, and I see this as the basis for the next generation systems. I’m excited to be part of that!

What did you know about open source before taking on this job? What have you learned since taking the job?

In hindsight, my knowledge was pretty sparse before I took this step. I didn’t understand the development possibilities or the depth and breadth of the functionality that is possible.

I’m learning that the success of open source comes from commitment at an individual level, and open source ILS enables librarians to take ownership, and feel that they can make a difference, in a way that is not possible within a proprietary framework.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

ILL. It can’t come too soon.

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop?

A killer app to find my car keys, no matter where I am

What are your top three favorite websites?

• ual.com - to juggle my flight segments around airline delays and weather issues

• facebook - to track my friends and family
• lotto649 - see below

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I’d do the altruistic thing and make sure friends, family and specific charities were taken care of. And then I’d just start traveling….(first class, of course!)

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

I believe the definition of organization is completely individual. (that likely answers your question..!)

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

I’m not very good at filling out questionnaires.

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Mark Bucholtz

What’s your job title?

Data Migration Specialist

What’s your favorite color?

Turquoise

What’s your favorite food or meal?

French vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge sauce

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

Ocho … It’s Spanish for eight

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Dog

Do you have any pets?

2 dogs and 4 birds

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

• Chance to work for a small, growing, privately owned company.

• Like the idea of open source software.
• Chance to write my own data load utilities

What did you know about open source before taking on this job? What have you learned since taking the job?

I knew what is was in general and I had heard of Koha and LibLime but I did not know much about either. I think the most interesting thing I have learned is how the new development gets sponsored by the libraries.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

• Some data structure enhancements for fines and holds to make it more sophisticated.

• Remove the item data from biblioitems

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop?

A site to share information, examples of initiatives to live locally on a personal, community, corporate, government level.

What are your top three favorite websites?

The only web site I regularly visit is Treehugger

What would you do if you won the lottery?

• Do more charity work and give more money to charities

• Give the company some money to sponsor some development
• Build an energy efficient house with a good yard to grow a lot of my own food
• Give some money to my family

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

I’m fairly organized but my desk is small so it looks messy.

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Marcus Lee Roberson

What’s your job title?

VP, Library Partners

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

Not on that can be published

Also, Marc

What’s your favorite color?

Navy

What’s your favorite food or meal?

Seafood, specifically shrimp of almost any type

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

Hope

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Both

Do you have any pets?

Yes a 1 year old Wheaten Terrier named Milo

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

I’ve been on the other side of the ILS fence and know that there are libraries out there who need help in an affordable, customizable format and LibLime provides those options.

What did you know about open source before taking on this job?

I knew very little about OSS other than from a library perspective. Working at LibLime has not only opened my eyes to library related OSS but also to the greater movement as well.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

Hmm… I would love to see someone sponsor integration with a resource sharing alternative like Relais. Full integration with another OSS product like Relais could well make Koha unstoppable!

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop?

I would like to see someone develop software to help with tracking renewable resources, especially in third world applications. Helping people to become energy independent is something I would enjoy doing and being able to track how resources are shared and how we can help would be awesome.

What are your top three favorite websites?

Well LibLime.com of course! But seriously:

• Flickr,

• heifer.org and
• edga.org

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Pay off a lot of debts for friends and relatives, donate a great deal to individual charities I donate to now but in greater quantity and fund more OSS alternatives to “big box” software.

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

Pathetically clean desk. I can’t stand to go to sleep at night knowing there are papers on the desk that hold be in a folder!

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

I have enjoyed working in the library space more than anything else I have ever done. My “library relationship” started with my elementary school librarian, and neighbor, who mentored me through skipping three grades (1st, 3rd and 7th) and helped me through the arduous process of scholarship writing to be able to start college at 14 years of age. Without Marian Wilson I would not be where I am today. Thanks Mrs. Wilson.

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

John David Bavousett

What’s your job title?

I’m an “Implementation Specialist” with LibLime.

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

I went by “The PegLeg” for a longish time, as I have an artificial limb.

What’s your favorite color?

Blue.

What’s your favorite food or meal?

Anything that I don’t have to chase down and kill first. Seriously, I enjoy a lot of different ethnic foods, particularly Chinese and (being in the Southwest) Mexican.

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

“perforce”

Do you have any pets?

My other job is Chief of Staff for His Lordship, the mighty feline Captain Midnight. He approves heartily of my job with LibLime, as it means that I am home to spoil him a lot.

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

In my years in the library business, I’ve watched libraries suffer over and over from budget cuts, as governing bodies marginalize and ignore the needs of the library. At the same time, traditional library technology vendors keep demanding more and more of the budget.

LibLime is just not like that–our leveraging of open source technology lets us save libraries a bunch of cash over other vendors, and still provide top-shelf service and support for a great menu of library applications. What libraries do is critically important to our society, and always will be. At LibLime, I get to be a part of satisfying that crucial need, at reasonable cost to the library.

Plus, as I tell my friends locally, at forty, I finally found my dream job: I’m doing something I believe in, that I like, that I’m good at, with great people, getting paid a fair wage, and work from home. What’s not to like?

What did you know about open source before taking on this job? What have you learned since taking the job?

At my previous employer, we used a number of open source products to support our business, and I’ve been a big supporter of the concept for a long time, though I had not participated in any projects directly. At this job, I have, and have learned a lot about how collaborative development works, and is, frequently, faster and better than closed-box development methods.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

Better installation documentation? Guess that means I need to write it, since that’s what I do all day. Having come from a mixed-type consortium, I think it’s important to pay some attention to the needs of consortia, and make sure that we put in as much flexibility for them as we can, particularly in the very complex areas of holds and reciprocal-borrowing arrangements.

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop?

I’d like to work on a good management software for collectors, particularly postage-stamp collectors like me. Something web-based, so you could be at a dealer, and still have access to your collection on a mobile device.

What are your top three favorite websites?

• Questionable Content -Best webcomic there is!

• Life Remix -Great personal development blogs
• Clear Checkbook -Incredibly useful free personal finance app.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Take a day off work. Maybe two. Seriously, I would set up a couple of small endowments to some charities I believe in, and do some house remodeling.

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

Organized, insanely so. I’m mildly obsessive-compulsive, in that respect, and I’ve had bosses tell me to quit trying to get anything done and clean my desk–once things get too cluttery, productivity falls off almost to zero.

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

I just recently started blogging on my own…my quest to lose some weight, my exploration of Zen, woodworking, competitive chili-cooking, stamp collecting, Masonry and many other things are all fair topics.

What’s your full name (middle name too)?

Debra Lynn Denault

What’s your job title?

Senior VP Operations

Did you (or do you) have a nickname?

I do in fact have a nickname … my sister uses it so much i just almost consider it my name so it slipped my mind.

She calls me Stannie … which refers to Stan Schmenge (one of the Schmenge brothers on the Toronto version of SCTV that was widely popular in the 80s) my sister is yosh. I don’t know if you guys got it down there but on the original show John Candy was Yosh Schmenge, and Eugene Levy was Stan Schmenge … they were hilarious (it resonated with our family as we are of Eastern European descent so their whole schtick about cabbage rolls and coffee was very real to us)

Each of my family members got a name (my older sister is Yuli and an old boyfriend of mine was Vladd) even though we stopped giving out names a while back me and my sisters still go by those nicknames …

What’s your favorite color?

My favourite colour is brown. Purple is a close second.

What’s your favorite food or meal?

This is tough as I love so many foods. I would have to say it is a dish called Sambal Balado (it’s an Indonesian Crispy Crunchy Beef and Rice dish)

What’s your favorite word (keep it clean)?

Tickety boo … which is an east coast Canadian expression meaning ‘going smoothly’ as in everything is going tickety boo.

Tajj at work (she’s my
administrative assistant
though she takes more
breaks than works)

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Definitely a cat person.

Do you have any pets?

Two cats - Jordan and Tajj

Why did you want to work with LibLime?

Many reasons but most of all because I was so impressed with the management team/founders and their vision for the company when I was first interviewing for my position.

Jordan at work (she’s my
technical assistant - she
only works part time as
she is retired)

What did you know about open source before taking on this job? What have you learned since taking the job?

I knew very little about open source when I first took on the job especially as a business model. Since taking this job I have learned all about how open source software works, how the open source community interacts and sorta self-governs itself and I’ve learned especially about the whole business model that goes with servicing open source software.

What’s at the top of your wishlist for the next version of Koha?

Hmmmm .. I’d have to say getting fines to work/display better.

If you had all of the skills, time and money, what open source application would you like to develop?

I would develop an application for software companies like LibLime which would provide a central place for all departments to get information about the status of a customer. This application would log all sales activity/contract/contact info or the customer which could be shared and easily accessed by implementation and have them add project plans, data migration info etc. and with support so that accounts could be setup for tracking support tickets and of course provide the support center software.

What are your top three favorite websites?

• http://www.lirico.ca (my local library )

• http://allrecipes.com (great website for different recipes)
• http://wwitv.com/

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I’d pay off any outstanding personal debt and debt of my family. I’d put some money towards my nieces education fund. I would contribute to the Joy and Hope of Haiti group (an umbrella group of folks who work together to make life better for the people of Haiti) and finally I would like to travel all over the world.

Are you an organized desk person or a messy desk person?

Mostly an organized desk person. I call it an organized mess Twice a year I go through and do a cleaning to weed out everything.

Anything else you want our readers to know about you?

Can’t think of anything …