[7 March 2026] Robert Morss, Sanford Maine, bmorss@springvalelibrary.org
Background: Linux user since 1998; started at Goodall Library (Sanford, Maine) in 2005 as IT and network support specialist (retired April 2025); since November 2025 employed at Springvale (Maine) Library as circulation assistant.
See also: Linux Mint for patrons | Barcode generator for Maine libraries
Don't throw away that old computer - turn it into an OPAC with this minimalist operating system. Alpine can also be used on Raspberry Pi. And it is immune to Windows viruses and malware. When used as an OPAC, the ONLY application that needs to be installed is a web browser.
setup-alpine and follow the prompts, specify "sys" install for a local hard drive or SSD.setup-desktop to install XFCE desktop environment (which includes Firefox as the web browser).Note - There is no audio driver on Alpine (without further installations). We have omitted it because OPACs do not need audio output.
To update the Alpine;
rootapk update && apk upgradesetup-interfacesrc-service networking restartsetup-userIf you do not want to require the <user> to input a password on login (which is fine for an OPAC), switch to the root account and run:
passwd -d <user>
In your OPAC computer's operating system set your web browser to autostart upon desktop login, saving you a step when restarting the system. For example, in the XFCE desktop environment this is done using the "Sessions and startup applications" utility. We recommend Firefox browser.
The easiest way to prevent Firefox from preserving any browsing history: in all your OPACs, be sure to change Firefox History setting to "always use private browsing" which will automatically wipe passwords, form entries, and and history.
Tired of patrons using your OPACs for internet browsing? Here is a method of limiting your OPAC to Catalog Only - No Internet
Install Simple Blocker extension for Firefox to limit the browser to a small set of allowed websites. Install the extension and set the mode to "whitelist" adding the following four URLs that will be allowed (assuming you are a MINERVA library):
https://minerva.maine.edu/* https://mainecat.maine.edu/* https://contentcafe2.btol.com/* https://covers.openlibrary.org/*
Whitelist entries are regular expressions and as such can be written with more complicated filter rules. Here we just allow everything (*) from each specified domain. Goodall Library is on Minerva so we want to allow patrons to look up materials there AND in MaineCat. The last two URLs are to display cover images where available.
Much of Minerva's rich content comes from non-whitelisted sites, so it will not be displayed in the item record. But keep in mind that the further afield we allow users to go the more invalid links they will encounter. We are setting up a walled garden restricted to searching the collection. This is acceptable since a patron inside the library is likely looking for what can be found in-house immediately - or requested through ILL.
The OPAC in your library should default to searching within your library's collection, since the catalog server can tell from your IP address which library you are in.
Does your library have a separate search scope for the children's collection. For example, Goodall Library (Sanford) collection is scoped on 128, but the children's department is on 129. We can tell the Children's Room OPAC to limit results to the Children's collection:
Change the homepage for the children's OPAC to…
https://minerva.maine.edu/search~S129
…adding “search~129” to the standard Minerva URL.