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Security vulnerability in Evergreen 1.6: patch or upgrade advised

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

On Thursday, June 17th, we realized that the open-ils.pcrud service, which provides permission-protected access to Evergreen data in the 1.6 release series, was subject to a security vulnerability. The vulnerability allows a user to access objects outside of the permissions they have been granted by supplying fleshing arguments to the open-ils.pcrud search service.

By Thursday evening, a patch for the vulnerability had been committed to Evergreen trunk, and by Friday evening that patch had been backported to the 1.6.0 branch. The Evergreen 1.6.0.6 security release was uploaded on Tuesday June 22, and it took until late Friday June 26 to write up the upgrade instructions, release notes, and update the downloads page for the http://evergreen-ils.org Web site.

Today, we worked out how to apply just the security fix to a running system, so that Evergreen libraries can close the vulnerability without having to apply the full release upgrade. The procedure is as follows:

  1. Download the fixed file: http://svn.open-ils.org/trac/ILS/export/16749/branches/rel_1_6_0/Open-ILS/src/c-apps/oils_cstore.c
  2. Copy oils_cstore.c over Open-ILS/src/c-apps/oils_cstore.c in the source directory you used to install your Evergreen system
  3. Run ‘make’ to compile the updated libraries
  4. Install the chrpath tool (“aptitude install chrpath”)
  5. Run “chrpath -d Open-ILS/src/c-apps/.libs/oils_pcrud.so” to enable the library to link to the appropriate location
  6. Copy Open-ILS/src/c-apps/.libs/oils_pcrud.so.* to /openils/lib/.
  7. Restart the Evergreen C services by running ‘osrf_ctl.sh -a restart_c’

If you are running Evergreen 1.6, we recommend that you apply this security fix as soon as possible, then upgrade to the latest release (1.6.0.6) when you have an opportunity. Evergreen sites running releases prior to 1.6 are not affected by this vulnerability.

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PINES the day after Memorial Day, 2007-2010

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Some of you may know that Lamar Veatch and I are working on an article on the history of Evergreen so we are busy with that work—and will possibly be posting bits and pieces here. I suspect that we will also assemble web-friendly materials for an online history somewhere but that in time.

Dr. Veatch and I were talking about previous posts on the PINES circulation traffic on the day after Memorial Day and here are those impressive numbers showing the load on PINES, updated through this year’s figures.

These numbers are yet another demonstration of the increasing demand on PINES libraries—as if we needed one—and that Evergreen can handle a great deal of traffic.

The increase in the figures from 2009 to 2010 is extraordinary. The busiest day of PINES has a 20% increase in total circulations over last year’s and the busiest hour of the busiest day (11AM-12PM) shows a 30% increase.

Maximum circulations by date and interval

  May 29, 2007 May 27, 2008 May 26, 2009 June 1, 2010
Total circs
for the day		 96,326 100,427 109,093 128,830
Total
checkins		       106,209
Max circs
per hour		 11,305 12,227 12,251 16,119
Max circs
per minute		 548 331 322 358
Max circs
per second		   9 19 22

Thanks to Mike Rylander and Don McMorris for these numbers.

When everyone digs out a bit, we will check the per minute figure for 2007. I think most of us have suspected that number is in error. Mike has a theory about how it was miscalculated.

The checkins are reported for 2010 for the first time and that number adds a dimension to this set of statistics that was missing before. As evocative as the circs figures are they do not capture all that was going on. We will include these data next time.

Previous posts in this thread: 2007; 2008, and 2009 was posted on open-ils-general on May 27, 2009 at 10:45:12.

Bob Molyneux

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The Evergreen Superconsortium: The next stage in the evolution of Evergreen consortia

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

The two of us have seen aspects of the evolution of the Evergreen software ecosystem that was at once surprising and then obvious once it started to arise: the evolving superconsortium in the Evergreen community. This notion first occurred to us independently in early 2009 and, curiously, we each invented the same word to describe it: the Evergreen Superconsortium. Events since then, particularly one just before the Evergreen International Conference in Grand Rapids, have served to confirm our observations.

What is the Superconsortium? It is varied elements of Evergreen community working in concert to develop capabilities within the software and within the community. A library that is a member of a consortium may give up a bit of freedom of action but in return enjoy increased services for its users by cooperating and sharing resources with other consortium members. In the Evergreen Superconsortium, different consortia are cooperating on developing capabilities for Evergreen. It is another arrow in the Evergreen quiver.

The Evergreen Superconsortium

In the first case of superconsortial cooperative development, two systems joined in paying for development of capabilities that were given to the community through the GNU General Public License (GPL). This case was shepherded by Equinox.

Given the changes in the state of Evergreen—for instance, there are more groups using it now—superconsortial cooperative development recently started via independent action of several consortia (Bibliomation, King County, SITKA, and PINES) that are working together to develop a Kids’ Catalog for Evergreen and contracting with FGI, a Seattle based firm. This was a signal event in the history of Evergreen.

Even though these different consortia are doing different things and in different places, they are working towards common goals and the Kids’ Catalog—and Evergreen—will be stronger for it.

We can, then, expect more software development as Evergreen’s capabilities increase through this method as well as more traditional methods. Just last week, Amy Terlaga sent out an email about two enhancements Bibliomation is seeking to have developed and asked if others in the community wanted to help. The trail has been blazed.

Where we are

The Superconsortium arises out of two necessary but not sufficient conditions: open source development and a Consortial Library System. The two separately each create tools to increase the capabilities of libraries through the software they use. Of course, we in the open source communities believe that open source development will provide robust software with a rapid development cycle. What joined the two factors to create the Superconsortium are the strength of the community’s actors and their vision of a new way of doing things. Superconsortial cooperation will lead to even more rapid and better software development and information exchange (data? techniques and practices?) than we have seen so far.

Quo Vadis Evergreen Superconsortium?

It is hard to peer into the future and see what is next—certainly more development with the newer consortia and as members of the community get to know each other better.

There are also possibilities for Superconsortial purchases, for example. These consortia have to move items around from library to library. If they used RFID tags, they could maintain the control over their items that UPS and FedEx can: these companies know where everything is. Can libraries do worse? It would seem to be an easy argument to make in these times that this is a matter of fiduciary responsibility. However, RFID tags are expensive.

At ALA last year, one of us asked a vendor how much it would cost to buy 10 million RFID tags? Well, he said, we would have to bid it but I would guess they would be around 17 cents a piece. This year, the number would be lower. Perhaps a Superconsortium of Evergreen consortia could consider such pooled purchases thus making it resemble the purchasing consortia that are so common in libraries. Of course, we do not have an entity to manage such purchases. And 10 million would not be near enough.

Bob Molyneux and Mike Rylander

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Evergreen Newsletter, January/February 2010

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

The newsletter for Evergreen open source library software

Volume 3, Issue 1 – January/February 2010

As a reminder, we post this newsletter to the Evergreen general discussion list, development list, and the Evergreen blog. Cross-posting and forwarding are encouraged.

In This Issue

Evergreen Out and About, Evergreen Development and Documentation Update, Evergreen People, Evergreen Libraries, Evergreen Jobs, Evergreen Statistics, New Evergreen Libraries, Planet Evergreen, A Few Reminders, Newsletter Administrivia

Out and About: An Evergreen Calendar

Do you know of Evergreen events you’d like to share here? Please contact us at newsletter@evergreen-ils.org

Conferences

The 2010 Evergreen International Conference will be held April 21-23, 2010 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids Michigan. The Conference website contains general information, schedule, exhibitor information, sponsorship information, a link to the Grand Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau, a link to the Amway for online reservations, and a link to the registration site. Please join us for an exciting 3 days of learning, sharing, networking, and fun in Grand Rapids! http://www.evergreen2010.org/

Equinox will be exhibiting Evergreen at PLA2010 (booth 1407) in Portland from March 23-27, and also at TLA in San Antonia from April 14-17.

Classes

Equinox

Equinox Software, Inc. is now offering training for Evergreen users. For more information or to register, send an email to training@esilibrary.com

Currently, Equinox Software is offering the following classes:

Acquisitions Preview
March 31 — 1pm-3pm EST

In this class, we will review the plans for the Acquisitions module, examine current functionality, and tour the most recent development. This class would be useful to administrators, prospective Evergreen users, and others interested in Acquisitions development.

The Evergreen OPAC
April 7 — 1pm-2pm EST

In this session, we will explore the Evergreen OPAC from the perspective of both patrons and staff members. This class would be useful to front line information services staff.

Circulation in Evergreen (Part 1)
April 12 — 1pm-2:30pm EST

In this session, we will focus on patron services in the Evergreen circulation module. This class would be of interest to front line circulation staff.

Circulation in Evergreen (Part 2)
April 27 — 11:30am-1pm EST

In this session, we will focus on item management in the Evergreen circulation module. This class would be of interest to front line circulation staff.

Booking in Evergreen
April 29 — 11:00am-12pm EST

In this session, we will focus on booking in Evergreen. We will discuss how to create and pick up reservations for bibliographic items. We will also discuss the reservation process for other item types, such as laptops and meeting rooms.

Lyrasis

Evergreen Cataloging Module (Live Online)

3/3/2010-3/4/2010 2:00pm-4:00pm EST

Evergreen Administration and Reports Module (Live Online)

3/10/2010, 10:00am-12:00pm EST

LYRASIS (created from a merger of SOLINET, PALINET and NELINET) has taught dozens of Evergreen classes. Lyrasis is dedicated to training and instructing Evergreen, and they welcome your comments and suggestions for courses. All of their current course offerings are continuously updated, and Lyrasis plans to add more courses in the future. For comments or questions, contact Lyrasis instructors Jennifer.Bielewski@lyrasis.org or Jenny.Liberatore@lyrasis.org

In the past, so how did it go?

* February 22, 2010 – Evergreen was the focus of an afternoon pre-conference for CODE4LIB 2010.

* February 24, 2010 – Customizing and Extending Evergreen: a guide for geeks is a half-day workshop that Dan Scott lead at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference.

Evergreen Development and Documentation Update

New Releases

A new bugfix release of Evergreen, version 1.6.0.2, was released on February 18th. It includes many fixes and updated translations, including new translations for English (UK), Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. For a complete list of the new fixes and features, see http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=feature_list_1_6_0

On February 8th, a new version of OpenSRF was released, version 1.2.2, which includes important fixes for high traffic environments. If you are running Evergreen 1.6+ you are strongly encouraged to upgrade!

A peek in the Trunk

This is a look at some of the current differences between trunk and the 1.6 branch. It’s not comprehensive. Most of these features need testing, feedback, and/or polish, but may one day get backported to 1.6 or show up in the next major branch release.

Cataloging

Bucket Notes

Toward allowing arbitrary notes for buckets and bookbags.

Copy Location Order

Allows you to define display positions for copy/shelving locations. No longer has to be in alphabetical order.

Mint Condition flag for Holds and Copies

Optionally allows us to give a “good quality” or “mint condition” or “pristine” or “complete with all pieces” type designation to items, and allows holds to optionally be filled only by items in that condition.

Update leader in MARC record when deleting or undeleting the record

This sets the leader/05 appropriately.

Circ

Auto Checkout-attempt into renewal

If an item is already checked out to a user and the circulation is past a configured auto-renewal interval, attempt to treat the transaction as a renewal instead. Option for doing this with offline transactions as well.

Backdating

Action for backdating checkins that have already happened (e.g. checkin the item, notice that you should have backdated, and then do so after the fact)

“Scan time” field shows the true time that an item was checked in, regardless of backdating. We also record the specific workstation for all checkins.

Billable Transaction Summary with Billing Location

An augmented view of billable transaction summaries. Toward filtering by location in the billing interface.

Cap Max Fine at Item Price

Org-unit setting for capping fines at the item price. Existing Percent of Item Price functionality for fine caps trumps this setting.

Circ Counts By Year

Reportable abstraction of this data.

Circulation “Chain” Summaries

In Evergreen, renewals show up as circulations, though you’re able to select or filter for these based on renewal flags on the circs. Circulation chains allow us to group together a logical sequence of original checkout and subsequent renewals as one entity.

Circulation permit check based on claims returned threshold

Allows you to set a number for how many claims returned items are allowed on a patron’s account before requiring override for new checkouts.

Circulation receipts

Can now include patron money summary information (amount owed, etc.) in checkout receipts.

Credit Card Payments

We’re able to interface with Paypal for taking credit card payments.

Custom copy status for returned items

Allows you to designate a copy status for post-claims returned items.

Fine generation

An Evergreen installation normally has a periodic process for generating fines. To supplement that, we now generate fines for a given circulation at the time of checkin, to handle certain boundary conditions.

Floating Collections

Basic support for floating collections where items can stay where they land.

History Buckets

For supporting clearable patron and/or staff facing record of checkouts.

Hold Request Cancel/Un-Cancel

Interface toggle and related org unit settings for showing and manipulating canceled holds.

Hold Request Notes

Free-text staff notes that can optionally be printed on hold slips.

Hold retargeting trigged by certain copy updates

Checks to see if an item status change warrants a retargeting of related hold requests.

Negative Balance list

Dedicated interface for listing patrons with negative balances.

Offline username

Org-unit setting for treating patron barcodes in offline transactions as usernames based on barcode format.

Patron Claims

Can mark a circulation as Claims Never Checked Out, which changes the status to Missing.

Org-unit setting for changing the copy status to something arbitrary for Claims Returned items.

Patron retrieval by internal ID

Config setting which allows retrieval of patrons by their internal DB ID.

Pending Patrons

Staging area for patron data from self-registration, migrations, external systems, etc.

Pre-cat improvements

Circ modifier and ISBN field for pre-cataloged items. The circ modifier will carry over when/if the item is cataloged. And of course, you can create circulation rules based on an item being a pre-cat with consideration of its circ modifier.

Org-unit setting for setting the circ lib of a pre-cat. For example, you could checkout a pre-cat item at BR1, but have it’s circ lib be BR2, so that upon checkin, it’ll transit to BR2.

Top of Queue flag for Hold Requests

Brings a hold to the front of the line, or at least next to other Top of Queue holds.

Misc

Events interfaces

View (and in some cases Edit or Cancel) triggered events for patrons and copies. These can include notices, etc.

Setting Types

Better support for defining/categorizing different user and org unit settings.

Ubuntu Karmic

Pre-requisite installer target for Ubuntu’s Karmic Koala distribution.

Evergreen People

Dan Scott, Systems Librarian at Laurentian University, will be flying down to Connecticut in February to teach Bibliomation staff how to write postgreSQL queries for the Evergreen system. Dan is tailoring his lesson plan to Bibliomation’s specific reporting needs. Dan will be contributing his course materials to the Evergreen community. Class dates – February 18th and 19th.

Bibliomation, King County Library System, the SITKA Libraries (British Columbia), and the PINES Library System (GPLS) have partnered with the Seattle-based web design firm, FGI, to develop some functional specifications and a project plan for an Evergreen children’s catalog. This catalog will have graphical images to guide children to the appropriate reading material. FGI is the same company that KCLS is currently using to design the new interface for the Evergreen adult web catalog. For more information, you can email Amy Terlaga at Bibliomation (terlaga@biblio.org).

Evergreen Libraries

The Ontario Library Association (OLA) awarded two of its 2010 OLA and OLA Divisional awards to Project Conifer:
– The Ontario College and University Library Association (OCULA) Special Achievement Award
– The Ontario Library Information Technology Association (OLITA) Award for Technical Innovation

These rewards recognize not only on the partner libraries that are part of Project Conifer, but the entire Evergreen community without which Project Conifer could never have happened.

Evergreen Jobs

Equinox is currently looking for a Project Manager.

Do you know of Evergreen related jobs that you’d like to share here? Let us know at newsletter@evergreen-ils.org

Evergreen Statistics

By Bob Molyneux

Summary Data for Evergreen Library Installations, by year

New libraries by year

New Public Libraries by year

Public Libraries







Total
Systems Outlets

Systems Outlets Pop served Circulations
2006 46 248
45 246 4,564,757 17,177,872
2007 4 8
4 8 67,658 319,871
2008 39 89
37 87 962,758 6,943,043
2009 98 199
75 149 1,687,924 10,725,430








Total Evergreen prior to 2010 187 544
161 490 7,283,097 35,166,216

Evergreen has grown rapidly and I have been keeping track as best I can by maintaining a list of the libraries running Evergreen that I can identify and, where possible, integrating that list with published national-level or provincial data.

The first table (New Libraries by Year) summarizes this growth. Bear in mind that there are uncertainties about some details and most of the published data are for 2007 so “outlets” (central library + branches + bookmobiles) may have changed but the count of systems is current.

We can see here that in 2006, the first 46 (including the State Library) systems in PINES migrated to Evergreen. There were 248 outlets by my count—not org units as Evergreen users usually report.

2007 was a slow year—the calm before the storm—with 4 new public library systems using Evergreen. This year also saw the first non-PINES libraries go live in British Columbia in what is now called SITKA.

In 2008, the pace quickend with 39 systems and 89 outlets. The first academics went live with Evergreen this year with the University of PEI.

2009 was crazy. 98 systems and 199 outlets ran Evergreen for the first time. Conifer also went live so the number of academics also increased. Conifer also has a number of academic special libraries such as health and law libraries.

The total at the end of the 2009 was 187 systems and 544 outlets using Evergreen.

Most of these are still public libraries. The second table (New Public Libraries by Year) has some summary data from these public libraries. Public library data are about the best we have; academic data are fragmentary. There are two numbers that public librarians will cite: population service and total annual circulations. What I have done here is to total these numbers from the latest figures (mostly 2007) for the libraries using Evergreen. 2007, as you can see had those four small systems go live. As I have pointed out numerous times, the story of Evergreen is a story of small public libraries but in a scalable environment. Each year since then, more libraries, more types of libraries, and bigger entities have chosen Evergreen.

Wait until this year: you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

New Evergreen Libraries: Welcome Aboard!

* Natural Resources Canada Library completed its second and final phase of their migration on January 15, 2010. Their 13 locations across Canada are now all running Evergreen.

* SC LENDS in South Carolina welcomed three new libraries to their Evergreen consortium in January 2010: Anderson County Library, Fairfield County Library, and Florence County Library.

* The Indiana Open Source ILS Initiative has already welcomed five new libraries to their Evergreen consortium since the start of 2010: Greensburg-Decatur County Contractual Public Library, Kirklin Public Library, Ligonier Public Library, Linden-Carnegie Public Library, and Roanoke Public Library.

* Kirtland Community College in Roscommon, MI went live with Evergreen in January 2010.

* SITKA in British Columbia welcomed the Mackenzie Public Library into its consortium on February 25, 2010.

Planet Evergreen

Can’t get enough news about Evergreen open source software? Subscribe to or read Planet Evergreen, an aggregator for Evergreen-related posts. Have a blog that talks about Evergreen? To add your blog to the Planet Evergreen blog aggregator, send email to Dan Scott at dan@coffeecode.net

A Few Reminders

Evergreen has a Flickr set and a Facebook group.

Newsletter Administrivia

Feel free to forward, share, etc.! Jason sits at the top of the blame map, but we have direct edits from:

Amy Terlaga, Bibliomation, Inc., terlaga@biblio.org

Dan Scott, Laurentian University, dan@coffeecode.net

Jason Etheridge, Equinox Software Inc., jason@esilibrary.com

Mike Rylander, Equinox Software Inc.

Warren Layton, NRCan Library / Bibliothèque RNCan

And special thanks to Sally Fortin and Bob Molyneux from Equinox Software Inc. for contributions.

You can reach volunteer newsletter wranglers at newsletter@evergreen-ils.org

Licensing

This newsletter is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license, which is an open “copy-left” license similar to that used by Evergreen. If you contribute content that is copyrighted or copyrightable, please let us know if you do not agree to have it released under this license. Thanks!

Posted in Development Update, Evergreen Newsletter | Comments Off

Release 1.6.0.2

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

The Evergreen development team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Evergreen 1.6.0.2 from http://evergreen-ils.org/downloads (including the Windows staff client).

Evergreen 1.6.0.2 is both a bug-fix and minor feature enhancement release: see http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=feature_list_1_6_0 for an overview of the changes since 1.6.0.1. This release continues the momentum of increased community contributions of bug reports, fixes, and translations.

We invite you to try this releases, our best yet! And if you happen to find any bugs, please report them to https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen or to the Evergreen Development Discussion list.

Posted in Announcements, Development Update, Releases | Comments Off

EVEN HOTTER FIX ALERT

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

In the process of fixing the previously mentioned issue, we create an issue in another area.  That is now fixed.

As before, here is a drop-in replacement for OpenILS::Application::Search::Biblio.  We’re still planning the 1.6.0.2 release ASAP, but this addresses the known critical search issue.

As before, please let us know of any issues you encounter via either IRC or the mailing lists.

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HOTFIX ALERT

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Well, ain’t that always the way.  In an attempt to fix one thing, we’ve broken another.

In 1.6.0.1 we fixed a bug whereby searches containing a colon, but not one that denotes a search class or modifier (like “keyword:” or “site:”), we being completely ignored.  However, that cause complications for some other searches.  The main place we’ve seen this show up is in the Z39.50 server, where requesting holdings output always causes the construction of an offending search.

This was identified by Dan Scott last night, after reports from users in the field, and I committed a fix to all open branches as of 11:00 AM EST today.  We’ll be cutting a new release, 1.6.0.2, as soon as a translation-related fix is applied but in the mean time you can see the change and download the updated file you need right here.  If you’ve installed Evergreen into the default location, drop this file into /openils/lib/perl5/OpenILS/Application/Search/ and restart the whole shebang.  Your searches will then all be happy.

If you have any questions or experience any issues, please join us in IRC or let us know on the mailing lists.

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Evergreen 1.6.0.1 and OpenSRF 1.2.2 released

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

The Evergreen development team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of OpenSRF 1.2.2 and Evergreen 1.6.0.1 from the Evergreen downloads page (including the Windows staff client and a minimalist virtual image for testing and development).

Evergreen 1.6.0.1 is both a bug-fix and translation release: see the release notes for an overview of the changes since 1.6.0.0. This release continues the healthy momentum of increased community contributions of bug reports, fixes, and new and improved translations – many thanks to all of you for making Evergreen a better system for all of us!

OpenSRF 1.2.2 (change log) follows just one week after the quietly released OpenSRF 1.2.1 (change log). Both releases focus on bug fixes and enhanced portability; most importantly for OpenSRF, it is now compatible with current versions of ejabberd, process and resource handling has been improved, and the OpenSRF HTTP translator interface delivers better browser compatibility and closer compliance to the OpenSRF-over-HTTP specification.

We invite you to try these releases, our best yet! And if you happen to find any bugs, please report them to the bug tracker for Evergreen and OpenSRF, or to the Evergreen Development Discussion list. We also welcome patches for enhancements or new features and new or updated translations.

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Random numbers from the first Evergreen development IRC meeting

Friday, October 16th, 2009

From the first Evergreen development meeting IRC log (with apologies to The Economist):

  • 152 (duration in minutes from the official start time of 10:00 AM EDT until the official ending time of 12:32)
  • 627 (comments posted during the meeting)
  • 57 (peak nicks registered in the channel during the meeting – undoubtedly an all-time record for #evergreen)
  • 22 (participants who commented during the meeting)
  • 16 (participants who made more than one comment)
  • 156 (comments made by the most vocal participant)
  • 3 (volunteers to summarize the decisions made and general discussions)
  • 2 (final releases expected next week)
  • 59 (karma increments)
  • 2 (karma decrements)
  • 0 (karma decrements targeted at someone other than the one doing the decrementing)

Posted in Community projects, Development Update, Evergreen Community, Team | 1 Comment »

Developer meeting, October 16, 2009 @ 10:00 AM EDT

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Update: 2009-10-14 8:20 PM EDT: Correct the title so that it accurately reflects the real date of the meeting: Friday, October 16, 2009 @ 10:00 AM EDT.

As discussed on the Evergreen Development mailing list, a public meeting for Evergreen developers that will be held on the #evergreen channel on the Freenode IRC network. All members of the community with an interest in contributing to the development of Evergreen are welcome to attend – and if you are unable to attend at the designated time, please feel free to submit comments for any of the agenda items in advance to the Evergreen development mailing list.

The agenda is continuing to evolve – please, feel free to extend and amend the agenda to ensure that it meets the immediate concerns of the project. We should be able to make the meeting go a bit smoother by doing some work in advance; for example, I’ve taken a few minutes to try and clean up the bugs/features in Trac that I should have closed months ago or deferred to a subsequent release.

For agenda items that have the potential to be too long to express during a single IRC meeting, it would probably make sense to post more considered opinions in advance on this mailing list. Examples of such agenda items might include major release process changes or drastically revising our bug tracking processes. If a given discussion item starts eating up too much meeting time and a decision is not immediately necessary, we can also delegate the responsibility to a volunteer sub-team for investigating alternatives and coming up with a proposal for adoption at the next meeting.

Lastly, all of this is new, so I’m sure there will be plenty of learning as we go!

Posted in Development Update, Evergreen Community | 3 Comments »

Evergreen 1.6.0.0RC1

Monday, September 14th, 2009

The Evergreen development team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Evergreen 1.6.0.0RC1.

1.6.0.0RC1 is a release candidate and while we encourage the entire community to download this version in order to test, we do not endorse putting 1.6.0.0RC1 directly into production. The bug reporting window for 1.6.0.0RC1 will open on September 14, 2009 and close on October 2, 2009.

For general community members reporting bugs, please send them to the development mailing list and include “bug” and “1.6.0.0RC1” somewhere in the subject.  If you have a support contract with an Evergreen vendor, please submit any bug reports through your normal support channels.  Assuming no critical bugs are discovered, we hope to have the supported release of the final version of 1.6 available by October 12, 2009.

Release Candidate 1.6.0.0RC1 includes the 13 bug fixes and 8 new features from 1.4.0.6. It also includes 18 new features including formal support for IE8, Google Book Preview support, RefWorks export capability, more staff client and admin configurability, and a preview of the Acquisitions interface. The building blocks of the forthcoming Acquisitions functionality can be previewed in 1.6.0.0RC1 and includes manual funding management, PO creation, cataloging and receiving processes. These are functional but are not intended for insertion into current work flow scenarios. This feature was specifically included to solicit feedback from the community on this important feature.

See the release notes for all bug fixes and new features.

As always we would like to express our deepest thanks to everyone in the Evergreen community who contributes documentation, patches, bug reports, and ideas, and lends their voices to the project. You all help make Evergreen a far stronger library system than it could ever be without you.

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Evergreen 1.4.0.6 Released

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

The Evergreen development team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Evergreen 1.4.0.6.

Release 1.4.0.6 adds 13 bug fixes and 8 new features to Evergreen, from pop-up context menus for the MARC editor to a crucial bug fix for an issue with renewing multiple items.

See the release notes for all bug fixes and new features.

Our deepest thanks to everyone in the Evergreen community who contributes documentation, patches, bug reports, and ideas, and lends their voices to the project. Special thanks to James Fournier of Sitka for his patch to address copy information displaying incorrectly if the organizational hierarchy was more than three levels deep.  You all help make Evergreen a far stronger library system than it could ever be without you.

Let us also welcome Grace Dunbar, who has joined Equinox Software as the Project Manager for Product Development. This was the first Evergreen release she has participated in, and we are delighted to have her aboard!

Posted in Development Update, Releases | 1 Comment »

Evergreen Newsletter, June 2009

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

The newsletter for Evergreen open source library software

Volume 2, Issue 6 — June, 2009

As a reminder, we will also post this newsletter to the Evergreen general discussion list. Cross-posting and forwarding is encouraged.

In This Issue…

Evergreen Out and About (including Evergreen at ALA Annual 2009), MFHD Webinar, Evergreen Conference Recap, MLA Honors Ruth Dukelow, Evergreen Development Update, Evergreen Jobs, Evergreen Hires, Lyrasis Evergreen Classes, Planet Evergreen, New Evergreen Libraries, Newsletter Administrivia

Out and About: An Evergreen Calendar

Also see: http://evergreen-ils.org/calendar

If you have Evergreen-related events to add (talks, conferences, etc.), just email events@evergreen-ils.org.

ALA Annual 2009American Library Association Annual Conference (Chicago, Illinois, July 9-15). Evergreen folks from all over will be exhibiting, presenting, meeting with people, and so forth!

Some highlights:

  • Equinox Software will be at the ALA exhibits at Booth # 4051 [note, this is a correction]. If you’d like to schedule an appointment for a one-on-one conversation about Evergreen, email events@esilibrary.com. Shae Tetterton will be demoing Evergreen a few times, and there might even be another slot for “Open Source Jeopardy.”
  • Equinox Software is also hosting an Evergreen social function on Sunday, July 12, 5:30-7:30 at the Wine Cellar Room of the Chicago Firehouse Restaurant, 1401 S. Michigan Avenue. Please RSVP to events@esilibrary.com if you think you might show up so we have a good head count.
  • In Chicago, at (but not part of) the ALA Annual 2009 Conference, there will be an open source unconference on Saturday, July 11, 9:30am-12:15pm. “This event is being put on by King County Library System and The Galecia Group who have been working together on some OS projects for the last year and a half. Our enthusiasm for Open Source Library System software continues to grow and we recognize that it is one of those “the more the merrier” kinds of situations. We want to hear what others are doing, tell people what we’re doing, and get more people involved.” Interested? Request an oss4pl2009 wiki account
  • Also try to catch this program (Catherine Lemmer of Evergreen Indiana will be a panelist): Saturday, July 11, 1:30 – 3:00: What Can $930 Million Do for Library Services Nationwide? The Impact and Future Directions of LSTA. Sponsored by ASCLA SLAS. How do states use their LSTA dollars to improve library services? In an IMLS study, Himmel and Wilson examined all of the states’ five year evaluations, and reported on the observed major trends. A panel of speakers will present new directions of states’ projects.

WilsWorld (Madison, Wisconsin, July 28-29). Karen Schneider to do a plenary session and a couple other spots. Karen spoke at one of the earliest WilsWorld conferences and is excited to return!

Webinar: Evergreen ILS and MARC Format for Holdings Data (MFHD)

By popular demand — if you didn’t see this program at Evergreen International Conference, or you did but you’d like to see it again, here’s a live version to attend!

Presenter: David J. Fiander, Web Services Librarian, University of Western Ontario
Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
Reserve your Webinar seat now

This talk will provide some real-world examples of serial publication patterns that can be challenging to interpret, show how those patterns can be described using the MARC Format for Holdings Data, describe how most integrated library systems currently implement MFHD, and discuss the challenges faced in implementing MFHD for Evergreen open source library automation software.

Recap: Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009

Program slidesets and videos are on the Conference wiki. To date videos have been uploaded for the opening remarks and opening and closing keynotes.

These blog posts, tweets, and pictures also wrapped up events:

http://www.librarian.net/tag/eg09/
http://hashtags.org/tag/eg09
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/eg09/
http://evergreen-ils.org/blog/?p=206

And the Documentation Interest Group was formed, and since then has developed a 90-day timeline with tasks, deliverables, and a lot of volunteers!

Ruth Dukelow Honored by Michigan Library Association

The Michigan Library Association 2009 Librarian of the Year is Ruth Dukelow, of the Michigan Library Consortium. MLA noted, “Ruth has been involved in many statewide projects.” Indeed, like Michigan Evergreen! Read more about Ruth’s successes on MLA’s Professional Awards page

Evergreen Development Update

Evergreen 1.6 is imminent, and it has some terrific features. Some of the highlights include shelving locations displayed in the copy summary; a new events and notifications framework; a toggle-able button bar in the staff client for common search functions; “fast item add” in the MARC editor; billing enhancements; a tool for exposing additional MARC elements in the OPAC record display; initial MARC Format for Holdings Data (MFHD) functionality; and much more.

Plus, Release 1.6 exposes the acquisitions functionality completed to date in the Admin menu, so you can explore, review, discuss, and provide feedback!

Also see the Evergreen Roadmap for a full list of enhancements in 1.6 and for a top-level view of what’s coming in 2.0.

Evergreen Jobs!

See this posting about several job openings for Evergreen-related work—all new positions! Have a listing? Share it with the newsletter or post it to the Evergreen list!

Evergreen People!

Equinox Software Inc., “The Evergreen Experts,” recently hired Steve Callender as a Technical Support Specialist and Grace Dunbar as a Project Manager. These are both new positions within Equinox. Steve is originally from Anaheim and has 8 years of experience in technical support and development. Grace has considerable library experience, most recently as the head librarian for Savannah College of Art and Design.

Lyrasis Rolls Out More Evergreen Training Classes

Evergreen classes are offered online by Lyrasis (nee Solinet) on the following dates and times:

6/30/2009 10a.m.-11 a.m. Lyrasis Evergreen Guided Tour. FREE!

Since October, Lyrasis (created from a merger of SOLINET and PALINET) has taught close to 25 Evergreen classes, with over 100 students! Lyrasis is dedicated to training and instructing Evergreen, and they welcome your comments and suggestions for courses. All of their current course offerings are continuously updated, and Lyrasis plans to add more courses in the future. For comments or questions, contact Lyrasis instructors Jennifer.Bielewski@lyrasis.org or Jenny.Liberatore@lyrasis.org

Planet Evergreen

Can’t get enough news about Evergreen open source software? Subscribe to or read Planet Evergreen, an aggregator for Evergreen-related posts, at http://planet.evergreen-ils.org . Have a blog that talks about Evergreen? To add your blog to the Planet Evergreen blog aggregator, send email to Dan Scott

Evergreen on Facebook

Evergreen has a growing Facebook group. We are post events to this group, well as press releases for new Evergreen libraries and systems and other related news. The group now has close to 300 members. If you’re on Facebook, join our group. If you aren’t on Facebook and you don’t think you’re the Facebook “type,” give it a try. You might be surprised by who’s on Facebook!

A Few Reminders

Webinars and videos: Don’t forget the section on the Evergreen wiki devoted to community-contributed documentation and tutorials.

Evergreen also has a Flickr set

New Evergreen Libraries: Welcome Aboard!

Also see the growing list of Evergreen libraries

Natural Resources Canada

  • Calgary
  • Edmonton
  • Fredericton
  • Ottawa
  • Quebec
  • Sault Ste. Marie
  • Varennes
  • Vancouver
  • Victoria

SITKA (British Columbia)

Their first multibranch site, Lillooet Area Library Association, went live on May 26. It includes the Lillooet, Gold Bridge, Bridge River and a Book Bus.

Project Conifer

  • Algoma University
  • Laurentian University
  • Northern Ontario School of Medicine
  • University of Windsor
  • And others

Michigan Evergreen:

Oscoda Public Library

Evergreen Indiana:

Huntington Public Library

South Carolina LENDS:

South Carolina State Library
Beaufort County Library
Union County Public Library
Columbia Bible College

If you’d like to follow along as libraries join the Evergreen community, you can subscribe to the Equinox press release feed, which will announce most known Evergreen implementations (or follow the Facebook group mentioned above).

Newsletter Administrivia

Feel free to forward, share, etc.!

We try to get this out by mid-month (it’s still June, isn’t it?).

The co-wranglers for this newsletter are Karen Schneider, Equinox Community Librarian and John Fink, Digital Technologies Development Librarian at McMaster University.

Posted in Conferences, Development Update, Evergreen 2009 Conference, Evergreen Newsletter | Comments Off

Welcome Laura!

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Back in December, Laura McFarland joined Equinox Software as a full time software developer for all things Evergreen. Though her primary focus is user interface design and development, which she is also studying as part of her computer science program, she is pretty much up for anything when it comes to writing code.

For those of you who have not met Laura in person or on IRC, you can learn a little bit about her from her welcome interview on the Equinox blog. In the interview, we learn, among other things, that she has a chihuahua named Linux and that she alternates her time between knitting and beating people up (OK, I’m paraphrasing). Seriously, though, we have been quick to challenge her, but not to cross her :)

Over the past 6 months, as one of the lead developers, I’ve had the pleasure of being one of Laura’s Evergreen mentors, working with her on a number of Evergreen user interface projects, and committing the majority of her 65+ patches. She dove into Dojo and has, by all accounts, survived unscathed. She has navigated a wide array of Evergreen web interfaces, patching as she went. And she is currently directing her attention to the XUL markup language and staff client development.

It seems fitting that we should celebrate Laura’s 6 month anniversary at Equinox by announcing her acceptance of the core Evergreen team’s offer to become a committer to the Evergreen project. As with all Evergreen developers, she will not work alone. She is part of the growing family of Evergreen developers, users, and advocates — like you!

Laura at EG09

Posted in Development Update | Comments Off

Evergreen Newsletter, March, 2009

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Volume 2, Issue 3 — March, 2009 … The newsletter for the Evergreen community!

Evergreen International Conference May 20-22, 2009

Evergreen: A Perfect Color for St. Patrick’s Day!

Leprechaun, via Wikipedia ‘Tis the luck o’ the Irish to be an Evergreen user! As a reminder, we will post this newsletter to the Evergreen general discussion list (see all Evergreen lists). Cross-posting and forwarding is encouraged.

In This Issue…

Evergreen Out and About, Evergreen 1.4.0.3 Imminent, Evergreen Conference (Program Lineup now available!), Mark Jordan’s nifty Drupal tool, Evergreen Webinars, SOLINET Evergreen Classes, Documentation Update, New Evergreen Libraries, Newsletter Administrivia

Out and About: An Evergreen Calendar

Let us know and we’ll add your “out and about with Evergreen” events to this calendar!

VTLS Users Group (Blacksburg VA, March 19): Karen Schneider from Equinox will be keynoting about open source and creativity.

Computers in Libraries (D.C., March 30 – April 1): will feature a rock-out, boffo panel of Evergreen Divas: Karen Schneider from Equinox; Ruth Dukelow from Michigan Library Consortium; Karen Collier and Andrea Neiman from Kent County Library in Maryland.

Texas Library Association (Houston, March 31 – April 3): We’re exhibiting there, so scoot your boots over to booth 1115 and sit a spell with Shae, Karen, Bob, and Brad!

British Columbia Library Association (Burnaby, April 16-18) will feature a talk by Karen Schneider on creativity and open source.

Evergreen International Conference (Athens, Georgia, May 20 – 22, 2009): Our first conference! Joe Lucia and Jessamyn West will be keynoting! Program lineup now available! See more about this exciting event below.

American Library Association Annual Conference (Chicago, Illinois, July 9-15). We’ll be exhibiting, meeting with people, and so forth!

WilsWorld (Madison, Wisconsin, July 28-29). Karen Schneider to do a plenary session. Karen spoke at one of the earliest WilsWorld conferences and is excited to return!

Past Conferences: Code4Lib, for which Equinox was a Gold Sponsor, was a terrific event. Mike Rylander and Karen Schneider were there waving the Evergreen flag. Karen monitored one of the two camcorders, swapping out 18 tapes (can you tell she was a Campfire Girl?), and when the videos are up we’ll let you know.


Evergreen 1.4.0.3 Imminent!

Evergreen 1.4.0.3 (the latest in the 1.4.0*) series is imminent. See the 1.4.0 series feature list and the Evergreen software download page for source code, staff client, images, and more. Have fun with the MARC record importer-exporter, the locale picker, and other great features — it’s a blast!

Remember that the Evergreen staff client needs to match the server version.

Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009

See the official conference page where you can register for the conference and the growing conference wiki where you can sign up for dine-arounds, table talks, etc.!

Questions? Sponsorship and exhibits requests? Program submissions? Email events@evergreen-ils.org

The first-ever Evergreen International Conference is just two months away! Here are the top ten tidbits about this wonderful, can’t-miss conference:

1. Takes place May 20-22, 2009 at the Classic Center in Athens, Georgia, a very attractive university town with great restaurants and pubs, just one hour from the Atlanta airport. Accommodations are delightfully reasonable business hotels a comfy walking distance to the Classic Center.

2. Early Bird Registration continues through March 31, 2009 on the conference website — We are holding this conference to a comfortable 150 attendees, so spaces will fill fast — don’t delay!

3. Fascinating keynote speakers: Joe Lucia of Villanova University (and Vufind fame), and Jessamyn West, noted librarian, technology advocate, blogger/writer, and champion of open source!

4. Outstanding programs! Wow! We had great submissions. Please don’t forget you can also do a 5-minute lightning talk, a Birds of a Feather or breakfast table talk, or just hang with folks and discuss issues. (Dine-arounds will be great mingling opportunities as well.)

You can see the full track on the conference wiki, but here are the programs in a nutshell:

The Big Picture
Emily Almond, GPLS: You’re Live… Now What?
Evette Atkin, Michigan Library Consortium: Ready, Fire, Aim!
Lori Ayre, Galecia Group: Out of the Frying Pan
Bielewski-Gregory-Tetterton, SOLINET-PINES, Equinox. Migration Nation: Planning for Success
Elizabeth McKinney, GPLS: The Emotional Impact of Open Source
Karen Schneider, Equinox: TCO of Open Source Software

Front-Line Staff

Karen Collier, Kent County, MD: Evergreen and Small Libraries
Dawn Dale, GPLS: Evergreen: Easy to Learn, Easy to Use
Elaine Hardy, PINES: Bibliographic Database Integrity
Chris Sharp, GPLS: Voices of Experience
Jim Bartram Veatch, Trail Regional Library: Electronic Government Publications for PINES
Tigran Zargaryan, Fundamental Scientific Library, Armenia: Evergreen in Armenia

Technology Track

George Duimovich, NRCan: Electronic Resource Management
Bill Erickson, Equinox: Building New Interfaces
David Fiander, University of Western Ontario: Predicting the Future with MFHD
Grant Johnson, University of Prince Edward: Island Bits and Pieces
Mike Rylander, Equinox: OpenSRF and Jabber
Dan Scott, Conifer Project: Evergreen Globalization

5. May 20 is an all-day Hackfest (no additional registration fee) in the comfortable environs of the Classic Center. Don’t be dissuaded by the word “hack”! If you have an idea and want quiet, wired space to explore it it with other colleagues, just plan on it. We already have several happening–including at least a half-day session on documentation.

6. The conference kicks off the evening of May 21 with a Vendor Reception — just enough food to replenish you before you head out into the adorable environs of downtown Athens, with its pubs and restaurants. If you’re a vendor, note that the reception is a no-conflict event, so we can give your products lots of attention!

7. May 21 – 22 features fascinating programs, long breaks where you can network with peers, a Birds of a Feather luncheon (sign up in advance to sit with folks with common interests) and a Table Talk Breakfast.

8. User-led 5-minute lightning talks will spark up the conference, while Birds of a Feather sessions and breakfast Table Talks offer even more opportunities to commune with like-minded peers about topics of interest. Even if you don’t have a full 45-minute program to offer, you may have 5 minutes for sharing a great idea.

9. Sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities abound — sponsor at a specific level (Gold, Silver, Platinum), sponsor one of our many events, or just exhibit!

10. Affordable accommodations (we just lined up two great but also great-priced hotels within walking distance), superb local meal values, and the Classic Center has free wifi!

The 2009 Evergreen Conference is jointly coordinated by Georgia Public Library Service, Equinox Software, and SOLINET. Also, special thanks to Karen Collier at Kent County Library, Maryland, for participating in the program review process.


Drupal Module for Evergreen: ILS Authentication

Mark Jordan of Simon Fraser University Library in Burnaby, British Columbia has written a Drupal module called ILS Authentication that allows people to log into a Drupal website using their Evergreen credentials. The module is intended to make it as easy as possible to write drivers (simple PHP authentication scripts) for other library systems as well.

Mark commented about ILS Authentication, “What I find cool about this type of module is that it shows how easy it is for disparate apps to talk to each other if they are both open.” If you want to write a driver for your ILS, Mark would be happy to hear from you (mjordan@sfu.ca). For more information, visit http://drupalib.interoperating.info/ilsauthen .

Evergreen Webinar Update

Watch for a separate announcement on the lists and blogs, but due to popular demand, there will be two free half-hour webinars in March available to anyone who wants to attend:

Webinar on Webinars: This was a huge success! See the slides and video of the presentation.

There’s still room in Understanding Open Source, rescheduled to March 17, 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
SOLINET Rolls Out More Evergreen Training Classes

SOLINET continues to offer free online Evergreen demos! The next one is March 31st (11am-noon).These free demos provide overviews of Evergreen’s popular features and gives participants a chance to ask questions in a training environment.

SOLINET also offers three fee-based online classes on Evergreen modules. All class times are Eastern Standard:

Evergreen Circulation: OPAC searching, navigating the staff client, creating and maintaining patron accounts, using tools and options, check in/check out and other circulation procedures such as creating and maintaining holds. Offered March 31st (2-4pm).

Evergreen Cataloging: This is now a 2-day class that covers creating, editing and merging records; transferring items; using buckets; and importing/exporting records. Offered March 24th-25th (10am-noon).

Evergreen Local Administration and Statistics: A more advanced class that covers configuring Evergreen locally, setting user permissions, creating templates for printing receipts and running reports. Offered March 25th (10am-noon).

To register for SOLINET’s Evergreen training (including the free demo), just visit Solinet’s Educational Services Registration website

For questions, contact SOLINET trainers Jennifer Bielewski and Jenny Liberatore, 1-800-999-8558 or jbielewski@solinet.net

Documentation Update

McMaster University intern Betty Ing has been working closely with Karen Schneider of Equinox and John Fink of McMaster on a proof of concept for generating documentation in Docbook, an XML format. Watch for more about this on the list and the newsletter!

Evergreen on Facebook

Evergreen has a growing Facebook group. We are now posting events to this group, such as the Evergreen conference and the ALA Midwinter get-together, as well as press releases for new Evergreen libraries and systems and other related news. The group now has over 270 members. If you’re on Facebook, join our group. If you aren’t on Facebook and you don’t think you’re the Facebook “type,” give it a try. You might be surprised by who’s on Facebook!


A Few Reminders

Webinars and videos: Don’t forget the section on the Evergreen wiki devoted to community-contributed documentation and tutorials.

Evergreen also has a Flickr set recently updated with pictures from Code4Lib.

New Evergreen Libraries: Welcome Aboard!

Below are the newest Evergreen libraries – the Evergreen installations known to have taken place since our last newsletter in mid-January. Quite a batch! Also see the growing list of Evergreen libraries.

Evergreen Indiana:

Hagerstown Public Libraries
Madison-Jefferson County
Noble County
Otterbein
Thorntown

British Columbia SITKA:

Rossland Public Library
Salmo Public Library

Self-implemented Sites:

The Law Society of British Columbia has gone live with Evergreen. The bulk of the work was accomplished by Jeremy Buhler, a graduate student from the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia. Buhler developed the main page and migrated the data. Buhler recently began working with British Columbia SITKA as a trainer/help desk specialist.

Up and Coming:

Natural Resources Canada and North Texas Regional Library System have both committed to migrating to Evergreen. Welcome aboard!

If you’d like to follow along as libraries join the Evergreen community, you can subscribe to the Equinox press release feed, which will announce most known Evergreen implementations (or follow the Facebook group mentioned above). The Equinox press release feed was recently tweaked to make it easier to track and share the releases.

Newsletter Administrivia

Feel free to forward, share, etc.

The deadline for the Evergreen newsletter is announced on the general Evergreen mailing list. The co-wranglers for this newsletter are Karen Schneider, Equinox Community Librarian and John Fink, Digital Technologies Development librarian at McMaster University.

Posted in Development Update, Evergreen 2009 Conference, Evergreen Newsletter, Evergreen webinars | Comments Off

Evergreen Newsletter, February 2009

Friday, February 13th, 2009

The newsletter for Evergreen open source library software

Volume 2, Issue 2 February, 2009

See you at the Evergreen International Conference May 20-22, 2009 http://solinet.net/evergreen

Conversation Hearts!

As a reminder, we will post this newsletter to the Evergreen general discussion list (see all Evergreen lists at http://evergreen-ils.org/listserv.php) and to the Evergreen blog (http://evergreen-ils.org/blog). Cross-posting and forwarding is encouraged.

In This Issue…

Evergreen Out and About, Evergreen 1.4.0.2 Available, Evergreen Conference, New OPAC Skin for 1.4, Evergreen Webinars, SOLINET Evergreen Classes, Documentation Update, Evergreen in the Czech Republic, New Evergreen Libraries, Newsletter Administrivia

Out and About: An Evergreen Calendar

Let us know and we’ll add your “out and about with Evergreen” events to this calendar!

Code4Lib 2009 (Providence, Feb 23-26): Evergreen developer Mike Rylander and Community Librarian Karen Schneider will be at Code4Lib, as will other members of the Evergreen community. You can anticipate at at least one Birds of a Feather at this popular annual conference. Equinox Software Inc. is a proud sponsor of Code4Lib — now at the Gold level ($5,000).

Computers in Libraries (D.C., March 30 – April 1) will feature a rock-out, boffo panel of Evergreen Divas: Karen Schneider from Equinox; Ruth Dukelow from Michigan Library Consortium; Karen Collier and Andrea Neiman from Kent County Library in Maryland.

Texas Library Association (Houston, March 31 – April 3): We’re exhibiting there, so scoot your boots over to booth 1115 and sit a spell with Shae, Karen, Bob, and Brad!

British Columbia Library Association (Burnaby, April 16-18) will feature a talk by Karen Schneider on creativity and open source.

Evergreen International Conference (Athens, Georgia, May 20 – 22, 2009). The first Evergreen conference! Joe Lucia and Jessamyn West will be keynoting! See more about this exciting event below.

Past Conferences: Dan Scott has two great conference posts from OLA 2009, while the Evergreen presence at ER&L 2009 — a great conversation about open source and libraries, featuring Karen Schneider, Tim Geary, and Andrew Nagy — was hashtagged by the Twitterverse. Read on for Evergreen in the Czech Republic!

Evergreen 1.4.0.2 Available!

Evergreen 1.4.0.2 (the latest in the 1.4.0*) series is now available. See the feature list and also visit the Evergreen download page for source code, staff client, images, and more. Have fun with the MARC record importer-exporter, the locale picker, and other great features — it’s a blast!

Remember that the Evergreen staff client needs to match the server version.

Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009

See http://www.solinet.net/evergreen

Questions? Sponsorship and exhibits requests? Program submissions? Email events@evergreen-ils.org

The first-ever Evergreen International Conference is just around the corner! Here are the top ten tidbits about this wonderful, can’t-miss conference:

1. Takes place May 20-22, 2009 at the Classic Center in Athens, Georgia, a very attractive university town with great restaurants and pubs, just one hour from the Atlanta airport. New! We have firmed up accommodations, which are delightfully reasonable and a comfy walking distance to the Classic Center. See the conference website for more details.

2. Registration opens Wednesday, February 18, 2009, on the conference website. We are holding this conference to a comfortable 150 attendees, so spaces will fill fast — don’t delay!

3. Fascinating keynote speakers: Joe Lucia of Villanova University (and Vufind fame), and Jessamyn West, noted librarian, technology advocate, blogger/writer, and champion of open source! Read more about them.

4. Call for programs closes 5 p.m. EST on March 2, 2009 — programs are on three tracks: Library Administration, Front-line Users, and Tech Topics. Why not submit a program about how you’re using Evergreen or plan to use Evergreen? Programs at ALL levels of experience and expertise are encouraged!

5. May 20 is an all-day Hackfest (no additional registration fee) in the comfortable environs of the Classic Center. Don’t be dissuaded by the word “hack”! If you have an idea and want quiet, wired space to explore it it with other colleagues, just plan on it. We already have several planned –including a half-day session on documentation.

6. The conference kicks off the evening of May 21 with a Vendor Reception — just enough food to replenish you before you head out into the adorable environs of downtown Athens, with its pubs and restaurants. If you’re a vendor, note that this is a no-conflict event so we can give your product lots of attention!

7. May 21 – 22 features fascinating programs, long breaks where you can network with peers, a luncheon (no events during the luncheon, so you can spend time talking with friends, colleagues, and vendors) and a Table Talk Breakfast

8. User-led 5-minute lightning talks will spark up the conference, while Birds of a Feather sessions offer even more opportunities to commune with like-minded peers about topics of interest. Even if you don’t have a full 45-minute program to offer, you may have 5 minutes for sharing a great idea.

9. Sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities abound — sponsor at a specific level (Gold, Silver, Platinum), sponsor one of our many events, or just exhibit!

10. Affordable accommodations (we just lined up two great but also great-priced hotels within walking distance), superb local meal values, and the Classic Center has free wifi!

The 2009 Evergreen Conference is being jointly coordinated by Georgia Public Library Service, Equinox Software, SOLINET, and several others in the Evergreen community, including Catherine Lemmer of Indiana Evergreen.

New OPAC Skin to be 1.4-ready!

Say hello to “Craftsman,” the new OPAC skin, a handsome rethinking of our original interface!

Craftsman, underwritten by Georgia Public Library Service, will be available for 1.4 by the time we head to Code4Lib (late February) so we can chat it up while we’re there and display it on our development server. It’s already live on our demo catalog — though you need to know where to look.

Evergreen Webinars

Watch for a separate announcement on the lists and blogs, but due to popular demand, there will be two free half-hour webinars in March available to anyone who wants to attend:

Introducing Craftsman, the new Evergreen OPAC skin, Wednesday, March 4, 10 a.m. Eastern Time

Understanding Open Source, Wednesday, March 18, 10 a.m. Eastern Time

SOLINET Rolls Out More Evergreen Training Classes

SOLINET continues to offer free online Evergreen demos! The next one is March 31st (11am-noon).These free demos provide overviews of Evergreen’s popular features and gives participants a chance to ask questions in a training environment.

SOLINET also offers three fee-based online classes on Evergreen modules. All class times are Eastern Standard:

Evergreen Circulation: OPAC searching, navigating the staff client, creating and maintaining patron accounts, using tools and options, check in/check out and other circulation procedures such as creating and maintaining holds. Offered March 31st (2-4pm).

Evergreen Cataloging: This is now a 2-day class that covers creating, editing and merging records; transferring items; using buckets; and importing/exporting records. Offered March 24th-25th (10am-noon).

Evergreen Local Administration and Statistics: A more advanced class that covers configuring Evergreen locally, setting user permissions, creating templates for printing receipts and running reports. Offered March 25th (10am-noon).

To register for SOLINET’s Evergreen training (including the free demo), just visit Solinet’s Educational Services Registration website

For questions, contact SOLINET trainers Jennifer Bielewski and Jenny Liberatore, 1-800-999-8558 or jbielewski@solinet.net

Documentation Update

The Evergreen Indiana project has updated its already-excellent cataloging documentation.

Also, the Evergreen community has been exploring a documentation proposal. Please share your thoughts!

Evergreen in the Czech Republic

On 20th January 2009 Vaclav Jansa and Linda Skolkova presented Evergreen (with a special emphasis on their work on its localization to Czech) at the 2nd IKI conference in Prague. It was the first Evergreen presentation to a larger group of LIS professionals and professionals from related fields in the Czech Republic. The IKI (Information, Competitiveness, Innovation) conference, organized by Czech Information Society, c.a., and the Institute of Information Studies and Librarianship, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, took place on the premises of Charles University in Prague and was attended by 120 participants. Online proceedings (consisting mostly of presentations) are available at the conference website (in Czech only).

Evergreen on Facebook

Evergreen has a Facebook group. We are now posting events to this group, such as the Evergreen conference and the ALA Midwinter get-together, as well as press releases for new Evergreen libraries and systems and other related news. The group has over 250 members and picks up new members every week. If you’re on Facebook, join our group. If you aren’t on Facebook and you don’t think you’re the Facebook “type,” give it a try. You might be surprised by who’s on Facebook!

A Few Reminders

Webinars and videos: Don’t forget the section on the Evergreen wiki devoted to community-contributed documentation and tutorials. We’ve linked to some additional videos from Innisfil Library!

Evergreen also has a Flickr set (see new OLA pix!) and Delicious bookmarks.

New Evergreen Libraries: Welcome Aboard!

Below are the newest Evergreen libraries – the Evergreen installations known to have taken place since our last newsletter in mid-January. Quite a batch! Also see the growing list of Evergreen libraries.

Evergreen Indiana:

Hamilton North Public Library
Ladoga Clark Public Library
North Webster Library
Fulton County Public Library

British Columbia SITKA:

Salmo & Rossland Libraries

Single Sites:

National Weather Center Library, Norman, Oklahoma

If you’d like to follow along as libraries join the Evergreen community, you can subscribe to the Equinox press release feed, which will announce most known Evergreen implementations (or follow the Facebook group mentioned above). The Equinox press release feed was recently tweaked to make it easier to track and share the releases.

Forthcoming Evergreen Libraries!

Both King County Library System (in Washington State) and Natural Resources Canada have signed contracts with Equinox. Welcome aboard!

Newsletter Administrivia

Feel free to forward, share, etc.!

The deadline for the Evergreen newsletter is the last working day before the first of the month… feel free to submit items earlier. The co-wranglers for this newsletter are Karen Schneider, Equinox Community Librarian and John Fink, Digital Technologies Development librarian at McMaster University.

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ALA Midwinter 2009: Snowy but Warm

Thursday, January 29th, 2009



Shae doing Demos

Originally uploaded by Evergreen Open Source ILS

It was snowy but warm in Denver — icy streets, snow that Brad claimed was going sideways (yeah, right…) and air cold enough to make our noses run. But it was also a warm experience, due to the many Evergreen users, followers, and interested folks who stopped by the booth or the Evergreen event.

More in the forthcoming newsletter!

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Evergreen 1.4 Release Candidate 2 available, plus sundry updates

Monday, November 24th, 2008

Hoorah! Evergreen 1.4 Release Candidate 2 (1.4rc2) debuted last week (see the Evergreen downloads page), and by Friday the developers also had the 1.4rc2 staff client available as well. I downloaded it, pointed it to the development server, poked around, played with the importer/exporter, sucked in records with the multi-target Z39.50 client, etc.  Kewl beans!

A question came in on the blog post: can we post the importer/exporter (aka “Vandelay”) webinar somewhere other than the blog? We now post the webinars to a wiki page dedicated to webinars, community tutorials, and the like. Not sure that page existed when the first Evergreen newsletter came out. If you have a tutorial, webinar, tip page, etc. that you’d like to see on that page, you can either share it with me or if you have wiki access, post it on your own.

Per another comment, we do need an Evergreen conference page. Expect an update post today or tomorrow. Fingers flying fast! Thanks also to folks who have volunteered their efforts.

I’m pulling together another newsletter — if you have tidbits, do holler. It’s ok if it’s something already posted elsewhere; the newsletter is intended to be a monthly aggregation of Important Evergreen Stuff.

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Reminder: Evergreen Conference

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Did the first Evergreen Newsletter truly manage to omit any mention of the Evergreen conference this coming May 20-22, 2009, at the Classic Center in Athens, Georgia?

Well, foo. Consider yourselves reminded. Details to follow!

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Evergreen Newsletter, November 2008

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Evergreen Newsletter

The newsletter for Evergreen open source library software

Volume 1, Issue 1
November, 2008

Welcome to the Evergreen newsletter!

This is a new monthly publication by and for the communities coalescing around Evergreen open source library automation software. See the end of the newsletter for how to submit for the December issue of the Evergreen Newsletter.

We will post this newsletter to the Evergreen “general” discussion list and to this blog. Cross-posting is encouraged.

Save These Dates

Evergreen at ALA Midwinter 2009: Come to an Evergreen social function (Birds of a Feather Nosh Together?) Saturday, January 24, 5:30 – 7:30, at a very nice locale near the Denver convention center. We’ll open registration for this soirée in early December.

Evergreen at Ontario Library Association 2009: expect a Birds of a Feather, plus enjoy the Evergreen-related programs.  Dan Scott has an excellent post describing the Evergreen programs at OLA.

Upcoming Webinars: By late November, expect another webinar on 1.4 — either a broad overview, or a focus on interesting features such as the in-database circulation rules. Ask for more webinars on the Evergreen discussion lists!

Curious about 1.4?

Southwest GA. Regional Library System (At left, Curious George at the Southwest Georgia Regional Library System.)

The first release candidate for Evergreen 1.4 became available October 17, 2008. By the time you read this newsletter, 1.4rc1 may have been preempted by 1.4rc2 (the second release candidate). The Evergreen download page should point you to the latest version.

Some of the highlights of 1.4 include a multi-target Z39.50 client built into the staff client, in-database circulation rules, web self-check (actually available in 1.2.3.1), courtesy reminder notices, and some work to speed up billing.

We shook a few bugs out of the first release — that’s what testing is for! — so all but the most curious may want to wait a few days for 1.4rc2. We can’t say enough in favor of testing;  developers and community members test so that fewer may suffer.

The technically-facile are encouraged to download the code and install away. The rest of us can download the staff client, point it at the development server, and walk through typical tasks (registering patrons, paying fines, etc.) plus play with Vandelay (the importer-exporter), noodle around with the multi-target Z39.50 client, etc. Share your thoughts through the Evergreen mailing lists.

Wiki Wonderfulness

Hot off the press: a section on the Evergreen wiki devoted to community-contributed documentation and tutorials. Special thanks to SITKA, Michigan Evergreen, Evergreen Indiana, Innisfil, and Mohawk College for sharing their time and talents.

Vandelay Webinar Now Online

The community-contributed tutorials page includes a link to a recording of the October 30 webinar for Vandelay. Over 50 members of the Evergreen community met online to see the record importer-exporter featured in 1.4. The discussion was lively, Vandelay was well received, and more feedback for Vandelay followed on the discussion lists (particularly for supporting large numbers of targets).

Equinox Software recorded the session and Robert Soullier of Mohawk College did the post-recording video editing. Bravo Robert!

Acquisitions: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

Acquisitions has seen steady progress. For the remainder of 2008, development for acquisitions will slow down due to other development deadlines. But we have dates in 2009 staring us in the face, and we certainly hear everyone loud and clear when they tell us acquisitions is essential, so we will pick up speed again in early 2009.

In the meantime, if you haven’t done so already, you can view the Acquisitions webinar recorded in late September.

You can also view the Evergreen acquisitions roadmap.

Evergreen on Flickr and Delicious

Evergreen now has a Flickr set (we’ll upgrade to Pro if we get enough traffic or pictures to warrant it) and a Delicious set.

If you’re on Flickr, you can join the pool, friend the set, etc.

If you’re on Delicious, you can push suggested links by tagging them with for:evergreenils
In either case, you can add Flickr and Delicious services to Friendfeed.

Oh, and Evergreen has for a long time had a group page in Facebook!

Documentation be Nimble, Documentation Be Quick

Thanks to a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, the Evergreen project has four contract documentation writers working on these topics: reports; Vandelay; cataloging; and acquisitions. (See, we’re far enough along with ACQ to begin documenting it!) The writers are working apace and the drafts are looking good. Drop Karen, Equinox Community Librarian a line if you’d like to see drafts in progress; we won’t post any live until we’re farther along in the writing process.

We are considering moving to DocBook for the “formal” documentation. If you have experience with DocBook, comment on or off one of the Evergreen lists.

Evergreen at Access

James Fournier

See this Evergreen Blog post for a round-up of all things Evergreen at the terrific Access 2008 conference. (At right is James Fournier of SITKA at the Evergreen Birds of a Feather.)

Evergreen Mailing Lists Now Archived By Markmail

Thanks to suggestions from Evergreen community members, the Evergreen general, development, and documentation lists are now archived by Markmail, for easy searching and browsing and an attractive interface.

New Evergreen Libraries: Welcome Aboard!

Below are the newest Evergreen libraries — the Evergreen installations known to have taken place in October, 2008. If you’d like to follow along as libraries join the Evergreen community, you can subscribe to the Equinox press release feed, which will announce most known Evergreen implementations. The Equinox press release feed was recently tweaked to make it easier to track and share the releases.

Also see the growing list of Evergreen libraries.

SITKA

Midway Public Library

Nakusp Public Library

Evergreen Indiana

Adams Public Library

Colfax-Perry Township

Franklin County Public Library District

Jackson County

Lebanon

Mooresville

Plainfield-Guilford Township

Union County

Michigan Evergreen

Niles Public Library

Onesies

Innisfil Public Library, Ontario, Canada 

Newsletter Administrivia

Feel free to forward, share, etc.!

The deadline for the Evergreen newsletter is the last working day before the first of the month… feel free to submit items earlier. The co-wranglers for this newsletter are Karen Schneider, Equinox Community Librarian and John Fink, Digital Technologies Development librarian at McMaster University.

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