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Conference Quick LinksRegistrationCall for Session ProposalsKeynote SpeakerConference ScheduleProgram DescriptionsSponsorsExhibitorsCode of Conduct |
Session recordings and presentation slides will be posted to this page beside the session titles after the conference.
See the Program Schedule for a grid view of the programs scheduled for each day of the conference.
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday
Monday, May 12
PRE-CONFERENCE SESSIONS (additional registration fee required)
1:00 to 3:00 p.m. (ET)
An Overview of Notices for Local Admins
Join us stepping through how notices work from the types of action triggers to what happens after output is created. This program is aimed at people entirely new to action triggers and notices in Evergreen or local admins who would benefit from an understanding of how they work in more depth
Presenters: Rogan Hamby, Data and Project Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative; Steve Callender, Help Desk Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative
The Future of Community College Library Management: An Evergreen Success Story
This presentation will focus on how and why libraries migrated from their old library system to Evergreen. Furthermore, the session will discuss the advantages of this new system for making access to information more accessible for students, faculty, and staff. Finally, we will examine the opportunities for making more resources available to community college users through the Evergreen library management platform.
Presenters: Richard Garafolo, Director of Library Services, Cleveland Community College; Libby Stone, Librarian, Cleveland Community College; Staci Wilson, Executive Director, Student Opportunities and Academic Resources, Catawba Valley Community College; Charles Wiggins, Director of Library Services, Isothermal Community College
3:00 to 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Break Time
3:30 to 5:30 p.m. (ET)
Building a better reporter through community collaboration
The much anticipated Angular version of Evergreen’s Advanced Reporter launched with Evergreen 3.13. The update brought huge accessibility improvements and incorporated usability upgrades throughout the reporter. Since its launch, the Evergreen community has continued to iterate on the Angular reporter design to bring in additional enhancements, including a fantastic new visual tool for working with nullability!
In this session we will look at the history of the reporter module and how it compares to the new modern design and we’ll highlight some of the most exciting features to come out of this community collaboration. We will also walk through a few examples of creating report templates with the new interface. You’ll leave the session with a better understanding of Evergreen’s reporter and some suggestions to help you and your colleagues get the most out of the new features and layouts.
Presenters: Lena Hernandez, Product and Education Specialist, Equinox Open Library Initiative; Stephanie Leary, Front End Developer, Equinox Open Library Initiative; Andrea Buntz Neiman, Project Manager for Software Development, Equinox Open Library Initiative
Developing and Implementing a Strategic Roadmap
Participants will explore the end-to-end process of strategic road mapping, including ideation, incorporating stakeholder feedback, and implementing actionable plans. Designed to be adaptable for both individual products and portfolios of technologies, this session will introduce proven approaches to align vision with execution. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to prioritize initiatives, engage stakeholders, and transform abstract ideas into clear, achievable roadmaps that drive results.
Presenter: BJ Colvin, Director of Information Technology Services, King County Library System
Tuesday, May 13
11:00 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. (ET)
Welcome and Keynote Address
Ask about program description.
Presenter: Nick Tanzi
12:00 to 12:50 p.m. (ET)
Fostering a Community for Collaborative Testing
Join a panel of Evergreen consortium staff to discuss the various ways they have cultivated a community for collaborative testing. We’ll discuss the methods and tools used to wrangle collaborative testing for bug squashing week, in house development and preparing for an upgrade.
Presenters: Terran McCanna, PINES Program Manager, Georgia Public Library Service; Llewellyn B. Marshall V, NC Cardinal Developer, NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; Elizabeth Davis, Program Manager, Pennsylvania Integrated Library System
Batches, Baskets and Buckets
Overview of the different ways to work with batches of items and bibs in Evergreen, including item status batches, item and record buckets, and carousels and a tour of the complete rewrite of record buckets in Release 3.14.
Presenter: Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager, NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
1:00 to 1:50 p.m. (ET)
Sharing Data Securely
Sometimes Evergreen can’t do it all. In particular, data from the Evergreen database may need to be made available to other systems for reporting or other purposes. However, it is important to protect patron privacy and the confidentiality of library records.
During this session, Galen Charlton, Implementation and IT Manager at Equinox Open Library Initiative, will discuss a number of techniques for getting the data that a third-party system needs from Evergreen – and only that data – over to it.
Presenter: Galen Charlton, Implementation and IT Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative
Getting the Most Out of Your Stat Cats
Statistical categories can enhance your patron and item data and allow you to collect statistics you otherwise couldn’t. They can also be a challenge to maintain as database access is needed when editing or deleting values. This session will look at ways stat cats can be used and report templates that can help. We’ll also go through the current limitations of stat cats and related bugs and what could be possible in the future.
Presenter: Jennifer Pringle, Co-op Support – Training Lead, BC Libraries Cooperative
2:00 to 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Break / Exhibitor Time
2:30 to 3:00 p.m. (ET)
Exhibitor Lightning Talks
3:00 to 3:40 p.m. (ET)
The Evergreen Project Board presents the 2025-2028 Strategic Plan
This session will introduce attendees to the strategic plan adopted by the Evergreen Project Board in January 2025, the work that went into creating it, and what it means for the Evergreen Project as an organization.
Presenter: Ruth Frasur Davis
3:45 to 5:00 p.m. (ET)
Mastering Stakeholder Management: Aligning Perspectives for Success
Effective technology leadership requires more than technical expertise—it demands the ability to navigate diverse stakeholder perspectives and priorities. In this session, we will explore strategies to build rapport, gather meaningful feedback, and actively engage stakeholders in the design process. Attendees will also learn techniques to uncover the true needs behind stakeholder requests and translate them into actionable solutions. This session equips participants with tools to bridge the gap between technical possibilities and stakeholder expectations, fostering collaboration and delivering impactful outcomes.
Presenter: BJ Colvin, Director of Information Technology Services, King County Library System
3:45 to 4:25 p.m. (ET)
New and Next for Aspen Discovery and Aspen LiDA
Hundreds of Evergreen libraries use Aspen Discovery and LiDA as their primary patron-facing portal to library content. With monthly releases, Aspen is truly the most dynamic patron experience for libraries. Aspen’s forward momentum is made possible by the community of librarians working together to solve real-life challenges for their communities and patrons.
In this presentation, the founding developer of Aspen and one of the first librarians to work on the project will discuss recently released features for Aspen, such as Cost Savings for Patrons, Library Year in Review, and Native Events in Aspen. We’ll also give a sneak preview of what libraries are planning for Aspen later in 2025 and answer any questions conference attendees have about Aspen.
Presenters: Jordan Fields, Co-Founder and Librarian, Grove; Mark Noble, Co-Founder and Aspen Architect, Grove
4:30 to 5:10 p.m. (ET)
Implementing the Kids’ Catalog
We will walk through the updated Bootstrap Kids’ Catalog (KPAC) and how to configure pre-set searches, lists, and links on the main page.
Presenter: Terran McCanna, PINES Program Manager, Georgia Public Library Service
5:15 to 6:00 p.m. (ET)
Show me the Money: Patron Bills in Evergreen
This session will cover how the Evergreen system handles patron billings and payments. We will start with a look at Fines, Fees and Grocery Bills. Then we’ll delve into Lost, Long Overdue and Damaged items. We’ll also look at payments and other ways that patron bills get resolved. And no session on patron bills would be complete without touching on Negative Balances!
Presenter: Michele Morgan, Systems Support Specialist, NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
What’s New at KCLS and Why I Love Open Source
A quick jaunt through fun stuff I’ve head the pleasure to work on over the last year at KCLS.
Presenter: Bill Erickson, Software Development Engineer, King County Library System
7:00 p.m. (ET)
Online Social Hour
More details to be provided soon.
Zoom Link for Social Hour: (TBD)
Wednesday, May 14
11:00 to 11:50 a.m. (ET)
New Features in Evergreen 3.14 and 3.15 — AKA Ruth and Andrea Show, Episode 6: Muppets in Space
The sixth edition of everyone’s favorite semi-chaotic overview of Evergreen’s latest and greatest! We will cover the highlights of Evergreen releases 3.14 (fall 2024) and 3.15 (spring 2025), along with at least one bad joke, a few memes, and maybe (but no promises) time for Q&A at the end.
Presenters: Ruth Frasur Davis (ECDI); Andrea Buntz Neiman, (Equinox)
12:00 to 12:50 p.m. (ET)
Situation: There are 15 competing standards
OpenSRF, XML-RPC, JSON Gateway, unAPI, OpenSearch, and more. It seems like Evergreen has 14 different protocols and APIs for retrieving and manipulating data. Certainly we should develop a single mechanism that covers all use cases.
In this session we will go over how the (currently forthcoming) OpenAPI infrastructure works with and for Evergreen, what use cases it is intended to fill, and how it can be extended quickly and easily to provide secure, audited access for 3rd party Evergreen integrators in new and exciting ways.
New OpenAPI endpoints will be added, old ones will be improved, and we will learn how programmatic Evergreen access has moved into the modern era … of the 2010s.
Presenter: Mike Rylander, R&D Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative
Inclusive Cataloging: one step at a time
Members of Evergreen consortia will discuss how they have worked to make their catalogs a bit more inclusive (one step at a time!) through incorporating additional options for subject headings and call number organization schemes. This panel discussion will include information about how to undertake some of these projects in Evergreen, as well as incorporating time for the audience to ask questions and share projects from their libraries as well.
Presenters: Katie Greenleaf Martin, Executive Director, PaILS; Jacob Ingalls, Copy Cataloger, Albright Memorial Library, PaILS; Matthew Vasquez Jaquith, Technical Services Supervisor, Springfield City Library; Jennifer Weston, Product and Education Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative; Carol Witt, Bibliographic Services Supervisor, C/W MARS
1:00 to 1:50 p.m. (ET)
Guided Aspen Opportunities in a World of Pure Imagination
Join Lena and library partners to talk about Aspen staff admin possibilities and how to approach Aspen training and learning incrementally for successful rollout and informed practical customizations. We will discuss additional features that can be rolled out over time after initial implementation. Presentation will include tips to avoid being inundated by options and instead optimize the adaptability of Aspen to fit your library’s culture and needs.
Presenter: Lena Hernandez, Product and Education Specialist, Equinox Open Library Initiative
Angular Staff Catalog Tool Update: Reviewing the Holdings Editor (again) and Introducing New Record Buckets
Join us to take a look at changes in the new (& improved) Angular Staff Catalog with a special emphasis on the evolving Holdings Editor and new functionality for Record Buckets.
Presenters: Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager, NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange; Carol Witt, Bibliographic Services Supervisor, C/W MARS
2:00 to 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Break / Exhibitor Time
Exhibitor booth hours are TBD
2:30 to 3:00 p.m. (ET)
Lightning Talks
3:00 to 3:50 p.m. (ET)
State of the Project / Developers’ Update
4:00 to 4:50 p.m. (ET)
Acquisitions Interest Group
Acquisitions Interest Group
Presenter: Tiffany Little, PINES Bibliographic Projects Manager, Georgia Public Library Service
Making It Real: Preparing for BIBFRAME in Evergreen
This presentation will introduce a framework for exploring the status of BIBFRAME in public libraries, examine the economics of transitioning towards BIBFRAME, discuss how to support and train staff on new workflows, and identify the technological challenges and opportunities. This will be informed by research that Equinox is performing in partnership with the King County Library System (WA).
While BIBFRAME has been discussed for the past 12 years as the culmination of efforts to replace the MARC format, public libraries have had minimal representation on the task forces that developed it. BIBFRAME is now at the point where public libraries must prepare for this change or risk having the long-term future of public library metadata be decided elsewhere.
The presentation will also discuss specific ways that Evergreen can start to make use of metadata that originates from BIBFRAME.
Presenters: Galen Charlton, Implementation and IT Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative; BJ Colvin, Director of Information Technology Services, King County Library System; Jennifer Weston, Product and Education Manager, Open Library Initiative
5:00 to 5:50 p.m. (ET)
Student Success Working Group
Student Success Working Group
Presenter: Jennifer Pringle, Co-op Support – Training Lead, BC Libraries Cooperative
Cataloging Non-English Materials
Looking for way to improve discoverability for your non-English materials? Join our panel of technical services staff from various SPARK member libraries as they share how they catalog their non-English collections. The panel will discuss their choices on how to catalog to increase discoverability while working within the framework of Evergreen. Learn strategies for balancing community needs with staff capabilities, especially when staff may not be familiar with the language.
Presenters: Leslie Gaines, Bibliographic Services Manager, Berks County Public Libraries; Jacob Ingalls, Copy Cataloger, Lackawanna County Library System; Natalie Arnold, Assistant Director, Lower Macungie Library; Danielle M. Davis, Technical Services Librarian, York County Libraries;
Elizabeth Davis, Program Manager, Pennsylvania Integrated Library System
Thursday, May 15
Hackfest