Kathy Lussier

2026 Evergreen Conference – Call for Proposals – Extended to Jan 13

The 2026 Evergreen Conference Call for Proposals has been reopened and the new deadline is next Tues, Jan 13.

Thanks to everyone who has already submitted a program proposal for the 2026 Evergreen Conference!! We received lots of great proposals but we do have room in the schedule for a few more.

If you were thinking about submitting an idea for a presentation and were not able to get it done at the end of the year, now is your time. If you are interested in collaborating on a topic and have not finalized other presenters, that’s fine. You will have an opportunity to update presenters and your program description before the schedule is finalized later this month if your proposal is selected.

Please email the conference committee at eg-conf-2026@evergreen-ils.org with any questions.

Evergreen Returns to ALA Annual Conference

The Evergreen community is hosting a session this weekend at the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Diego. The session, From User Group to Community: Software for Libraries by Libraries is scheduled for 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. PDT Saturday, June 29, at the Marriott Marquis in the Miramar Room.

Kathy Lussier, Executive Director of the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE) will facilitate the panel discussion, which will include Millissa Macomber (Central Skagit Library District), Jeanette Lundgren (Central and Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing), Galen Charlton (Equinox Open Library Initiative), Elizabeth Thomsen (NOBLE), and Katie Greenleaf Martin (Pennsylvania Integrated Library System). The panel will share examples of how they were able to improve staff workflows and the library user experience with software enhancements realized through the Evergreen open-source software community.

If you are attending ALA, please join us at this program and bring along your friends and colleagues!

#ALAAC24

Evergreen at ALA Annual: Open-source Software is Not Just for Tech Gurus

One appealing benefit of using open-source software is the many different options available for hosting, support and development.

A library organization with a large technical staff may choose to support the system in house while other organizations might choose to have their system hosted in the cloud by a support vendor. Still others may start with a support system that gradually changes over time as their staffing changes over time.

The Evergreen community will lead a panel discussion at the American Library Association Annual Conference in New Orleans that highlights the many options available to libraries running open-source systems. Tech gurus optional: Running an open-source ILS your way will feature a panel of three Evergreen users who will discuss the different ways their systems are hosted and supported, cover the many options that are available to open-source users, and highlight the added security that comes with not being locked into one vendor.

The panelists, who will include Meg Stroup of SC LENDS (South Carolina), Amy Terlaga of Bibliomation (Connecticut), and Elizabeth Thomsen of NOBLE (Massachusetts), will also answer any audience questions about their experience running an open-source ILS.

Moderated by Evergreen Outreach Committee Chair Kathy Lussier, the panel discussion is scheduled from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23, in Morial Convention Center, Rm 214. All attendees with an interest in open source are invited to join us to learn how these Evergreen users have made open source work for their libraries.