2022 Program Descriptions


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2022 Evergreen Conference Program Descriptions
See the Program Schedule for a grid view of the programs scheduled for each day of the conference.

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

Monday, June 13

PRE-CONFERENCE SESSIONS (additional registration fee required)

1:00 to 3:00 p.m. (ET)

SQL for Librarians (Slides)

In the fourth installment of SQL for Librarians instead of starting with a basic tutorial on SQL we will instead jump straight into the thick of it. I will be soliciting questions and problems in advance from attendees. We will then work through them procedurally to address core questions of data in the Evergreen and maybe learn a few fun tricks along the way.

Presenter:  Rogan Hamby, Project and Data Analyst, Equinox Open Library Initiative

The Visually Impaired Person and the Pachyderm – Finding your way around the Evergreen Project (Slides)

For new and not so new members of the Evergreen Community, it can be challenging to find your way around the entity that is the Evergreen Project. Whether you’re a library staff member wanting to connect with other Evergreen users, a systems administrator looking for advice, a novice or experienced coder looking to contribute, or an interested observer, it can sometimes be challenging to find the information you need. This session will cover some of the places where sought information can be found.

Presenter:  Michele Morgan, Technical Support Analyst, NOBLE

3:00 to 3:30 p.m. (ET)

Break Time

3:30 to 5:30 p.m. (ET)

Filling in the Gaps: DIG’s Documentation Review and How You Can Help (Slides)

“Have you ever gone to the Evergreen official documentation only to find the feature you want to learn about isn’t there or the documentation doesn’t match what you see in Evergreen? Join us for a comprehensive look at what the Documentation Interest Group is up to and how anyone can help make Evergreen’s documentation better whether you have just a few minutes or a couple hours spare. In addition to looking at the documentation review currently underway this session will also introduce users to GitHub through live demos.”

Presenters:  Gina Monti, Evergreen Systems Specialist, Bibliomation, Inc; Andrea Buntz Neiman, Project Manager for Software Development, Equinox Open Library Initiative; Jennifer Pringle, Co-op Support – Training Lead, BC Libraries Cooperative 

Exploring and Using the Evergreen API (Slides)

No ILS is an island, Evergreen included. Evergreen makes most of its functionality available via APIs that can be used by other programs, but in order to use those APIs, one has to know what they are and where to find them. Galen Charlton will lead attendees through an exploration of the Evergreen API and will present a tool for getting information about specific APIs. By the end of the preconference, attendees will know the basics of invoking Evergreen’s API, have access to a tool for exploring it, and will be on their way to starting a small project to use it.

The target audience for this preconference are people who have intermediate to advanced coding experience, but it will also benefit people who want to learn more about the capabilities of Evergreen’s APIs.

Presenter: Galen Charlton, Implementation and IT Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative


Tuesday, June 14

12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. (ET)

Welcome and Keynote Address (Slides)

1:15 to 1:30 p.m. (ET)

Break / Exhibitor Time

Exhibitor booth hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12pm – 4pm Eastern Time

1:30 to 2:00 p.m. (ET)

We Have Ideas: Taking Off in Launchpad (Slides) (Launchpad Cheat Sheet)

A brief overview of Launchpad as an ideas wrangling tool for Evergreen ILS development and bug tracking

Presenters: Ruth Frasur, Evergreen Development and Support Administrator, Indiana State Library, Terran McCanna, PINES Program Manager, Georgia Public Library Service; Katie Greenleaf Martin, Executive Director, PaILS/SPARK

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (ET)

System Administrator Interest Group (Notes)

The Evergreen System Administration Interest Group has met regularly every conference and is intended for those interested in or working with server or local system administration related to Evergreen, Linux, and many other magical things. With our emphasis on small group discussions, everyone is welcome to come participate, ask questions, and share their cool approaches to solving problems.

Presenter: Chris Sharp, PINES System Administrator, , Georgia Public Library Service

2:00 to 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Spicing up Evergreen with ChiliPAC (Slides)

PaILS would like to share our experience being the first Evergreen consortium (and a large consortium at that) to implement ChiliPAC as a catalog enhancement tool.

Presenters: Katherine Dannehl, Membership Engagement Specialist, PaILS; Scott Johnson, President & CEO, ChiliFresh; Juris Poseika, CTO, ChiliFresh

2:30 to 3:00 p.m. (ET)

Break / Exhibitor Time

Exhibitor booth hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12pm – 4pm Eastern Time

3:00 to 3:30 p.m. (ET)

Lightning Talks (Sign-up Sheet)

3:30 to 4:00 p.m. (ET)

Going Fine Free (Slides)

With a strong movement towards going fine free many libraries want to go down that path but aren’t sure how to do it. Join me for a detailed explanation from the library’s stand point of how to plan going fine free and what can be done with Evergreen to make it easier for you.

Presenter: Rogan Hamby, Project and Data Analyst, Equinox Open Library Initiative

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. (ET)

Acquisitions Interest Group (Notes)

Open discussion on topics related to Acquisitions and introduction to the regular Acquisitions Interest Group meetings

Presenters: Tiffany Little, PINES Services Specialist: Acquisitions, Georgia Public Library Service

4:00 to 4:30 p.m. (ET)

An Introduction to User Experience (Slides)

How do major companies like Google, GrubHub, or even Venmo make well designed website and apps? It’s all part of user experience! In this short intro, we’ll talk about user experience, design workflow, and how this can optimize libraries!

Presenter: Gina Monti, Evergreen Systems Specialist, Bibliomation, Inc

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. (ET)

Open Source – Software and Beyond (Slides)

Staff from PaILS (PA’s Evergreen consortium) & Equinox Open Library Initiative will discuss a variety of open source projects and products that they use. They will give an overall survey of open-source options for common proprietary software packages, as well as discussing how the open source movement has moved beyond software and into other domains, like cataloging rules and intellectual property. Presenters will also give detailed information on Open Refine for data management and SubjectsPlus for resource guides and websites, both of which can be used in conjunction with Evergreen.

Presenters: Elizabeth Davis, Support & Project Management Specialist, SPARK/PaILS; Angela Kilsdonk, Product and Education Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative; Katie Greenleaf Martin, Executive Director, PaILS/SPARK; Jennifer Weston, Product and Education Specialist, Equinox Open Library Initiative

Circulation Interest Group

Open discussion of anything circulation related. Problems, ideas, workflows, etc.

Presenter:  Dawn Dale, PINES Services Specialist – Circulation, Georgia Public Library Service


Wednesday, June 15

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. (ET)

Thanks for Nothing: Nullability Selection in Evergreen Reports (Slides)

Understanding and using nullability selection when building Evergreen report templates greatly enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of your reports. This program will provide an in-depth look at how this feature works, and practical examples of how and when to use it..

Presenters:  Jessica Woolford, Evergreen Systems Manager, Bibliomation, Inc.

Speed Up Receiving with Automated Shipment Notifications (Slides)

Some acquisitions vendors provide Automated Shipment Notification (ASN) messages via EDI to inform libraries of shipped items. These messages tell us what orders are arriving and how many items we should expect. We can use this information to present shipment information to staff and automate receiving batches of items with the simple scan of a barcode. King County Library System recently implemented ASN. For this presentation, I’ll do a brief review of what ASN is and how it works, what the receiving interface looks like, and how the process has impacted receiving at King County Library System.

Presenters: Bill Erickson, Software Development Engineer, King County Library System; Paula Allen, Section Supervisor, King County Library System

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Evergreen Datawork 101 (Slides)

Come learn about PINES processes for datawork, including database-side batch changes, MARC import/export for third-party vendors, cataloging updates, patron batch updates, and more. Bring your questions and ideas for how you get things done and we’ll share strategies and approaches.

Presenter:  Chris Sharp, PINES System Administrator, Georgia Public Library Service

Batches, Baskets, Buckets, Bookbags, and Carousels (slides)

Overview of the different ways to work with batches of items and bibs in Evergreen, including item status batches, item and record buckets, My Lists/Bookbags, and carousels with lots of examples and tips and tricks. New this year: Release 3.7 brought a great feature to the Angular staff catalog — with one click you can add all the records (up to 1000) that match a search to a Basket (and then to a Record Bucket) — a much easier alternative to the Record Bucket Query!

Presenter:  Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager, NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange

2:30 to 3:00 p.m. (ET)

Break / Exhibitor Time

Exhibitor booth hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12pm – 4pm Eastern Time

3:00 to 3:30 p.m. (ET)

Lightning Talks (Sign-up Sheet)

Life, the Universe, and the Everything permission by Andrea Buntz Neiman (Slides)

DIG Evangelism by Debbie Luchenbill (Slides)

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. (ET)

What We Wish We Knew Then: Getting Started with Acquisitions (Slides)

This session offers advice and recommendations on getting started with the acquisitions module based on the experiences of members of the acquisitions interest group. Find out what worked and didn’t work for others to make your start with the acquisitions module as painless as possible. This session will also demonstrate how to set up parts of acquisitions administration.

Presenters:  Tiffany Little, PINES Services Specialist: Acquisitions, Georgia Public Library Service; Jennifer Pringle, Co-op Support – Training Lead, BC Libraries Cooperative

Consortium Leaders’ Interest Group

Round table opportunity for consortia leaders to get together and talk about issues we all may face.

Presenter: Benjamin Murphy, NC Cardinal Program Manager

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. (ET)

Cataloging for the non-cataloger: how knowing cataloging can help you in your library job (Slides)

No matter your position in the library, your ability to do your job well depends on good cataloging. This program covers 6 areas of library service – Reference/Adult Services, Youth Services, Circulation, Systems/IT, Collection Development, and Administration – and how knowing a little bit about cataloging and MARC records can help any library staffer serve their customers better. Evergreen specifics will be included throughout the program.

Presenters:  Kate Coleman, Technical Services Manager, Jefferson County Library (Missouri Evergreen)

Living the Life Elastic (Slides)

Many years in the making, King County Library System has recently migrated to using Elasticsearch as our bibliographic data indexing engine atop our shiny new Angular staff catalog. I plan to review the history of the project, discuss some of the implementation/administration aspects, and show how we have leveraged Elasticsearch to add new features to our catalog.

Presenter: Bill Erickson, Software Development Engineer, King County Library System

6:00 p.m. (ET)

Virtual Social Hour

Unwind at our virtual social hour!  Hopin will have different sessions set up for free, online board games, Jackbox Party, and an open space to chat.  Board game rooms will include instructions and private rooms for Evergreen Conference attendees.


Thursday, June 16

11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (ET)

Branches on the Evergreen Tree: New Feature Highlights for 3.8 and 3.9 (Slides)

Join for year three of the Ruth & Andrea show as we talk about what’s new and exciting in Evergreen 3.8 and 3.9. We promise that there will be at least one unplanned comedic moment, and maybe planned ones too. While we won’t have time to take a deep dive into everything, we’ll hit the highlights of the two most recent releases & answer your new-feature questions.

Presenters:  Ruth Frasur, Evergreen Development and Support Administrator, Indiana State Library; Andrea Buntz Neiman, Project Manager for Software Development, Equinox Open Library Initiative

12:00 to 12:30 p.m. (ET)

Break / Exhibitor Time

Exhibitor booth hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12pm – 4pm Eastern Time

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. (ET)

I am a Paraprofessional Girl/Guy in a Professional World (Slides)

Do you want to advance in your career but you don’t have a Masters Degree? There are opportunities and ways to make this happen. Learn to own your strengths and weaknesses to accomplish your career goals.

Presenters: Dawn Dale, PINES Services Specialist – Circulation, Georgia Public Library Service

Collecting Ideas: Imagining the Future of Collection Development (Slides)

Join us for a round table to brainstorm and imagine what tools could be developed to assist collection development in Evergreen. Bring your experiences and opinions both to make suggestions and provide feedback on the ideas from others. Proposals developed during the roundtable will be logged as wishlist requests in Launchpad.

Presenters: Rogan Hamby, Project and Data Analyst, Equinox Open Library Initiative; Jennifer Weston, Product and Education Specialist, Equinox Open Library Initiative

1:30 to 2:00 p.m. (ET)

How I went from a Librarian to a Systems Specialist (Slides)

Have you thought about how librarians became part of the Evergreen community? Gina explains her journey from working in public libraries for eight years into now working with Bibliomation and Evergreen. She’ll talk about credentials, experience, and a new perspective on how the MLS program shaped her career.

Presenter:  Gina Monti, Evergreen Systems Specialist, Bibliomation, Inc

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Reports Interest Group (Notes)

The Reports Interest Group will meet to discuss all things Evergreen reports!

Presenter:  Jessica Woolford, Evergreen Systems Manager, Bibliomation, Inc

2:00 to 2:30 p.m. (ET)

Exploring Replacing Ejabberd/XMPP For OpenSRF (Slides)

Evergreen sits atop OpenSRF, which relays messages between application components using the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). Our application of choice for XMPP since practically the beginning of Evergreen has been Ejabberd. Ejabberd has served us well, but it’s always been a bit clunky and complicated to setup and maintain. XMPP, I also argue, is probably overkill for our needs. I plan to discuss my experiments implementing and running OpenSRF and Evergreen over Redis, using a trimmed down, pure JSON version of our classic OpenSRF messages.

Presenter:  Bill Erickson, Software Development Engineer, King County Library System

2:30 to 3:00 p.m. (ET)

Break / Exhibitor Time

Exhibitor booth hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12pm – 4pm Eastern Time

3:00 to 4:00 p.m. (ET)

Developing & Implementing Curbside Pickup Services (Slides)

Libraries have been at the forefront of adapting service models to respond to community needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn how the Emmaus Public Library, a member of the PaILS consortium in Pennsylvania, responded to the evolving needs of patrons and staff during the last 2 years by iterating their curbside pickup workflows and implementing the Evergreen ILS Curbside Pickup module. This panel session will share the lessons and experiences of the Emmaus Public Library. It will also describe how the curbside functionality was developed for Evergreen ILS through a partnership between PaILS and Equinox Open Library Initiative. With libraries closed due to COVID, the need to automate delivery of curbside services became an essential priority. Learn how this innovative functionality was designed, developed, and deployed in record time, and how it made a difference for libraries.

Presenters:  Angie Devers, Services Manager, Emmaus Public Library; Katie Greenleaf Martin, Executive Director, PaILS/SPARK; Angela Kilsdonk, Product and Education Manager, Equinox Open Library Initiative

Cataloging Interest Group (Notes)

Annual Cataloging Interest Group meeting to review the past year, highlight recent Evergreen developments, and plan projects for the upcoming year with time for general discussion. The meeting is open to anyone interested in Cataloging topics.

Presenters: J. Elaine Hardy, PINES and Collaborative Projects Manager, Georgia Public Library Service; Jennifer Weston, Product and Education Specialist, Equinox Open Library Initiative

4:00 p.m. (ET)

Closing Remarks and Developers’ Update (Dev Update Slides)


Friday, June 17 (Hackfest)

10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (ET)

Development Hackfest

Hackfest room open all day for drop in collaboration for developers.

Documentation Hackfest

Hackfest room open all day for drop in collaboration on community documentation.

11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (ET)

Authority-Fest (Slides) (Notes)

Authority-Fest is presented by Jennifer Weston and sponsored by the Cataloging Interest Group.
Authority-Fest will be a two-hour interactive session to provide a basic introduction to how Authorities work in Evergreen currently and to hold a structured group discussion on pros/cons of maintaining authority records. Attendees will work together to share current practices, draft a consolidated list of known issues, and craft suggestions for improved functionality. This event is open to anyone with an interest in Evergreen Authority Records and processes!