by The Evergreen Outreach Committee is pleased to announce Erica Rohlfs as March’s Community Spotlight. Erica is the Senior Project Manager of Implementation for Equinox Open Library Initiative and has been gently flying along with Evergreen since its development and deployment by Georgia PINES.
When first approached about being interviewed for the Community Spotlight, Erica’s response was one of surprise. Her incredulity grew when informed that she had received more than one nomination. Erica’s humility and service-mindedness characterize much of her contribution to the success of Evergreen users and the Evergreen community.
In 2007, Erica worked as an Information Specialist at one of the first PINES libraries to use the new Evergreen ILS. Her experiences teaching staff and patrons the intricacies of Evergreen helped determine the direction of Erica’s professional life and her growing and continued involvement in the Evergreen Community.
Erica joined Equinox as the Education Librarian in 2012, initially training the staff of libraries migrating from proprietary ILS to Evergreen. Now, as Senior Project Manager of Implementation, she coordinates those migrations to both Evergreen and Koha. Erica says there has been a marked change in her role over the course of those years. Initially, she spent a lot of time working with circulation and cataloging staff, gaining understanding of the needs from front-line workers. Now, Erica says she works with fewer staff and her focus has shifted from discovery and training for workflows to discovery and negotiation of policies.
Although she’s taken a step back in recent years because of her expanded role with Equinox, Erica is most proud of her time spent wrangling bugs for the community, as well as submitting bug tickets and testing fixes. She also loves encouraging staff at new Evergreen libraries and “throwing nuggets” about how to get involved in the community.
Outside of work and Evergreen, Erica is an avid gardener with a traditional Southern garden incorporating vegetables with ornamentals. She has also been an authorized and legal rescuer of native and endangered plants along with having a certified GA native pollinator yard.
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Do you know someone in the community who deserves a bit of extra recognition? Please use this form to submit your nominations. We ask for your email in case we have any questions, but all nominations will be kept confidential.
Any questions can be directed to Andrea Buntz Neiman via abneiman@equinoxinitiative.org.