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