Did you know that there’s a Facebook group dedicated to your favorite ILS? The Evergreen “Open-ILS” Automated Library system group is an informal virtual social gathering of Evergreen fans, devotees, and users. If you have a Facebook account (or are looking for a reason to set one up), we invite you to join the group. See you there!
Libraries growing together
BC Pines now has two libraries, Prince Rupert Library and Fort Nelson Public Library, running on a production instance of Evergreen, with another on the way early next year. Potentially, it could grow in scope into a consortium comparable in size to Georgia’s PINES program.
It is often said that Evergreen is designed for large consortia, and that’s true enough, but another way of stating it is to say that Evergreen is designed to connect libraries, and you really don’t need to emphasize “large” there.
The Public Library Services Branch of British Columbia has a vision, one of “libraries without walls”, which will facilitate equitable access to information, encourage collaboration and partnerships to improve delivery of services, and initiate governance reform. Initiatives such as BC OneCard (one library card for the whole province) and AskAway (a province-wide virtual reference service), have proven tremendously popular, and if PINES is any example, a shared ILS connecting libraries should likewise benefit patrons and librarians.
With a shared ILS, patrons gain increased access to library resources. Libraries benefit from economies of scale, and if the shared ILS is an open-source system like Evergreen, they get to decide on development priorities, and have insurance against an uncertain vendor market.
Evergreen can help you grow large consortia, but to use half a metaphor, that doesn’t diminish our focus on the trees. Like BC Pines says, it’s about “Libraries growing together”.
— Jason
Evergreen Holiday Lunch Party
Equinox hosted a small Evergreen lunch party/gathering yesterday, and it seemed a perfect opportunity to get a picture of many folks who work together all the time, but rarely see each other. Sadly, one of our number had to take the picture–thanks to Lamar Veatch, Georgia State Librarian for performing the picture-taking duty.
Happy Holidays from the Evergreen gang (clicky for a larger image).
Pictured, from the left:
Tim Daniels, GPLS
Bob Molyneux, Equinox
Don McMorris, Equinox
Hilary LaJeunesse, with Will LaJeunesse
Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox
Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia, GPLS
Art Rhyno, University of Windsor
Bin Lin, GPLS
Jason Etheridge, Equinox
Bill Erickson, Equinox (squatting)
Sally Murphy, GPLS
Brandon Uhlman, British Columbia, Ministry of Education, Pines Project
Dan Scott, Laurentian University
(behind Dan is Dilbert, but he was shy)
Mike Rylander, with Avery Rylander
Sara Rylander, with Baby #2 Rylander (in the oven)
Lamar Veatch, GPLS (behind the camera)