The Evergreen Head-bob

I have been stewing about my maiden post on this blog for some time, so here goes.

I presented or talked about Evergreen and open source seven times at ALA Annual 2008. (Seven times, I tell you, seven times!) It was a great experience, and part of the joy came from the many moments when the heads began bobbing. (No, not nodding off to sleep… well, maybe for one tired conference-goer… but actively bobbing in affirmation.)

I would say “No hidden code” and heads would bob.

I would say “Free to use, free to download, free to examine, free in every way” and heads would bob.

I would say “Interoperability” (which open code facilitates, even if it is not a characteristic of all open source) and heads would bob.  (Including the heads of many potential vendor partners.)

I would say “Reindexing, transaction load, deduping, powerful, avenue for growth” and heads would bob.

I would say “This brings us full circle to where we were in the beginning of library automation, when we steered our own ship,” and heads would bob.

Evergreen community members can’t always see the bobbing heads. But they are there all the same.

Happy 4th! (And belated Canada Day, not to mention the 400th birthday of Quebec!)