Evergreen Newsletter *The newsletter for Evergreen open source library software*
*http://evergreen-ils.org * ** Volume 2, Issue 1 January, 2009 Double the fun! 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/blog). Cross-posting and forwarding is encouraged. In This Issue… Evergreen Out and About, Evergreen 1.4.0 To Debut, New OPAC Skin on Demo, SOLINET Classes, Evergreen Conference, Documentation Update, New Developers, 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! * *ALA Midwinter 2009 *(Denver, Jan 23 - 27): Visit Equinox Software at Booth 522, sit in on a demo, or mingle with fellow travelers at an Evergreen social function (informally called Birds of a Feather Nosh Together) Saturday, January 24, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm, at a very nice locale near the Denver convention center. RSVP to eve...@esilibrary.com*. See the Equinox booth demo schedule here: http://blog.esilibrary.com/2009/01/07/equinox-at-ala-midwinter-exhibits-demos-yummo-noshes/ * *Ontario Library Association 2009* (Toronto, Jan 28-31): http://www.accessola.com/superconference2009/ Evergreen galore! Expect a Birds of a Feather get-together, plus enjoy the Evergreen-related programs. Dan Scott has an excellent post describing the Evergreen programs at OLA: http://coffeecode.net/archivessoir%C3%A9e/171-An-Evergreen-track-at-the-OLA-SuperConference-2009.html *Electronic Resources & Libraries* (Los Angeles, Feb 9 -12): Hello, California! Equinox Community Librarian Karen Schneider will participate on an ILS discussion panel. http://www.electroniclibrarian.org/ocs/index.php/erl/2009 *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 (see http://code4lib.org/conference). Equinox Software Inc. is a proud sponsor of Code4Lib at the Silver level ($2,500). *Computers in Libraries* (March 30 - April 1) will feature a rock-out, boffo panel of Evergreen Divas: Karen Schneider from Equinox, Ruth Dukelow from Michigan Library Consortium, and Karen Collier and Andrea Neiman of Kent County Library in Maryland. http://www.infotoday.com/CIL2009/ *British Columbia Library Association *(Burnaby, April 16-18) will feature a talk by Karen Schneider on creativity and open source. http://www.bcla.bc.ca/Conference2009/default.aspx *Evergreen International Conference *(Athens, Georgia, May 20 – 22, 2009). Our first global conference! See more about this exciting event below. Evergreen 1.4.0 "Gold" Debuts Soon Evergreen 1.4.0 Gold (the official release for 1.4.0) will be released by the end of January. The feature list is here: http://open-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=feature_list_1_4_0. See the Evergreen download page (http://evergreen-ils.org/listserv.php) for the source code. Remember that the Evergreen staff client needs to match the server version. New OPAC Skin Debuts! "Craftsman," the new OPAC skin, a handsome rethinking of the design funded by Georgia Public Library Service, is now live on our demo catalog -- though you need to know where to look: http://demo.gapines.org/opac/en-US/skin/craftsman/xml/index.xml Note that some functionality for "demo" may be missing when you look at demo, because demo is running a more current version of Evergreen than was available when the design project began. But by early February we will have skins for both 1.2.3.* and 1.4.* SOLINET Rolls Out More Evergreen Training Classes ** **SOLINET continues to offer free online Evergreen demos, January 21st(2-3pm), February 12 th (10-11am) and 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 February 3rd (10am-noon) and 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 January 29th-30th (2-4pm) and March 24 th-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 February 4th(2-4pm) and March 25 th (10am-noon). To register for Evergreen training (including the free demo), just visit Solinet's Educational Services Registration website at http://www.solinet.net/Classes%20and%20Events/Class%20Registration.aspx For questions, contact SOLINET trainers Jennifer Bielewski and Jenny Liberatore, 1-800-999-8558 or jbielew...@solinet.net <jbielew...@solinet.net> Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009 *Website up!* *http://www.solinet.net/evergreen Questions? Sponsorship and exhibits requests? Program submissions? Email eve...@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 2. *Registration opens* Wednesday, February 18, 2009, on the conference website *http://www.solinet.net/evergreen* 3. *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. 4. May 20 is an *all-day Hackfest* (no additional registration fee) in the comfortable environs of the Classic Center 5. The conference kicks off the evening of May 21 with a *no-conflict Vendor Reception * 6. May 21 - 22 features fascinating *programs*, long breaks where you can *network with peers*, and a *networking luncheon* and *Table Talk Breakfast * 7. *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. 8. *Sponsorship *and *exhibiting *opportunities abound -- sponsor at a specific level (Gold, Silver, Platinum), sponsor one of our many events, or just exhibit! * * 9. *Fascinating keynote speakers* are being lined up now! 10. Affordable *accommodations*, 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. Evergreen on Facebook Evergreen has a Facebook group at the not-so-mnemonic address of http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6396639614 . 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. 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! New Evergreen Developers at Equinox! Since November, two new developers have joined the Equinox team of "Evergreen Experts": Laura McFarland and Scott McKellar. You can read about Laura at the following blog post -- Scott's so new we haven't interviewed him yet for the blog, though we have a link to a press release: http://esilibrary.com/esi/newsitem.php?id=77 http://esilibrary.com/esi/newsitem.php?id=79 A Few Reminders *Webinars and videos*: Don't forget the section on the Evergreen wiki devoted to community-contributed documentation and tutorials<http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=community_tutorials>. *Evergreen 2.0*: As noted earlier, development for Evergreen 2.0 (planned to include acquisitions, serials, and reserves) is on an intentionally slow track through early January while the Evergreen developers focus on other development priorities, but will resume production for a roll-out targeted by late May, 2009. In the meantime, if you haven't done so already, see the Evergreen acquisitions roadmap<http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=acq:timeline>. Evergreen also has a Flickr set and Delicious bookmarks: Delicious: http://delicious.com/evergreenils Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/evergreen-ils/ Documentation Update Since November, we've seen some excellent cataloging documentation come out of Evergreen libraries (Indiana produced a great document originally developed by Michigan; a contract documentation specialist, and Vandelay documentation is getting a once-over. There have been bits and pieces written about acquisitions, and the reporting documentation is due a major edit. McMaster University also has a technical writing intern from Seneca College, Betty Ing. New Evergreen Libraries: Welcome Aboard! Below are the newest Evergreen libraries — the Evergreen installations known to have taken place in December, 2008 or early January, 2009. Also see the growing list of Evergreen libraries at: http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen_libraries *Evergreen Indiana:* Jennings County, Brownstown, Melton, Butler, Odon Winklepleck*, and Brazil Public Libraries ** Yes, we think that's a cute name, too.* 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 <http://esilibrary.com/esi/news.rss>was recently tweaked to make it easier to track and share the releases. 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.