[Evergreen-governance-l] FW: Be sure to do this

Tue Aug 31 15:31:51 EDT 2010

It looks like we need to further define membership/membership levels and what their respective voting powers would be as per section 2.1.  

Sylvia said: "It appears that the focus is leaning toward giving developers and vendors a greater voice than the users."
Dan said: "Those who put in the most effort to improve Evergreen would be those who would have a modicum more power <snip> "

We all want the same thing: a product that gives us great flexibility to serve our library staff/library patron base in terms of functionality, support and service. However, we are all coming to the table with widely varying perspectives on what is best for the community and how to achieve that.

Sylvia said: "This brings me back to a question Jim Corridan asked yesterday, and that is: How will decisions about the code be handled?  Is the plan for determining modifications/updates/contributions to the Evergreen code always to remain separate and outside of the foundation purview?"

The community should have some voice in what goes into the final product.  Of course, specific code should be reviewed by senior developers before it goes into the final product. Part of the "foundation's" charge should be to encourage growth in the developer/code committer pool. Equinox and Dan Scott cannot possibly handle development and code oversight for all future potential Evergreen users. My point is: we have to plan and prepare for growth.  And we need some checks in place to be sure the developers priorities are in line with the needs of the larger community while allowing them creative freedom at the same time. 

I don't think we need to take a cookie cutter route that looks solely at other software projects. We must consider the library community and structure the community entity around all groups of interest.  While we do need to look at other open source projects for guidance, we are in uncharted territory for the library community. This is something that we have learned with PINES.   

One quick word about specifics of the Rules of Governance.  I would highly recommend term limits through our own experience here in Georgia.  Perhaps a long term such as 5 years would help with consistency. I am also in favor of staggering the appointments.  

Perhaps I will put membership definition on the agenda for our next meeting.  We can work on membership levels at the subsequent meeting. 

Elizabeth McKinney 
PINES Program Director 
Georgia Public Library Service 
A Unit of the University System of Georgia
1800 Century Place, Suite 150
Atlanta GA 30345
404.235.7141
emckinney at georgialibraries.org
http://www.georgialibraries.org/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sylvia Watson" <sywatson at library.IN.gov>
To: "Dan Scott" <dan at coffeecode.net>, "Jim Corridan (ICPR)" <jcorridan at icpr.IN.gov>
Cc: evergreen-governance-l at list.georgialibraries.org
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 1:59:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Evergreen-governance-l] FW: Be sure to do this

It appears that the focus is leaning toward giving developers and vendors a greater voice than the users.  It was my understanding that this organization was supposed to be a centralized organization where you can find everything related to Evergreen:  website, list serves, grant resources, technical help, code modifications, user support, keeper of Evergreen assets, branding & advertising, annual conference; activities that promote Evergreen use, etc.  Each area would presumably be handled by groups/committees with special expertise in a particular area, and of course all participants would be members.  Under this premise you have many more individuals making meaningful and beneficial contributions to the Evergreen project than just the developers and vendors.   

I understand that developers who are contributing to the code should have a strong voice.  However, shouldn't the users have a strong voice as well; especially as the user base continues to grow internationally and presumably becomes the primary source of revenue for the organization and is actively working to support Evergreen in the areas noted above?      

It seems to me that we need to find a way to make sure all members have a meaningful voice if we are going to have an all-encompassing organization such as noted in the first paragraph of the e-mail.  Of course, most of the above is moot if others were not thinking this was going to be an all-encompassing organization such as the one I described in the above.  

This brings me back to a question Jim Corridan asked yesterday, and that is: How will decisions about the code be handled?  Is the plan for determining modifications/updates/contributions to the Evergreen code always to remain separate and outside of the foundation purview?  If so, then I am unclear as to the basis for providing developers a greater voice in other Foundation matters?     

Is the purpose of the foundation intended to be much more limited in focus than what I noted in the first paragraph of this e-mail? 

Sylvia

-----Original Message-----
From: evergreen-governance-l-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:evergreen-governance-l-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Dan Scott
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 12:21 PM
To: Corridan, Jim (ICPR)
Cc: evergreen-governance-l at list.georgialibraries.org
Subject: Re: [Evergreen-governance-l] FW: Be sure to do this

On Mon, 2010-08-30 at 11:49 -0400, Corridan, Jim (ICPR) wrote:
> So a library serving 15,000 people as a stand-alone installation of Evergreen would have the same vote as the 50 + Georgia Pines libraries or the 75 members of the Evergreen Indiana?

To go back to the membership structure I've suggested (with several
friendly amendments - thanks Lori and Galen et al), they would have
equal votes, _unless_ one of the sites has more people contributing
documentation or code or mailing list support or whatever. Those who put
in the most effort to improve Evergreen would be those who would have a
modicum more power - which has the twin results of placing an incentive
on contributing to the project, and putting that power in the hands of
those who are most closely associated with the project.

I really don't think size (either in number of libraries or population
served) should be a significant factor in distributing the control over
Evergreen's trademarks and community finances.

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