[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Evergreen Newsletter, April 2009

Tue Apr 14 20:48:51 EDT 2009

Evergreen Newsletter

*The newsletter for Evergreen open source library software **http://
evergreen-ils.org*

*Evergreen International Conference May 20-22, 2009
*

*Conference registration: http://www.lyrasis.org/evergreen*

* <http://solinet.net/evergreen>*

*Conference wiki: http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=eg09:main*

* *

Volume 2, Issue 4 -- April, 2009
 April Means it's Almost May!

And you know what that means -- it's less than 50 days to the first-ever
Evergreen International Conference! Read more about it below.

As a reminder, we will also 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 1.4.0.4 Released,
Evergreen Conference Highlights,  Lyrasis Evergreen Classes, Documentation
Update, Planet Evergreen, 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!
*

 *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 conference! Joe Lucia and Jessamyn West will be keynoting! See
more about this exciting event below.

*American Library Association* Annual Conference (Chicago, Illinois, July
9-15). We'll be exhibiting, meeting with people, and so forth!

*WilsWorld* (Madison, Wisconsin, July 28-29). Karen Schneider to do a
plenary session. Karen spoke at one of the earliest WilsWorld conferences
and is excited to return!

*Past Conferences*: The Computers in Libraries panel was a big success. It
featured Ruth Dukelow of Michigan Evergreen, Karen Collier and Andrea
Butz-Neiman of Kent County Library, and Karen Schneider of Equinox Software,
and we were all magnificent! The VTLS Users Group was also a fine event, and
thanks again to VTLS for the opportunity to share about open source.
Meanwhile, Equinox Software had a grand old time at the Texas Library
Association conference, and many current and possibly future Evergreeners
stopped by to say hi or share their Evergreen stories.
 Evergreen 1.4.0.4 Released

Evergreen 1.4.0.4 (the latest in the 1.4.0* series) was released March 26,
2009. The feature list for the 1.4.0 series is here:
http://open-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=feature_list_1_4_0.

Kent County, which is running a patched version of 1.4.0.3, played an
instrumental role in testing the code that became 1.4.0.4. Kent is a
relatively small Evergreen site, and their willingness to be guinea pigs
helps everyone. Karen Collier says, "There were two factors that prompted
our early upgrade to the 1.4.x series.  First, we wanted Vandelay, the new
MARC importer feature within the staff client.  Our Technical Services
Librarian already loves the new capabilities.  Secondly, we wanted a Z39.50
server so we could fully participate in our state's resource sharing
network.  There's a little more development required before that happens,
but the Z server is a big step toward that goal." A big thank you to Kent!

See the Evergreen download page (http://evergreen-ils.org/listserv.php) 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
-- a 1.4 staff client will not work with a 1.2 series server.
<jbielewski at solinet.net> Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009
*Register at http://www.lyrasis.org/evergreen
<http://www.solinet.net/evergreen>

Also see the growing conference wiki where you can sign up for dine-arounds,
table talks, etc.! http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=eg09:main

Questions? Sponsorship and exhibits requests? Program submissions? Email
events at 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. *Accommodations *are delightfully reasonable
business hotels a comfy walking distance to the Classic Center.

*2.* *Outstanding program lineup!  *You can see the full track on the
conference wiki  ( http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=eg09:events

*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!

*4.* *User led 5-minute lightning talks* will spark up the conference, while
*Birds of a Feather sessions* and breakfast *Table Talks* 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.

*5.* Wednesday, 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 happening--including at least a half-day high-level discussion on
documentation, and possibly a "survival skills" camp for sysadmins.

*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 the reception is a no-conflict event, so we can give your
products lots of attention!

*7. Sponsorship *and *exhibiting *opportunities abound -- sponsor at a
specific level (Gold, Silver, Platinum), sponsor one of our many events, or
just exhibit! *
*

*8*. Add to all this, affordable *accommodations in a very attractive
walking town*, superb local *meal *values, and *free wifi* at the Classic
Center!

 The 2009 Evergreen Conference is jointly coordinated by Georgia Public
Library Service, Equinox Software, and Lyrasis. Also, special thanks to
Karen Collier at Kent County Library, Maryland, for participating in the
program review process.
Lyrasis Rolls Out More Evergreen Training Classes

**

Evergreen classes are being offered online by Lyrasis (nee Solinet) on the
following dates and times:

May 6-7th Evergreen Cataloging Module. Two hours each day at 10:00am-12:00pm
EST

May 27th Evergreen Guided Tour and Demo (Free).

June 4th Evergreen Admin and Stats Module. Two hours from 10:00am-12:00pm

Since October, Lyrasis, formerly known as SOLINET and PALINET, has taught
close to 25 Evergreen classes with over 100 students! Lyrasis is dedicated
to training and instructing Evergreen and welcomes your comments and
suggestions for courses. All of our current course offerings are
continuously updated and we plan on adding more courses to our catalog on
future topics. Feel free to contact Lyrasis Instructors at
Jennifer.bielewski at lyrasis.org or Jenny.Liberatore at lyrasis.org for comments
or questions about Evergreen courses. We will be at the Evergreen Conference
in Athens, GA and are excited to meet those of you attending!
Planet EvergreenCan't get enough news about Evergreen open source software?
Subscribe to (or just read) Planet Evergreen, an aggregator for
Evergreen-related posts, at http://planet.evergreen-ils.org . Have a blog
that talks about Evergreen? To add your blog (or blog subset) to the Planet
Evergreen blog aggregator, send email to Dan Scott at
dan at coffeecode.netDocumentation UpdateMcMaster
University intern Betty Ing has produced draft documentation for an
Evergreen style manual and reserves documentation (yes! reserves is in work,
along with serials and acquisitions). She produced this in Docbook XML.
Karen Schneider will walk people through these proofs-of-concept at the
conference "hackfest" on the afternoon of May 20.

 * *
 Evergreen on Facebook

Evergreen has a growing 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 now has over 280 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!
 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>.
Dan Scott from Laurentian just added a video about reports.

Evergreen also has a Flickr set (don't miss Bob Molyneux posting with two
giant cats at TXLA): http://flickr.com/photos/evergreen-ils/
New Evergreen Libraries: Welcome Aboard!

This is a surprisingly quiet month for migrations, but hang on -- there's
more coming down the pike! Also see the growing list of Evergreen libraries
at:

http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen_libraries

 ** *Self-implemented Sites: *

William Jessup University, Rocklin, California (go Golden State!)

*Up and Coming:
*

Evergreen open source library software will power SC LENDs (South Carolina
Library Evergreen Network Delivery System), a statewide consortium for a
massive shared catalog and other services spearheaded by the South Carolina
State Library. 11 libraries will go live in 2011, making SC LENDS the
second-largest Evergreen consortium. As noted earlier, King County Library
System (in Washington State), Natural Resources Canada, and North Texas
Regional Library System have signed contracts with Equinox. Welcome aboard!

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.
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