[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Evergreen Newsletter / Sept-Oct 2013

[Amy Terlaga]

EVERGREEN NEWSLETTER - September / October 2013


EVERGREEN HACK-A-WAY
by Rogan Hamby

The 2013 Hack-A-Way was held this year in Grand Rapids, Michigan hosted by
Calvin College on September 17th - 19th and sponsored by Equinox Software.
 Participants came to write code and discuss major issues facing community
development.  Perhaps the single largest issue that had to be discussed was
the future of the staff client.  With a lot of input and points for
consideration put forward by those physically and electronically present the
eventual decision was made to start moving away from dependency on our
current platform and look at new frameworks.  While we will have to live
with the current staff client for a while and cannot afford to stop updating
it, a rough game plan was put into place for moving to new frameworks that
may allow us to eventually move to a web based staff client.  Actual code
produced covered areas as diverse as MARC exporting, serials, enriched
content and the proof of concept for a simple web based check out interface.
 However, the most dramatic work came from those who worked hard on moving
the TPAC to a mobile friendly interface - work that has continued
aggressively over IRC since the hackfest.  

Additionally, a major topic of discussion was selecting a 2.6 release
manager and reviewing the 2.5 process.  As the community grows and an
increasing focus is made on stable tested releases this can sometimes put a
large burden on the release manager.  With a lot of ideas thrown out for
consideration no release manager was chosen, but the need is clear, for a
large pool of good testers and several projects are underway to educate and
encourage new participants.  

An agenda and list of participants can be found on the Evergreen community
wiki.  With a big success on only the second year of the Hack-A-Way we are
finding that having this chance for a gathering mid-year between the
conferences, without distractions, is very productive.  Next year we will
extend our tele-presence options after having a big demand for them this
year.  Groups interested in hosting next year should start considering and
inquiring now.  We will take submissions for hosting immediately after the
2014 conference.

EVERGREEN RELEASES

Evergreen 2.6

Grace Dunbar of Equinox provided the following feature update, planned for
the upcoming release of 2.6:

Dynamic MARC Fixed Fields Editor 
The current Evergreen Fixed Fields grid offers some support for showing and
hiding fields based on the selected record type.  This development plans to
enhance and extend this concept to a fully dynamic, data-driven fixed fields
editor for the MARC leader, 008, and 007. The interface will be a
combination grid/list and wizard-style interface.  
Sponsored by Statistics Canada

Enhancements to the Billing Interface
- The Balance Owed, Total Billed, and Payment Pending columns should sort
numerically instead of asciibetically.
- Different colors should be used to highlight overdue items still checked
out, long overdue items still checked out, and lost items. The distinct
colors will make it easier for staff to distinguish among the different
statuses. The colors should highlight the entire row, not just the title.
- For negative bills on a patron's bill: in addition to the refund option on
the shortcut menu, which accounts for any refunds in the Cash Report, there
should also be a clear negative balance option, which clears the refund
without impacting the Cash Report. 
- A library setting should be available to remove the "Convert Change to
Patron Credit" option from the Bills interface.
- A setting should be available allowing a workstation to choose to have all
bills deselected when loading the bills interface. The intent of this option
is to minimize errors in applying payments to the wrong bill.
Sponsored by MassLNC

Equinox has a contract out to a client for OPAC accessibility compliance
work.

Equinox has quotes out for the following but they are not completely funded:

Inventory Module - if interested on co-funding, please contact Rogan Hamby.

MVF/CRA (Multiple Value Formats and Composite Record Attributes), though
there are many benefits to this project, it is fondly known as the "icons in
the OPAC" project.
If interested in co-funding, please contact Kathy Lussier.

Prototype (proof of concept) Staff Client Browser Build.  If interested in
co-funding, please contact Rob Herrmann at Equinox.
rherrmann at esilibrary.com 

Evergreen 2.5, etc.

Grace Dunbar has provided another update, including features that made it
into 2.5:

Equinox has worked with NC Cardinal and COOL to bring two more library
systems on board their respective systems. We also welcomed new customers
Historic Deerfield Library, Rodgers Memorial Public Library, and PaILS'
SPARK consortium.

Equinox worked with GPLS to research and eliminate the patron search memory
leaks and the printing memory leaks that were introduced in Evergreen 2.3.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1086458

We're pleased that the following Equinox development made it into the 2.5
release candidate:

Long overdue circulations management

Web-based patron self-registration

Support PO activation without requiring bibs/items

Inter-authority linking script

Vandelay item import

Z39.50 Batch search, merge, and overlay

Setting to disable payment by patron credit

Option to disallow use of a branch as a pickup library for holds

Long overdue patron standing penalty

Per-hold behind the desk setting

Different styles for long overdue and lost items in billing ui

Option to include "wrong-shelf" holds in clear-shelf results  (wrong-shelf
holds are ones whose pickup library has changed)

Authority-enhanced bibliographic browse

Bib record browser with linked authorities

Shelving location filter

Serials routing slips can now be populated with patron addresses  (outreach)

RSS links to full catalog record

Return hold id to SIP

SIP renew all message support

P.V Supa GoodStuff integration

Equinox worked with GPLS, BC Libraries Cooperative, CW Mars, Bibliomation,
and SC LENDS on a QA project for Evergreen.  The final report can be found
here: http://nox.esilibrary.com/~jason/qareport/qa.html

Lastly, Bill Erickson posted about his experiments with a web-based staff
client.
 http://blog.esilibrary.com/2013/10/15/hacking-away-a-web-based-staff-client
/

EVERGREEN LIBRARIES IN THE NEWS

Missouri Evergreen Update
by Debbie Luchenbill

MOBIUS is pleased to announce that Blake Graham-Henderson has been hired as
the Missouri Evergreen Programmer!  Blake officially began on October 1.
The Missouri Evergreen consortium now has thirteen libraries live on the
system and 21 libraries officially part of the consortium! Since August,
Carthage Public and Webb City Public Libraries have gone live on the system.
Sullivan Public Library and Sikeston Public Library have become new members
of the consortium, and will migrate next spring/summer.  The consortium now
contains 763,214 items, 522.570 bibs and 130,581 users.  MOBIUS, a nonprofit
library consortium based in Columbia, MO, is hosting and managing Missouri
Evergreen with LSTA funds from the Missouri State Library, a division of the
Office of the Secretary of State.
________________________

PALS Update
by Alexey Vladimirovich

East Grand Forks Campbell Library (East Grand Forks, MN) will begin using
Evergreen Acquisitions starting in January of 2014. EGF Campbell Library
migrated to Evergreen in August of 2012. The library and PALS staff have
been testing the Evergreen Acquisitions functionality for several months and
we are ready to move forward with putting it into production use.

________________________

Georgia PINES Update
by Terran McCanna

We will upgrade to Evergreen 2.5 in January 2014 and roll out several
additional development projects at the same time: Long Overdue handling, a
new KPAC skin, and patches for the staff client memory leak issues. 

________________________

Evergreen in the Czech Libraries 
by Eva Cerniňáková


On Tuesday October 8th the Conference "Evergreen in Czech libraries" - the
first ever professional event dedicated only to Evergreen ILS, was held in
Prague in the National Library of the Czech Republic. At the conference was
introduced the  Evergreen ILS and its potential for the libraries. Also, the
experiences of the four libraries in the Czech Republic using Evergreen or
intending to start Evergreen use were presented. The conference was attended
by  over 50 participants from all over the Czech Republic. It may seem
small, but in the context of the situation in the Czech Republic  it's more
than some of us expected and  means that Evergreen has a chance to become an
equal choice among the ILSes in the Czech Republic in the future. 
If interested, you can look at photos of the conference, see
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151648304399071.1073741826.57434
4070&type=1&l=6fbb2cf2b0


________________________

Evergreen Indiana
by Ruth Frasur

Evergreen Indiana is postponing a planned upgrade from November until after
the 1st of the year with the goal of going straight to 2.5.  Also, the
consortium is implementing a payment program that allows for fines and fees
for any materials to be taken at any library and for the monies to be
collected and disbursed correctly throughout the consortium.  The idea is to
provide a much easier mechanism by which patrons can pay for lost and
damaged materials.  The hope is that more libraries will recover monies
associated with those materials.

________________________

Maine Balsam Libraries Update
by John Clark, Hartland Public Library 	

Maine's first Evergreen consortium continues to grow. Started several years
ago with grant funding from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, the
consortium originally offered membership to public and school libraries in
Penobscot, Piscataquis and Somerset Counties. Nine libraries joined:
Hartland Public Library, Newport Cultural Center and Library, Stewart Free
Library, Thompson Free Library, Shaw Library, Simpson Library, Penquis
Schools, Foxcroft Academy and Abbott Memorial Library. That number has
expanded to include College of the Atlantic, Bangor School System, Guilford
Schools, Wilton Free Library, Farmington Public Library, Jonesport Schools,
the Henry D. Moore Library and Central Maine Medical Center. Additional
grant funds have been obtained to assist more Maine libraries to join the
consortium.

________________________

COOL Consortium
by Bob Neeper

Consortium of Ohio Libraries -( COOL ) is  operational on new servers and
the new software release (2.4.2)

They actually moved from the original local Columbus, Ohio host to Equinox.
Offline yesterday and went back live this A.M.

In other COOL news..
COOL wins 2013 Ohio Library Council Innovation Award

To read more, http://www.olc.org/news_story080913.asp

Library Innovation Award:
Consortium of Ohio Libraries (COOL) -
Community Library, Sunbury;
Blanchester Public Library;
Cardington-Lincoln Public Library;
Germantown Public Library;
Mt. Gilead Public Library;
Selover Public Library, Chesterville;
Worch Memorial Public Library, Versailles;
Wornstaff Memorial Library, Ashley;
and Arcanum Public Library

Member library publication about the award
http://www.germantown.lib.oh.us/content/library-closed-catalog-migration


Have some Evergreen news to report?  Send it to Amy Terlaga at
terlaga at biblio.org.


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Amy Terlaga
Assistant Director, User Services
Bibliomation, Inc.
24 Wooster Avenue
Waterbury, CT  06708
203-577-4070 x101
www.biblio.org