[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Seeking funding partners for upcoming development projects

Fri Aug 15 10:41:23 EDT 2014

Kathy,

When do you need the money for this?

On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 10:06 AM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org>
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> The MassLNC Development Committee met earlier this week to ascertain what
> we need to move forward with some of our development projects this year.
> With PINES' assistance, we are close to moving forward with two development
> projects, but we still need a small amount of funds for each project.
>
> Alert development: This project has three components that give Evergreen
> sites more control over their alerts: 1)The ability to designate copy
> alerts as either checkin alerts or checkout alerts 2)The ability to add
> temporary alerts to copies, primarily so that staff in one library can add
> alerts to copies belonging to another library (e.g. "patron says this DVD
> needs cleaning"), and 3)the ability for a library to suppress some system
> alerts, such as the alerts that tell staff they have checked in a lost,
> missing, long overdue, or claims returned item.
>
> Our libraries believe this project is important because, although alerts
> are sometimes necessary and relay critical information, many of our
> libraries find that some alerts do not provide information they need to
> know at certain points of the circ transaction. These alerts, therefore,
> add unnecessary steps to the workflow. Although clicking through one
> unnecessary alert may only add a couple of seconds to the workflow, those
> seconds add up throughout the hundreds or thousands of circ transactions
> that occur throughout the course of the day. Also, if we remove the alerts
> that are unnecessary, staff are more likely to pay closer attention to the
> alerts that provide important information.
>
> MassLNC needs just $5,000 to proceed with this development project.
>
> The Message Center project will provide a central area where patrons can
> view library messages. An Evergreen site can configure which notices will
> appear in the message center (e.g. overdues, cancelled holds, pre-due
> notices). The center will also display any public notes added to the patron
> record. These notes now display in the account summary area, but can easily
> be missed if the patron isn't looking for them. Logged-in users will get a
> visual cue, similar to those used in many other web sites, that lets them
> know when they have a new message (see mock-ups at
> http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/2927).
>
> Our libraries believe this project is important because users have come to
> expect web sites to provide important information, not just through e-mail,
> but also through the user account area of the web site. E-mail
> communication for notices is not always reliable, and the message center
> provides another means for communicating important information to the
> patron. This project also takes a piece of information currently available
> in the patron account area (public patron notes) and provides a needed
> visual cue that lets patrons know the note is available.
>
> MassLNC just needs $2,900 to proceed with this development project.
>
> If your library is interested in either of these projects, but cannot
> contribute the full amount required, please let me know. If we get enough
> libraries that can only contribute a portion of the funds required, those
> funds will quickly add up.
>
> Please contact me directly if you have any questions on either of these
> projects.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Kathy
>
> Kathy Lussier
> Project Coordinator
> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
> (508) 343-0128
> klussier at masslnc.org
> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
>
> On 7/25/2014 5:32 PM, Kathy Lussier wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm pleased to announce that Georgia PINES has joined MassLNC to help to
>> fund the Enhancements to Evergreen Alerts and Message Center projects.
>> Thank you Georgia PINES!
>>
>> We have also received some interest from Evergreen sites on the activity
>> metric project.
>>
>> MassLNC would really love to see all three of these projects implemented
>> in a future release of Evergreen. If anyone is interested in the projects
>> and can contribute some funds, even if it's only a small amount of money,
>> please feel free to contact me at klussier at masslnc.org with your
>> questions.
>>
>> What do you get out of being a partner on one of these development
>> projects? Putting funds to a development project is your opportunity to
>> make a contribution to the future direction of Evergreen. It's a great
>> feeling to see a new feature in Evergreen and to say to yourself "I helped
>> to make that new feature happen." Budgets are tight everywhere, but by
>> pooling our funds together, we can see some great new functionality at a
>> lower cost for each partner. The recent MVC/CRA project (aka icon project)
>> is a great example of a development project where many small development
>> contributions, combined with a couple of contributions from some larger
>> sites, resulted in some nice improvements for the whole Evergreen
>> community. Being a development partner also ensures that  you will be part
>> of spec discussions and testing, allowing you to watch out for the needs of
>> your users while the project is being shaped.
>>
>> But, wait, there's more! If you participate in a MassLNC development
>> project, your organization will be added to the MassLNC Wall of Fame where
>> we acknowledge and thank all of the sites that have worked with us on
>> development projects over the years - http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/3067.
>> The large number of libraries and consortia listed there is a testament to
>> the great community we have and the fact that there are so many sites out
>> there that want to contribute what they can to help make Evergreen better
>> for everyone.
>>
>> But that's not all! For a limited time only, if your organization decides
>> to help fund one of these projects, you will receive a batch of cookies
>> made by MassLNC coordinator Kathy Lussier (that's me). The cookies will be
>> hand-delivered to you at the next Evergreen conference (or, if we're both
>> there, at the next Evergreen hack-a-way).
>>
>> Please take some time to look over these projects and let me know if
>> you're interested.
>>
>> Have a nice weekend everyone!
>>
>> Kathy
>>
>> Kathy Lussier
>> Project Coordinator
>> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
>> (508) 343-0128
>> klussier at masslnc.org
>> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
>>
>> On 7/1/2014 2:45 PM, Kathy Lussier wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Today marks the first day of the new fiscal year for MassLNC, and our
>>> development committee has identified a few new enhancements we are hoping
>>> to sponsor over the next year.
>>>
>>> We have received proposals from Equinox for all three projects, but
>>> MassLNC needs help to fund these projects. I am sending out this e-mail to
>>> see if there are other Evergreen sites interested in helping us fund any of
>>> these projects. For more details, you can e-mail me directly at
>>> klussier at masslnc.org.
>>>
>>>
>>> Also, if you are already working on a similar project or just want to
>>> provide some feedback for our proposed projects, please feel to share your
>>> feedback on the list.
>>>
>>> These three projects are listed on the new Proposed Development Projects
>>> wiki page at:
>>> http://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=evergreen_
>>> features:proposed_development_projects
>>>
>>> ACTIVITY METRIC FOR RELEVANCE RANKING
>>> The goal of this project is for a title's activity (circulations, number
>>> of holds, etc.) to affect the relevance of that title when retrieving
>>> search results. Google and Amazon use popularity with much success when
>>> ranking search results. I think Evergreen would see similar success if it
>>> were to incorporate activity into its relevance algorithm.
>>>
>>> As an example, if a user were conducting a keyword search on "abraham
>>> lincoln,"  there are many books, movies, etc. in most US libraries where
>>> the words "abraham lincoln" show up in the title. There would be no way to
>>> tease out the titles that are getting the most attention by readers. In
>>> fact, a title like "Team of Rivals" ranks very low in our search results
>>> even though there is a fairly high likelihood it is the title the patron is
>>> seeking.  By applying a metric based on activity, we might be able to see
>>> those more-recently popular titles floating higher in the search results
>>> list.
>>>
>>> The current proposal is to make factors like circulation and hold
>>> activity, record and item age, and item ownership counts available as an
>>> activity metric. Each factor will embody a "popularity badge" that a bib
>>> record can earn, and each badge will have a five-point scale, where more
>>> points indicate a more popular record.
>>>
>>> The average of the badge points earned by each record will constitute a
>>> "popularity star rating". The number and types of badges will break ties
>>> for average popularity.
>>>
>>> A new sort axis of popularity will be created to sort first on the
>>> cumulative popularity of each record, followed by the query-specific
>>> relevance available today.
>>>
>>> ENHANCEMENTS TO EVERGREEN ALERTS
>>> I mentioned this project in the recent thread on problems with items not
>>> checking in properly - http://markmail.org/message/rnm5s7wdxjgy3tym.
>>>
>>> This project would give Evergreen sites more control over which alerts
>>> appear during check-in and check-out. The project has three components:
>>>
>>> - Separate checkin and checkout copy alerts
>>> - The ability to add temporary copy alerts from the checkin, checkout,
>>> and item status screen
>>> - A library setting that allows sites to determine if some system alerts
>>> should appear at checkin and checkout.
>>>
>>> MassLNC's full project requirements are available at
>>> http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/2764.
>>>
>>> This project is not slated to begin until Fall 2014 after sprint 1 of
>>> the web client project is complete.
>>>
>>> MESSAGE CENTER FOR THE PUBLIC CATALOG
>>> This project would create a message center that communicates important
>>> messages to patrons. Public patron notes will display here, and sites will
>>> have the ability to configure any action/trigger notice to also deliver a
>>> notice to the message center.
>>>
>>> MassLNC's full project requirements are available at
>>> http://masslnc.cwmars.org/node/2927.
>>>
>>> Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
>>>
>>> Kathy
>>>
>>
>>
>

-- 
Ruth Frasur
Director of the Historic(ally Awesome) Hagerstown - Jefferson Township
Library
10 W. College Street in Hagerstown, Indiana (47346)
p (765) 489-5632; f (765) 489-5808

Our Kickin' Website <http://hagerstownlibrary.org>  Our Rockin' Facebook
Page <http://facebook.com/hjtplibrary>  and Stuff I'm Reading
<http://pinterest.com/hjtplibrary/ruth-reads/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://libmail.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/attachments/20140815/38084b48/attachment-0001.htm>