[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Seeking funding partners for upcoming development projects
Kathy Lussier
klussier at masslnc.org
Fri Aug 15 10:51:29 EDT 2014
Hi Ruth,
We can work with partners on the timing that works best for them. For
the message center project, if we are able to get the necessary
commitments lined up quickly, I expect coding and testing could be
completed before the end of the calendar year. This means we would
prefer to have the funds before the end of the calendar year, but, like
I said, we can work with potential partners if necessary.
The alert development project will be implemented in the web client, not
the current staff client, meaning that the project start time will be a
little later. In that case, we could easily receive the funds in this
calendar year or the next one.
I hope this helps!
Kathy
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
On 8/15/2014 10:41 AM, Ruth Frasur wrote:
> Kathy,
>
> When do you need the money for this?
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 10:06 AM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org
> <mailto: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 <tel:%28508%29%20343-0128>
> klussier at masslnc.org <mailto: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
> <mailto: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 <tel:%28508%29%20343-0128>
> klussier at masslnc.org <mailto: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 <mailto: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/>
>
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