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

[Kathy Lussier]

> Hey, do we get cookies even though we already committed?
Absolutely!

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 6:17 PM, McCanna, Terran wrote:
> Hey, do we get cookies even though we already committed?
>
>
> Terran McCanna
> PINES Program Manager
> Georgia Public Library Service
> 1800 Century Place, Suite 150
> Atlanta, GA 30345
> 404-235-7138
> tmccanna at georgialibraries.org
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kathy Lussier" <klussier at masslnc.org>
> To: open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org
> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2014 5:32:59 PM
> Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Seeking funding partners for upcoming	development projects
>
> 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