A tale of two libraries

Yee-haw! We're officially welcoming two libraries to the Bibliomation fold this month. Warren Public Library went live on November 7 and Bridgeport Public Library returned to Bibliomation on the 14th.

These two libraries couldn't be more different, and it was great fun to spend their go live days with them. Warren is a small town in Northwestern Connecticut and Bridgeport is Connecticut's largest city. This was the first ILS for Warren, where almost every patron knew it was the library's big day.

Bridgeport is returning to Bibliomation -the library was one of the founding members of our consortium and actually housed Biblio's headquarters in our early days. Like the majority of our libraries, they migrated from Horizon. Equinox handled their data migration and we're pleased as punch with the results.

This Thanksgiving, we're giving thanks that we have two fine libraries joining our ranks. Have a joyous and safe holiday, US Evergreeners.

Almost there!

We're coming into the home stretch of our migration-filled two years. The Warren Public Library is automating for the first time and plans to go live on November 7th. Bridgeport Public Library will be re-joining Bibliomation with a go live date of November 14th.

Bridgeport has already rocked our Evergreen world. Our acquisition libraries were frustrated by a bug that limited purchase orders to 20 line items from a selection list. Bridgeport stepped in and funded the fix; this morning, a library created a purchase order with 38 items. We couldn't be more pleased and we're all looking forward to welcoming Bridgeport back into the Bibliomation fold.

Back to School!

For most of Bibliomation's schools, the first day has been delayed thanks to Irene. However, our friends at Equinox software got their data transferred into our Evergreen servers before the storm hit. Bibs, items, and students are all ready to go for our school media specialists once they have electricity to access them.

We're still training (and rescheduling hurricane-disrupted trainings) and working out new routines and workflows with the schools, but their data is ready to go. Next up, Bridgeport Public Library!

-Kate




image by Flickr user strangelibrarian

It’s Official – Bibliomation is an (almost) all-Evergreen consortium

On June 7, 2011, all of Bibliomation’s public libraries became Evergreen libraries. This fall, the school libraries will start their year with Evergreen and two more public libraries will join Bibliomation, bringing our total public library membership to 60.

We’ve been up and running on Evergreen for almost two months now and while it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing (what migration ever is), we’re finding our way and establishing some best practices as we go.

We’re over the moon about Ben Shum’s work automating our monthly reports and Jessica Venturo’s reports in the staff client. We’ve got data any which way our libraries want it. Now that we’re settling in to circulation and cataloging in Evergreen, Mary Llewellyn is forging ahead with acquisitions and serials. We’re bringing our libraries’ feedback about these two newest components of Evergreen as well as everything else in our new ILS back to the community and we’re building a wishlist for future development.

Bibliomation is excited to be a part of the Evergreen community and we can’t wait to build an even brighter future for our libraries and our ILS!

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

This is me, signing the official Evergreen Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement with the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), an umbrella, not-for-profit organization that helps promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.

I was one of many interested individuals serving on the Evergreen Oversight Board, hoping to find a means to protect the assets of the Evergreen community and we found such a way with the SFC. We spent the past year developing a beginning rules of governance that were adopted at the 2011 Evergreen conference on April 29th. One of our first tasks, now that these rules have been accepted, is to define a mechanism for electing Board members in future years.

I am very pleased to be on this Board, as the individuals I serve with seem to inhabit the spirit of open source. It was stressed again and again throughout our process of defining who we are and what our role should be, that we did not want to add a layer of bureaucracy to a community that is already thriving, fulfilling key components to keeping Evergreen growing in a very productive manner. We have found our role in the Evergreen community and I am happy to report that it is a supportive role, one that will help the existing groups - the developers, the documentation interest group, and the rest - grow even more.

For more information see here.

--Amy Terlaga
terlaga{at}biblio{dot}org

Here we go!

Evergreen training starts tomorrow. My trusty little car is loaded up with documentation, handouts, and my picnic blanket. Don't worry, there's still room for donuts!

-kate

Welcome, Hagaman Memorial Library!

We're pleased as punch to welcome East Haven's Hagaman Memorial Library to the Evergreen community!

The Hagaman Memorial Library went live on Monday, April 4 and was a roaring success.

The library staff used Evergreen's offline circulation mode over the weekend and reported it was easy to use. On Monday morning, they wisely opened late, so they could spend time in the morning checking in returns from over the weekend and acclimating to their new system. Their first Evergreen patrons were a preschool class storytime that got to come in while the library was closed.

I think I can safely declare Hagaman Memorial Library the most adorable go live ever!

The Evergreen Kids Catalog Project Picks Up Steam

We're happy to report that the kids catalog development project for the Evergreen catalog is moving nicely along. Bibliomation, along with our development partners, The King County Library System (Washington state), Sitka (British Columbia), and PINES (Georgia Public Library Service), have just approved the basic graphical skins that FGI, a Seattle-based web design firm, has created.

Next steps: We'll be checking with Equinox to make sure that they can develop the functionality around these skins so that libraries could plug in any skin of their choosing.

Equinox is also preparing a quote for us so we'll know what it will cost to develop the functions and features we'd like to see in this catalog, including:

• The option to filter to juvenile materials exclusively, either by MARC record (audience field) or by item shelving location code(s)
• The option to add and delete new graphical subject categories or edit existing ones
• The ability to see grade level information
• The ability to add a bibliography of web links
• The ability to add ratings and user reviews

For more information about this kids catalog project, you can contact me at terlaga{at}biblio{dot}org.

Amy Terlaga
Assistant Director, User Services
Bibliomation, Inc.

It's our Paper Anniversary

I'm a day late with this, but yesterday marked Bibliomation's first Evergreen anniversary! Beacon Falls Public Library was the first library in Connecticut to go live on Evergreen. They were also the first public library in Connecticut to move to an open source ILS.

What a year it's been! Since March 3, 2010, Bibliomation has brought up ten more Evergreen libraries, with another still cataloging away. We've been enjoying newlywed bliss with our new ILS and the Evergreen community, and we can't wait to introduce the rest of our libraries to our new sweetheart.

Image from Flickr user Eric Martin

Falls Village is LIVE

The David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village went live on Evergreen 2.0 last week. The tireless staff at the library had been cataloging their collection since June 2010. They bravely made the leap to automation as we upgraded our Evergreen system to Evergreen 2.0. Their first Evergreen patron was an exciting moment!

It was a big week for D.M. Hunt Library - they got their first iPad on Friday, started using their first ILS on Tuesday, and had their big annual fundraiser on Saturday.

Welcome, David M. Hunt Library!

Bibliomation is UP on Evergreen 2.0!

Bibliomation's development partner libraries were successfully moved over to Evergreen 2.0.1 over this past weekend. This move is the first stage in our many migrations to Evergreen this year.

Most of the development partner libraries (10 total) were brought up on Evergreen 1.6 last year. Late last year, we turned our attention to preparing for our multiple migrations to 2.0. We purchased the hardware necessary (multiple servers to create a stable, redundant environment) to support Bibliomation's 48 public libraries and 19 K-12 schools, plus the development partner libraries, and others. Now that the development partner libraries are on 2.0, we can really see how 2.0 performs and will be looking to these libraries to provide feedback.

At the end of March, we'll migrate The Hagaman Memorial Library, in East Haven over and they will join the ever-growing Evergreen network on Bibliomation's powerful servers.

Memorial Day weekend marks the migration of Bibliomation's public libraries off of Horizon and onto Evergreen, joining the development partners and East Haven. At this time, Evergreen's Acquisitions software will be put to the test.

Bridgeport Public Library and its branches will be folded in 4th of July weekend. Lastly, Bibliomation's schools will come up in September, closing out our very busy migration year.

Thanks to Ben Shum, Bibliomation's Open Source Software Coordinator, for configuring Bibliomation's servers for 2.0 and shepherding this upgrade through the long weekend. Bibliomation is using Alpha-G's John Craig and Backstage Library Works to assist us in these migrations as they involve multiple databases - the deduping, loading, and overlaying of these sets of bibliographic records have been critical to the success of the project.

Evergreen 2.0 is Out!

The long awaited release of Evergreen 2.0 is now out and available for all to download, install, configure, and have fun with.

Evergreen 2.0 brings with an extensive list of features, including some major functions such as Acquisitions. To see the list of features, click here.

King County Library System, in Washington state, drove much of the Evergreen 2.0 development effort. King County went live on Evergreen last September. Other sites, like the PINES System in Georgia, contributed significantly to the Acquisitions development.

Bibliomation will bring our Development Partner libraries up on Evergreen 2.0 in mid-February.

Evergreen System Preview for our Libraries

Kate Sheehan, Bibliomation's Open Source Implementation Coordinator, has been showing off the Evergreen system to our member libraries these past two weeks. Her demonstrations have been well received, as she has a talent for injecting a bit of humor into them. We're building momentum for our Memorial Day migration this May!

Many of our library partners brought their laptops with them to the demonstration; Kate walked them through the Evergreen client download and installation. These clients are now connected to our Evergreen test server so that staff can familiarize themselves with the software features such as how to search for a book, place a hold on an item, check that item out, etc.

Our libraries will be Evergreen experts in no time!