Michigan Evergreen

Last week, I demo’ed Michigan Evergreen at a presentation for PALnet and Mideastern Michigan Library Cooperative in Flint.  There were about 30 librarians present from academic libraries and public libraries.

The academics at the Flint presentation indicated an interest in seeing how Evergreen works for the Canadian university libraries when they go live in early 2009.  Like the Conifer group, Michigan academic libraries who are considering Evergreen want to wait for serials and acquisitions functionality before deciding to migrate.

At the Flint program, it was good to be able to have the complete software working on the training server, so that I was able to show real-time OPAC, circ and cataloging functionality – much better than powerpoints.  And demos will be even better after August 4th when Branch District Library is up, and we’re able to show their real, live catalog!  Record-loading began yesterday, with all still on schedule for the August 4 date.  Our training for Branch District Library continues this week – Circ/OPAC yesterday and cataloging and admin training in the next couple days.  Pretty exciting stuff!

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On Sunday June 29, I was part of a program at ALA Annual entitled “Planning for Open Source in Cooperatives and Consortia.” Monica Schultz and John Boggs of Peninsula Library System, a consortium of 35 libraries in the San Francisco bay area. Monica and John started out the program by providing an excellent overview of open source software and the pros and cons of using it. For my part, I described our Evergreen pilot project: our environment, why we chose Evergreen, how we got started, and where we are today. I ended with some thoughts about the future of the project. You can get a copy of my Powerpoint presention here.

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Last week, I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, to talk to Nebraska libraries about the Michigan Evergreen project at an Open Source ILS symposium hosted by the Nebraska Library Commission.  There is interest among Nebraska libraries for a statewide ILS using open-source software.  I offered the Michigan Evergreen model as something Nebraska libraries might want to copy for their open-source ILS project, as well as inviting them to join our group if they choose Evergreen.

Other speakers at the symposium included Bob Molyneux from Equinox (Evergreen), Josh Ferraro from LibLime (Koha), Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia from GA Pines (Evergreen), and Kathy Rippel from Central Kansas Library System (Koha).

I’m looking forward to seeing what Nebraska and other states and provinces decide to do with open-source systems.  It looks like we’re part of a burgeoning trend!

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On Tuesday, February 12 MLC hosted a panel in SL on Evergreen! We were pleased to have speakers Don McMorris from Equinox and Tim Daniels from Georgia Public Library Service. We had a large crowd of librarians both in and out of Michigan attend this event. Click on the links below to see our speakers’ presentations. Pictures to come!

A full transcript of the discussion can be found here.

Don’s Presentation

Tim’s Presentation

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The Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) is hosting a free seminar in Second Life on Tuesday, February 12, 4pm SL time (that’s 7pm EST – Michigan time). The seminar will focus on Evergreen ILS open-source software.  Our speakers will be Don McMorris from Equinox and Tim Daniels from one of the Georgia libraries using Evergreen.

The seminar will be held at MLC’s virtual building in Second Life.  For SL coordinates and other information, please contact Evette Atkin, atkine@mlcnet.org or 800-530-9019 x152.

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We are going to demonstrate Evergreen’s open-source ILS software at the Michigan Library Consortium booth (#23-24) at the MLA Annual Conference Exhibits, November 7-8. The Exhibits will be in Hall C of the Lansing Center.

If you’re going to the MLA Conference, please come by the booth. Staff will be available to demo Evergreen during these time slots:

Wednesday, November  7, 10:45am-11:45am

Wednesday, November 7, 12:30pm-3:00pm

Thursday, November 8, 10:00am-11:30am

Thursday, November 8, 2:00pm-3:00pm

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