EVERGREEN NEWSLETTER - September / October 2013
EVERGREEN HACK-A-WAY by Rogan Hamby The 2013 Hack-A-Way was held this year in Grand Rapids, Michigan hosted by Calvin College on September 17th - 19th and sponsored by Equinox Software. Participants came to write code and discuss major issues facing community development. Perhaps the single largest issue that had to be discussed was the future of the staff client. With a lot of input and points for consideration put forward by those physically and electronically present the eventual decision was made to start moving away from dependency on our current platform and look at new frameworks. While we will have to live with the current staff client for a while and cannot afford to stop updating it, a rough game plan was put into place for moving to new frameworks that may allow us to eventually move to a web based staff client. Actual code produced covered areas as diverse as MARC exporting, serials, enriched content and the proof of concept for a simple web based check out interface. However, the most dramatic work came from those who worked hard on moving the TPAC to a mobile friendly interface - work that has continued aggressively over IRC since the hackfest. Additionally, a major topic of discussion was selecting a 2.6 release manager and reviewing the 2.5 process. As the community grows and an increasing focus is made on stable tested releases this can sometimes put a large burden on the release manager. With a lot of ideas thrown out for consideration no release manager was chosen, but the need is clear, for a large pool of good testers and several projects are underway to educate and encourage new participants. An agenda and list of participants can be found on the Evergreen community wiki. With a big success on only the second year of the Hack-A-Way we are finding that having this chance for a gathering mid-year between the conferences, without distractions, is very productive. Next year we will extend our tele-presence options after having a big demand for them this year. Groups interested in hosting next year should start considering and inquiring now. We will take submissions for hosting immediately after the 2014 conference. EVERGREEN RELEASES Evergreen 2.6 Grace Dunbar of Equinox provided the following feature update, planned for the upcoming release of 2.6: Dynamic MARC Fixed Fields Editor The current Evergreen Fixed Fields grid offers some support for showing and hiding fields based on the selected record type. This development plans to enhance and extend this concept to a fully dynamic, data-driven fixed fields editor for the MARC leader, 008, and 007. The interface will be a combination grid/list and wizard-style interface. Sponsored by Statistics Canada Enhancements to the Billing Interface - The Balance Owed, Total Billed, and Payment Pending columns should sort numerically instead of asciibetically. - Different colors should be used to highlight overdue items still checked out, long overdue items still checked out, and lost items. The distinct colors will make it easier for staff to distinguish among the different statuses. The colors should highlight the entire row, not just the title. - For negative bills on a patron's bill: in addition to the refund option on the shortcut menu, which accounts for any refunds in the Cash Report, there should also be a clear negative balance option, which clears the refund without impacting the Cash Report. - A library setting should be available to remove the "Convert Change to Patron Credit" option from the Bills interface. - A setting should be available allowing a workstation to choose to have all bills deselected when loading the bills interface. The intent of this option is to minimize errors in applying payments to the wrong bill. Sponsored by MassLNC Equinox has a contract out to a client for OPAC accessibility compliance work. Equinox has quotes out for the following but they are not completely funded: Inventory Module - if interested on co-funding, please contact Rogan Hamby. MVF/CRA (Multiple Value Formats and Composite Record Attributes), though there are many benefits to this project, it is fondly known as the "icons in the OPAC" project. If interested in co-funding, please contact Kathy Lussier. Prototype (proof of concept) Staff Client Browser Build. If interested in co-funding, please contact Rob Herrmann at Equinox. rherrm...@esilibrary.com Evergreen 2.5, etc. Grace Dunbar has provided another update, including features that made it into 2.5: Equinox has worked with NC Cardinal and COOL to bring two more library systems on board their respective systems. We also welcomed new customers Historic Deerfield Library, Rodgers Memorial Public Library, and PaILS' SPARK consortium. Equinox worked with GPLS to research and eliminate the patron search memory leaks and the printing memory leaks that were introduced in Evergreen 2.3. https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1086458 We're pleased that the following Equinox development made it into the 2.5 release candidate: Long overdue circulations management Web-based patron self-registration Support PO activation without requiring bibs/items Inter-authority linking script Vandelay item import Z39.50 Batch search, merge, and overlay Setting to disable payment by patron credit Option to disallow use of a branch as a pickup library for holds Long overdue patron standing penalty Per-hold behind the desk setting Different styles for long overdue and lost items in billing ui Option to include "wrong-shelf" holds in clear-shelf results (wrong-shelf holds are ones whose pickup library has changed) Authority-enhanced bibliographic browse Bib record browser with linked authorities Shelving location filter Serials routing slips can now be populated with patron addresses (outreach) RSS links to full catalog record Return hold id to SIP SIP renew all message support P.V Supa GoodStuff integration Equinox worked with GPLS, BC Libraries Cooperative, CW Mars, Bibliomation, and SC LENDS on a QA project for Evergreen. The final report can be found here: http://nox.esilibrary.com/~jason/qareport/qa.html Lastly, Bill Erickson posted about his experiments with a web-based staff client. http://blog.esilibrary.com/2013/10/15/hacking-away-a-web-based-staff-client / EVERGREEN LIBRARIES IN THE NEWS Missouri Evergreen Update by Debbie Luchenbill MOBIUS is pleased to announce that Blake Graham-Henderson has been hired as the Missouri Evergreen Programmer! Blake officially began on October 1. The Missouri Evergreen consortium now has thirteen libraries live on the system and 21 libraries officially part of the consortium! Since August, Carthage Public and Webb City Public Libraries have gone live on the system. Sullivan Public Library and Sikeston Public Library have become new members of the consortium, and will migrate next spring/summer. The consortium now contains 763,214 items, 522.570 bibs and 130,581 users. MOBIUS, a nonprofit library consortium based in Columbia, MO, is hosting and managing Missouri Evergreen with LSTA funds from the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. ________________________ PALS Update by Alexey Vladimirovich East Grand Forks Campbell Library (East Grand Forks, MN) will begin using Evergreen Acquisitions starting in January of 2014. EGF Campbell Library migrated to Evergreen in August of 2012. The library and PALS staff have been testing the Evergreen Acquisitions functionality for several months and we are ready to move forward with putting it into production use. ________________________ Georgia PINES Update by Terran McCanna We will upgrade to Evergreen 2.5 in January 2014 and roll out several additional development projects at the same time: Long Overdue handling, a new KPAC skin, and patches for the staff client memory leak issues. ________________________ Evergreen in the Czech Libraries by Eva Cerniňáková On Tuesday October 8th the Conference "Evergreen in Czech libraries" - the first ever professional event dedicated only to Evergreen ILS, was held in Prague in the National Library of the Czech Republic. At the conference was introduced the Evergreen ILS and its potential for the libraries. Also, the experiences of the four libraries in the Czech Republic using Evergreen or intending to start Evergreen use were presented. The conference was attended by over 50 participants from all over the Czech Republic. It may seem small, but in the context of the situation in the Czech Republic it's more than some of us expected and means that Evergreen has a chance to become an equal choice among the ILSes in the Czech Republic in the future. If interested, you can look at photos of the conference, see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151648304399071.1073741826.57434 4070&type=1&l=6fbb2cf2b0 ________________________ Evergreen Indiana by Ruth Frasur Evergreen Indiana is postponing a planned upgrade from November until after the 1st of the year with the goal of going straight to 2.5. Also, the consortium is implementing a payment program that allows for fines and fees for any materials to be taken at any library and for the monies to be collected and disbursed correctly throughout the consortium. The idea is to provide a much easier mechanism by which patrons can pay for lost and damaged materials. The hope is that more libraries will recover monies associated with those materials. ________________________ Maine Balsam Libraries Update by John Clark, Hartland Public Library Maine's first Evergreen consortium continues to grow. Started several years ago with grant funding from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, the consortium originally offered membership to public and school libraries in Penobscot, Piscataquis and Somerset Counties. Nine libraries joined: Hartland Public Library, Newport Cultural Center and Library, Stewart Free Library, Thompson Free Library, Shaw Library, Simpson Library, Penquis Schools, Foxcroft Academy and Abbott Memorial Library. That number has expanded to include College of the Atlantic, Bangor School System, Guilford Schools, Wilton Free Library, Farmington Public Library, Jonesport Schools, the Henry D. Moore Library and Central Maine Medical Center. Additional grant funds have been obtained to assist more Maine libraries to join the consortium. ________________________ COOL Consortium by Bob Neeper Consortium of Ohio Libraries -( COOL ) is operational on new servers and the new software release (2.4.2) They actually moved from the original local Columbus, Ohio host to Equinox. Offline yesterday and went back live this A.M. In other COOL news.. COOL wins 2013 Ohio Library Council Innovation Award To read more, http://www.olc.org/news_story080913.asp Library Innovation Award: Consortium of Ohio Libraries (COOL) - Community Library, Sunbury; Blanchester Public Library; Cardington-Lincoln Public Library; Germantown Public Library; Mt. Gilead Public Library; Selover Public Library, Chesterville; Worch Memorial Public Library, Versailles; Wornstaff Memorial Library, Ashley; and Arcanum Public Library Member library publication about the award http://www.germantown.lib.oh.us/content/library-closed-catalog-migration Have some Evergreen news to report? Send it to Amy Terlaga at terl...@biblio.org. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Amy Terlaga Assistant Director, User Services Bibliomation, Inc. 24 Wooster Avenue Waterbury, CT 06708 203-577-4070 x101 www.biblio.org