Mike Rylander, President miker@equinoxinitiative.org
Grace Dunbar, Vice President grace@equinoxinitiative.org
Who is Equinox?
Statistically speaking we are:
- 10 Librarians
- 3 Software Developers
- 3 Project Managers
- 4 Support Specialists
- 3 Data Specialists
- 3 Trainers
- 2 Consultants
- Geeks
- Foodies
- Animal Lovers
What does Equinox do?
- Everything related to Evergreen, Koha, and FulfILLment.
- Equinox is to Evergreen as your Auto Dealership is to your car.
- We don’t own your car, you do.
- We provide services for your car.
- And we’re the most knowledgable people out there about that car because that’s our primary focus.
Some statistics
Equinox Hosted Customers
Total Circulations Since Beginning Of Time 88,018,348
Total Circulations Last 365 Days 21,635,921
Total Holds Since Begining Of Time 8,356,267
Total Holds Last 365 Days 2,189,394
Total Transits Since Begining Of Time 14,483,188
Total Transits Last 365 Days 2,664,191
Total Copies 22,819,006
Total Bib Records 6,068,354
How do you support Evergreen / Koha / FulfILLment?
Through Sequoia!
We support most of our hosted implementations on our internal Sequoia network. Sequoia is our delivery platform for library services hosted on our private cloud.
We deliver our open source solutions, along with a set of tools for managing them, such as system administration and customization interfaces via the Sequoia platform.
We are working with other industry leading vendors to roll out more services integrated directly into the Sequoia platform such as telephony, collection development, and bibliographic and authority record management. This will allow our Sequoia customers to have the most robust and efficient suite of services available to any open source ILS or ILL users.
So... what is Evergreen / Koha / FulfILLment?
- They are an ILS (or ILL). It is no different in concept from Millennium, Symphony, Athena, Polaris, Worldcat, Illiad, etc.
-
But our technologies are developed and released under a different model - the open source software model. Examples of open source software are: Linux (Red Hat), or Android.
- Open source is a philosophical and methodological difference.
- Open source adherents believe that the more people contribute to and improve the software, the better it will be.
- But we do not SELL these products - they are free and anyone can use, modify, or distribute them without our knowledge or permission. The community itself, of which Equinox and its clients are important members, is responsible for what goes INTO the products and how they manage the development, releases, documentation, bugs, etc.
How is Evergreen different?
-
Other ILS's are built on a proprietary software model, like Microsoft Office, or iTunes.
- You have to pay for them. Seat licenses; "ports"; per-module fees; code escrow costs.
- You have no right or ability to modify or fix them, or even see “under the hood”.
- Sometimes, you don’t even “own” your own data that populates the program.
So how does this work?
Cooperation. Visibility. Meritocracy. Commitment.
- Everyone has a voice - level playing field.
- Self-policing but not a free-for-all.
-
Rules/Structure
-
Fiscal Sponsor Oversight
- Manages Copyright/Budget
- It's free but not unprotected
- Community Oversight Board
- Release Mgr/Maintainer
- Core Committers
-
Fiscal Sponsor Oversight
*Note that no one can “buy out" your software and take it away from you, it's community-owned software.
Key Technical Points in Evergreen History
2004 Evergreen began as a grant-funded project at GPLS.
2006 Evergreen 1.0 was rolled out to 260+ PINES libraries.
2008 Equinox begins building Constrictor for testing.
2009 Evergreen 2.0 was released with Acq and Serials.
2011 Evergreen moves to GIT for decentralized version control.
2011 Evergreen begins using Buildbot for automated testing.
2013 Equinox completes QA testing and Report
2013 Equinox begins Web Client Prototype.
2014 MassLNC releases an independent Performance Evaluation of Evergreen by OmniTI.
2014 Equinox begins Web Client transition development funded by partners like YOU! Thank you!
The Future of Evergreen
Evergreen is better than ever, thanks to its community.
We keep growing, despite the FUD sown by other companies.
In order to continue growth Evergreen needs:
- Stable and committed support/services companies
- An engaged user base
- Retention of in-house knowledge
- Strong and representative leadership
Questions?
Mike Rylander, President miker@equinoxinitiative.org Grace Dunbar, Vice President grace@equinoxinitiative.org
Equinox OLI and the Community
By Grace Dunbar
Equinox OLI and the Community
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