Charting Our Own Course
The Massachusetts Evergreen Experience
Kathy Lussier, MassLNC
Tim Spindler, C/W MARS
Jeff Klapes, Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield
The Massachusetts Evergreen Project
- MassLNC Background & Timeline
- Challenges and Opportunities from an Administrator's Perspective
- Engagement with Front-Line Staff
- Collaborating with a Larger Community
About MassLNC
- A collaborative project among C/W MARS, MVLC and NOBLE to jointly implement an open-source library system.
- Started in 2009 with a $412,000 LSTA Grant.
- Shared development and mutual support system.
Why Did the MassLNC Networks Choose Open Source
- Ability to Try the System Before Deciding
- More Control Over Features in the ILS
- Engaging End Users in Design and Testing
- Adopting Transparent Development Processes
- Control Over Costs
- Avoiding Vendor Lock-In
MassLNC Timeline
June - September 2009 - Evaluation of Evergreen and Koha
October 2009 - MBLC awards LSTA grant - networks recommend adoption of Evergreen
February 2010 - MassLNC coordinator begins
August 2010 - MassLNC joins first development partnership and issued first RFP for development
May 2011 - MVLC goes live on Evergreen
May 2012 - C/W MARS and NOBLE go live on Evergreen
MassLNC Timeline
July 2012 - MassLNC moves out of grant period and under new governance
August 2012 - New Development Committee comprising both library and network staff begins to meet
April 2013 - MassLNC starts process to find consultant to evaluate Evergreen performance
May 2013 - MassLNC holds its first Massachusetts Evergreen conference
MassLNC Timeline
October 2013 - MassLNC becomes one of three partners to sponsor prototype of new browser-based client for Evergreen
March 2014 - MassLNC and Bibliomation host Evergreen International Conference in Cambridge
May 2015 - MassLNC begins advertising for part-time developer, who will be first new hire since the hiring of a project coordinator.
Development Projects with
MassLNC Involvement
- Texting call numbers and holds notifications
- Patron message center
- Responsive design catalog for improved display on mobile devices
- More flexibility in the way the system fills holds
- Large-scale acquisitions improvements
- Activity metric (upcoming) - more popular items will get a boost in relevance ranking
What Makes Us Unique
The cooperation of three distinct Evergreen sites is unique in the community. It leads to cost efficiencies in shared development projects, gives us a stronger voice in the community, and provides local opportunities to share expertise.
Challenges and Opportunities from an Administrator's Perspective
Engagement with Front-Line Staff
Collaborating with a larger community
MassLNC community involvement at various levels
Core Committers
- Thomas Berezansky, MVLC
- Jason Stephenson, MVLC
Code Contributors
- Thomas Berezansky, MVLC
- Kathy Lussier, MassLNC
- Christine Morgan, NOBLE
- Michele Morgan, NOBLE
- Suzanne Paterno, NOBLE
- Dan Pearl, C/W MARS
- Jason Stephenson, MVLC
Documentation
- Jim Keenan, C/W MARS
- Joan Kranich, C/W MARS
- Kathy Lussier, MassLNC
- Tim Spindler, C/W MARS
- Tracy Swaim, formerly with MVLC
Evergreen Executive Oversight Board
- Kathy Lussier, MassLNC (2012-2015)
- Tim Spindler, C/W MARS (candidate)
Bug Squashing Day Participation
- Thomas Berezansky, MVLC
- Martha Driscoll, NOBLE
- Joan Kranich, C/W MARS
- Christine Morgan, NOBLE
- Michele Morgan, NOBLE
- Dan Pearl, C/W MARS
- Jason Stephenson, MVLC
Evergreen Security Team
- Thomas Berezansky, MVLC
- Kathy Lussier, MassLNC
- Jason Stephenson, MVLC
Working with other development partners
- Many of our development projects are done with the financial support and shared expertise of other development partners.
- MassLNC Wall of Fame
High Priority Projects Don't Always Need to Cost Money
Partnerships Beyond Evergreen
Evergreen and Koha worked on shared NCIP code to provide a connector to the new Massachusetts Commonwealth Catalog.
Benefiting from the Development of Others
- schema.org - provides structured data so that a library's resources are more discoverable by search engines.
Evergreen core committer Dan Scott - The ability to place one hold on multiple bib records of a title and to identify which formats are acceptable to fill the hold
Sponsored development from BC Libraries Cooperative