Evergreen (software)

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Evergreen
Developer(s) Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES) and the Evergreen Community
Initial release September 2006
Stable release 2.1.0 / October 4, 2011; 4 months ago (2011-10-04)
Written in C, Perl, XUL, JS
Operating system Linux
Platform Cross-platform
Available in English
Type Integrated library system
License GNU General Public License
Website evergreen-ils.org

Evergreen is an open source Integrated Library System (ILS), initially developed by the Georgia Public Library Service for Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES), a statewide resource-sharing consortium with over 270 member libraries.[1]

Beyond PINES, the Evergreen ILS is deployed worldwide in hundreds of libraries, and is used to power a number of statewide consortial catalogs.[2][3][4][5][6]

In 2007, the original Evergreen development team formed a commercial company around the software, Equinox Software, which provides custom support, development, migration, training, and consultation for Evergreen.

Contents

[edit] History

Evergreen was developed by the Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) to support 252 public libraries in the Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES) consortium.[7] Development began in June 2004 when state librarian Lamar Veatch announced in an open letter that after reviewing options available, GPLS decided to develop its own library automation system. GPLS believed it could develop a system customized to fit it needs better at a lower cost than the fees currently being paid.[8] Programmers in the GPLS developed the project for two years, and PINES successfully completed the transition to Evergreen in September 5, 2006. In the next two years, the PINES consortium increased to over 270 libraries and five other systems in the United States and Canada implemented Evergreen.

Other Evergreen implementations in North America:[1]

  • Beauregard Parish Library (Louisiana, 6 branches)
  • British Columbia SITKA (69 libraries, including branches)
  • Indiana Evergreen (112 libraries)
  • Merrimack Valley (Massachusetts, 39 libraries all went live over Memorial Day Weekend 5/31/2011)[2]
  • Maine Balsom (10 libraries)
  • Niagara Libraries (Ontario, 11 libraries),
  • North Texas Library Partners (rural area outside Dallas, 12 libraries),
  • Pioneer Library System (Upstate New York between Rochester and Syracuse, 42 libraries),
  • Sage Library System (Northeast Oregon, 60 libraries)
  • SC LENDS (South Carolina, 49 libraries)
  • SPRUCE (Manitoba, Canada, 8 libraries)

[edit] Features

Development priorities for Evergreen are that it be stable, robust, flexible, secure, and user-friendly.

Evergreen's features include:

  • Circulation: for staff to check items in and out to patrons
  • Cataloging: to add items to the library’s collection and input information, classifying and indexing those items.
  • Online public access catalog (OPAC): a public catalog, or discovery interface, for patrons to find and request books, view their account information, and save book information in Evergreen "bookbags." The OPAC received a makeover in early 2009 with the new, optional skin, Craftsman.
  • Acquisitions: for staff to keep track of those materials purchased; invoices, purchase orders, selection lists, etc.
  • Statistical Reporting: flexible, powerful reporting for retrieval of any statistical information stored in the database.
  • SIP 2.0 support: for interaction with computer management software, self-check machines, and other applications.
  • Search/Retrieve via URL and Z39.50 servers

Evergreen also features the Open Scalable Request Framework (OpenSRF, pronounced 'open surf'), a stateful, decentralized service architecture that allows developers to create applications for Evergreen with a minimum of knowledge of its structure.

[edit] Languages

The business logic of Evergreen is written primarily in Perl and PostgreSQL, with a few optimized sections rewritten in C. The catalog interface is primarily JavaScript with XHTML, and the staff client user interface is written in Mozilla's XUL (XML + JavaScript). The user interface for most new staff client functionality is being built with the Dojo Toolkit JavaScript framework. Python is used for the internationalization build infrastructure. EDI functionality for the acquisitions system depends upon Ruby support.

[edit] Requirements

Evergreen runs on Linux servers and uses PostgreSQL for its backend database. The staff client used in day-to-day operations by library staff runs on Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, or Linux computers and is built on XULRunner, a Mozilla-based runtime that uses the same technology stack as Firefox and allows for a browser-independent offline mode. The online public access catalog (OPAC) used by library patrons is accessed online in a web browser.

[edit] Other Open Source Integrated Library Systems (ILS)

Portal icon Free software portal

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6396354.html Weber, J (2006). "Evergreen: Your Homegrown ILS", "Library Journal", 131(20).
  2. ^ http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen_libraries List of known sites running Evergreen
  3. ^ http://www.mlcnet.org/cms/sitem.cfm/library_tools/michigan_evergreen/ Michigan Evergreen
  4. ^ http://www.in.gov/library/evergreen.htm Evergreen Indiana
  5. ^ http://sitka.bclibraries.ca/ British Columbia Sitka
  6. ^ http://scln.statelibrary.sc.gov/index.php?title=SC_LENDS South Carolina LENDS
  7. ^ Breeding, M. (2007). Next-generation flavor in integrated online catalogs. Library Technology Reports, 43(4) 38-41.
  8. ^ Breeding, M. (2008). Major open source ILS products. Library Technology Reports, 44(8) 16-31.
  9. ^ http://www.opals-na.org/
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