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Evergreen’s code is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later.

Important stuff up front

2.x upgrade schedule
Communication channels

Upgrade to 2.x: schedule

Goal for May: upgrade to newest version of Evergreen without loss of existing functionality

Now → end of May	Testing and (re)training with 2.x functionality
Friday, April 8th	Upgrade test server to 2.0.5
Friday, April 15th	Port catalogue skins to 2.0.x
Wednesday, April 20th	Upgrade test server to 2.1 beta
Week of April 25th	Evergreen Conference
Week of May 2nd	Port circulation rules to 2.1 (in-database)
Week of May 16th	Final testing: public interface, circulation, cataloguing
Weekend of May 20th	Upgrade to 2.1
Weekend of May 27th	Contingency: Upgrade to 2.1

Communication

Conifer is a consortium, not a set of individual libraries
Preference is to discuss first and get it right once across most or all libraries
Channels:
- Many-to-many: Conifer discussion list
- Many-to-many (specialized): Circulation / Cataloguing / Public interface groups
- One-to-many: Conifer tickets
- One-to-one: Contact individual Conifer systems person
  - Perfectly appropriate for SYSTEM IS DOWN!

Evergreen release timeline

Release	Date
1.0	September 2006
1.2	July 2007
1.4	January 2009
1.6.0	November 2009
1.6.1	June 2010
2.0	January 2011
2.1 beta	April 2011

Steady pace of releases featuring enhancements over time; so what’s not in 2.0?

Configurable - Blessing / Curse

Before you ask, almost everything in Evergreen is configurable; too configurable, perhaps…

Public catalogue features

Added content (cover images, reviews, etc) from many sources:
- OpenLibrary (default, cover images, tables of content)
  - Conifer is adopting OpenLibrary as its content provider
- ChiliFresh (reviews) - not Conifer
- ContentCafe (reviews) - not Conifer
- Syndetic (cover images, reviews, author biographies, notes) - not Conifer
- Google Books (full or partial previews)
- Amazon (cover images) - not Conifer
Improved faceting:
- Displays record counts for each facet
- Selection is ANDed to current search, multiple facets supported
- Facets derived predictably from records returned in search results

Public catalogue - Basic search

Public catalogue - Advanced search

Search with truncation operators ("child*")
Search with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)

Public catalogue - Features (2)

Display of arbitrary MARC data (BibTemplate) in search results and record details

Patrons can update their own contact information, reset their passwords
Call number browse normalized to per-library classification scheme (Dewey and LC supported out of the box)
Missing: a full-featured catalogue suitable for low-bandwidth connections or Internet Explorer
- A working proof of concept has been developed; with some work it could completely replace the existing catalogue
Missing: significant social features such as patron-generated reviews, ratings
- There is some exploratory code in this area outside of 2.0; see this Access 2010 presentation

Cataloguing - Authorities

Categories of authorities:
- Author: 100‡a, 110‡a, 111‡a
- Subject: 148‡a, 150‡a, 151‡a, 155‡a
- Title: 130‡a
- Topic: 150‡a
Changes to an authority propagate to linked bibliographic records
A script is available to link bibliographic records against authorities
- We will run this script for Conifer’s authority records
- First we have a massive amount of de-duplication to tackle, because we loaded all of Windsor and Laurentian’s authority records when we migrated to Conifer

Importing authorities

Authorities in MARC or MARCXML format can be imported via the MARC Batch Import/Export tool
Once authorities have been de-duplicated, duplicate authorities are prevented in the future

Managing authorities

Editing an authority record

Actions → Edit opens the authority record in a MARC editor:

Editing an authority record: result

Merging authority records

Action → Merge enables you to merge two or more authority records
Linked bibliographic records get linked to the master authority record

Controlling fields manually

Fields in bibliographic records that are controlled by an authority record will be linked via a $0 subfield per MARC rules
Right-clicking a field in the MARC Editor triggers an alphabetical browse of available authority records, including 4xx and 5xx matches
Ability to create an authority record on the fly
Missing: linkage between authority records (5xx)

Browsing authority records

The classic MARC editor offers an authority browser on controllable fields

Cataloguing - Serials

Not just one, but two user-friendly interfaces for predicting and receiving serials
- And one raw MFHD interface for the hardcore
Procedure:
1. Create a subscription
2. Add the captions and patterns for the serial
3. Add a distribution with a copy attribute template
4. Create one issuance for that combination of subscription and distribution
5. Generate predictions starting from that issuance
6. Receive the issues

Serials - Enumeration wizard

Serials - Chronology wizard

Serials - Frequency wizard

images/serial_pattern_compress_frequency.png

Serials - Predictions

Once you have a pattern, you can generate predictions!

Serials - Check in

Once you have predicted issues and created a copy template, you can receive serials

Serials - Missing in action

Some important functionality is still missing in action:

Serials claiming has not yet been implemented
Display of records with hundreds of barcoded issues is still a problem
- Thankfully, Art Rhyno’s workaround can be adapted to 2.x
- New catalogue does a much better job of handling this situation
Placing holds on specific issues is only available to staff by default; see also display of records with hundreds of barcoded issues

Cataloguing - Flat-text MARC editor

Switch between flat-text MARC editor and classic editor on the fly

Cataloging - Classification and call numbers

Configurable classification scheme defines default call number selection per library (Dewey, LC, and generic out of the box)
Spine labels
- Configurable call number prefix & suffix per shelving location
- Configurable font and label sizes per library
2.1 adds call number prefixes and suffixes per call number

Copy location editor

Spine label editor

Circulation - Patron registration

Circulation - Rules

Staff client interface for defining duration and fine rules based on criteria including:
- item circulation modifier
- item type, format, videorecording format
- owning library
- circulating library
- reference state
- type of patron
- age of patron
2.1: Grace periods can be defined per rule, instead of current global '0 or 1 fine intervals'
2.1: Improved support for fine calculations for intervals of less than 1 day

Circulation - Multi-item sets

Missing in 2.0: ability to catalogue multiple items as a single set (for example, Play harmonica today! consisting of a book, CD, and harmonica)
- Current workaround is to assign just a single barcode to the complete set
- 2.1 brings multi-item set support
Some support, via Mark Missing Pieces at check-in (albeit for only a single barcode)
- Changes item status to 'Damaged'
- Prints an item slip
- Prints a notification letter
- Adds a note to the patron’s record
- Item remains checked out to patron’s account until resolved

Circulation - Mark Missing Pieces

Circulation - Missing pieces (confirm and note)

Circulation - Missing pieces patron note

images/mark_missing_pieces_patron_notes.png

Circulation - Bound-withs

The inverse of the multi-part item is two or more separate works bound together in a single item. For example:
- Collections of pamphlets in a single bound volume
- tête-bêche - popular for Canadian bilingual governement documents
- Thousands of books on a single e-reader
Missing: Evergreen currently provides no support for separate bibliographic records that can be linked to a single barcode
- 2.1 brings bound-with set support

Circulation - Hard due dates

Most loan durations are expressed as an interval of time ("2 weeks", "4 hours")
Academics needed a way to set "End of term" due dates, so now hard due dates enable you to
- Set a ceiling for regular loan durations
- Or set due dates for all affected items to the hard due date

Circulation - Holds

Optional first-in, first algorithm (new) vs. classic "minimize transit distance" algorithm
Patrons can:
- See estimated wait time, hold queue details
- Cancel and recreate holds
- Change pickup location before the hold is ready for pickup
- Place holds on on-order items
- Create holds from bookbags (KCLS skin?)
Staff can:
- Add custom notes to hold slips
- Force a patron to the front of the queue (for example, if the held item was damaged)
System can be configured to disallow holds for items that are on the shelf

Circulation - Notifications

Out of the box, email, print, and telephone notification is supported (Asterisk PBX server not included)
Pre-defined events that trigger notification include:
- Holds are available or expiring
- Pre-overdue reminders
- Items are overdue or marked as lost
- Password resets
- Self-checkout receipts
- Results of a patron request (ordered, received, cancelled, rejected)

Booking / reservations

If you have all items of a reservable type attached to a single bibliographic record, the booking module can help
- "Video Projector", "Study Room", "Laptop", etc
Staff can reserve items on behalf of patrons for time slots in the future
Limitation: Reserved items are "picked up" by patrons, rather than checked out
- Does not count as a circulation
- Does not trigger circulation rules

Booking - Create reservation

Booking - Capture reservation

Booking - Pick up reservation

Circulation - Other

Sets of items
Transaction logging (who accepted payment for what?)
Merge patrons
Delete patrons (anonymizing all transaction history)
Amnesty mode
Built-in self-check supports credit card payments (Canadian usage unknown)
Backdated check-ins retain actual check-in time as well as backdate
Missing: Built-in academic reserves
- University of Windsor has implemented and adopted Syrup reserves system

Acquisitions

In preview mode since 1.6.0, acquisitions has been unleashed in 2.0.0:
- Funding sources and funds
- Multiple currencies and exchange rates
- Provider (vendor) management

Acquisitions - Funding sources

Acquisitions - Funds

Acquisitions - Providers

Acquisitions - Ordering

There are a number of ways of ordering in Evergreen:
- Manually creating selection lists and invoices
- Generating an EDI ORDERS message (the provider’s ORDRSP can be used to update price and status information)
- Using the provider’s selection interface and loading their MARC order records
EDI has been tested so far with:
- Baker & Taylor
- Brodart
- Midwest Tapes
- Ingram
Documentation on how to use most of the advanced features in acquisitions is now available

Integration

Z39.50 client for copy cataloguing
SRU and Z39.50 server interfaces for external clients
SIP server support for self-checkout and authentication
OpenURL support:
- Basic SFX target parser
- Cached SFX lookups for electronic resource display in search results (post-2.0 but available now)
Missing: ability to delegate authentication to an external service (LDAP, OpenID, Shibboleth, etc)

Documentation

Team co-led by Robert Soulliere at Mohawk College has produced a solid draft for 1.6.0
- Full HTML and PDF versions available
Staff client supports separate help page for each staff client interface
In progress:
- 2.0 documentation
- Actual help content for staf client

Independence and governance

Development team features a more diverse mix of active committers:
- Currently 4/9 from outside of Equinox (arguably 2/7)
Increasing quantity of patches contributed by, and bugs opened and answered by, the community
Community has self-organized into a number of ad-hoc teams / committees:
- Developer team
- Communications / Web team
- Documentation team
- Reports committee
- Conference committee
Governance committee was struck at the 2010 Evergreen Conference
- Currently working on forming a fiscal sponsorship agreement with the Software Freedom Conservancy
- Has also held healthy debates about how the governance committee should renew itself, what membership means, etc

Upgrade to 2.x: schedule

Goal for May: upgrade to newest version of Evergreen without loss of existing functionality

Now → end of May	Testing and (re)training with 2.x functionality
Friday, April 8th	Upgrade test server to 2.0.5
Friday, April 15th	Port catalogue skins to 2.0.x
Wednesday, April 20th	Upgrade test server to 2.1 beta
Week of April 25th	Evergreen Conference
Week of May 2nd	Port circulation rules to 2.1 (in-database)
Week of May 16th	Final testing: public interface, circulation, cataloguing
Weekend of May 20th	Upgrade to 2.1
Weekend of May 27th	Contingency: Upgrade to 2.1

Communication

Conifer is a consortium, not a set of individual libraries
Preference is to discuss first and get it right once across most or all libraries
Channels:
- Many-to-many: Conifer discussion list
- Many-to-many (specialized): Circulation / Cataloguing / Public interface groups
- One-to-many: Conifer tickets
- One-to-one: Contact individual Conifer systems person
  - Perfectly appropriate for SYSTEM IS DOWN!

Testing - Circulation

Rules calculate fines correctly for most common categories
Scheduled reports continue to provide accurate (or more accurate) information
Reminder / overdue notices generated appropriately for all languages
Item history / patron history
Fine payments
Fields that we have hidden locally (date of birth, internet filtering) should stay hidden
New: Set due time as well as due date
New: Ensure Renew items interface works correctly
New: Adopt bookings / reservations at some locations?

Testing - Cataloguing

Located URIs for electronic resources
- Ingest multiple URIs successfully
- Remove URIs and reingest to enable deleting a record
Spine labels
- Printing still works
- New Set per-library formatting defaults
- New Prefixes / suffixes by shelving location
Call numbers
- New Default to LC or Dewey on a per-library basis
- New Improved call number sorting
Serials
- Raw MFHD approach still works
- New User-friendly predictions and check-ins
New Authorities management and use

Testing - Public interface

Display URI / call number / location / availability in search results
SFX lookups
Local branding in skins
French / English interfaces
Zotero support
Keyword / title / author / subject / series searches (including phrases)
New Advanced search options
- Boolean OR
- Wildcard * truncation operator
- Identifier indices

Testing - System integration

RACER integration
- Accurate ISSN / ISBN search via Z39.50
Self-check machines
- Supports Unicode characters in patron names / item metadata

Summer projects

Automate synchronization of Laurentian user information
- Depends heavily upon Information Technology Services, the gatekeepers to this information
- We have worked out a technical path to synchronize user accounts, including name, email address, contact information, password, program and enrolment status
In-database circulation:
- First, adopt it at time of upgrade (converting existing scripted rules to in-database logic)
- Second, enable local administrators to adjust their rules according to local requirements
"Syrup" reserves:
- Continue to encourage faculty to link to electronic resources from Desire2Learn
- If time allows, set up a limited Syrup instance for Laurentian to support physical resources
Acquisitions:
- No urgent need at J.N. Desmarais to adopt Evergreen acquisitions
- Could begin by loading last few years of acquisitions history, then load current year one month at a time until cut over?
New pure HTML catalogue (speed and stability)
- Some significant differences in applying local customizations
Discovery
- Contribute on an as-needed basis to Windsor’s "single search" effort for searching all electronic and print resources from one search box
Update of union catalogues (AMICUS, WorldCat, …)

Springing into Evergreen 2.x

Important stuff up front

Upgrade to 2.x: schedule

Communication

Evergreen release timeline

Configurable - Blessing / Curse

Public catalogue features

Public catalogue - Basic search

Public catalogue - Advanced search

Public catalogue - Features (2)

Cataloguing - Authorities

Importing authorities

Managing authorities

Editing an authority record

Editing an authority record: result

Merging authority records

Controlling fields manually

Browsing authority records

Cataloguing - Serials

Serials - Enumeration wizard

Serials - Chronology wizard

Serials - Frequency wizard

Serials - Predictions

Serials - Check in

Serials - Missing in action

Cataloguing - Flat-text MARC editor

Cataloging - Classification and call numbers

Copy location editor

Spine label editor

Circulation - Patron registration

Circulation - Rules

Circulation - Multi-item sets

Circulation - Mark Missing Pieces

Circulation - Missing pieces (confirm and note)

Circulation - Missing pieces patron note

Circulation - Bound-withs

Circulation - Hard due dates

Circulation - Holds

Circulation - Notifications

Booking / reservations

Booking - Create reservation

Booking - Capture reservation

Booking - Pick up reservation

Circulation - Other

Acquisitions

Acquisitions - Funding sources

Acquisitions - Funds

Acquisitions - Providers

Acquisitions - Ordering

Integration

Documentation

Independence and governance

Upgrade to 2.x: schedule

Communication

Testing - Circulation

Testing - Cataloguing

Testing - Public interface

Testing - System integration

Summer projects