Rossland (B.C.) Public Library Goes Live with Evergreen
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Norcross, GA – February 23, 2009

Rossland Public Library has become the 14th library in British Columbia’s SITKA consortium to go live with Evergreen, the consortial-quality open-source library automation software.

Rossland Public Library’s migration to Evergreen is one more step in a process that will see up to 34 SITKA libraries running Evergreen on a shared catalog by the end of 2009. Equinox Software Inc., the support and development company for Evergreen, is providing ongoing 24/7 technical support for SITKA’s Evergreen implementations.

Sharon Herbert, Project Manager for the Evergreen implementation project at BC SITKA, said, "As libraries successfully come on board to SITKA, we are seeing the positive impact of collaborative partnerships on service delivery and access to all. Evergreen is key to our strategy."

“The powerful advantages of Evergreen are becoming increasingly evident in this economic downtown,” said Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. “Evergreen’s ability to serve the needs of growing consortia and the fiscal security of its open code make Evergreen an obvious slam-dunk for libraries everywhere.”

SITKA is following a gradual approach to moving libraries over to Evergreen; libraries opt-in on their own schedule. Many libraries are anticipated to join over the next several years when their existing automation vendor contracts expire.

Rossland Public Library opened in 1939 with 250 donated books. It was staffed by community volunteers until a part-time librarian was hired in 1948 at a rate of 50 cents per hour. Today Rossland Public Library is a modern, easily-accessible facility with a diverse collection of books, periodicals, audio books, videos, and music CDs. Their new online catalog is at http://rossland.catalogue.bclibraries.ca and their website is at http://rossland.bclibrary.ca/. The collective holdings for the SITKA libraries running Evergreen are at http://catalogue.bclibrary.ca and a description of SITKA is at http://sitka.bclibraries.ca/ .

About Evergreen

Evergreen is consortial-quality, open-source library software initially developed to support Georgia PINES, a resource-sharing consortium with over 270 public libraries. Evergreen was designed from the ground up to be robust, fault-tolerant, service-oriented, and standards-based. Evergreen nimbly evolves to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia, while elegantly scaling down to the smallest library sites.

The growing, multinational Evergreen development community has shepherded Evergreen through a series of carefully-planned releases that have further strengthened Evergreen’s consortial capabilities while adding popular and useful functionality. Evergreen 2.0, due out in 2009, will add acquisitions, serials, and reserves to Evergreen’s outstanding functionality.

From its debut in September 2006, Evergreen has earned acclaim and praise from users worldwide, including a Technology Collaboration Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional Evergreen implementations include consortial projects such as Michigan Evergreen and Evergreen Indiana, and libraries such as Kent County Public Library in Maryland, Marshall Public Library in Missouri, the National Weather Center Library, and the University of Prince Edward Island. King County Library System, a public library system in Washington State, and the thirteen libraries of Natural Resources Canada have also contracted with Equinox Software for Evergreen services. For more information about Evergreen, visit http://evergreen-ils.org

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled developers and other professionals who provide comprehensive support for Evergreen, the consortial-quality, open source Integrated Library System (ILS). Equinox develops, supports, trains, migrates, integrates, and consults on Evergreen, and engages with the rapidly expanding Evergreen community. Instead of one-size-fits-all support, Equinox works closely with libraries to ensure Evergreen is implemented in the manner that best fits their individual needs.

In addition to support, custom development and integration services, Equinox offers complete Evergreen hosting packages for libraries wishing to outsource their ILS infrastructure. Equinox also provides consulting services for libraries seeking more insight into the value proposition of open source software.

Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 678-269-6113

For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.

Evergreen is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Evergreen and the Evergreen logo are trademarks of the Georgia Public Library Service.