Noble County (Ind.) Public Library Goes Live With Evergreen
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norcross, GA – March 3, 2009
Noble County Public Library is the twentieth public library to go live on Evergreen Indiana, a shared-catalog project of the Indiana State Library powered by Evergreen, the consortial-quality open-source library automation software. Equinox Software, Inc., the support and development company established by the original Evergreen developers, provided bumper-to-bumper support for the migrations and is now providing round-the-clock ongoing technical support. Alpha-G Consulting assisted with data migration.
According to Sandy Petrie, Director of Noble County Public Library, “We are very grateful for this opportunity to join Evergreen. With the slow economy and tighter budgets, Evergreen is allowing us to give our patrons enhanced services while vastly reducing our expenses. The product and the timing could not be better.”

“Open source software offers peace of mind and the knowledge that you can demonstrate your purchase is a smart decision,” said Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. “This is code you can see, download, and examine—no hidden secrets, no bad surprises. Plus the history of Evergreen underscores its most important feature: no matter how big or small the library, it just works.”

Noble County Public Library has three branches located in Albion, Avilla, and Cromwell. Together these branches serve 14,000 patron and hold 72,000 bibliographic items. The new Noble County Public Library online catalog and the complete Evergreen Indiana shared catalog can be viewed at http://evergreen.lib.in.us.

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 British Columbia Sitka, 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. Other libraries contracting with Equinox software for Evergreen services include King County Library System—a public library system in Washington State—and the thirteen libraries of Natural Resources Canada. A number of libraries “go it alone” with Evergreen by providing their own migration and support, which further demonstrates the power, ease, and reliability of this state-of-the-art library software.
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, 770-709-5571

Norcross, Ga. – Integrated Technology Group (ITG), a division of Vernon Library Supplies, Inc., in partnership with SirsiDynix, has expanded its client base to include its first major Canadian library system—the Hamilton Public Library in Ontario. By the end of 2009, Hamilton Public Library is scheduled to install a mix of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology applications in 19 of its 23 branches, as well as in the technical services department. The installations will include ITG’s Apex XpressCheck™ patron self-service kiosks and Apex FlexCheck™ staff stations.

“We realized that our staff members, who are highly educated, were unable to use their skills to their fullest extent to serve patrons because they were tied down with repetitive, manual tasks,” said Kit Darling, director of information technology and bibliographic services for Hamilton Public Library. “RFID technology has once again allowed our libraries to place a high value on personal relationships with our borrowers.”

The Hamilton Public Library system serves nearly 200,000 patrons in both rural communities and urban centers. Many of those patrons use the library’s online services to put items on hold and request shipment to their nearest local branch.

“The popularity of our online services resulted in our staff investing hours each day handling ‘on-hold’ items and shipping them,” said Darling. “The RFID technology has drastically reduced the amount of time it takes to process and fulfill patrons’ requests.”

The Hamilton Public Library staff, which is comprised of 198 full-time employees and 372 part-time employees, is now able to spend less time managing the library’s collection and more time assisting patrons.

“ITG is committed to supplying the best RFID technology and service to the Hamilton Public Library and all libraries in Canada. We are working to ensure that all ITG products work in a variety of library RFID environments, including Hamilton’s, where another vendor’s RFID applications had been used in a couple of locations prior to ITG’s involvement,” said Scott Hackstadt, chief technology officer for ITG. “The foundations of our technologies have been specifically developed to allow for optimal interoperability, a critical factor in our success at Hamilton. And, our partnership with NCR allows us to deliver and support an exciting range of new products quickly throughout Canada.”

In addition to being the first major Canadian library system to adopt Apex RFID, Hamilton Public Library will be one of the first libraries to install the new Medallion series Apex XpressCheck kiosks. These next generation kiosks combine ITG’s Apex XpressCheck software, a modern, sleek, furniture design, and NCR’s EasyPoint computer hardware and UI enhancements. With the Medallion series ITG delivers the easiest, fastest, most accurate self-checkout experience on the market.

About Integrated Technology Group

Integrated Technology Group (www.integratedtek.com) develops, markets, and supports library automation technologies that empower librarians to make operations more efficient and better serve their patrons. ITG’s products include patron self-checkout, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Automated Materials Handling (AMH) systems, computer reservations, and print cost recovery. With over 30 years experience in the library industry, ITG combines smart technology and progressive design to create standard solutions that can be easily customized to meet site-specific requirements. ITG, a division of Vernon Library Supplies, Inc., is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.

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