ByWater Solutions and PTFS, both open source community supporters and Koha support companies, announced today that Dallas Christian College of Dallas, TX, has partnered with them for the implementation of the Koha integrated library system.

The installation, which is targeted to go live by the end of August, has already begun. The college has also contracted with ByWater and PTFS for their data migration, support and training services.

In the spirit of open source community and developer collaboration, ByWater Solutions and PTFS are working together on this project so as to accommodate all of Dallas Christian College’s migration timeline requirements.

“This unique relationship” states Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater, “ends up being not only beneficial to our customer, but also to both of our companies. Only the open source forum allows for companies such as ours to come together and form a mutually beneficial relationship that revolves around customer satisfaction.”

“We’re excited to work with both ByWater and Dallas Christian College for this Koha installation”, said Patrick Jones, Director of ILS Support at PTFS, Inc. “We believe the kind of collaboration that is taking place between our two companies will set an example for the entire Koha open source ILS movement. We look forward to working with any and all Koha support companies that are truly dedicated to making Koha successful.”

Shannon Garrett, Director of The Crawford Library at Dallas Christian College, adds, “Dallas Christian College is pleased to partner with ByWater Solutions and PTFS due to the excellent customer service they provide. We are pleased with the capabilities Koha offers to our staff, student and faculty.”

With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them.

PTFS Open Source Koha Solutions offers advanced, affordable implementation, training and programming services to manage and keep pace with the rapidly changing software needs of libraries. PTFS is a leading provider of comprehensive software solutions that include open source ILS software, digital archiving software systems, digitization & content conversion services, and ILS systems integration & staffing support services. The company has already provided ILS, digital archiving systems and information systems services to more than 250 government, commercial, academic, union, association and not-for-profit clients. PTFS is a privately held company headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

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Equinox Software, Inc. and ByWater Solutions Announce Partnership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norcross, GA — August 13, 2009
Equinox Software Inc. and ByWater Solutions are pleased to announce a partnership that will help meet the demands of the rapidly-growing Evergreen community by providing crucial support for data migration services.
“Our partnership with ByWater Solutions developed from a wonderful problem: more migration work than we could handle internally,” said Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. “We have dozens of libraries coming on board in the next year, and many more libraries clamoring to migrate to Evergreen. The relationship with this company of highly-skilled experts addresses a crucial bottleneck, enabling the Evergreen community to grow at its own pace—like a rocket.”
“An open source community not only consists of users, but also of vendors, and the cooperation and collaboration of both are equally vital,” said Brendan Gallagher, CEO and Director of Innovation for ByWater Solutions. Gallagher added, “Partnerships such as these are what makes the open source community so unique to foster growth and development for all involved. We foresee a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Equinox and are overjoyed to be on board.”
Brendan Gallagher, who has a degree in library science from MLS from Southern Connecticut State University, has led and participated in many data migrations for both proprietary and open source library systems, and has contributed code, documentation, and friendly assistance to a variety of open source projects. ByWater Solutions has offices in both Santa Barbara, California and New Haven, Connecticut. Their web address is http://bywatersolutions.com.

About Evergreen
Evergreen is powerful, highly scalable open-source library software. While Evergreen is best known for its unique ability to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia, Evergreen also elegantly scales down to the smallest library sites.
Since its debut in September 2006 as the software powering the 270-plus libraries of the Georgia PINES consortium, Evergreen has earned acclaim and praise from users worldwide, including a Technology Collaboration Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Evergreen now supports hundreds of libraries of every type—public, academic, special, and school media—in 12 states and 2 countries.
For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.
About ByWater Solutions LLC
With over a decade of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen. With access to a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them.

About Equinox Software, Inc.
Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled 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. Equinox also offers hosting packages for libraries that prefer not to maintain local servers.
For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.
Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 678-269-6113
Evergreen is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Evergreen and the Evergreen logo are trademarks of the Georgia Public Library Service.

Six More Libraries Go Live on Evergreen Indiana
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norcross, GA — August 11, 2009
Thirty-seven libraries are now live on Evergreen Indiana, a shared-catalog project of the Indiana State Library powered by Evergreen, the highly-scalable open-source library automation software. The six additions include Shoals Public Library—the first previously non-automated library to join Evergreen Indiana—as well as Andrews Dallas Township, Loogootee, Middletown Fall Creek, Milford, and Washington Public Township Public Libraries.
Evergreen Indiana now collectively serves over 400,000 Indiana residents (based on population served), and collectively represents over 4.5 million annual circulations, according to the latest federal statistics.
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.
According to Shoals Public Library Director, Linda Jones, “We are excited about the expanded access our patrons will have, not only to our local holdings, but to Evergreen libraries everywhere through the easy-to-use system they can operate in the library or from their home computers.” Jones added, “We anticipate that they will love being able to search holdings, place holds on materials, and organize their reading preferences around online book bags.”
“The uniquely powerful resource-sharing capabilities of Evergreen help even the smallest libraries triumph over tough times,” added Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. “As Evergreen Indiana grows, all of its libraries have the extended reach of their consortium for serving their users well.”
About Evergreen
Evergreen is powerful, highly scalable open-source library software. While Evergreen is best known for its unique ability to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia, Evergreen also elegantly scales down to the smallest library sites.
Since its debut in September 2006 as the software powering the 270-plus libraries of the Georgia PINES consortium, Evergreen has earned acclaim and praise from users worldwide, including a Technology Collaboration Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Evergreen now supports hundreds of libraries of every type—public, academic, special, and school media—in 12 states and 2 countries.
For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.

About Equinox Software, Inc.
Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled 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. Equinox also offers hosting packages for libraries that prefer not to maintain local servers.
For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.
Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 678-269-6113
Evergreen is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Evergreen and the Evergreen logo are trademarks of the Georgia Public Library Service.

Project Conifer –Evergreen’s First Academic Consortium- Goes Live
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norcross, GA —August 10, 2009

Project Conifer, the first academic consortium to be powered by Evergreen open-source library automation software, has gone live. Equinox Software Inc., “The Evergreen Experts,” oversaw data migration and software configuration and is providing round-the-clock ongoing technical support.
Algoma University, Laurentian University, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and the University of Windsor libraries make up this new consortium which holds over 2 million bibliographic records. This is the largest bibliographic database currently being supported by Evergreen.
To view the new catalogues for these libraries, please visit http://algoma.concat.ca ,http://laurentian.concat.ca, http://nosm.concat.ca, or http://windsor.concat.ca

About Evergreen
Evergreen is powerful, highly scalable open-source library software. While Evergreen is best known for its unique ability to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia, Evergreen also elegantly scales down to the smallest library sites.
Since its debut in September 2006 as the software powering the 270-plus libraries of the Georgia PINES consortium, Evergreen has earned acclaim and praise from users worldwide, including a Technology Collaboration Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Evergreen now supports hundreds of libraries of every type—public, academic, special, and school media—in 12 states and 2 countries.
For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled 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. Equinox also offers hosting packages for libraries that prefer not to maintain local servers.
For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.
Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 678-269-6113
Evergreen is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Evergreen and the Evergreen logo are trademarks of the Georgia Public Library Service.

COLUMBUS OH - August 5, 2009 – LibLime, the leader in open-source solutions for libraries and Salina Public Library announced today that the library has selected a Koha ZOOM hosted solution for their next integrated library system.

The Koha installation will be hosted off site at one of LibLime's secure data centers. The Library has also contracted with LibLime for data migration of their more than 300,000 items, support and training services.

With Koha, the new open-source automation system, the catalog will be a web-based interface and maintained by the library’s technology staff. The library can then adapt the system to the needs of patrons. When the software is altered, the resulting change can be redistributed for free for other members of the system’s consortium to benefit from.

After the implementation, patrons at the library or on the online catalog will be able to search not only the library’s catalog, but will have access to materials from Kansas Wesleyan’s library as well.

With the library’s current system, the library has no control over the system’s features, enhancements or platforms. Additionally, the library pays high costs for maintenance and support for the software.

“Switching to Koha is a smart move in terms of useability and financial responsibility,” said Joe McKenzie, director of the Salina Public Library. “It is a better use of our community’s tax dollars to have a system that is easier for them, and also more manageable for our staff, while at the same time saving over $20,000 per year. Everyone benefits.”

Changes that the public will notice from the new system include: pre-due and over-due notices will now be available via email; patrons will also receive checkout receipts via email. Patrons will also have access to their circulation history, so they can track what they’ve read and maintain that history. They will also be able to place holds on materials that are on the library shelves. They will be able to create a shopping cart of selections from home and either reserve them or print off their list and bring it to the library. Both staff and readers will be able to create book lists that will be available online.

For more information, contact Melanie Hedgespeth, Technology Center Manager, at 785-825-4624, ext. 233 or email Melanie@salpublib.org.

About the Salina Public Library

The Salina Public library enriches lives by providing accessible information, learning resources and services to meet the evolving needs of a dynamic and diverse community. Serving a community of over 50,000, the library circulates over 500,000 items annually. The collection includes over 275,000 books, DVDs, CDs, audio books and art prints. The Youth Services “Imagination Station” debuted last year and provides activities, resources and play space in addition to daily story times. The 7,000 square foot technology center sees high traffic daily with over 5,000 hours of public internet used each month. The library is also home to CLASS – Community Learning And Skill Sharing – a lifelong learning program in the Community Learning Center with two semesters of learning opportunities taught by local experts on a variety of topics.

Contact: Kristi Northcutt, (785) 825-4624, ext. 219, knorthcutt@salpublib.org

About Koha ZOOM

Koha ZOOM is the next-generation release of the award-winning Koha open-source integrated library system. Notably, it includes a powerful search engine based on Zebra, a high-performance indexing and retrieval engine. Koha ZOOM's search engine can read structured records in practically any input format (e.g., email, XML, MARC) and allows access to them through exact boolean search expressions and relevance-ranked free-text queries. It supports large databases (more than ten gigabytes of data, tens of millions of records) as well as incremental, safe database updates on live systems.

To try out Koha ZOOM for yourself, visit LibLime's demos:

http://liblime.com/demos

About LibLime

LibLime is the global leader in open-source solutions for libraries, with a mission to make open source accessible to libraries. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, LibLime educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. LibLime then facilitates implementation of open-source in libraries by providing outstanding development, customization, support and training solutions--solutions tailored to each library's needs. For more information, see http://liblime.com.

Press Contact:

Tina Burger
Vice President, Marketing LibLime
(888)Koha ILS (564-2457) ext. 705

tnb@liblime.com

LibLime and the LibLime logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of LibLime. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.