British Columbia’s Sitka Now Has 24 Libraries Live With Evergreen
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norcross, GA — October 8, 2009
British Columbia’s Sitka now has 24 libraries live with Evergreen, the robust, highly scalable open-source library automation software. Castlegar Public Library, located in Castlegar, BC, is the most recent addition to the consortium. They went live with Evergreen on September 15, 2009. In total, 34 Sitka libraries are expected to be running Evergreen 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.
Sitka is following a gradual approach to moving libraries over to Evergreen; libraries opt-in on their own schedules. Many libraries are expected to join the consortium over the next several years when their existing automation vendor contracts expire. The collective holdings for all Sitka libraries are at http://catalogue.bclibrary.ca and a description of Sitka can be found at http://sitka.bclibraries.ca/ .
Lauren Stara, Chair of the Sitka Business Function Group, says “We are very excited to now have 24 libraries (and counting!) live on the Sitka Evergreen database. The members now include our first multi-branch system as well as our first academic library. Sitka Evergreen is proving both robust and flexible across the vast territory of BC.”

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

October 5, 2009 - The Plinkit Collaborative has upgraded their software for small libraries. The new release has a number of improvements, the most popular being the ability to create and manage “recurring events.” Resources can now be tracked, so if an image is deleted and another document references it, a warning will pop up preventing unpleasant surprises like dead links. Further functionality includes: “versioning” where users can view a full history of changes, compare previous revisions, and revert to an earlier version of a page; a locking mechanism to prevent two people from editing the same page at the same time; and “working copy” support that allows a user to edit a copy of a “live” page and then later publish and replace the copy as the live page.

Plinkit 2.0 is based on Plone 3.2 which includes Kupu 1.4, so there are now many more formatting options for text. Working with images is simpler than ever with automatic image captioning as well as the ability to add resized images and Flash content. These are just a few of the many enhancements that make it even easier to use with the Plinkit software.

Plinkit is especially valuable in rural areas where long distances and limited hours make it difficult for patrons to go to the library in person. With the upgrade complete, the five organizations that joined the collaborative this year will start launching new sites, greatly increasing the number of small libraries with a web presence and library customers with online access to library catalogs and databases, as well as features such as slide shows, videos and event calendars.

For more information see "Feature enhancements in this release" or contact your Plinkit provider. State libraries and regional organizations may contact Justine Shaffner, Collaborative Coordinator at jshaffner@bcr.org or see www.Plinkit.org

September 18th, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Brendan Gallagher
(203)823-5847
info@bywatersolutions.com

ByWater Solutions Welcomes Nicole C. Engard as Director of Open Source Education

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, is proud to welcome Nicole C. Engard as their Director of Open Source Education. Nicole has had extensive experience in the Koha community and will continue her essential role as document manager for Koha, as well as conduct training, speaking engagements, and other educational roles for ByWater. In addition to receiving a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science, Nicole is well known outside of the Koha community as a speaker, teacher and writer, and has been recognized as one of Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers for 2007.

Nicole stated about her new position; “I have always had a passion for teaching librarians and for open source software. This role with ByWater lets me combine my passions on a day to day basis. I am excited that I will get to not only continue to work with the Koha community, but be introduced to the Evergreen community as well, all the while teaching librarians about the benefits of open source software."

“We could not be happier to have Nicole on board!” stated Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Solutions. “Nicole is a perfect fit for our growing company, and I know that we are in sync with her needs and aspirations within the open source community.”

About ByWater Solutions
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development for 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.

Check us out! http://www.bywatersolutions.com

Smart Poodle Publishing reminds US writers and artists from Kindergarten through Fifth Grade that there are only 2 months left before the Smart Poodle Publishing Contest Deadline.

Cash Prizes provided by Smart Poodle Publishing. All other prizes donted by Rand McNally's Online Store. Deadline November 30th, 2009.

First Place Winners in three grade categories (5K-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, 4th-5th grade) will each receive these three prizes (Value listed):

* Rand McNally Personal Journeys World Pinable Wall Map
($84.99)
* Rand McNally Hard Bound World Atlas ($24.95)
* Kids' Travel Activity Bundle ($15.80)
* A Check for $100 from Smart Poodle Publishing

Second Place Winners in three grade categories (5K-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, 4th-5th grade) will each receive these two prizes (Value listed):

* Rand McNally Traveler Series Kids Illustrated Wall Map
 ($64.99)
* Kids' Travel Activity Bundle ($15.80)

Third Place Winners in three grade categories (5K-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, 4th-5th grade) will each receive this prize (Value listed):

* World Knowledge Bundle ($22.90)

Winners will be notified by December 15, 2009.

Visit http://smartpoodlepublishing.com/contest.html for rules and entry form.

COLUMBUS, OH - October 1, 2009 - LibLime, the leader in open-source solutions for libraries, has announced that Hiwassee College Library is now live on LibLime Enterprise Koha.

The Library's system is installed, operated and maintained at one of LibLime's carrier-class data centers and distributed via Software as a Service on LibLime's cloud computing platform.

LibLime Enterprise Koha is built on over two years of completed customer-sponsored development, including several highly-anticipated academic and consortia features. This Software as a Service offering on LibLime's new cloud computing platform will also feature regular monthly releases as additional customer-sponsored development is completed.

"Maria Laude, our LibLime trainer, was very authoritative and informative. We not only learned about the catalog but we also had a lot of fun in the process!" said Tollie Banker, Library Director, Hiwassee College.

"Moreover, I have to say that our whole experience with LibLime has been very positive," Tollie continued. "They have graciously accommodated our quick deadline, dealt willingly with our many problems and also provided wonderful customer support."

"Working with Hiwassee College on their decision to select LibLime as their service and support provider was a very satisfying experience," said Marc Roberson, VP Library Partners at LibLime. "By partnering with LibLime, Hiwassee College will have a vehicle to assist the library in moving forward with new technology that will grow with it as it continues a rich tradition of providing its students and faculty with outstanding resources."

About Hiwassee College Library

Since opening its doors in 1849, Hiwassee College has been committed to providing great beginnings for its students. Hiwassee is a residential coeducational liberal arts college with historic ties to the Methodist Church. The campus, located in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains, occupies 60 acres of a 400-acre tract owned by the college. The mission of the college is to “provide quality education for all students in an atmosphere that promotes intellectual pursuit, spiritual growth, and social and personal responsibility.”

The Hardwick-Johnston Memorial Library was built in 1955 and currently holds approximately 30,000 volumes. Students have access to numerous electronic databases and over 80 current magazines and newspapers. The library also houses a computer lab and comfortable study areas. There are two librarians and two library assistants on staff to help students with their research needs.

About LibLime Enterprise Koha

LibLime Enterprise Koha couples the award-winning Koha Community baseline with the latest enterprise enhancements sponsored by LibLime customers. Backed by LibLime support and documentation, LibLime Enterprise Koha represents the most advanced and comprehensive open-source ILS solution available to libraries.

For more information, visit http://liblime.com.

To try out LibLime Enterprise Koha 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, Koha and LibLime Enterprise Koha are either registered trademarks or trademarks of LibLime. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.