FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Duluth, GA —January 9, 2012

Equinox Software is proud to announce that Chris Sharp from Georgia Public Library Service and Tara Robertson from Emily Carr University of Art + Design will receive scholarships to the Code4Lib Conference in Seattle, Washington. The award includes reimbursement for registration as well as travel and accommodation expenses.

Equinox announced the scholarship opportunity in December. Sharp and Robertson were chosen based on their essays describing their library’s mission and commitment to open source, and how attendance will benefit them and their library in general.

Chris Sharp has been the PINES Program Manager at Georgia Public Library Service since 2009. Prior to that, he served as a PINES Administrator.

Tara Robertson is the Systems and Technical Services Librarian at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver. In addition, she is co-chair for the Social Media Users Group (SMUG) and chaired the 2011 Access Conference team.

The Code4Lib Conference allows library technologists to come together for collaboration and continued education. It began in 2005 as an idea in a chatroom discussion and proved so successful it has since been held annually in locations from coast to coast.

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled professionals who provide services for Evergreen and Koha. These services include software development, consulting, training, legacy data migration, 24x7 technical support, and system hosting. Equinox also engages and supports a rapidly expanding open source community.

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

Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 770-709-5571

Apex, NC, January 5, 2012--Mom's Choice Awards has named Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! among the best in family-friendly media, products and services in the children’s picture book and science and technology categories.

The book is an educational and entertaining look at the inner workings of a nuclear power plant. It is told from the perspective of a chubby white rat and a pretty blue bird who blame everything they don’t understand about nuclear energy on a cat named Penelope.

The Mom's Choice Awards (MCA) is an awards program that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and service.

“I walked a fencepost between creativity and the technicalities the nuclear industry demanded and it’s great to receive validation from the experts,” said author Amelia Frahm.

Parents, educators, librarians and retailers rely on MCA evaluations when selecting quality materials for children and families. The Mom's Choice Awards seal helps families and educators navigate the vast array of products and services and make informed decisions. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of PBS's Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times best-selling author, Priscilla Dunstan, creator of the Dunstan Baby Language; Patricia Rossi, host of NBC's Manners Minute; Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C., host of the Wright Place TV Show; and Catherine Witcher, M.Ed., special needs expert and founder of Precision Education, Inc.

MCA judges are bound by a strict code of ethics, which ensures expert and objective analysis free from any manufacturer association. The evaluation process uses a propriety methodology in which entries are scored on a number of elements including production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost.

To be considered for an award, each entrant submits five identical samples of a product. Entries are matched to judges in the MCA database. Judges perform a thorough analysis and submit a detailed assessment. Results are compiled and submitted to the MCA Executive Committee for final approval. The end result is a list of the best in family-friendly media, products and services that parents and educators can feel confident in using.

For more information on the awards program and the honorees, visit MomsChoiceAwards.com.

Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! costs $9.95 and is available from the publisher, at bookstores like Barnes & Noble Bookstores, and online at sites like Amazon.com.

About Nutcracker Publishing Company
Nutcracker PublishingCompany was founded in 2001. The company publishes children’s books that educate, entertain, and make it easier to establish a dialogue between children and adults about difficult subjects such as cancer and nuclear power. Nutcracker Publishing Company is based in North Carolina. Crack Open a Book! Visit: www.nutcrackerpublishing.com.

Media Contact:
Amelia Frahm
Nutcracker Publishing Company
Apex, NC
919-924-2058
Amelia@NutcrackerPublishing.com

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1/4/2012
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

Bethel University Goes Live on Koha with ByWater Solutions

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that Bethel University of McKenzie, TN. is now live on their installation of the Koha integrated library system.

The Library's Koha installation went live in mid December, and ByWater Solutions will be providing ongoing support and hosting services for them.

Bethel University's Library at Burroughs Learning Center houses a collection of over 100,000 books, videos, periodicals and electronic resources.

Jennifer Green, Catalog / Electronic Resources Librarian at Bethel University, commented on their migration to Koha with ByWater:

"Our migration with ByWater was so easy! Ruth, ByWater's Lead Migration Specialist, provided training that my librarians and staff raved about. She not only explained the features of Koha in a clear and straightforward way, but did so in a manner that got everyone incredibly excited about the new system. The actual data migration was an easy process that demanded little from me. Ed, Development Specialist at ByWater, did a great job at customizing our OPAC display. All bugs and kinks after the migration were fixed quickly. I would highly recommend ByWater to the busy librarian looking for a smooth ILS migration!"

The Library's customized online catalog can be viewed at: http://catalog.bethelu.bywatersolutions.com/

About Bethel University and the Library at Burroughs Learning Center:
The mission of Bethel University is to create opportunities for members of the learning community to develop to their highest potential as whole persons – intellectually, spiritually, socially, and physically – in a Christian environment.

The Library at Bethel University strives to support the Bethel community in all its information seeking needs. We endeavor to be a positive collaborator in learning and a laboratory where the skills of critical thinking and life-long learning can be nurtured and developed. Our overall objective is to be an organization that reflects the Christian values and forward thinking of an institution where individuals are educated for work and life in the 21st century. For more information please visit: http://www.bethelu.edu/

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies--XHTML, CSS and Javascript--making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/

About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, top ranked support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/