2/20/2014
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

Pasco County Libraries Choose ByWater Solutions’ Koha Support

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America’s forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Pasco County Library Cooperative, of Hudson Florida, is now live on their installation of the Koha integrated library system.

ByWater Solutions completed the migration of the Pasco County Library Cooperative’s 9 Library branches in late 2013 and will be providing ongoing Koha Support and Hosting services. The libraries have a combined total of over 550,000 item and 171,000 borrower records. Their custom mobile-friendly OPAC can be viewed at http://pasco.bywatersolutions.com.

Sean McGarvey, Library Administrator, Pasco County Library System, spoke of their choice to move to Koha:

“I have been a user of the Koha Open Source ILS for over 3 years. It is one of the best tools for granting libraries all the power of a solid ILS system, combined with the flexibility of a web based program. Now both staff and users can have full functionality anywhere we have an Internet connection. The Open Source aspect of the program is even more attractive, as we don’t have to depend on any one single vendor to make the improvements we want. With that said the support we received from ByWater Solutions in migrating our data, training our staff and hosting the ILS has been excellent. The issues that appear with any migration were quickly addressed by Joy and her migration team. They bent over backwards to make sure our data started off as clean as possible; even working over the holidays! Our training conducted by Nicole was spot on and gave the staff a great foundation for our go live. She spent a day with each aspect of our library world and discussed any issues and solutions that might be needed. The most impressive part is all of this was done in a 4 month time frame, and anyone who has done a migration before knows that’s a very sharp deadline.”

Nicole C. Engard, VP of Education at ByWater Solutions commented on her experience with the staff at the Pasco County Libraries:

“I had the pleasure of training this great group of librarians. Their enthusiasm to learn and their excitement about the new system was great. In true Open Source fashion the training attendees spent time thinking of new ways to do things in Koha and even agreed to sponsor a new development to improve the fines/accounting system. I know that this group will make a great addition to the Koha community and the ByWater family.”

About Pasco County Libraries:

Pasco County Libraries’ 9 branches and website are one-stop community outlets for access to technology, government, and a world of learning. The libraries have a national reputation for innovation and have won awards for their youth programs. They’ve led the way on online access to government services and helped people start their own businesses. The Pasco County Libraries have changed lives by connecting people with quality information and community resources. For more information about Pasco County Library Cooperative, please visit: http://www.pascolibraries.org

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:

ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions to support Koha not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/

EBSCO Information Services Rolls Out 28 New eBook Subject Sets
~ Subject Sets Enhance Quality of e-Book User Experience While Simplifying
Collection Development ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — February 20, 2014 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has added 28 new eBook Subject Sets to its extensive collection of eBooks. The Sets provide libraries with convenient ways to begin or expand their eBook collections with current, reputable content from leading publishers.

Key collection areas that were increased with the release of these new Subject Sets include Arts & Humanities, Business, History, Medical and Science & Technology. The Sets allow for quick and easy purchases in particular high-interest subject areas. There is no title overlap across Sets, and no title overlap from year to year.

The 28 new Subject Sets now available include:

• Nursing
• Engineering
• Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy
• Natural & Alternative Medicine
• Wellness
• GIS
• Leadership & Management
• Accounting & Finance
• Economics
• Networking & Security
• Emergency Management
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Earth Sciences
• Career
• Criminal Justice
• Literary Criticism & Writing
• Education
• Biology & Life Sciences
• Teacher Resources K-8
• World Religion
• American Contemporary Issues
• Media & Communication Studies
• World History
• Ethnic Studies
• Psychology
• Energy & Green Tech
• Computer Science

eBook Subject Sets are convenient, prepackaged sets of titles chosen to meet libraries’ needs for new content on popular, in-demand topics. EBSCO’s Collection Development Team of librarians uses tailored knowledge to create collections and Subject Sets for libraries. All Subject Sets from EBSCO include titles published within the past two years, and have no title duplication among current or past Subject Set offerings.

EBSCO eBooks™ offers more than 500,000 e-books and audiobooks. EBSCO proactively acquires new content in critical areas, based on the dynamic needs of libraries. Accessing the EBSCOhost platform for e-books and audiobooks saves librarians training time and adds a well-known search platform to the end user’s experience. Allowing end users to search for e-books and audiobooks along with their EBSCOhost database content improves the discoverability of library collections. Lowering the cost for libraries makes the decision to focus on or add to e-book and audiobook collections easier and more cost-effective. For more information on EBSCO eBooks, visit: http://ebscohost.com/ebooks.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading provider of resources for libraries including EBSCONET®, EBSCO’s total e-resource management system, and EBSCOhost®, the world's premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives and e-books. EBSCO provides more than 375 research databases and more than 500,000 e-books plus subscription management services for more than 360,000 unique titles including more than 57,000 online titles. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of journals and magazines than any other discovery service. For more information, visit the EBSCO Web site at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Vice President of Communications
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebsco.com