United Kingdom digital technologies leader to join the FOLIO project

WILMINGTON, Delaware — October 31, 2017 — FOLIO, a community collaboration to develop an open source Library Services Platform (LSP), has today announced a partnership with Jisc, the United Kingdom’s leader in digital technologies for education and research. Jisc will bring their expertise to the project while looking to leverage FOLIO’s technologies in their own projects where appropriate.

Jisc’s Head of Library Analytics Services, Ross MacIntyre, said, “Jisc is interested in being directly involved with FOLIO to contribute to its innovative efforts to shape the future of libraries. As a champion of the future of digital technologies, we believe that FOLIO is an important initiative for libraries. We are in favour of increasing the choice available to our members and would like to see more competition in the library management system marketplace. We welcome an open and community-driven approach to developing services for libraries, and we appreciate the efforts of the global FOLIO Community to solve problems of need and scale.”

Since being introduced in June 2016, FOLIO has gained significant backing from libraries looking to use it to run their libraries. By having the financial backing of large organizations, and by leveraging the Apache v2 license, libraries understand that FOLIO is a long-term, open solution to their ILS/LSP needs. FOLIO is being designed to meet the current needs of libraries while also providing a platform ecosystem that will allow for growth and innovation beyond traditional library workflows.

Because FOLIO will allow for libraries to run the platform themselves or rely on hosting and support from vendor partners and consortia, FOLIO will be able to meet the needs of libraries of all sizes and expand the adoption of open source solutions beyond libraries with large technical staffs. This new business model means libraries are not locked into a single vendor offering a monolithic option. Instead, choice is increased and budgetary savings can be realized because libraries can choose from the various apps provided by current service providers, library consortia or new players interested in innovating in the library space. FOLIO is designed with a microservices architecture which ensures that legacy issues don’t slow down future development, as no part of the project will be too big to replace.

How to Join the Community

Community members may participate in a variety of ways, by contributing their knowledge of specific workflows and functional areas, contributing their vision of how library technology must evolve in the years to come, contributing code, and helping to build out applications for the new extensible platform.

Interested participants can sign up at www.folio.org and click on GET INVOLVED to join the community and take part in FOLIO, including future FOLIO Days and conference presentations around the world.

About FOLIO

FOLIO is a collaborative effort among libraries, vendors, developers and consortia that leverages open source technology and a community-based effort to redefine library services and innovate based on library futures. By building on what libraries need and by leveraging library expertise as well as vendor capacity and velocity, FOLIO is designed to move libraries forward, build on the services they provide and redefine the role libraries play within their institution. FOLIO also levels the playing field and makes open source technology available to all institutions regardless of size or staffing. FOLIO brings vendors together to innovate and host services for customers and introduces open source as a service to libraries. To sign up to participate or receive more information go to www.folio.org.

About the Open Library Foundation

The Open Library Foundation is a not-for-profit where the library community can organize, contribute to and sustain the output of open source projects. The Open Library Foundation supports open collaboration and ensures that these projects can sustain their operations and the availability of their output. The Open Library Foundation uses an Apache v2 license to ensure the widest availability of the code for use and reuse. Find out more at www.openlibraryfoundation.org.

About Jisc

Jisc is the UK’s expert member organisation for digital technology and digital resources in higher education, further education, skills and research. Our vision is to make the UK the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world.

We play a pivotal role in the development, adoption and use of technology by UK universities and colleges. Supporting them to improve learning, teaching, the student experience and institutional efficiency, as well as enabling more powerful research.

At the heart of Jisc’s support is Janet – the UK’s world-class National Research and Education Network (NREN). Owned, managed and operated by Jisc, Janet comprises a secure state-of-the-art network infrastructure spanning all four nations of the UK.

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For more information about FOLIO, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy, Media Relations, FOLIO
kathleen@folio.org
978-223-0438

For more information about Jisc, please contact:
press@jisc.ac.uk
Press line: +44 0203 006 6056

~ Five HeinOnline Databases Will Be Accessible via EBSCOhost® and EBSCO Discovery Service™ ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — October 30, 2017 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) and William S. Hein & Co., Inc. (HeinOnline), the world’s largest image-based legal and historical document research database, announce the availability of five HeinOnline databases on EBSCOhost® and EBSCO Discovery Service™. The arrangement brings one of the richest and most comprehensive collections of historical and government–related information to researchers in academic and public libraries.

The HeinOnline databases provide unique coverage of legal history and government documents, making them a valuable resource for government, politics and law curricula. These resources provide a vast array of content including books, government documents, constitutions and treaties. HeinOnline databases feature works from some of the greatest minds in legal history, as well as a robust collection of Congressional documents, including comprehensive coverage of the Congressional Record, more than 60,000 hearings, thousands of House and Senate Reports, CRS reports, committee prints, and much more. Additionally, comprehensive coverage of both the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations is available.

The HeinOnline resources include:

• HeinOnline Legal Classics - includes more than 10,000 complete works from some of the greatest legal minds in history including Joseph Story, Jeremy Bentham, William Blackstone, William Holdsworth, Henry Maine, Federick William Maitland, Frederick Pollock, Benjamin N. Cardozo, and many more. In addition to many “classics” this collection also includes rare items that are found in only a handful of libraries around the world.

• HeinOnline Federal Register - provides comprehensive coverage (dating back to 1936) of The Federal Register, a legal newspaper published by the National Archives and Records Administration. Coverage includes Presidential documents, as well as rules, proposed rules, regulations, and notices from various government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice.

• HeinOnline Code of Federal Regulations - features the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register and dates back to its inception. All 50 subject matter titles are searchable, including Food & Drugs, Energy, Banks & Banking, Domestic Security, Commerce & Foreign Trade, Securities & Exchanges, Employees’ Benefits, National Defense, Public Health, Transportation and much more.

• HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents - features the complete Congressional Record Bound version, as well as the daily version back to 1980. It also includes the three predecessor titles: Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837) Congressional Globe (1833-1873), and Congressional Hearings (1927-2012), as well as other important congressional material including more than 60,000 Congressional hearings (e.g., Benghazi, Supreme Court Nominations). Also included are thousands of House and Senate Reports, CRS Reports, committee prints, and much more.

• HeinOnline World Constitutions Illustrated - includes information on constitutional and political development of every country in the world. It includes the current constitution for every country in its original language format and an English translation, as well as substantial constitutional histories for all countries.

Legal Classics and Federal Register are available now and Code of Federal Regulation, U.S. Congressional Documents and World Constitution will be available by the end of 2017. The resources are updated monthly.

All of the HeinOnline databases are accessible via EBSCO’s customizable, intuitive search platform, EBSCOhost and can also be leveraged within the EBSCO Discovery Service experience to further integrate with other library holdings/resources. Mobile users can also access the databases on the go via their Android and iOS smartphones.

About HeinOnline
HeinOnline is a premier online database containing more than 160 million pages and 160,000 titles of legal history and government documents in a fully searchable, image-based format. HeinOnline contains the entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, current and historical constitutions for every country in the world, and a vast collection of classic treatises.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 11,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 1,000,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

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

10/24/2017
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

Athens Limestone Public Library Goes Live on ByWater Solutions Koha Support

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America’s forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Athens Limestone Public Library, of Athens, AL. is now live on Koha with ByWater Solutions! ByWater completed the transition of the library’s 100,000 plus holdings from Polaris earlier this year and is providing ongoing support and hosting services to the library. The library’s customized Koha OPAC with free SSL encryption can be viewed at: https://alcpl.bywatersolutions.com/

About the Athens Limestone PublicLibrary:
The Athens-Limestone Public Library seeks to enrich the lives of all people in the community by providing services and materials in a variety of formats to meet their recreational, educational, personal, and professional needs. Emphasis is placed on providing popular library materials and access to useful information, supporting formal education, and stimulating young children’s interest in reading and learning. For more information please visit: http://www.alcpl.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, HTML5, 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 Koha 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 for Koha support 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/

~ Annual Award Recognizes Author and Illustrator Excellence in Youth Graphic Novels ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — October 17, 2017 — Submissions are now being accepted for the second annual SEE-IT™ Award. SEE-IT stands for Stories Engagingly Expressed-Illustratively Told. The SEE-IT Award is an annual book award given in partnership by EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) and the Graphic Novel Committee of the Children’s Book Council (CBC) to honor the outstanding achievements of authors and illustrators in youth graphic novels. Publishers are encouraged to submit titles for award consideration by March 9, 2018.

The SEE-IT Award was created in partnership by EBSCO (EBSCO eBooks™, H.W. Wilson Core Collections™ and NoveList®) and the CBC to recognize the cultural and literary impacts of youth graphic novels. Finalists for the 2018 SEE-IT Award will be announced in April 2018, and the winner will be announced in June 2018 at EBSCO’s School and Public Library Luncheon at ALA-Annual in New Orleans, Louisiana.

EBSCO Information Services Vice President of Book Strategy and Product Management, Ken Breen, says the SEE-IT Award was created to highlight and promote the positive influence that youth graphic novels have on young readers. “Last year we had a great response to the SEE-IT Award. We’ve seen the growth of youth graphic novels first-hand as a major provider of readers’ advisory services and book recommendations. The SEE-IT Award celebrates author and illustrator excellence in the genre, and allows us to provide recognition to graphic novels and share the positive impacts that graphic novels have on young readers.”

In 2017, the SEE-IT Award juror panel selected The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded, by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis, as the inaugural SEE-IT Award recipient. Published by ABRAMS, the graphic novel was selected for its use of creative storytelling, subject matter relevance and overall appeal. While members and employees of EBSCO and the CBC Graphic Novel Committee come together annually in collaboration to plan and organize the SEE-IT Award, they are not involved in the title selection.

The Children’s Book Council is the non-profit trade association of children’s book publishers in North America, and is dedicated to supporting the industry and promoting children’s books and reading. The CBC Graphic Novel Committee is committed to expanding the presence and legitimacy for children’s and young adult graphic novels.

Publishers interested in submitting nominees for the SEE-IT Award can do so by visiting the SEE-IT website at www.ebsco.com/see-it prior to the March 9, 2018 deadline.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 11,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 1,000,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.
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For more information, please contact:
Jessica Holmes
Communications Director
(800) 653-2726 ext. 3485
jmholmes@ebsco.com

10/17/2017
CONTACT:
Jessica Zairo
(888) 900-8944
klassmates@bywatersolutions.com

ByWater Solutions' Koha Klassmates Program Reaches 36 Library Schools

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support, is happy to announce that Koha Klassmates has now been adopted in 36 library schools nationwide. Koha Klassmates is a program that provides free hosted Koha installations for library schools. Teachers utilize their free hosted Koha instance to provide hands on experience for library students, giving them the real world tools and exposure they need before entering the workforce.

Jeffrey Sabol, Systems Librarian at Long Beach City College, commented on their recent adoption of Koha Klassmates:

"Our new ILS no longer allowed the suppression of records, and before Long Beach City College Library found Koha Klassmates, the library technology students were no longer able to gain the hands on cataloging experience they once had.  Now they can get hands on experience and be that much more confident with cataloging improving their employability."

About Koha Klassmates:
Koha Klassmates is a service of ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support. This service offers free hosted installations of the Koha Open Source ILS to library school instructors in North America for use in their classrooms. Using this service library school students can learn what it means to use a real LMS before entering the workforce. For more information or to sign up please visit: http://klassmates.us/

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, HTML5, 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 Koha 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 for Koha support 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/