EBSCO Information Services and Children’s Book Council Announce 2020 SEE-IT™ Award Winner
~ Graphic Novel from First Second Publishing Selected for Its Lasting Impact and Distinguished Contribution to Youth Literature ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — June 16, 2020 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) and the Graphic Novel Committee of the Children’s Book Council announced Stargazing, written and illustrated by Jen Wang, as the 2020 recipient of the SEE-IT™ Award. Stargazing epitomizes what the SEE-IT Award stands for through its ability to embrace and discuss difficult topics — such as mental health, income inequality, racial and cultural difference — while inspiring empathy and compassion.

Jen Wang is a cartoonist, author and illustrator living in Los Angeles. She is the author of The Prince and the Dressmaker, Koko Be Good, and co-author of The New York Times bestselling graphic novel In Real Life, with Cory Doctorow. Her work has appeared in Los Angeles Magazine, The Believer, Hazlitt, Slate, and McSweeney’s, and she has written for the Adventure Time and Lumberjanes comic series. Wang is the co-founder and organizer of the annual festival Comics Arts Los Angeles.

SEE-IT Award juror Genevieve Grove says, “Graphic novels can carry just as much literary weight as their traditional cousins. The protagonists of Stargazing both illicit strong compassion in the reader and are complex characters whose journeys, both emotionally and physically, compel us to keep reading. We talk about books being both mirrors and windows for representation, self-identification and learning. This is exactly the type of literature that best exemplifies the concept, including highlighting diversity amongst racial groups that many in America might just consider monoliths. As a librarian, I can't wait to continue to share this book with kids for many years to come.”

Developed by EBSCO and the Children’s Book Council, the SEE-IT Award recognizes the cultural and literary impacts of youth graphic novels and is designed to celebrate the year’s most distinguished graphic novels for young readers. The four additional finalists, announced in May 2020, included:

• I Was Their American Dream, written and illustrated by Malaka Gharib (Clarkson Potter)
• Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell (First Second)
• New Kid, written and illustrated by Jerry Craft (HarperCollins)
• They Called Us Enemy, written by George Takei, Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger and illustrated by Harmony Becker (Top Shelf Productions)

EBSCO Information Services Vice President of Product Management for Books John Brennan says this year’s SEE-IT Award feels particularly valuable as libraries and educators continue to integrate diverse content into their collections. “We are proud to support an award that recognizes an artform which engages young readers while educating them on important social issues.”

A total of 100 submissions from more than 30 publishers were evaluated by a panel of nine librarian jurors, with each submission weighted against the following criteria:

• Literary quality
• Interweaving of art and story
• Lasting impact and distinguished contributions to youth literature
• An audience range of K-12, or young readers through young adults

For more information on the SEE-IT Award, visit the SEE-IT website at: https://www.ebsco.com/see-it.

About the Children’s Book Council
The Children’s Book Council (CBC) is the nonprofit trade association of children’s book publishers in North America, dedicated to supporting the industry and promoting children’s books and reading. For more information on the Children’s Book Council, visit their website at: https://www.cbcbooks.org/

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:
Erica Gilson
Senior Communications Specialist
(800) 653-2726 x2182
egilson@ebsco.com

Missouri State University Libraries Go Live with FOLIO Using EBSCO FOLIO Services
~ Missouri State University Libraries First Academic Institution in the United States to Fully Implement the FOLIO Open Source Library Services Platform ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — June 16, 2020 — Missouri State University (MSU) Libraries are now live with the FOLIO Library Services Platform, making MSU the first academic institution in the United States to fully implement FOLIO. Missouri State University Libraries implemented FOLIO by working with the EBSCO FOLIO migration team and are using EBSCO FOLIO Services for hosting and service.

Dean of Library Services at Missouri State University Libraries Tom Peters says the library staff set strict deadlines for implementation. “We went live with FOLIO’s ERM in January and then migrated to the full FOLIO LSP on June 8th beating our goal of being off our existing ILS by three weeks. We were able to exceed our implementation and migration goals thanks to our dedicated and thoughtful library employees, the amazing FOLIO Community and the talented EBSCO implementation team.”

EBSCO Information Services Executive Vice President of FOLIO and Research SaaS, Gar Sydnor, highlighted the implementation teams’ ability to deliver FOLIO ahead of schedule. “Migration plans can be complex, and this was a remarkably smooth effort. FOLIO’s modern design and open APIs enabled EBSCO and MSU staff to work together to ensure a reliable transition and a model instance of this new library services platform.”

In addition to FOLIO and ERM, Missouri State University Libraries have implemented EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) and OpenAthens. EDS will be used as the primary interface for most of the libraries’ print and electronic resources. OpenAthens will allow for single sign-on — a simple, standards-based system that makes it easier for users to access digital resources via the library website.

EBSCO Information Services Manager of FOLIO Consulting Services Anya N. Arnold, MLIS says this was a group effort across multiple teams at MSU, FOLIO and EBSCO. “The MSU staff was well prepared and worked seamlessly with the migration team at EBSCO. The FOLIO product owners and developers did exceptional work to make sure FOLIO was ready for MSU. Since MSU implemented not only FOLIO’s ERM system and the LSP but also EBSCO Discovery Service and OpenAthens, those teams became part of the migration team. I have been a part of many system changes (back end and front end) and by far this was one of the calmest migrations I have ever had the privilege of working on."

MSU will add the Courses app later this year and will be able to take advantage of the apps, features, and functionality in the upcoming Goldenrod Release. The libraries were able to go live with features from Fameflower and previous named releases.

Missouri State University Libraries serve the research needs of nearly 30,000 students, faculty and researchers. The library has 1.6 million bibliographic records now being managed by FOLIO. Since MSU is the first university in the United States (and one of the first in the world) to go live with FOLIO, they call their implementation First FOLIO at Missouri State. Peters also told his staff that in being first in the country to go live with FOLIO they had “made library automation history.” Peters wrote about the implementation in Missouri State Library Notes calling it “a major project to upgrade [the libraries’] fundamental information systems.”

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, and clinical decisions 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 1,500,000 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

Duluth, Ga., June 15, 2020: Equinox is pleased to announce the successful migration of the Putnam County Library to Evergreen as part of the Missouri Evergreen Consortium.

Putnam County Library supports 1,895 patrons and includes a circulation of 35,189 bibliographic records. Services provided by Equinox included project management and configuration in addition to data services encompassing bibliographic record deduplication and data conversion. Other offerings included by Equinox were support, hosting, and training both remotely and in person.

“We are very happy to be a part of Missouri Evergreen,” said Leatha Walsh, Director of Putnam County Public Library. “Our patrons are already enjoying the expanded offerings of materials through loans within the Missouri Evergreen community. We have really appreciated the efficiency with which Equinox did our migration. They made the process painless and helped us at every stage of the migration.”

The Missouri Evergreen Consortium began as a resource sharing initiative in 2012 in an effort to create an integrated library system for libraries in Missouri. They are supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provision of the Library Services and Technology Act as Administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

“The Putnam staff have been working earnestly and diligently to prepare for the implementation of their new Evergreen system,” said Jennifer Weston, Implementation Project Manager at Equinox. “Facing the added challenge of being closed to the public for the month prior to their official Evergreen release date, the Putnam library found creative ways to continue to serve the community while remaining wholly engaged in the migration project. As their library returns to regular hours, patrons are enjoying access to an interactive online catalog. Equinox is delighted and honored to be working with the commendable staff of Putnam County Public Library to provide these new opportunities for their community.”

About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., the Initiative carries forward a decade of service and experience with Evergreen and other open source library software. At Equinox OLI we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.

About Evergreen
Evergreen is an award-winning ILS developed to provide an open source product able to meet the diverse needs of consortia and high transaction public libraries. However, it has proven to be equally successful in smaller installations including special and academic libraries. Today, over 1500 libraries around the world are using Evergreen including NC Cardinal, SCLENDS, and B.C. Sitka. For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.

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Aspen Discovery announced this week that the 20.08 release is available. This major release includes 63 improvements and 4 performance & reliability fixes.

Mark Noble, Aspen Discovery Developer, recently commented on the release:

Aspen Discovery 20.08 advances the integration of Aspen Discovery with Koha by making it easier to configure both systems simultaneously and ensuring that patrons can always use Aspen Discovery. Although Aspen Discovery and Koha work together more closely, integration with other ILS systems is not compromised at all, and library systems can use Aspen Discovery no matter what ILS they use.

Account Integration Updates
When the PIN for a logged-in user changes PIN within the ILS, redirect them to the login page rather than presenting an error.
Change default text of frozen holds to frozen rather than suspended for consistency
Translate the status of a hold for ILS and OverDrive
Abstract patron reset functionality such that the ILS controls what fields are displayed and how the results are processed
Administration Updates
Prompt administrators when leaving a page if they have unsaved information
Allow IP Addresses to be specified as xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx-xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Allow Libraries to configure a Pinterest page within contact links
Correct patron account blocking functionality
Properly validate adding by barcode and display a meaningful error to the user if the patron cannot be found
Remove supplemental instructions that were improperly formatted
Fixes for adding new Sideload Settings to reduce the number of required fields
Add a new option when creating new settings to create the object and continue editing it
Hide History button when creating new settings
Allow onchange event for select lists
Add the ability to link to another object within properties form
Give sticky table headings a solid background for better readability
Updates to the default display of panels to ensure text is always readable
Add a new superCataloger role to allow access to additional areas that require more trust like Indexing Profiles
Updates when creating new objects to better handle checkboxes and numeric values
Aspen API Updates
Add a method to retrieve patron barcode by a given patron id
Add total amount outstanding to return call from getPatronFines
When an ILS provides both the original and outstanding amounts for each fine, return:
amount = current amount owed
amountOutstanding = current amount owed
amountOriginal = original amount of the fine
Update methods to retrieve patron checkouts, holds, and fines to allow calling with id or patronId
Add a method to retrieve patron id by barcode
Remove expireTime from the documentation for getPatronHolds since it was not being returned
Browse Functionality Updates
Allow browsing of events, archives, indexed web content, and genealogy
Do not show the option to add to browse when there are no results for a search
Additional error checking messaging when loading recommendations if the user's session expired
Collection Spotlight Updates
Allow creating spotlights for different types of searches (Events, Open Archives, etc)
Hide options for spotlight list that aren't relevant to the selected source
Update administration interface to make it easier to administer lists in a spotlight
Update old collection spotlights to use new method of defining them
Do not show create spotlight option from events search page
Do not show the option to create a new spotlight when there are no results for a search
Indexing Updates
If an item does not have a call number in the item or bib, but does have volume information, show the volume information as the call number
Remove the old method of grouping works by specifying grouped work ids in favor of new method which specifies alternate title/author information
IP Address Blocking
Extends the existing IP Address functionality to allow blocking of all access to Aspen based on IP Address.
Aspen blocks access to APIs by default now to prevent unauthorized usage and access can be granted based on IP Address.
When Aspen blocks a page or API request, Aspen logs the block.
Information about the total number of blocks that have been done is found on the Aspen Usage Dashboard.
Koha Integration Updates
Added new functionality to allow the pickup branch for holds to be changed by the user.
Update return message when we cannot connect to Koha OAuth service during Pin Reset
Self Registration Updates
Allow a list of valid states to be specified as part of the registration process.
Optionally submit the form with values in all upper case
Allow a message to be displayed regarding password requirements on the self-registration form
Properly detect when Koha has locked an account due to the maximum number of login attempts being reached and issue an appropriate message to the patron
Update filtering of pickup branches when setting contact information to use the full list of valid pickup branches
Password Recovery can now be set up so that the patron completes the password recovery process within Aspen Discovery rather than Koha
Update to support new fines structure from Koha 19.11
When displaying contact information form, do not use the list of libraries allowed for self-registration
Do not suppress items with no collection code for Koha
Fixes for updating messaging settings in newer versions of Koha
Add author name to each hold within Koha
Cleanup of calls when marking fines paid within Koha to pass numeric values as numbers and properly case payment type
PayPal Updates
Update PayPal to trim the description further when creating new orders
RBdigital Updates
Additional error trapping when loading RBdigital ID from the API
Do not show sample call numbers for eMagazines within search results
Record Display Updates
When displaying subjects for a MARC record, don't show subfield 9
Website Indexing Updates
Add required fields for website indexing settings
Other changes
Remove culturally insensitive terms from codebase that are not part of third party libraries
Fix Select Interface to use defined base url for a library
When checking system health, look at the last 3 log entries for indexing to prevent rapid changes in the health report during eContent outages
When checking system health take into account the number of processors while looking at load average
Allow display of both offline message as well as system message
Updates to determination of audience and form (Fiction/Nonfiction) for Arlington custom processing
Updates when creating records to include and records owned to allow blank sub locations
Additional error handling when submitting tickets via Aspen
Add AhrefsBot to list of bots that are blocked by default
Ensure that ping of Solr server happens more quickly by reducing timeouts
Cleanup of facet code
Cleanup of unused Pika code and references
About Aspen Discovery
Aspen is a full-featured Discovery System that integrates with e-content and other 3rd party providers, giving your patrons comprehensive access to all of your materials in one place. Aspen combines your library catalog with e-content, digital archives, and enrichment from all major third-party providers improves relevancy and ease of use, provides native reading recommendations, displays all formats of titles within one result (FRBR) and much more. Aspen was created to give users an improved experience over other Discovery systems with less of an impact on library budgets. For more information about Aspen please visit: https://bywatersolutions.com/projects/aspen-discovery

About ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high-quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in the first-rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit https://bywatersolutions.com.

For More Information
Jessica Zairo
Marketing & Outreach Coordinator
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944

Technology terms are often mysterious - DNS, cache, cookies, frameworks, sandbox, barks, front end/back end, firewalls, to name just a few. It takes time to become familiar with these words and their meanings. Most of the time these terms are benign. At other times they are non-inclusive, offensive, and downright unnecessary. Racist and gendered language is found in many software and technology projects. The terms Master/Slave and blacklist/whitelist are prime examples of technology terms that refer to inequitable social structures, imply value, and flat out fail to accurately describe their function.

The Koha community, along with many other companies and open source projects, continue to move towards using inclusive language in their code bases. In the area of gender inclusivity, the Koha community has enhanced the code multiple times to remove gendered code comments and include more neutrality in relation to gender in the patron module. (See Bugzilla: 22716 5020 18432 14652 19988 17701 25364 25340). Just recently a new omnibus ticket was filed to change instances of blacklist and whitelist to deny list and allow list respectively. (Bugzilla 25708) The first patch has already been submitted to change a system preference title from NotesBlackList to NotesDenyList. This is exciting, much-needed work; but just the start. This work of inclusivity is ongoing.

ByWater Solutions is committed to the following:
We are committed to identifying and removing non-inclusive terms from our internal work with our partners through our support and development actions, which we fully control. Whitelist will be allow list, Blacklist will be deny list. Master/Slave system configuration will be Primary/Replica. We will continue to listen to our partners and communities to address other needed language changes in an ongoing manner.
We are committed to working with our open source communities (Koha, Aspen, FOLIO, and Libki) to encourage and participate in discussions on inclusive language, and actively submit changes to code, wiki, and documentation in those communities.
We are committed to working with our upstream providers and the language they use. When needed, we will submit feedback/tickets to those providers asking for changes in their documentation and code.
Creating an inclusive workspace and community is important to all of us at Bywater. And we understand we don't have all the answers or see all the perspectives. If you see an area that we, Koha, Aspen, Libki, FOLIO can improve upon please let us know! We encourage everyone to participate in the discussion. You can reach the ByWater staff through our ticketing system, our webchat, Slack Channel, or by phone. You can report issues directly to Libki, Aspen, and Koha using the below links.

Koha Issues:
Report a Koha Issue

Libki issues:
Report a Libki Client issue

Report a Libki Server Issue

Aspen Issues:
Report an Aspen Issue

FOLIO Issues:
Report a FOLIO Issue

FOLIO Code of Conduct