Come with us this spring as we explore Turkey and meet the Turks!

While our tour includes elements of special interest to library professionals and bibliophiles, anyone with an interest in history, the arts, and archeology is welcome to join this introduction to Turkey’s illustrious past and contemporary attractions.

We begin in Istanbul, the only city to straddle both Europe and Asia. Let us open the doors to mosque collections dating from the 15th century and to the extraordinary German Archeological Institute archives. We’ll travel to the Aegean region and visit the acropolis of Pergamon (whose library treasures were Marc Anthony’s wedding gift to Cleopatra). Pondering the glory that was Rome, we can contemplate the magnificent Library of Celsus in Ephesus, the grandest city of the eastern Roman Empire.

Springtime in Asia Minor presents us with a riot of native blooms, and anyone with botanical enthusiasms will enjoy the journey as we trace the Meander River eastwards to Konya, center of the mystical Whirling Dervish sect. Here, as in so many Turkish provincial cities, there are private museums and libraries open to public. Crossing the high Central Anatolian Plateau, we proceed to Cappadocia,whose eerie, wind-sculpted, volcanic valleys are dotted with hundreds of early churches.

Traditional agrarian rhythms persist in central Turkey, and we’ll learn about one of the region’s earliest social entrepreneurs who worked to increase literacy and bring the printed word (via donkeys laden with books!) to remote villages.

Through all of this we’ll include the famous highlights that have drawn visitors to Turkey for centuries- Haghia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace, the fanciful waterfront mansions of the Bosphorus….

The Pergamon Asklepion where Galen practiced medicine… Ephesus’s famous colonnaded street and theatre where St. Paul addressed the populace …. the flower-strewn site and sculpture museum of Aphrodisias, sacred to the pagan Goddess of Love. Rumi’s brilliant turquoise-tiled shrine, and the lunar landscape of Cappadocia.

Land Program in Turkey: $2,425.00 per person, double occupancy.

The tour begins and finishes in Istanbul, 17 April – 26 April 2012.

Separate extensions for Istanbul or other regions of Turkey can be made on a customized basis.

Airfare to/from Turkey is NOT included, but we are happy to advise you about economical flights or help you make the most of your frequent flyer miles.

For the complete, day-by-day itinerary of this tour or other programs, please email either-Equinox Travel info@Equinox.com.tr or Holly Chase Holly@HollyChase.com

~ Content Coverage and Subject Indexes Key Factors in Decision ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — February 2, 2011 —Bielefeld University has chosen EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) citing superior content coverage as one of the main factors in its decision. Bielefeld selected EDS after an intense and detailed review of the service, determining that EBSCO Discovery Service provided the best content coverage plus the option to integrate high quality subject indexes.

University Library Bielefeld is one of the most prestigious libraries worldwide with a strong focus on the quality and development of services provided to its users. The university had been looking to replace its Journal Articles Database, known and used Germany-wide under the name of JADE, which the library created and developed in the mid 1990s.

Mr. Dirk Pieper, Media Department Head, says the university library was very pleased with the content in EBSCO Discovery Service and it was one of the major factors when choosing EDS as its discovery solution. “Our decision to choose EDS was primarily due to the superior content coverage provided in the Base Index. EDS convinced us with its high quality A&I data and will replace our own journal articles database, JADE, which can be seen as a first kind of discovery development started by our library itself in the mid 90s.”

Libraries subscribing to subject indexes on EBSCOhost can leverage EBSCO's "platform blending" technology to infuse results from these high-end indexes into the EDS result list, heightening the overall value and experience for end users. For Pieper this unique attribute of EDS was a major factor in the decision to implement EDS. “We were very pleased with the integration of EBSCO database subject indexes and the option to blend in high quality subject indexes. In addition EBSCO’s web services help us to accomplish integrating the strong EDS index into our own library catalog using a very comfortable interface (API).”

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box — searching made even more powerful because of the quality of metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.

The Base Index for EBSCO Discovery Service forms the foundation upon which each EDS subscribing library builds out its custom collection. Beginning with the Base Index, each institution extends the reach of EDS by adding appropriate resources including its catalog, institutional repositories, EBSCOhost and other databases, and additional content sources to which it subscribes. It is this combination that allows a single, comprehensive, custom solution for discovering the value of any library’s collection.

The EDS Base Index is comprised of metadata from the world’s foremost information providers. At present, the EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers. Although constantly growing, today the EDS Base Index provides metadata for nearly 64,000 magazines & journals, approximately 825,000 CDs & DVDs, nearly six million books, more than 320 million newspaper articles, more than 400,000 conference proceedings and hundreds of thousands of additional information sources from various source-types.

About University Library Bielefeld
University Library Bielefeld stands in the library community worldwide for innovative, user-friendly information services that were developed and tested in Bielefeld and later adopted by library unions and single libraries joining their user groups. University Library Bielefeld was the first library to run an OPAC in Germany in 1979. University Library of Bielefeld is the host and organizer of the Bielefeld Conference, a bi-annual conference, set up 1992 to especially create a discussion forum focused on library innovation (10th International Bielefeld Conference: 24 - 26 April 2012), and is known for technological innovation in search engines and communication systems, of which the open access platform BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is only one example.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the producer of 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 eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. 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 (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

###
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Director
EBSCO Publishing
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

January 31, 2012
For Immediate Release

Dallas, TX — Amigos Library Services, a leading library membership organization based in Dallas, and the Missouri Library Network Corporation (MLNC), a similar St. Louis-based library membership organization, today announced that they have entered into a working agreement to explore merging operations. If the organizations merge, Amigos will be the largest library consortium west of the Mississippi River, comprised of approximately 1,000 libraries and cultural heritage institutions in 22 states.

Following lengthy exploratory discussions, members of the Boards of Directors of Amigos and MLNC have both unanimously approved a working agreement as the definitive guideline for further activities leading to merger. Member votes on the merger are scheduled for mid-April and early May. Pending member approval, the merger will be completed July 1, 2012.

Both networks bring unique services of interest to a larger member base and both have strong continuing education programs to share. Current MLNC and Amigos members will benefit from increased ability to leverage library resources for purchasing thousands of library products and services from leading providers.

“I am excited because a merger will enhance services to the collective membership,” said Bonnie Juergens, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amigos. “It will expand resource-sharing opportunities for both member communities and strengthen our ability to provide current and new services into the future.”

Tracy Rochow Byerly, Executive Director of MLNC, commented “I couldn’t be more pleased about this announcement! The prime motivation of the MLNC Board has been to meet the needs of MLNC’s members and fulfill our mission. The Board conducted a thorough analysis of options and concluded that this merger will help MLNC achieve that goal.”

About Missouri Library Network Corporation
The mission of MLNC is to organize and deliver to its member libraries and other contracting entities electronic services and content, and provide training in the management and use of information. Founded in 1981 to serve the needs of Missouri libraries, MLNC has grown to serve the needs of over 300 members in the Midwest region. Known for excellent customer service, flexibility and solutions that save members time and money, MLNC has shown itself to be an agile organization in a changing world. Members utilize the many continuing education opportunities; turn to MLNC for help in implementing change; and have supported the organization’s move into association management services.

About Amigos Library Services
For more than 35 years, Amigos Library Services has helped members obtain affordable services and share library resources and knowledge. With over 600 members, Amigos is one of the largest consortia of libraries and cultural heritage institutions in the United States. Membership in Amigos helps libraries gain access to the latest innovations and services in the library community; pursue opportunities for continuing professional education; leverage buying power; and preserve the region’s rich cultural heritage. This collaboration strengthens each member’s ability to serve and lead its community in the creative and effective use of information resources.

For information about the Amigos/MLNC merger exploration, contact Dr. Anne Prestamo, Chair of Amigos (anne.prestamo@okstate.edu); Dr. Sharon Bostick, President of MLNC (bosticks@umkc.edu); Bonnie Juergens, President and CEO of Amigos (Juergens@amigos.org), or Tracy Rochow Byerly, Executive Director of MLNC (tracy@mlnc.org).

1/26/2012
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

ByWater Solutions Names Nicole C. Engard VP of Education

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and the US's forefront provider of Koha (www.koha-community.org) support, is happy to announce the promotion of Nicole C. Engard to Vice President of Education.

Nicole started with ByWater Solutions in September of 2009 and in that time she has educated hundreds of librarians on the use of their new Koha ILS installations. In her new role, Nicole will continue to manage education efforts for the company with a new focus on teaching librarians the nature of open source and how they can participate in community efforts. She will also continue in her role as Documentation Manager for the official Koha ILS project and help with supporting those using Koha in their libraries.

"I have been extremely impressed with all of the high quality work that Nicole has done while with ByWater Solutions." states Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Solutions. "We are more than pleased to reward Nicole with this promotion."

Nicole comments on her new role, "Working at ByWater Solutions these past couple of years has been an amazing experience. I love getting to meet and train librarians around the world and I am excited to get started with my new responsibilities and new training initiatives."

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

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/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Duluth, GA —January 25, 2012

Equinox Software, Inc., the open source experts, is proud to announce the formation of a wholly-owned Canadian-based subsidiary, Equinox Library

Services Canada (ELSC). ELSC was formed in response to Canadian libraries requesting that ILS systems be physically located in Canada; all ESLC hosting

services will be provided from a Toronto datacenter. ELSC will also provide implementation, support, training, and other services for Evergreen and Koha.

“The formation of Equinox Library Services Canada is a huge leap forward in expanding Evergreen and Koha’s reach into Canada,” said Equinox Software’s

president, Brad LaJeunesse. “Canada is very friendly to open source—and we already have many existing Canadian customers—but the Canadian subsidiary will allow us to offer even more services that libraries are asking for.”

Equinox Library Services Canada is accepting new customers immediately. For more information, please contact Equinox sales at sales@esilibrary.com or +1 770-709-5555.

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a leader in open source solutions for libraries. Their goal is to

engage and support a rapidly growing open source community while assisting libraries in moving away from expensive proprietary vendors and products.

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

About Evergreen

Evergreen is a robust, open-source integrated library system best known for its unique ability to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction,

multi-site consortia. However, it has also proven equally successful scaled down for even the smallest libraries. Evergreen now supports over 1,000

libraries of every type-public, academic, special, and school media centers across 4 countries, 31 U.S. states, and 8 Canadian provinces. The Georgia

PINES, King County Public Library System, SCLENDS, and NC Cardinal consortiums are all currently running Evergreen.
For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see

http://evergreen-ils.org.

About Koha

Created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System to

be used worldwide. The software is a full-featured ILS with a dual-database design (search engine and RDBMS) built to be compliant with library

standards. Koha’s OPAC, staff, and self-checkout interfaces are all web applications. Distributed under the General Public License (GPL), libraries are

free to use and install Koha themselves or to purchase support and development service. For more information on Koha, please visit http://koha-community.org.

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