Text a Librarian Makes it Easy For Libraries and Schools to Create Their Own Mobile Messaging Reference Services
Live, mobile Q&A system to power top universities, including UC Berkeley and the University of Kansas

San Francisco, CA–October 8, 2008—Every year, libraries answer more than 374 million reference questions, according to the American Library Association. Mosio, the award-winning mobile Q&A community, today announced the launch of Text a Librarian (www.textalibrarian.com), a new service that helps libraries set up mobile Q&A systems so they may answer students and patrons’ questions instantly via text message to any mobile phone.

On average, Americans text almost twice as much as they talk on mobile phones, according to a recent Nielsen Mobile Survey, making it a preferred means of communication while on-the-go. However, setting up a mobile text communications network for a library or school can be a daunting process: short code negotiations with all of the cell carriers, complicated software and/or hardware development, and extensive training—costing tens of thousands of dollars a year and months of setup.

Now, with Text a Librarian, any library or school can create their own secure, live mobile Q&A SMS reference service in just minutes, with zero hardware to buy or software to setup with packages starting at just $99/month + set up fees per library/branch. Text a Librarian works across all major carriers, mobile phones and devices, and works seamlessly with existing email and IM systems. Students and users simply text (or email) their question and it shows up live on the library or school’s own private and secure Web dashboard for them to answer back instantly.

For more information and a free online demo, visit: http://www.textalibrarian.com

“Mobility is a way of life for most students and increasingly for society in general, making the way in which we stay connected a central issue for many schools and libraries,” said Noel Chandler, CEO and founder of Mosio. “Text a Librarian leverages Mosio’s award-winning Q&A platform to make it possible for students and patrons to tap into the wealth of knowledge of local librarians from their mobile phones, keeping patron information private and secure.”

Beta test clients include public libraries, schools and top Universities, including UC Berkeley and the University of Kansas.

"Mosio's service opens up a whole new world for us. Text a Librarian gives us an easy-to-use texting component, increasing student access to KU Info,” said Curtis Marsh, KU Info Program Director. "We need to communicate with students the way they communicate with each other. It is about time we began offering our service through text messaging."

Mosio has received numerous accolades for its mobile Q&A technology, including the prestigious SXSW Interactive Award for Mobile.

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About Mosio (www.mosio.com)
Mosio.com is the award-winning mobile Q&A community that provides quick and fun answers to life’s questions on-the-go. Mosio is available for free on all mobile devices via SMS, Email, IM, Twitter and Dial2Do. Mosio’s latest innovation, Text a Librarian (www.textalibrarian.com), empowers libraries and schools to connect with students via mobile phone. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. More information is available at http://www.mosio.com.

Media contact:
Vincent Chang
(415) 806-1769
vincent@mosioproject.com

At the September 26, 2008, BCR Board of Trustees meeting, incumbent Board chair, Greg Cotton, Interim College Librarian, Cole Library, Cornell College (IA), welcomed new and returning members to the BCR Board of Trustees.

Ann Joslin, Idaho State Librarian, is serving her second consecutive year as the BCR Board of Trustees vice-chair. Cotton and Joslin, in addition to their duties during regular Board meetings, are joined on the BCR Executive Committee by newly elected representative Ann Marie Clark, Director, Arnold Library, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle (WA). Returning Executive Committee members include Gina Millsap, Executive Director, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library (KS); and Mary Wegner, Iowa State Librarian. Brenda Bailey-Hainer, BCR President and CEO, serves as secretary-treasurer.

Four newly elected trustees participated in orientation activities prior to the Board meeting. New members are R. Cecilia Knight, Catalog Librarian, Grinnell College (IA), academic library trustee; and Jamie LaRue, Director, Douglas County Libraries (CO), at-large trustee. Nancy Allen, Dean and Director, Penrose Library, University of Denver (CO), research library trustee, and Gina Millsap, Executive Director, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library (KS), public library trustee, both were elected to a second term. All will represent BCR member libraries through June 2010.

BCR would also like to welcome two new state library representatives to the Board of Trustees. Patti Butcher, Director, Statewide Resource Sharing, is sitting on the Board on behalf of the Kansas State Library; and Sarah McHugh, Statewide Projects Manager, is representing the Montana State Library.

Dr. Lorraine Haricombe, Dean of Libraries, University of Kansas, Watson Library, Lawrence, was elected as BCR delegate to the OCLC Members Council, for a three-year term. She is joining Claudia Thornton-Frazer, Digital Initiatives Coordinator, Librarian, Cowles Library, Drake University (IA); and Sheryl Taylor, Director of Library Services, John & Louise Hulst Library, Dordt College (IA), in representing BCR on the OCLC Members Council.

About BCR

BCR brings libraries together for greater success by expanding their knowledge, reach and power. They offer a broad range of solutions and their hands-on, personal attention to each member enables them to deliver effective and timely solutions that help libraries keep pace with new developments in technology and services. BCR is the nation’s oldest and most established multistate library cooperative. Since 1935, the BCR team has helped libraries learn new skills, reach patrons, increase productivity and save money. BCR (Bibliographical Center for Research) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit headquartered in Aurora, Colorado. For more information, visit www.BCR.org or email info@BCR.org.

Every year, libraries answer more than 374 million reference questions, according to the American Library Association. Mosio, the award-winning mobile Q&A community, today announced the launch of www.textalibrarian.com, a new service that helps libraries set up mobile Q&A systems so they may answer students and patrons' questions instantly via text message to any mobile phone.

On average, Americans text almost twice as much as they talk on mobile phones, according to a recent Nielsen Mobile Survey, making it a preferred means of communication while on-the-go. However, setting up a mobile text communications network for a library or school can be a daunting process: negotiations with cell carriers, complicated software and extensive training -- costing tens of thousands of dollars and months of setup.

Now, with Text a Librarian, any library or school can create their own secure, live mobile Q&A SMS reference service in just minutes, with packages starting at just $99/month + set up fees per library/branch.
For more information and a free online demo, visit: http://www.textalibrarian.com.
"Mobility is a way of life for most students and increasingly for society in general, making the way in which we stay connected a central issue for many schools and libraries," said Noel Chandler, Mosio CEO and founder. "Text a Librarian leverages Mosio's award-winning Q&A platform to make it possible for students and patrons to tap into the wealth of knowledge of local librarians from their mobile phones, keeping patron information private and secure."

"Mosio's service opens up a whole new world for us. Text a Librarian gives us an easy-to-use texting component, increasing student access to KU Info," said Curtis Marsh, KU Info Program Director. "We need to communicate with students the way they communicate with each other. It is about time we began offering our service through text messaging."

About Mosio ( www.mosio.com)
Mosio.com is the award-winning mobile Q&A community that provides quick and fun answers to life's questions on-the-go. Mosio's latest innovation, Text a Librarian ( www.textalibrarian.com), empowers libraries and schools to connect with students via mobile phone. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. For more information visit http://www.mosio.com.
SOURCE: Mosio

Mosio
Vincent Chang, 415-806-1769
vincent@mosioproject.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norcross, GA – October 8, 2008

Niles (Mi.) District Library has gone live with Evergreen, the consortial-quality open-source library automation software. Niles District Library follows Grand Rapids Public Library and Branch District Library as the third of seven public libraries in the Michigan Evergreen project that will migrate to Evergreen by the end of the year. Michigan Evergreen is a shared-catalog project administered by the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC). Equinox Software, Inc., the support and development company for Evergreen, provided bumper-to-bumper support during the data migration process. Alpha-G provided support with data extraction.
Staff members reported being “really excited” about Evergreen, according to Nancy Studebaker, director of the Niles District Library. Studebaker added, “Our cataloger is especially pleased with the ability to find and download records using Z39.50.” This feature will get even better in Release 1.4, due out later this fall, which will offer simultaneous searching of multiple Z39.50 targets.
“The Michigan Evergreen project underscores the capabilities of Evergreen in the consortial setting,” said Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. “We are excited to watch the Michigan Evergreen project grow.” Randy Dykhuis, MLC Executive Director, added, "The advances made during the Project's pilot phase this fall will aid us greatly when we expand the Project to additional libraries next spring."
Wendy Hart, of Alpha-G Consulting, added, "The folks at Niles were great to work with. We are confident they'll be pleased with Evergreen."
The Grand Rapids Public Library will oversee day-to-day administration for the new server for all seven pilot libraries, and MLC will provide support and training to the participating libraries. Equinox will also provide ongoing technical support to MLC’s Evergreen implementation.
Niles, Michigan is located at the former site of Fort St. Joseph, which was established by the French in 1689 and named for newspaper editor Hezekiah Niles. The Niles District Library has 117,865 bibliographic items and has a service district of over 25,000 area residents. The library’s new online catalog can be viewed at http://ndl.michiganevergreen.org. For more information about the Michigan Evergreen project, see the project wiki at http://mlcnet.org/wiki or follow the latest activity at http://www.mlcnet.org/evergreen, the Michigan Evergreen blog.

About Evergreen
Evergreen is consortial-quality, open-source library system software. Evergreen was initially developed to support Georgia PINES, a resource-sharing consortium with over 270 public libraries. While Evergreen was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia, its robust, fault-tolerant architecture elegantly scales down to the smallest sites. Evergreen is also adaptive software that due to its service-oriented, standards-compliant design can nimbly evolve to meet changing library needs and user expectations.

From its debut in September 2006, Evergreen has consistently outperformed expectations and resulted in acclaim and praise from users worldwide. Evergreen has received significant attention, including a Technology Collaboration Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional Evergreen implementations include the Indiana Open Source Initiative, British Columbia SITKA, and several smaller implementations, such as Kent County Public Library in Maryland and Marshall Public Library in Missouri. For more information about Evergreen, visit http://evergreen-ils.org

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled developers and other professionals who provide comprehensive support for Evergreen, the consortial-quality, open source Integrated Library System (ILS). Equinox develops, supports, trains, migrates, integrates, and consults on Evergreen, and engages with the rapidly expanding Evergreen community. Instead of one-size-fits-all support, Equinox works closely with libraries to ensure Evergreen is implemented in the manner that best fits their individual needs.
In addition to support, custom development and integration services, Equinox offers complete Evergreen hosting packages for libraries wishing to outsource their ILS infrastructure. Equinox also provides consulting services for libraries seeking more insight into the value proposition of open source software.
Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 678-269-6113
For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.

Evergreen is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Evergreen and the Evergreen
Logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of the Georgia Public Library Service.

Athens, OH--October 8, 2008-- LibLime, the leader in open-source solutions for libraries announced today that LibLime has upgraded the "Koha with Class" Initiative to the 3.0 version of Koha.

Koha with Class provides library school classrooms with up to five hosted installations of Koha, free of charge. The project is designed to give future librarians hands-on experience with library automation software and open source. Any college or university offering a program in Library and Information Studies/ Technology can participate.

The Koha with Class Initiative was first launched in January of 2007 and has been used by over 50 library classrooms worldwide.

Participating classrooms will now get Koha 3.0--the latest stable version of Koha-- when they request Koha with Class installations. Previously, Koha with Class installations ran Koha Version 2.2.

Koha 3.0 features of interest to LIS professors and students include:

1. Faster and better searching with Zebra
2. Better tools and utilities, such as a batch marc import tool
3. Cleaner user interface, including a more user friendly staff interface
4. Loads of new features including lots of improvements to acquisitions, serials and cataloging

Also new is the Koha 3.0 User Manual, which LibLime created in-house and has made available to the larger Koha community. It is available to all Koha with Class users as well.

"The last 12 months have been a really high-growth period for our company," says Joshua Ferraro, CEO of LibLime. "We're happy to reaffirm our commitment to the Koha with Class Initiative by announcing the upgrade as well as a new streamlined process for handling KwC installation requests."

LibLime is accepting new applications. If you're interested in having free Koha with Class installations for your classroom, you can read more about the project as well as fill out an online application at LibLime's Koha with Class Initiative webpage:

http://liblime.com/projects/koha-with-class/

About Koha 3.0

Koha 3.0 is the next-generation release of the award-winning Koha open-source integrated library system. Notably, it includes a powerful search engine based on Zebra, a high-performance indexing and retrieval engine. Koha 3.0's search engine can read structured records in practically any input format (e.g., email, XML, MARC) and allows access to them through exact boolean search expressions and relevance-ranked free-text queries. It supports large databases (more than ten gigabytes of data, tens of millions of records) as well as incremental, safe database updates on live systems.

To try out Koha 3.0 for yourself, visit LibLime's demos:

http://liblime.com/demos

About LibLime

LibLime is the global leader in open-source solutions for libraries, with a mission to make open source accessible to libraries. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, LibLime educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. LibLime then facilitates implementation of open-source in libraries by providing outstanding development, customization, support and training solutions--solutions tailored to each library's needs. For more information, see http://liblime.com.

Press Contact:

Tina Burger

Vice President, Marketing LibLime

(888)Koha ILS (564-2457)

tnb@liblime.com

http://liblime.com

LibLime and the LibLime logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of LibLime. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.