Equinox Community Grant Awarded to the CORAL ERM Steering Committee

EquinoxOLI

Duluth, Ga., March 30, 2021: Equinox Open Library Initiative is pleased to announce the award of an Equinox Community Grant to the CORAL ERM Steering Committee. The Equinox Community Grant provides funding for open source projects and operational infrastructure in order to strengthen and support open source communities in libraries, archives, and cultural heritage organizations.

“CORAL, a powerful open source electronic resource management tool, is built for the community and by the community,” said Xiaoyan Song, Chair of the CORAL ERM Steering Committee, and Electronic Resources Librarian at North Carolina State University. “It relies on globally distributed volunteer teams including developers and librarians willing to take responsibility for its sustainability.”

CORAL ERM is used by libraries and institutions worldwide. The CORAL project is led by the CORAL Steering Committee and the software is developed and maintained by community contributions to the project. The Equinox Community Grant supports the communication needs of the CORAL project by funding the hosting and domain fees for the CORAL website for a period of ten years. The grant allows the CORAL Steering Committee to maintain their current website, share information about CORAL ERM, and to connect with present and future CORAL community members.

“Libraries need software for managing electronic resources, and this software needs to be reliable, affordable, and efficient. Many libraries maintain ERM data manually in spreadsheets because a dedicated system is beyond the budget,” said Lisa Carlucci, Executive Director, Equinox Open Library Initiative. “CORAL provides an innovative, user-friendly solution, along with an active community of peers who understand the work of electronic resources management. We’re proud to be a part of the CORAL community and to support libraries interested in using CORAL.”

Equinox Open Library Initiative developed this new grant opportunity following the success of the Equinox Open Source Grant, which provides implementation, hosting, training, and support for libraries interested in using Koha ILS. In 2020, Equinox funded the implementation of Koha ILS for Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico and Spark Central, in Spokane, WA. In 2021, the Equinox Open Source grant will fund Koha ILS for The Vermont Jazz Center and the Center for Khmer Studies.

For updates on current projects follow Equinox Open Library Initiative on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

For more information:

Laura Barry
Communications Coordinator
Equinox Open Library Initiative, Inc.
equinoxOLI.org
laura.barry@equinoxOLI.org   

About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a 501(c)3 company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving libraries and knowledge institutions.  As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., Equinox Open Library Initiative builds upon a decade of exceptional service and technical expertise, providing consulting services, development, hosting, training, and support for Evergreen ILS, Koha ILS, and other open source library software. As a non-profit organization, Equinox is committed to providing innovative open source library solutions to libraries of all sizes and types. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxOLI.org/.

About CORAL
CORAL is an electronic resources management system consisting of interoperable modules designed around the core components of managing electronic resources for libraries and other organizations.  CORAL is available as a free, open source program. To learn more please visit: http://coral-erm.org/

About Evergreen ILS
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.

About Koha ILS
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 services.  For more information on Koha, please visit https://koha-community.org.

Equinox Announces equinoxEDU Education Program

Duluth, Ga., March 23, 2021: Equinox Open Library Initiative is pleased to announce the launch of equinoxEDU, a comprehensive education program focused on open source technologies for libraries, archives, museums, and cultural institutions.

“We are excited to be offering a new suite of educational services to meet the needs of open source library communities,” said Angela Kilsdonk, product and education manager at Equinox. “This past year has seen increased demand for online and asynchronous education programs and we look forward to engaging with our library community members and partners on these new platforms.”

The equinoxEDU program includes: the Spotlight webinar series, educational Workshops, and an accompanying Resource Library. The equinoxEDU: Spotlight webinars will be presented monthly and include Q&A with subject experts. The first equinoxEDU: Spotlight session in February provided an overview of new feature highlights in the Evergreen ILS 3.6 release. Recordings of equinoxEDU: Spotlight sessions will be available on-demand as part of the equinoxEDU: Resource Library.

Beginning in May, the equinoxEDU: Workshop series will be introduced as a premium offering providing an in-depth look at distinct features and functionality of open source library technologies and present best practices on implementing and using these technologies. The equinoxEDU: Workshop sessions will be instructor-led training events and will include skill-building activities and downloadable resources.

The equinoxEDU: Resource Library will serve as a central repository for equinoxEDU content, from on-demand video tutorials and pre-recorded equinoxEDU: Spotlight webinars, to self-paced learning materials and resource guides. Offerings in the equinoxEDU: Resource Library will be freely available online.

For updates, subscribe to the equinoxEDU mailing list (http://eepurl.com/htAKcD) and follow Equinox Open Library Initiative on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About Equinox Open Library Initiative
Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a 501(c)3 company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving libraries and knowledge institutions.  As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., Equinox Open Library Initiative builds upon a decade of exceptional service and technical expertise, providing consulting services, development, hosting, training, and support for Evergreen ILS, Koha ILS, and other open source library software. As a non-profit organization, Equinox is committed to providing innovative open source library solutions to libraries of all sizes and types. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.

Evergreen Curbside Resources

Equinox has written a new feature for the Evergreen ILS to help libraries manage curbside pickup operations. This feature allows library staff and patrons to schedule appointments for patrons to pick up their available holds. It also adds a new staff interface for managing the staging and delivery of items that have been scheduled to be picked up. To learn about this feature, please see the following videos:

All Evergreen Curbside Pickup Videos
Introduction
Configuration
Staging and Delivery Workflow
Scheduling a Curbside Appointment
Patron Notices

EquinoxEDU: Spotlight on Evergreen 3.6

Equinox EDU Spotlight
03/05/2021
Join us for an EquinoxEDU: Spotlight session on new features in the Evergreen ILS! In this live webinar we will highlight some of the newest features in version 3.6 of Evergreen. Topics will include a look at the new staff catalog, the new Course Reserves feature, and how to identify and manage unfillable holds.EquinoxEDU: Spotlight sessions are live webinars that are open and free to all! Sessions will be recorded and made available afterwards. Space is limited to the first 100 attendees that join the webinar. Register: bit.ly/3bF8Vlc

Equinox Migrates Clinton County Libraries To Evergreen With The PaILS/SPARK Consortium

News

Duluth, Ga., March 4, 2021: Equinox is pleased to welcome Clinton County Libraries to Evergreen with their successful migrations to the Pennsylvania Integrated Library System (PaILS) SPARK Consortium.

The migration included a total of 70,682 bibliographic records and will support 8,557 patrons. Services provided to the Clinton County Libraries by Equinox included project management and Evergreen software configuration. Data extraction and bibliographic deduplication were completed as part of their migration encompassing item, patron, and transaction records. Hosting and support was included with their addition to the PaILS/SPARK consortium as well as virtual training by Equinox.

“We’re looking forward to growing with this new system,” said Tammy Garrison, Executive Director of Clinton County Libraries. “All of the new features will not only let us help patrons, but will allow the patrons to take an active part in material and account management.”

PaILS was founded in June 2011 as a non-profit organization to provide an open source integrated library system. It oversees SPARK, a consortium of Evergreen libraries across Pennsylvania. Equinox and PaILS have been collaborating on the SPARK consortium since 2013.

“The successful migration of the Clinton County Libraries to PaILS/SPARK with Evergreen was conducted during the fall and winter months of 2020 and early 2021 while the libraries operated under shifting pandemic and weather restrictions,” said Jennifer Weston, Implementation Project Manager at Equinox. “Patrons are now able to access their library accounts remotely and they will be able to place holds online with the added benefit of being notified via text or email when materials are ready for pickup thanks to Evergreen’s curbside feature. It has been a real privilege and delight to work with the Clinton County Libraries to provide new opportunities for their library 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.