Equinox Open Source Grant Recipient Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico Goes Live with Koha ILS, Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, beneficiaria de la subvención Equinox Open Source, se pone en marcha con Koha ILS

News Announcement

En español

Duluth, Ga., July 29, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative is honored to announce the successful migration of the Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, a division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña in San Juan, Puerto Rico to the Koha Integrated Library System. They were one of two 2019 Equinox Open Source Grant recipients.  

The Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico was created in 1967, a division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. In 2003 it became the National Library to preserve and provide access to resources related to Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. Their migration encompassed 56001 bibliographic records. Equinox services included: project management, system configuration, extraction and migration of bibliographic data, and staff training. Equinox also provided Koha support, hosting, and auxiliary services.

“We are extremely happy and thankful for this extraordinary work,” said Carlos Ruiz Cortés, Executive Director of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. “The catalogue is modern and very comfortable for research. It is also a great opportunity as we are implementing new services for our users, while promoting access to our valuable cultural resources.”

The Equinox Open Source Grant was offered for the first time in 2019 providing Koha migration, support and training to two successful grantees. The grant was inspired by the vibrant open source community and the belief that every community deserves to benefit from an accessible and thriving library.

“Staff from the National Library and the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, led by Hilda Teresa Ayala-González, worked diligently for many months migrating data, making configuration decisions, testing, and training to prepare for the new system,” said Jennifer Weston, Implementation Project Manager at Equinox. “The new Koha database inspired additional projects as the staff took advantage of the library’s recent closing to launch a new website, and plan for a digitization project to be linked with Koha to coincide with the 65th anniversary celebration of the Cultural Institute. It has been both a pleasure and an honor to work with the Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico to provide these new opportunities for their community.” 

To learn more about Koha and the expert services Equinox has to offer please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/ .

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. 

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

DE DISTRIBUCIÓN INMEDIATA

Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, beneficiaria de la subvención Equinox Open Source, se pone en marcha con Koha

Duluth, Georgia, 14 de julio de 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative se enorgullece de anunciar la exitosa migración de la Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, una división del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña de San Juan de Puerto Rico, al Sistema Integrado de Gestión de Bibliotecas Koha. Es uno de los dos beneficiarios de la subvención Equinox Open Source para el 2019.

La Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, creada en 1967, es una división del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. En el 2003 se convirtió en la Biblioteca Nacional encargada de conservar y dar acceso público a recursos relacionados con Puerto Rico y los puertorriqueños. Esta migración abarca 56001 archivos bibliográficos. Los servicios de Equinox incluyen: gestión de proyectos, configuración de sistemas, extracción y migración de los datos bibliográficos, y formación del personal. Equinox también brinda asistencia para Koha, servicios de servidores y servicios auxiliares.

 “Estamos extremadamente felices y agradecidos por esta labor tan extraordinaria” dijo Carlos Ruiz Cortés, Director Ejecutivo del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. “Es un catálogo moderno y muy cómodo para la investigación. También es una gran oportunidad para la implementación de nuevos servicios para nuestros usuarios, al fomentar el acceso a nuestros valiosos recursos culturales.” La subvención Equinox Open Source se ofreció por primera vez en el 2019, permitiendo la migración a Koha y proporcionando asistencia y formación a dos exitosos subvencionados. La subvención se inspiró en la vibrante comunidad Open Source y en la creencia de que todas las comunidades merecen beneficiarse de tener acceso a una biblioteca próspera y accesible.

 “El personal de la Biblioteca Nacional y el Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, bajo la dirección de Hilda Teresa Ayala-González, trabajó con diligencia durante varios meses migrando datos, tomando decisiones configuración, probando y preparándose para el nuevo sistema”,  dijo Jennifer Weston, Gerente de proyectos de implementación de Equinox.“ La nueva base de datos Koha inspiró proyectos adicionales al personal, que aprovechó el reciente cierre de la biblioteca para lanzar un nuevo sitio Web y planear la digitalización del proyecto enlazada a Koha para coincidir con el 65 aniversario del Instituto Cultural. Ha sido un placer y un honor colaborar con la Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico para ofrecer estas nuevas oportunidades a su comunidad. Para más información sobre Koha y la experta oferta de servicios de Equinox, por favor visite: https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.

Acerca de Equinox Open Library Initiative

Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. es una empresa sin fines de lucro que se dedica a actividades literarias, caritativas y educativas al servicio de instituciones culturales. Como sucesora de Equinox Software, Inc., esta iniciativa cuenta con una década de servicio y experiencia con Evergreen y otras aplicaciones de software de biblioteca Open Source. En Equinox OLI le ayudamos a empoderar su biblioteca con tecnologías de Open Source.

Acerca de Koha

Creado en el 1999 por Katipo Communications para la Fundación de la Biblioteca Horowhenua de Nueva Zelanda, Koha es el primer sistema internacional de gestión integrada de bibliotecas Open Source. El software es un sistema ILS completo con diseño de base de datos dual (buscador y RDBMS) y se creó creado en cumplimiento con estándares de biblioteca. El catálogo OPAC de Koha, el personal y la interfaz de préstamo automático son aplicaciones de Web. Distribuidas con Licencia Pública General (GPL), las bibliotecas son de uso gratuito, instalan automáticamente Koha y ofrecen la posibilidad de contratar asistencia y servicios de desarrollo. Para más información sobre Koha, visite http://koha-community.org.

Equinox Open Source Grant Recipient Spark Central Goes Live with Koha ILS

News Announcement

Duluth, Ga., July 27, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative is honored to announce the successful migration of Spark Central of Spokane, Washington to the Koha Integrated Library System. They were one of two 2019 Equinox Open Source Grant recipients.  

Spark Central was founded in 2016 when INK Art Space and the Spark Center merged to become Spark Central, a non-profit organization supporting the development of creativity, imagination and innovation by breaking down barriers to access. Their migration encompassed 2,717 bibliographic records and 5,021 patrons. Equinox services included: project management and system configuration in addition to extraction and migration of bibliographic, item, transaction, and patron data. Equinox also provided Koha support, hosting, auxiliary services, and staff training.

“Spark Central’s library offers West Central [Spokane] families access to technology, kits, books, and DVDs, but our old library system was cumbersome, frustrating, and was constantly having errors,” said Brooke Matson, Executive Director at Spark Central. “We did not even have barcodes to scan. Working with Equinox has been like night and day! Their team has been exceptional to work with and held our hand during the transition and data migration, going out of their way to customize our user interface. It’s amazing to have a system so accessible to our patrons and easy to use. It has super-charged our library lending power!”

The Equinox Open Source Grant was offered for the first time in 2019 providing Koha migration, support and training to two successful grantees. The grant was inspired by the vibrant open source community and the belief that every community deserves to benefit from an accessible and thriving library.

“I was really excited when we announced that Spark Central had received the grant,” said Rogan Hamby, Data and Project Analyst at Equinox. “It was even more of a thrill to be on the migration team as community libraries that are tightly integrated into the lives of their neighborhoods are important to me. At every step working with the Spark Central staff was a pleasure and their passion for their community came through in everything we did.”

To learn more about Koha and the expert services Equinox has to offer please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/ .

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. 

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

Equinox migrates John Bulow Campbell Library at Columbia Theological Seminary to Koha ILS

News Announcement

Duluth, Ga., July 7, 2020: Equinox Open Library Initiative announces the successful migration of John Bulow Campbell Library at Columbia Theological Seminary to the Koha Integrated Library System.

Migration of Columbia Theological Seminary encompassed 141,860 bibliographic records and 2,215 patrons at the seminary. Equinox services included: project management, system configuration, extraction and migration of bibliographic data, and staff training. Equinox also provided Koha support, hosting, and auxiliary services.

“Day One of going live was a joy, not a nightmare,” said Kelly Campbell, Associate Dean of Information Services and Director of John Bulow Campbell Library at Columbia Theological Seminary. “Equinox fully supported the Library during the migration. Questions were answered, concerns were addressed, fears were calmed and as Day One live approached, we were excited!”

Begun in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand Koha is the first free and open source library automation package. Equinox’s team includes several long-standing Koha developers and core committers.

“Columbia was a joy to work with,” said Jason Etheridge, Senior Developer at Equinox. “The staff and faculty are very knowledgeable and meticulous, which contributed to a smooth migration.“

To learn more about Koha and the expert services Equinox has to offer please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/ .

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. 

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

Koha 20.05 Has Arrived

Koha 20.05 was released on June 1st and contains many useful features, some of which are quite topical indeed. For example, there is now the ability to batch extend the due dates of items that are on loan. The tool to do this is found on the tools page as “Batch extend due dates”.

Koha 20.05 also includes a new point-of-sale module, which lets you set up items for sale that can be sold to patrons anonymously:

The public catalog now has a new page listing information about all of the libraries defined in Koha:

Do you have patrons who would like to give feedback about catalog records or issues with the site? Koha’s public catalog now includes a feedback form on every page:

Speaking of catalog records, the MARC record editor now lets you drag and drop fields and subfields:

MARC fields can now be marked as important in the frameworks — not mandatory, but good to have:

Batch actions on catalog records can also now be initiated from the staff search results page:

Other features of note include:

  • Acquisitions now has a search-to-order feature similar to the search-to-hold function, allowing easier creation of new orders.
  • Koha now includes a “cashup” feature to ease doing periodic reconciliation of cash registers.
  • The library groups mechanism has been extended to allow defining groups of libraries that are local to each other for the purpose of filling holds. This will allow a consortium using Koha to better manage transits between their members.
  • Item labels can now be printed for barcode ranges, allowing the library to preprint sets of barcodes.
  • Improvements to the display of records in the public catalog, including displaying the 041, 385$a, and 508.

There are many more enhancements and features in Koha 20.05. More details can be found in the release announcement.

Koha 20.05 was released during a period of global uncertainty, but we’re all looking forward to supporting this next step in Koha’s evolution.

Notes from the 2020 Evergreen International Online Conference

evergreen resource

By Andrea Buntz Neiman, Project Manager for Software Development at Equinox

In March of this year, the Evergreen Conference Committee made the heartbreaking but necessary decision to cancel the in-person Evergreen International Conference, slated to be held in Atlanta, Georgia and hosted by PINES. It marked the first cancellation since the Conference’s inception in 2009.

However, one of the greatest strengths of open source communities is our flexibility. At Equinox, we have experienced this first hand. The collaboration and collegiality of our open source communities has given us all the flexibility to adapt and respond – and it was no different with the Evergreen Conference.

With the blessing of the Evergreen Board and the Conference Committee, the Evergreen Outreach Committee took the reins for the first-ever Evergreen International Online Conference. The Outreach Committee decided early on that the online format presented an opportunity to easily record and caption all sessions, and make them available to a wider audience. (All presentations and session recordings will be posted on the community webpage and YouTube channel.)

The in-person conference had 36 scheduled sessions, roundtables, and interest groups; 24 of these presentation groups agreed to adapt their talks for an online format. Online sessions were scheduled for the afternoon (Eastern Time) to allow our West Coast community members to more easily attend.

Four community organizations generously offered in-kind sponsorship in the form of Zoom licenses and staff time for hosting – Bibliomation, Evergreen Indiana, MOBIUS, and NC Cardinal – and Equinox sponsored live closed-captioning for all sessions. Thanks to the sponsors and the lower overhead of an online event, the conference was able to be offered for free to all attendees.

Keynote speaker John Rempel was enthusiastic from the beginning about delivering his talk remotely. John, who works at the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation at Georgia Tech, gave an overview of accessibility standards and the ways they have (or haven’t) interacted with technology over the years. He urged us to consider accessibility from the very earliest stages of design, and to involve people actually using accessible design elements as we work to improve Evergreen’s accessibility.

Another standout talk was Chris Sharp’s perennially popular Evergreen Reports session, which this year has the distinction of being the only session to max out a Zoom license with 100 attendees. Elizabeth Thomsen of NOBLE gave a presentation entitled “Batches, Baskets, Buckets, and Bookbags” that was also very well-received.

Equinox staff, either on their own or as part of a group, participated in 8 of the 24 presentations. Of note was Galen Charlton and Mike Rylander’s presentation “Making Perl Work for You in Evergreen”, which used the new Curbside Pickup feature as an example case; and myself and Rogan Hamby’s panel “Making it Rain: How to Talk About Open Source Value,” presented with Lynn Floyd of Evergreen Indiana and Meg Stroup of SCLENDS.

Overall, the Online Conference went incredibly well thanks to the efforts of our community. Preliminary results from a feedback survey indicate that almost 75% of respondents are interested in future online community events, so stay tuned for more online events!

Quarantined Item Management

Evergreen

By Mike Rylander, Research and Development Manager, and Angela Kilsdonk, Product and Education Manager, at Equinox Open Library Initiative

As libraries start to slowly reopen to the public, there are several larger ILS features in Evergreen and Koha, such as patron self-registration and self-checkout, that can help us continue to provide library services in a socially distanced environment. Another new aspect of providing library services during a pandemic is how to manage physical collections that are circulating. While research on disinfecting surfaces of SARS-CoV-2 is ongoing, some libraries have started quarantining materials that are returned to the library.  Both Evergreen and Koha have several configuration options that may help facilitate item quarantine.

For more information and resources on library preparedness during a pandemic, please visit:


Evergreen

Checkin Modifier – Capture Local Holds As Transits

The check in screen in Evergreen provides several Checkin Modifiers that can be used to take specific actions as items are checked in. The Capture Local Holds As Transits checkin modifier may be useful for preventing items from filling new holds as they are checked in. When the Capture Local Holds As Transits modifier is selected, items that would normally fill a new hold will instead be set to the status of In Transit, with a transit destination of the library where the item it was just checked in.  The item could then be placed in the appropriate location for quarantine.  After the quarantine period, the item can be checked in again, this time without the Capture Local Holds As Transits modifier, and the item will either be captured for a new hold or will go into the status of Reshelving.  Please see below for a sample workflow for managing quarantined items using the Capture Local Holds As Transits Checkin Modifier in Evergreen.

Koha

We love brainstorming with the libraries we work with and a recent discussion yielded two different ideas for facilitating item quarantine in Koha.

“Quarantine” shelving location + UpdateItemLocationOnCheckin

Koha has a system preference called UpdateItemLocationOnCheckin. This system preference can be used to change the shelving location of all items as they are checked in to a new shelving location called “Quarantine” or an existing shelving location that indicates the materials are set aside.

The “Quarantine” shelving location will help staff and patrons identify which items are in quarantine. This may be especially useful in the Holds to Pull list where the “Quarantine” shelving location will help staff more easily identify any holds that cannot be filled until after the items come out of quarantine. The Batch Item Modification tool could be used to move items to their regular shelving locations after the quarantine period.

Checkout to a “Quarantine” patron using Batch Checkout

A new user account called “Quarantine” or similar could be created. When staff are ready to process a batch of items that have been returned to the library, instead of checking in the items, they can check them out to the “Quarantine” patron using the Batch Checkout feature. This will check in the items from the previous patrons and check them out to the “Quarantine” patron. Holds will not be filled by these items and the items will not appear on the Holds to Pull list. This is a workaround workflow that may require additional override permissions.

Sample Workflow for quarantined item management in Evergreen 
  • Preparation
    • Clear an area (meeting room, office, open common area) for temporary storage, parking carts, or staging items.
    • Create a set of three signs: Day 0, Day 1, and Day 2. If you laminate the signs, you can write additional information on them with a dry erase marker.
    • On all circulation workstations, make sure the Capture Local Holds as Transits circulation modifier is enabled.
    • Configure the reshelving interval Library Setting to be 72 hours.
    • Keep a cart near all circulation workstations to collect items for quarantine.  Label these clearly with a term such as Quarantine Cart.
  • Upon initial check-in of items
    • For remote transit routing
      • transit as normal
    • For local transit routing upon hold capture
      • Place the items on the nearby Quarantine Cart.
    • For reshelving routing
      • Place the items on the nearby Quarantine Cart.
    • For cataloging routing of damaged or recalled items
      • Place the items on the nearby Quarantine Cart.
  • Upon filling a Quarantine Cart at the circulation workstations
    • Place a Day 0 sign on the filled Quarantine cart. Record the date on the sign if you wish.
    • Move the cart into the quarantine temporary storage area.
  • Once daily before any newly filled Quarantine Carts are placed in the storage area
    1. Move the Day 2 items out of quarantine for scanning, and remove the Day 2 signs from those carts. 
    2. Move Day 2 signs to Day 1 carts, and Day 1 signs to Day 0 carts.
    3. Return the stack of Day 0 signs to the Circulation desk to reuse for new Quarantine carts.
    4. Disable the Capture Local Holds as Transits circulation modifier temporarily and scan all items that aged out of the Day 2 carts, processing normally.
    5. Re-enable the Capture Local Holds as Transits checkin modifier. 

Curbside Overview

Equinox is pleased to announce that the new Curbside Pickup for Evergreen feature has completed partner testing and is available for review to the wider Evergreen community. By the time you read this, it might have been accepted to the Evergreen codebase! We have deployed this feature to our hosted Sequoia customers as of June 30th and are happy to help our self-hosted customers to add the feature to their Evergreen systems.

Equinox developed the plans for Curbside Pickup in support of libraries who are implementing new curbside services as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This feature is intended to sit alongside existing holds and notifications workflows and practices and was intentionally designed to be as lean as possible in its first iteration.

The initial Curbside Pickup development was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Integrated Library System (PaILS), and more information is available via the Launchpad bug or the original press release. Equinox’s Project Manager for Software Development, Andrea Buntz Neiman, says, “Curbside came together in record time, and I’m proud of our team for pushing this out so quickly.  Thanks also to PaILS staff for being able to test on a short timeline.”

If you’re interested in learning more about Curbside Pickup, we have created a series of training videos which are available on YouTube. The latest version of the documentation is available on our website. Current customers may sign up for a webinar about how to use Curbside Pickup.

Plans are in the works for future enhancements to the Evergreen Curbside feature, and Equinox is also exploring the idea of writing a similar feature for Koha. If you’re a Koha customer, and would be interested in this feature, please let us know!