Counterintuitive Open Source
My public library just sent me an email explaining that it will be closed for 3 days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) to install a new open source ILS (Evergreen). It also told me that, due to Evergreen, it will no longer send emails warning that books were due back to the library and will re-institute overdue fines. Seems like a step backwards to me. Somehow I naively thought that open source was an improvement not a step backwards.
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Hi, Marydee. Regarding the email alerts, I’m happy to say (this is very fresh news) you will have these. Pre-overdue notices have been a much-requested feature for Evergreen. (I get them from my local library here in Florida, and really appreciate the heads-up!)
Incidentally, another feature I really love is the ability to get email notification for holds. I also like bookbags — a way to collect titles I’m interested in and share with others or just keep to remind myself of my reading interests.
Regarding overdue fines… Evergreen supports all kinds of configurations, and whether or not fines are enabled is a local decision. Hopefully with pre-overdue notices it will be easy to return or renew your books before the fines pile up. (I’m ashamed to say that quite often, *receiving* a pre-overdue notice doesn’t mean I actually return my books on time… but whose fault is that except mine? I still appreciate the heads-up.)
I’m happy to answer any other questions you have about Evergreen.
Karen G. Schneider
kgs@esilibrary.com
Community Librarian
Equinox Software Inc., “The Evergreen Experts”
Comment by Karen G. Schneider — August 22, 2008 @ 9:33 am