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--- faqs:evergreen_faq_1 [2013/09/17 16:32] – [7. Where did you create Evergreen?] roganh
+++ zzz:evergreen_faq_1 [2020/11/30 13:15] – ↷ Page moved from faqs:evergreen_faq_1 to zzz:evergreen_faq_1 roganh
@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
   *[[faqs:Evergreen FAQ 2|Frequently Asked Questions about Evergreen's Features and Technical Infrastructure]]
-  *[[faqs:Evergreen FAQ 3|Frequently Asked Questions about Open Source]]
+  *[[zzz_archive:faqs:evergreen_faq_3|Frequently Asked Questions about Open Source]]
-  *[[faqs:Evergreen and Open Source Glossary]]
+  *[[zzz:evergreen_and_open_source_glossary]]
   *[[faqs:Evergreen Feature Request Procedures]]
   *[[faqs:Evergreen Roadmap]]
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 ===== 6. So do I have to be a technical expert to use Evergreen? =====
-Evergreen requires at least some experience with administering a Linux server system.  Some libraries contract with [[faqs:evergreen companies|a company that offers Evergreen support, development, migration, and other services]] for their Evergreen installations. Some libraries are fully hosted by commercial companies. Some libraries have implemented Evergreen entirely on their own and maintain their own installations. Some libraries perform their own data migrations and then contract with a company for support.
+Evergreen requires at least some experience with administering a Linux server.  Some libraries contract with [[faqs:evergreen companies|a company that offers Evergreen support, development, migration, and other services]] for their Evergreen installations. Some libraries are fully hosted by commercial companies. Some libraries have implemented Evergreen entirely on their own and maintain their own installations. Some libraries perform their own data migrations and then contract with a company for support.
 Evergreen also has a strong and growing developer community dedicated to its health and long-term sustainability. One Evergreen user even installed it to manage his home library!
@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
-===== 9. Why are you sharing Evergreen with others? =====
+===== 8. Why are you sharing Evergreen with others? =====
-Early on, Evergreen's developers and stakeholders made a strategic decision that the new system eventually to be known as Evergreen would be owned and developed by the library community.
+Early on, Evergreen's developers and stakeholders made a strategic decision that the new system would be owned and developed by the library community.
-As librarians and library advocates, we believe in the power of information-sharing and openness. We believe that just as books are for use, software should also be for use. We have watched our beliefs turn into reality as libraries from across the United States and Canada have contributed to the [[http://open-ils.org|Evergreen]] project.
+As librarians and library advocates, we believe in the power of information-sharing and openness. We believe that there should be an option for libraries to be self deterministic as an alternative to proprietary options and that the economic model provided by open source models works. We have watched our beliefs turn into reality as libraries from across the United States and Canada have contributed to the [[http://open-ils.org|Evergreen]] project.  As the community has grown and become invested in Evergreen the project has grown from scrappy start up to a large established and stable entity, just like a business with a large customer base.  As every library improves the community experience - adding code, documentation, doing presentations, answering questions on online, we all benefit.  There are a lot of ways to add value to the community and that is the purely selfish reason for open source - instead of paying dividends to a corporation our efforts go back into improving our own experience.
-Open source software also helps protect libraries against some of the painful trigger events in the life-cycle of proprietary software such as capabilities and upgrades that are never delivered, or vendor buy-out and vendor abandonment. We have watched our library colleagues suffer through all these events and knew there was a better way.
-The Evergreen community is strong and growing stronger every day.  To learn more about the community, see [[Evergreen Committees|Evergreen Committees]].
-For more about the open source advantage, see [[evergreen_faq_3|Frequently Asked Questions about Open Source]].
-===== 10. What are Evergreen's key features? =====
-Evergreen provides high-quality services (you can think of these as "modules") for circulation, cataloging, and discovery (that is, the public catalog, or OPAC).
-On the back end, Evergreen has a friendly staff client, a powerful reporting module, and fine-tuned, highly flexible policy configuration. For a longer list of Evergreen's capabilities, see [[evergreen_faq_2|Frequently Asked Questions about Evergreen's Features and Technical Infrastructure]].
+===== 9. What is the "Evergreen Effect"? =====
-===== 11. What new functions will Evergreen offer in the future? =====
-To see features, follow the [[evergreen_roadmap|Evergreen roadmap]].
-===== 12. What's the difference between Evergreen and PINES? What's GPLS? =====
-[[http://open-ils.org|Evergreen]] is the open source, consortial-strength library software that provides services for circulation, cataloging, and reporting, and a front end, or catalog, for user discovery (finding library materials).
-[[http://www.georgialibraries.org/public/pines.php|PINES]] is the statewide public library consortium managed by the [[http://www.georgialibraries.org|Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS)]]. PINES uses Evergreen software, and contracts for support and development through Equinox. The PINES union catalog lists about 2 million bibliographic items and about 9 million physical items.
-There are now roughly as many non-PINES libraries using Evergreen, and more coming on board every day. But PINES is still our proud founding library!
-===== 13. What is the "Evergreen Effect"? =====
 Libraries on large, shared Evergreen systems find that resource-sharing can significantly increase. We speculate this is because Evergreen was designed around the resource-sharing needs of very large consortia, making resource-sharing easier and more visible for users and librarians alike.
-===== 14. I am interested in using a front end for our library system (sometimes called a discovery interface) such as Aquabrowser, WorldCat Local, Libraryfind, Bibliocommons, etc. Can I use one of these with Evergreen's back-end functions (cataloging, circulation, etc.)? =====
+===== 10. I am interested in using a front end for our library system (sometimes called a discovery interface)? Can I use one of these with Evergreen's back-end functions (cataloging, circulation, etc.)? =====
 We welcome these partnerships! We wrote Evergreen so it would easily interface with other products, including catalog front-ends. Since our code is open source, there are no non-disclosure agreements to sign and no mysteries to the functions driving our interoperability, making it feasible to harness Evergreen's formidable strength to a wide variety of interfaces.
+There has been interest in integrating Evergreen with products such as VuFind, Aquabrowser, WorldCat Local, Libraryfind, Bibliocommons, etc... These projects are driven by community members with an active interest so to find out the current status of these it's best to contact the community and find out if anyone (library or vendor) is currently maintaining such combinations.
+===== 11. How well does Evergreen integrate with other library vendor products? =====
-===== 15. How well does Evergreen integrate with other library vendor products? =====
+We welcome relationships with book vendors, enrichment vendors, and other services. Because Evergreen is open source and openly extensible vendors may find it easier to work with us than with proprietary vendors.  A 2010 survey's results are available here:  {{:faqs:evergreen-compatible_products.pdf|}} or here:  [[Evergreen Compatible Products Results Survey]] but the list of products libraries have used as Evergreen has grown is far too long to be maintained.  One vendor was having trouble integrating their enriched content with Evergreen but attended our first Hack-A-Way in 2012 and left with fully functioning code by their programmer being able to work directly with experienced community coders.
-We welcome relationships with book vendors, enrichment vendors, and other services. Because Evergreen is open source and our code is readily viewable, and because of our service-oriented architecture, vendors may find it easier to work with us than with proprietary vendors.  In May 2010, Equinox Software, Inc. conducted [[http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8Z8Y69J|a survey]] of the Evergreen community to identify the products that are compatible with Evergreen.  Survey results are available here:  {{:faqs:evergreen-compatible_products.pdf|}} or here:  [[Evergreen Compatible Products Results Survey]].  [[http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8Z8Y69J|The survey]] will remain open so that the community can continue to contribute.
-===== 16. How is Evergreen different from other open source library software? =====
-Evergreen was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of a very large (more than 270-member) library lending consortium whose members collaborate but are not in lockstep on policies. Evergreen needed to be able to handle large indexing and transaction loads while supporting highly-configurable policies for each member library.
-===== 17. Is it true that... =====
-==== a. If I install Evergreen I have to maintain it myself? ====
-You can maintain it yourself (or more often, with a team of developers), but you do not have to. First of all, if you have installed Evergreen, you can turn to its development community for assistance. Second, you can also contract with [[faqs:evergreen companies|an Evergreen support and development company]].
-==== b. I have to run Evergreen on a locally-installed server? ====
-If your consortium is providing Evergreen, all you will ever need to install locally is our friendly staff client (available for Windows, Mac, and Linux). [[faqs:evergreen companies|Some companies]] also provide a hosted version of Evergreen for libraries that need or prefer to use an externally-hosted server and a very high level of external support.
-==== c. All libraries in an Evergreen system have to use the same policy? ====
-On the contrary, Evergreen's elegantly rich permissions behavior can free your library from software-driven staff and user policies. Some libraries in Evergreen networks have elected to share similar policies for circulation, to make things easier for their users. However, you will find that the policy structure in Evergreen is flexible and powerful enough to handle almost any workflow configuration you could think up.
-==== d. Anyone on the same Evergreen system edit a cataloging record? ====
-No, this is not true. While it would be possible to configure Evergreen this way, in practice, we don't know of any Evergreen system where "just anyone" can edit a cataloging record.
-===== 18. I have more questions... ====
-Please inquire on our [[http://evergreen-ils.org/listserv.php|mailing lists]]. If you're shy about posting to a public mailing list, you can send email directly to a few of the Evergreen developers at [[mailto:feedback@evergreen-ils.org]] and we will get back with you promptly.
+===== 12. I have more questions... ====
+Please inquire on our [[http://evergreen-ils.org/communicate/mailing-lists|mailing lists]]. If you're shy about posting to a public mailing list, you can send email directly to a few of the Evergreen developers at [[mailto:feedback@evergreen-ils.org]] and we will get back with you promptly.