Pennsylvania Moves Toward Statewide Open Source Library System
August 26 , 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Pennsylvania Moves Toward Statewide Open Source Library System Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - August 26, 2010 - HSLC/Access PA, managers of the Access PA Union Catalog and interlibrary loan systems, has announced its intention to migrate an initial group of public libraries to an Evergreen open source integrated library system beginning in 2010. This group of public libraries currently shares an Innovative Interfaces, Inc. Millennium library system managed by HSLC in Philadelphia. HSLC has signed a contract with Equinox (original developers of the Evergreen software) for data enhancement and training services, and has received letters of intent from 39 public and 8 school libraries that plan to participate in the project.
HSLC is developing the new Evergreen system for public libraries in close coordination with the work of the Statewide Integrated Library System (ILS) Task Force convened by Pennsylvania's Office of Commonwealth Libraries. The ILS Task Force will also assist in establishing a not-for-profit organization to oversee the project by the end of 2010. HSLC will continue to maintain the Access PA Union catalog of 3000 libraries' holdings based on Innovative Interface's INN-Reach product.
While the initial group of libraries to migrate to Evergreen will be limited to public libraries currently participating in the HSLC Millennium system, the new organization that will oversee the statewide system will accept applications from additional libraries in 2011. A separate instance of the Evergreen system is being planned for school libraries.
The new shared system, which will utilize virtualized servers and storage, is designed to be highly fault tolerant and reliable. It will be hosted at a commercial hosting facility in Philadelphia that offers redundant network connections and diesel generated back-up power.
The integrated library system will also include a separate discovery interface based on VuFind open source software developed at Villanova University. The VuFind discovery interface integrates a modern, easy to use searching interface with social software functionality. It also allows libraries to customize and integrate the discovery layer with their websites.
Contact:
Joseph C. Scorza
Executive Director
HSLC/Access PA
3600 Market Street, Suite 550
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2646
215-222-1532
scorza@hslc.org