Georgia PINES Survey: Evergreen Delivers

May 5 , 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATLANTA - Georgia PINES, the statewide consortium powered by Evergreen open source library software, has achieved the highest-ever user satisfaction ratings in the five-year history of its annual survey. Based on the 2009 survey, 19 out of 20 respondents (95.6 percent) would recommend the Evergreen-powered PINES system to friends, according to Chris Sharp, PINES Program Manager.

PINES is a statewide consortium providing a shared catalog of nearly 10 million items to nearly 280 library outlets in nearly 140 counties, with a single library card that is welcomed in all member libraries. PINES, a project of Georgia Public Library Service, developed Evergreen software and launched it statewide in September, 2006. Evergreen is now used in hundreds of libraries worldwide.

Sharp added that more than four out of five (82.9 percent) use the catalog at least weekly to renew books online, place holds on books, determine fines, or see what items they have checked out.

92 percent of respondents - up from 77 percent prior to Evergreen's introduction - also agreed or strongly agreed with these statements:

"This survey underscores the success of Evergreen," said Brad LaJeunesse, president of Equinox Software Inc., the support and development company for Evergreen founded by the original Evergreen developers. "Evergreen is user-friendly, powerful, and reliable, and opens the door to consortial sharing on a massive scale—a crucial capability in rough economic times."

Complete results of the 2009 PINES User Satisfaction Survey can be found online at http://www.georgialibraries.org/pines/aboutpines.

About Evergreen

Evergreen is consortial-quality, open-source library software initially developed to support Georgia PINES, a resource-sharing consortium with over 270 public libraries. Evergreen was designed from the ground up to be robust, fault-tolerant, service-oriented, and standards-based. Evergreen nimbly evolves to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia, while elegantly scaling down to the smallest library sites.

The growing, multinational Evergreen development community has shepherded Evergreen through a series of carefully-planned releases that have further strengthened Evergreen's consortial capabilities while adding popular and useful functionality. Evergreen 2.0, due out in 2009, will add acquisitions, serials, and reserves to Evergreen's outstanding functionality.

From its debut in September 2006, Evergreen has earned acclaim and praise from users worldwide, including a Technology Collaboration Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional Evergreen implementations include consortial projects such as Michigan Evergreen, Evergreen Indiana, and British Columbia SITKA, and libraries such as Kent County Public Library in Maryland, Marshall Public Library in Missouri, the National Weather Center Library, and the University of Prince Edward Island. Other libraries contracting with Equinox software for future Evergreen services include King County Library System (a public library system in Washington State), the thirteen libraries of Natural Resources Canada, North Texas Regional Library System, and South Carolina LENDS, an 11-library consortium. A number of libraries “go it alone” with Evergreen by providing their own migration and support, which further demonstrates the power, ease, and reliability of this state-of-the-art library software.

For more information about Evergreen, see http://evergreen-ils.org.

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled developers and other professionals who provide comprehensive support for Evergreen, the consortial-quality, open source Integrated Library System (ILS). Equinox develops, supports, trains, migrates, integrates, and consults on Evergreen, and engages with the rapidly expanding Evergreen community. Instead of one-size-fits-all support, Equinox works closely with libraries to ensure Evergreen is implemented in the manner that best fits their individual needs.

In addition to support, custom development and integration services, Equinox offers complete Evergreen hosting packages for libraries wishing to outsource their ILS infrastructure. Equinox also provides consulting services for libraries seeking more insight into the value proposition of open source software.

Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 678-269-6113

For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.

Evergreen is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Evergreen and the Evergreen logo are trademarks of the Georgia Public Library Service.