Closerware has teamed with TechSoup Stock to make its web-based VolunteerMatters operations management and outreach software available to nonprofit organizations and public libraries. Organizations that make use of volunteers can use VolunteerMatters to schedule shifts, maintain contact information, publish an online directory, send email and postal mail communications, and generate various kinds of reports.

If you're a new developer that wants to obtain more in-depth knowledge of Evergreen, this is a great place to start:

Califa, in partnership with InfoPeople, is pleased to be presenting The Edgy Librarian, an online web conference held on January 20, 2010, featuring many of the new technologies being used in libraries, and show-and-tell sessions from libraries using those new services! Registration information is below, and the sessions are as follows (all times are in Pacific Time Zone):

The OLE Final Report is out and it begins with a "research scenario" that OLE is striving to support.  In other words, the library software they are planning to develop (in the next phase which is code named the Kuali OLE Project) could make the following scenario a reality...

An economist is conducting research on the housing market financial collapse.

In Mark Leggott's lengthy response to Stephen Abram's article, he challenges many of Abram's claims and does so from his own  relevant experience:  Leggott is from the University of Prince Edward Island which migrated off SirsiDynix Unicorn to Evergreen.

The following four issues (fears) often come up for people when they first start looking into an OSLS (open source library system):

Roy Tennant has provided some must-read words of wisdom for Library Administrators.  Here's my personal favorite:

#4: Maximize the effectiveness of your most costly technology investment -- your people. As technology itself falls in price per unit, your staff is likely to get more expensive. So pay attention to what is required to make the most effective use of them. This means getting them the training and resources they need to do their job well.

"BibLibre wants to push libraries who call us to do development work, for Koha or any other piece of software, to write in the RFP itself or the contract that all the code produced will both: have an open source license; and be accessible on a public repository."

via Liblime, Koha, BibLibre and FLOSS | BibLibre

"The three large networks in Massachusetts--NOBLE, C.W. MARS and Merrimack Valley--have been working on an Open Source solution that could be shared between their organizations. The Tri-Network Committee has just recommended Evergreen as the platform of choice. That decision has to be ratified by the three network boards, but they have already been awarded a joint $412,000 LSTA Grant specifically to develop an Open Source alternative for the state..."

Jerry Kline is launching a new company called SkyRiver (website launching today).  Jerry is the owner and co-founder of Innovative Interfaces.  The new company "aims to expand the market and offer an alternative bibliographic utility for cataloging that could save libraries up to 40 percent off their expenditures for bibliographic services."

As reported by Marshall Breeding in the 10/6/09 issue of Library Journal (New Company SkyRiver Sparks Cataloging Compe