Sitka & Evergreen® ILS | BC Libraries Cooperative (original) (raw)

Sitka & Evergreen® ILS

What is Evergreen?

The Evergreen ILS (integrated library system) is fully-featured and highly-scalable open source software that helps library users discover resources and helps library staff to manage, catalogue, and circulate those resources, no matter how large or complex the libraries. Nearly two thousand libraries in North America and beyond use Evergreen as their integrated library system (ILS) and the Evergreen community continues to document, develop and improve the software with direct input from library staff. Read the latest Evergreen community annual report for more information.

The Co-op provides comprehensive SaaS (software as a service) Evergreen hosting, support, maintenance, back-ups, and upgrades for member libraries. As of 2022, we’ve grown to supporting over 100 public, post-secondary, K-12, government and special libraries at over 200 locations across Canada. Our server infrastructure and staff are located in Canada and we are fully compliant with FIPPA (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act).

Evergreen functionality

Evergreen includes the following:

• Public catalogue (also known as an online public access catalogue, or OPAC) for patrons to find library materials, view account information, and save information online.
• Cataloguing: to add items to the library’s collection, including a select list of external libraries that can easily be searched (via z39.50) for cataloguing records.
• Circulation: to check items in and out, including offline circulation when needed.
• Serials: for managing and circulating magazine and periodical collections.
• Booking: to manage and reserve non-traditional library items such as technology tools and library computers.
• Statistics: powerful reporting functionality gives libraries access to all of the information stored in the database.
• Acquisitions: for tracking vendors, new items purchased, as well as invoices, purchase orders, and more.
• Course reserves: for post-secondary library staff to create lists of course materials and make them accessible to faculty and students

The transition to Sitka was so smooth. The fantastic support available from BC Libraries Coop has made everything approachable.

– Tina Chau, Decoda Literacy Solutions

• APIs are also available to integrate e-resources into the public catalogue from providers such as Overdrive. Evergreen also integrates with discovery layers such as Bibliocommons, Summon, Vufind and Blacklight.

Sitka Consortium

Sitka is a growing consortium of over 100 public, post-secondary, K-12, government and special libraries across Canada. These libraries benefit from the economies of scale realized by shared server infrastructure and a shared bibliographic database, and appreciate the autonomy they have over circulation policies and the branding and scope of their OPAC. Other benefits of Sitka include:

• No requirement for a local server — all server infrastructure resides at a secure data centre in Vancouver.
• A shared bibliographic database of over 3 million records means libraries either pay less for original cataloguing or spend less time doing it.
• The library’s stamp on the public OPAC, with custom logo and colours; library users will search only the library’s own resources… unless those resources are intended to be shared with other Sitka member libraries, in which case the Evergreen ILS does this easily and seamlessly!
• Shared licensing for book-cover art is integrated into both public and staff interfaces for all member libraries.
• Ongoing software development takes place thanks to pooled feature requests from the Sitka member community, and development coordination with the entire North American Evergreen community.

Get Started

Membership in Sitka is open to Canadian knowledge sector members. Libraries abide by policies and procedures approved by the Sitka Business Function Group (BFG), which is governed by participating libraries and meets several times per year. We welcome your library’s participation in the Sitka BFG and other committees.

Our fee structure was developed in consultation with our members and is primarily tiered according to (a) Service Area Population or FTE count, (b) whether a library is a single location or a multi-branch, and (c) if the library requires Acquisitions and/or Course Reserves (available for an added cost). Libraries may also require 3rd party integration, data clean-up prior to migration, or other accommodations.

Please contact Sharon Herbert, Sitka Manager 1.855.383.5761 x 1013 to discuss your needs and obtain a quote – we look forward to hearing from you!