.

Equinox Chat Q&A

Evergreen Demo for Delaware Division of
Libraries
September 26, 2024

Chat/Questions and Answers

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:14 AM
What provisions are there for transactions when the internet is down?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:14 AM
Evergreen has a browser-based offline circulation module that allows you to record
transactions, then upload them to the Evergreen server when internet access is
restored.

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:15 AM
Offline circulation is available from the staff interface, so circulation staff need to
make just one menu selection to enter offline circulation.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:17 AM
can patrons belong to different libraries and have actions restricted at one library, but still
have functionality at other types of units with 1 card? (have 1 id which is valid at both public
and academic, but can freeze academic activity if no longer in good standing)

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:18 AM
Yes. Policies can be set up to allow different levels of patron privileges at different
libraries while sharing a card. Evergreen’s “standing penalties” allow each library to
control whether a given patron is in good standing at that particular library.

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:19 AM
And in particular, the case where a patron is in good standing at their home public
library but not in good standing at their academic library can be readily
accommodated.

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:19 AM
Is the system RFID enabled?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:20 AM
Regarding RFID, Evergreen works with a variety of RFID hardware; the particular
mode of integration depends on the RFID device provider.

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:21 AM
Is there a functional real-time RFID inventory solution?

Michelle Hughes sent a chat · 10:21 AM
We use Envisionware as our RFID provider

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:25 AM
I confirm that Envisionware RFID has been used successfully with Evergreen. There is
also at least one Evergreen library using RFID and conducting real-time inventory,
though depending on the provider, some integration work may be needed to have
the RFID tools use Evergreen’s APIs to check the inventory status.

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:23 AM
Can the patron suspend a hold without an unsuspend date (so that it never unsuspends)?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:25 AM
I confirm that patrons can suspend holds indefinitely (i.e., without setting an
unfreeze date)

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:24 AM
If a patron suspends their hold, is their position in the queue retained, or do they have to
have an unsuspended hold to keep their place in the queue for the item.

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:27 AM
If a patron suspends, then unsuspends their hold, they’ll be restored to their relative
priority. (I should note that Evergreen’s hold fulfillment options are broad – you can
have “first-in first-out” to implement a traditional holds queue, but Evergreen’s
default configuration would be to minimize transit costs)

DDL – Vinny sent a chat · 10:24 AM
Can we use library groups to keep holds as local as possible>?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:29 AM
Regarding keeping holds local, that follows the organizational unit hierarchy as well
as so-called organizational proximity adjustments to model more complicated
relationships, but we anticipate doing future development to would allow library
groups to also be taken into account,

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:25 AM
Is it possible to allow materials to fill holds but cannot go into transit?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:29 AM
And I confirm that it is possible to configure policies to define classes of materials
that can fill hold requests but are not allowed to transit.

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:33 AM
Is there an automated way of maintaining authority headings or reading programs/lexile?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:34 AM
We partner with Backstage Library Works to offer automated authority control as an
option. They can also provide Lexile and Accelerated Reader enrichment. Accelerated
Reader enrichment is also available as an add-on service to Aspen Discovery

Karen Milowicki sent a chat · 10:35 AM
Do you support original cataloging/creating new MARC records from scratch?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:36 AM
Yes, the MARC record editor in Evergreen supports doing original cataloging.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:37 AM
what happens if there is no price entered into an item record? Can default price can be set
by library for different item types?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:38 AM
Confirmed, there is a library setting to define the default item price.

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:38 AM
Is there a non-manual method to strip non desired subject headings like MESH and Sears?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:43 AM
Regarding removing unwanted fields, Evergreen can do it by tag during record
import, but would need to involve something like MarcEdit to do batch processing to
look within the tag to do things like remove specific types of subject headings.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:40 AM
Am I understanding correctly that patrons would see a statewide union holdings in Aspen,
and staff can see union holdings, but cannot edit call numbers or items in other libraries, or
can they only see their library holdings if restricted to edit only their holdings

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:45 AM
Regarding the display in Aspen, there are options. A shared Aspen system can offer
both a statewide view as well as interfaces that either restrict to displaying a given
library’s holdings or start first at that library, but given the patron the option to
search more wide. On the staff side, permissions control which who can edit which
library’s holdings, and the filtering options in the staff catalog allow staff to focus on
their home library’s items.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:41 AM
can [patron] buckets be restored if a mistake is made?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:46 AM
Batch changes made via patron updates can indeed to reverted.

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:42 AM
Can a bucket of holds be created? (With a closed library we sometimes modify the pickup
library and want to restore the original location later)

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:46 AM
Evergreen doesn’t have hold buckets, but Equinox Support can assist with that sort of
batch change.

Lauren Smiley — Hockessin sent a chat · 10:44 AM
Can more than one report run at a time in the system?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:47 AM
I confirm that more than one report can run at a time.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:46 AM
how long are finished reports retained?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:48 AM
The retention period for report output is configurable. We (Equinox) do recommend
not retaining report output forever, especially for reports that include patron data,
but we would work out the desired retention period during system configuration

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:48 AM
Do reports only report on data or do some also perform functions?

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:49 AM
(functions such as sending notices or modifying data)

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:50 AM
Reports in Evergreen are just reports, not a batch update mechanism. Evergreen’s
batch update functionality is not directly to reporting in the way it is in some other
ILSs.

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:51 AM
For things like notices, Evergreen has a mechanism called Action Triggers that is
pretty flexible; in addition to gathering the data together to build notices, Action
Trigger can also be set up to do things like make APIs calls during certain events, e.g.,
to notify another system that a bib record has changed.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:52 AM
can search results or hold notification be sent via SMS

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:56 AM
Hold notifications can be sent via SMS, either through Evergreen or via services such
as Unique MessageBee (who is one of our partners). Search results and individual
records can be emailed, as well as user-created title lists.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:53 AM
Who is responsible for maintaining all of the separate instances of the members?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:57 AM
Regarding maintaining the instances, that is can be a matter of consortium and
library policy. E.g., customizing the library’s colors and logos in Aspen could be
delegated to the individual libraries or managed centrally, whichever makes the most
sense for you.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 10:55 AM
How centralized is payment processing?

Unnamed sent a chat · 10:55 AM
Related to Steffi’s question… Can payment processing be handled on a library-by-library
basis with only one statewide catalog instance?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 10:58 AM
Regarding payment processing, it can be configured per library; it would not be
necessary to require using a single processor.

Unnamed sent a chat · 11:01 AM
Can Aspen handle grouping within facets? For example “book” would include item types of
book, floating books, restricted access books, juvenile books, etc. rather than needing the
patron to select all of them individually.

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 11:02 AM
Aspen’s facets can be configured to group together related values.

Steffi Prigoff (DLC) sent a chat · 11:03 AM
Can patron preferred authors or subjects notify patrons when new items are added either
physical or electronic materials?

Galen Charlton sent a chat · 11:06 AM
Aspen offers RSS feeds of search results, which could be used to build email
notifications.

Unnamed sent a chat · 11:04 AM
If a patron checks out an OverDrive book via Libby, is that checkout reflected in their account
in Aspen?

Felicia Beaudry
Yes. Checkouts in Libby are reflected in the patron account in Aspen

Lauren Smiley — Hockessin sent a chat · 11:05 AM
Can circulation staff view patrons’ online checkouts?

Felicia Beaudry
Aspen Discovery includes a feature called Masquerade Mode. Staff may use the
patron’s barcode to access Aspen as the patron and view all aspects of the patron
record. This feature is disabled by default, and when enabled, is controlled through
permissions and may be limited to select staff.