Welcome to TSUGA, Innisfil Public Library’s iteration of Evergreen, an open-source consortial-quality ILS that was developed by the Georgia Public Library Service and the Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES) consortia.

Evergreen was launched by the PINES consortia in September 2006; but it wasn’t until the following year that we became aware of this significant event. Our library system, in conjunction with a library system located to the south of our municipality, was actively searching for a replacement to our aging ILS. We had our funding approval for a new system; key vendors had provided demonstrations of their respective software, and we had our selection/implementation team in place. The Innisfil selection team was close to a decision when our research led us to an article in the March 2007 addition of Computers in Libraries entitled An Update on Open Source ILS by Marshall Breeding and a subsequent article ILS Migration in the 20th Century (July/August 2007) in the same journal by Frank Cervone.  These articles provided the motivation, and indeed challenged us to take on an open source solution.

After almost a year of hard work, Innisfil quietly launched its new collection management system on October 7, 2008, followed by a public debut during Ontario Public Library Week (October 19-25, 2008). The catalogue is available through the library’s website at www.innisfil.library.on.ca. To mark our achievement, we held a staff competition and subsequently named our new system “Tsuga” (Hemlock) after the outstanding majestic evergreen that can be found in Ontario forests.

Since the launch of Tsuga, the implementation team has developed cataloguing templates, reports, tutorials and training manuals. In an effort to give a little back to the broader Evergreen community, Debra Mann and Mandy Pethick, the Innisfil team members responsible for the in-house training program, have created some instructional “winks” that can be used by staff, library customers and those considering Evergreen as an ILS solution. These can be found at www.innisfil.library.on.ca/tsuga

Innisfil’s “single-plant” of Evergreen was managed by library staff (Grant Cowan, John van Rassel, Debra Mann, Mandy Pethick, Marilyn Pillar and Susan Downs) working in conjunction with Garry Dunn, President of Trellis Consulting. Throughout the process they were positive, innovative and enthusiastic. Their delight in the project was infectious and I can truly say that our implementation was celebrated by all staff.

Open Source software by its very nature creates a vast body of incredible resources. Our project was successful because of the contributions of so many people across North America. We wish to sincerely thank them for their work as well as their ongoing encouragement and assistance.