1. EG Grand Rapids 2010 Robert Soulliere Cynthia Williamson Doing an Evergreen Installation(Mohawk College, Ham. ON)

2. Quick Mohawk Timeline Pre-Evergreen: Mohawk part of ILS Consortium using Sirsi (Unicorn & Webcat) 2006: Discovered EG 2007: Discovered Equinox & Mohawk hired Robert 2008: Testing and Experimenting started & continued into 2009 In other words – we took lots of time!! Had access to current ILS until March 2010, planned to go live with EG Spring/Summer 2009 Went Live July 6, 2009 2009: Contracted with Equinox to build booking module Completed March 2010 March 2010: Mohawk wins 2010 Innovation Achievement Award from Community and Technical College Libraries, Canadian Library Association .

3. Systems Advice Give yourself time for testing and learning before going live. SQL is your friend – learn it! Don’t be shy about asking Q’s on the EG lists Test server! Get one, they’re free! Don’t get stressed during the tough times.

4. Front End Operations & Training Created a wiki to confer with & train circ staff Encouraged staff to train themselves Lots of good basic documentation out there (Sitka & Indianna) Not so great documentation for systems & admin (the mailing lists are a necessity) The constant refrain: “Do you want EG to work that way because Sirsi worked that way or because that is the way you want it to work? What would work best?” 2 biggest hurdles? Lack of Reserves module Lack of Booking module Even more casual approach to cataloguing training. They’re Cynthia’s staff, it was (still is) learn on your own, consult her when needed. Lots (and lots) of tweaks after going live Staff did not do as much testing pre-live as we would have liked

5. In Hindsight Cynthia should have spent a week or two on the circ desk for workflows/special issue identification More specific staff training & testing exercises give ‘em a list & deadlines Staff skills and enthusiasm will surprise you - both in their abundance & their lack thereof  let them in if they’re willing and able be prepared to do more training than you might think is necessary UPEI method – entire team met every morning during the month before “go live”, they ironed out a lot before they went live.

6. Would we do it Again? H*ll yes!! Why?? Control over our own destiny EG community is great, very helpful & friendly Equinox (and others vendors) are a good alternative if you don’t have a systems librarian or the time to learn on your own lots of flexibility, it isn’t an all or nothing proposition

7. Questions?? This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Thanks!