ByWater Solutions' Nicole C Engard Presents at the Panhandle Library Access Network

by Press Releases on Feb 17, 2010

February 18th, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
staff@bywatersolutions.com

ByWater Solutions’ Nicole C Engard Presents at the Panhandle Library Access Network

ByWater Solutions’ Nicole C. Engard presented earlier this month at the annual Panhandle Library Access Network (PLAN) Tech Day. This year’s topic was open source software for libraries. The presentation not only introduced librarians to what open source is and what it means for libraries, but also dispelled some of the myths surrounding open source. Attendees left with a toolbox of open source applications that they could start using immediately.

Nicole Commented on her chance to present:

“I love getting the chance to talk to librarians who are so excited to learn. The attendance at the Tech Day was great and between myself and my fellow speakers I think that the librarians left with a great understanding of what open source is and how it can be used to improve services in their libraries.‚Äù

Attendees commented, saying that Nicole “explained the content at just the right level of sophistication,” and that Nicole was very enthusiastic.” One attendee also stated that they were glad to see library-land ‘stars who live up to their reps.”

Nicole C. Engard is known in the library world for her blog What I Learned Today…” as well as her many publications including her book Library Mashups.” Her experience with open source software started with the Koha ILS, for which she is now the Documentation Manager. She continues this role along with her work at ByWater.

About PLAN:
The Panhandle Library Access Network (PLAN) is a multi-type library cooperative, composed of members from public, academic, special, and school libraries located in the 17 counties of the Florida Panhandle. The Network is governed by a nine person Board of Directors who are elected by the membership. The headquarters is located in Panama City Beach. For more information about PLAN, please visit: www.plan.lib.fl.us.

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circ, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information please visit: www.koha-community.org.

About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized installation, data migration, configuration, hosting, training, support options and development for enterprise class open-source library systems such as Koha and Evergreen. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. Check us out! bywatersolutions.com.