by We’re very proud to announce the release of the Evergreen Cataloging (Pre-Alpha) Demo. Again, this is a pre-alpha version meant simply for demonstration and proof of concept. There are many, many bugs in this release, and it has limited functionality. The purpose for this release is to gather feedback and to determine if we’re generally heading in the correct direction. We are not looking for bug reports or detail-oriented feedback. The time for that will come later, after the Alpha release this summer.
With those caveats in mind, here are some of the specific functionalities this release contains:
- Basic bibliographic searching; narrowing hits by owning library or local system (more basic options and advanced searching forthcoming).
- Customizable hit list; ability to re-arrange, remove, or add columns. (sorting of columns forthcoming)
- Integrated MARC editor that enforces basic MARC standards. Ability to edit and save MARC records to the test database.
- “Tree” listing of copies; ability to easily see what system/branch owns what and how many.
- Copy editor.
- Ability to add copies or volumes 1 at a time or in a batch mode at any level of the organization structure (at local system or per branch).
If you would like to install the Evergreen staff client demo on your computer, follow the instructions below. Alternatively, if you would just like to view screenshots, you can certainly just follow the walk-through below without actually installing the software.
Instructions for installing the demo:
(Note: in the production version of the software, the following multiple installation steps will not be required.)
If you are behind a firewall, you must allow outgoing connections on port 6222.
In order to test this demo release, you must download and install the Firefox web browser on your local machine. You may download Firefox from this location:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
(The download link is in the upper-right corner of that page.)
After downloading and installing Firefox, download the Evergreen staff client package from here:
(Update: April 5, 2004. This demo has been discontinued. The next demo is due out in Mid-May. )
http://www.open-ils.org/downloads/evergreen.xpi
Save it to your desktop. Then, in Firefox, go to File -> Open File…
Navigate to your desktop, and open the file you just downloaded (evergreen.xpi). Click on the Install button. After it has finished installing, completely close Firefox (this is important), and restart it.
A quick walkthrough of the high points…
We have designed this demo to work as if a “regional” cataloger was using it. The interface will look and work slightly differently depending on the permissions of the cataloger logged in, and what organizational level the cataloger is associated with. For this demo, you are logging in as the regional cataloger responsible for the Athens Regional Library.
Also, a warning is needed. There is an awful lot of content in cataloging demo. I’m not going to go into each and every little feature (and into each feature we have planned but don’t have), but this is still a large walk-through. Again, my purpose is just to hit the high points, and to help give a general feel for the overall application. The ability to really use this application, when it’s complete, will take training and documentation (which doesn’t exist yet).
Without further delay:
In the address bar, type: chrome://evergreen/content/
Hit Enter. You’ll get a login screen. Use “demo” as the username and password. Click the “submit” button.
Just on a once-through I like it. As you say, the tweaks will come later, but I think you’re on the right track. Thanks for all the hard work – and thanks for listening to what we want!
I do hope that the finished version will look a bit more streamlined and modern — to be honest, the cataloging module shown here looks like something that was developed back in 1989.
You’re right, Barry, the interface is somewhat disjointed at this point because the underlying feature set is currently our primary focus. At present, we’re more concerned with functionality: do catalogers have the ability to properly edit a MARC record, how many mouse clicks does it require to add a volume and attach a batch of copies, etc. Once we have enabled the staff to perform their job we’ll spend a great deal of time making sure the interface looks nice and that the staff is comfortable using it.
Please pass any suggestions you have on to us because this is the best way for us to tailor the software to your needs. Keep the comments coming.
-bill
Firefox 1.0.1 on RH FC3 (uname -r 2.6.10-1.770_FC3)
Adding the evergreen.xpi give the following alert(s)/error(s):
Alert addDirectory -202
Firefox could not download the file at file:///home/michael/Desktop/evergreen.xpi because unfinished install.
Hi Michael, this happens in Linux and Windows when Firefox has been installed by root/administrator for use by multiple users and the XPI file itself is being installed by a user without write access to Firefox’s global chrome directory.
For future releases we’ll make the XPI file smart enough to prompt for local versus global installs, and in the long run the staff client will be a standalone application that just happens to use the same Mozilla framework that Firefox, Sunbird, Thunderbird, etc. are using.
For now, the easiest but least security conscious fix is to run Firefox as root and install the XPI. Another option is to download Firefox (or Mozilla) and install it explicitly under your home directory, and use that install when loading the XPI file.
Thanks for reporting the error, and let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
— Jason
hi Jason – I got a Windows script Host error when trying to install evergreen. Error-object expected
Code-800A138F
Source-Microsoft JScript runtime error
something I should do before trying to install?
Also one comment – when adding copies to branches – i.e. adding five copies all at once – the price, item types, call numbers, etc. will be identical so instead of adding them one at a time, need to add the copies to the record by just adding the branch info five times, not the rest of the info. Thanks!!
Hi Sara,
Just to be clear, you need to load the evergreen.xpi file from within Firefox and not Internet Explorer. Everything should work then.
With adding copies to branches, we embed a batch copy editor into the Add Wizard, so you can indeed set the values for multiple copies just once and not individually.
Thank you! Let us know if you still have any trouble.
— Jason
Hi,
wanted to have a look at the demo, but for some reason I can not get access to the server. Is the server still up and running? (I have checked my firewall..That is all open.)
Regards,
Marcel
Hi Marcel,
We took the servers down yesterday after the end of the demo period. I’m sorry you missed it. The next demo is due out next month.
Thanks,
Jason