Evergreen Hackfest

These serious folks are participating in an Evergreen Hackfest at the Evergreen International Conference that took place on April 4-8 in Covington, KY. The Hackfest was sponsored by PaILS. Squash them bugs!  

Bedford County Goes Live on SPARK!

We would like to welcome the Federated Library System of Bedford County to SPARK. This includes these libraries: Bedford County Library Everett Free Library Hyndman-Londonberry Public Library Saxton Community Library As you can see, the move to SPARK generated community excitement:  

PaILS Mentioned in Compendium

PaILS has been mentioned in Compendium, a publication of the Office of Commonwealth Libraries. You can read the complete article here.

Ralpho Township to Automate

Some of you who have worked in libraries for quite some time may catch the symbolism in this photo. Note the old Gaylord checkout machine next to the new PC. We are happy to announce that the Ralpho Township Public Library in Northumberland County will be joining SPARK this year and, in the process, automating for the first time.

Happy 2017!

Happy New Year to all of our members and friends! First, to recap 2016… * Instituted quarterly Access PA updates. * Began a Strategic Planning process. * Conducted a User’s Group meeting with 72 attendees. * Instituted a system for training catalogers. * Added 5 new members for a total of 103 Libraries. * Migrated 10 libraries in Blair and Monroe Counties. * Conducted a resource sharing pilot between Lackawanna … Read More

Eastern Monroe Public Library is Now Live!

The Eastern Monroe Public Library in Stroudsburg is now live on SPARK! Along with the beautiful and busy Hughes Library, they are also bringing along two branches and a Bookmobile. SPARK will allow Eastern Monroe to share resources and patrons with the Pocono Mountain Public Library, another recently migrated SPARK member that is also in Monroe County. Welcome Eastern Monroe!

Updated SPARK Schedule

Here is an updated schedule of SPARK activities that will take us through 2017: December Eastern Monroe Public Library Go Live (12/8/2016) January Upgrade to Evergreen 2.11 (1/11/2017) Access PA Export Authority Control Update March Bedford County Libraries Go Live (3/23/2017) April Access PA Export Authority Control Update May Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity Go Live (5/18/2017) June Bangor Public Library Go Live (6/15/2017) July Access PA Export Authority … Read More

Pocono Mountain Public Library Now Live!

The Pocono Mountain Public Library is now live! With a beautiful facility, talented and enthusiastic staff, and a location high up in the Poconos, we welcome them to SPARK. Expect more great news from Monroe County soon!

“SPARK Update…and More”

I had the honor of moderating a panel discussion entitled “SPARK Update…and More” at the Pennsylvania Library Association annual conference at the Kalahari Resort in the Poconos. Also, we enjoyed talking with everyone who came up to the PaILS booth in the Exhibitor Hall.