Law Society of British Columbia Chooses an Open-Source ILS

According to a press release on the Equinox Software website, the Law Society of British Columbia has chosen Evergreen, an open source ILS (Integrated Library System) product.

From the release:

The Law Society of British Columbia has gone live with Evergreen, the consortial-quality open-source library automation software. Jeremy Buhler, a graduate student from SLAIS at UBS, did most of the work developing the main page and migrating data. Buhler has recently begun working with British Columbia SITKA as a trainer/help desk specialist. The Law Society of British Columbia is the governing body of the legal profession in BC. The LSBC Resource Centre is a legal research collection serving Law Society and staff with around 1400 bibliographic records in their database.

According to Christine Gergich, Records Analyst for the Law Society, "The switch to Evergreen has significantly improved access to and administration of our collection." Gergich added, "We are delighted to be part of a growing number of Evergreen users in British Columbia." "The ability of libraries such as the Law Society to 'go it alone' with Evergreen only proves the openness and ease of use of this software," said Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. "The Law Society joins a growing stream of libraries moving toward Evergreen for its features, flexibility, and forward-looking development path."

Sounds like a great project! ... Even if poor Jeremy Buhler has to receive his Masters degree from "UBS"; and the Law Society is listed on the Evergreen website as: "Law Society of British Columbia is an Evergreen library in Ontario".

We can take a couple on the chin for the sake of innovation. :)

Survey on the McGill Guide

Lots of surveys being done lately. The latest is about the upcoming 7th edition of the "McGuide Guide" (as posted to CALL-L):

Dear Friends of the McGill Law Journal,

It is with excitement that we announce the upcoming 7th Edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. This edition will feature vital changes to make it more comprehensive and user friendly. As we are in the initial stages of this endeavour, we welcome and encourage your valued input in suggesting changes that will help the Guide to better serve your needs.

Please take a few moments to complete the online survey provided in the links below. Don't forget to press "SUBMIT" at the end of the survey. We greatly appreciate your time and continued support. In order to ensure that everyone’s opinion is recorded, please circulate this email to fellow users of the Guide.

Thank you.

Click here for the survey in English.

The survey asks, among other things, about:

• the layout and organization of the Guide,
  
• whether you would use an online version if it were available,
  
• and what's important to you to see in the new edition.
  

This has been a hot button topic over at Slaw for a few years now. It only takes a couple minutes to complete, so here's your chance to have your say!

CALL Survey on Law Library Budget Expectations

As noted by Wendy Reynolds over on Slaw, the CALL Vendors’ Liaison Committee is conducting a survey of Canadian law library budget expectations.

If you haven't read it already, you should take the CALL survey first, and then check out the Law Librarian Blog's results from a similar study carried out in the US.

Quickscribe Manual Updates for February

Eight Quickscribe legislation manuals were updated in February:

• Crown Counsel Legislation
  
• BC Motor Vehicle Legislation (3-Volume Series)
  
• BC Transport Legislation
  
• RCMP Legislation
  
• Provincial Court Motor Vehicle Legislation
  
• BC Wills & Estates Legislation
  
• BC Liquor Legislation
  
• Business Corporations Legislation
  

And a quick reminder that the latest changes in British Columbia legislation are available at BCLegislation.ca.

CNN: Libraries Needed in Recession

CNN makes a good argument for the role Public Libraries can play in a down economy.

Not much depth to the post, but a good reminder about how libraries are a still part of the infrastructure of our society; bricks-n-mortar and all.