Evergreen Changelog

Change Details

2023-03-10: Read-along book format

A new "Read-along book" format has been added in Evergreen. Titles encoded as being read-alongs are now searchable with the option from the Format dropdown and will be displayed with a new icon and label.

2023-03-10: Small update to lost/damaged payments policy

The Lost Materials and Damaged Materials policy was further updated by OWWLDAC to strike a requirement that payments be annotated and to clarify that checks should be addressed to the library receiving payment.

2023-01-31: New "Payments Between Libraries" report

The new "Payments Between Libraries" scheduled report has been released. This report can be used to create and process invoices for payments collected at other libraries. Depending on the volume of transactions, you may wish to invoice other libraries monthly as the report runs, or you may wish to invoice quarterly or even semiannually.

More information about this report can be found on OWWL Docs .

2023-01-09: OWWLHQ & OWWL-BBM

PLSHQ and PLS-BBM are no more!

2023-01-06: Changes to lost/damaged payments policy

The Lost Materials and Damaged Materials policy was updated by PLSDAC to reflect the system requirement that payments no longer be sent via delivery. According to recommended accounting procedures, owning libraries should be invoicing the library which received the payment for the lost/damaged item.

A scheduled report is being developed to aid with the new procedures.

2023-01-06: Emergency Closing permissions for Library Admin accounts (directors)

Directors are now able to add emergency closings in Evergreen. Emergency closings are appropriate to use for multi-day, unexpected closings (such as for a water main break that isn't expected to be fixed for several days).

Emergency closings are similar to "standard" closed dates, but additionally shift the due dates of items that fall within the closed period to the next open date. They also shift hold shelf expiration dates.

2022-12-28: Changes to lost notices and emails

Lost notices are now generated after items have been overdue for 28 days. Evergreen will mark items lost at 35 days overdue. The content of lost notices have also been adjusted based on feedback from EAC and PLSDAC.

Additionally, the overdue notice that used to be sent when an item was 28 days overdue has now been repurposed to act as an emailed lost notice. The text of this email has been updated to match the text of the printed lost notices.

2022-12-14: Changes to print overdue notice timing

14-day print notices have been activated for all libraries. The 28-day print notices and 42-day print notices have been deactivated for all libraries. The 14-day notices have also been adjusted to ensure that at least one overdue notice runs for items already 14 days overdue at the time the change is made.

2022-11-21: Change to self-registration confirmation message

The confirmation message that appears on the screen when patrons submit a self-registration form has been adjusted to indicate that the library may contact the patron to pick up their library card, depending on local practices. The full message reads:

Library staff at your selected library will review your information to verify your eligibility. Please allow time for processing.

If you are eligible, library staff will either mail your new library card to the address you provided, or contact you with pickup information. Your card will give you access to all OWWL digital resources and allow you to place holds on physical library materials. Your library may require further proof of identity and/or address before you will be able to borrow physical library materials.

2022-11-16: Pre-cat creation limited to Circ II/Library Admin accounts

PLSDAC voted to accept an EAC recommendation to remove the ability to create pre-cat records from Circ I staff accounts.

2022-11-16: New "Permanent Online Patron" profile created

PLSDAC voted to accept an EAC recommendation to add a new "Permanent Online Patron" profile. This profile can be used by libraries who would like to extend Online Patrons' account expiration dates to every two years (rather than every six months). Other than the default expiration date interval, this profile is identical to the Online Patron profile.

This account can be used to provide extended / continued access to electronic resources for patrons who do not visit the library to confirm their address / identity. Address/identity verification is not required and is a local library decision.

2022-11-10: OWWL Policy on autorenewals

PLSDAC voted to accept an EAC recommended policy clarifying autorenewals.

2022-11-10: OWWL Policy on "Editing due dates when a patron needs extra time" updated

PLSDAC voted to accept an EAC recommendation to change the OWWL Policy on " Editing due dates when a patron needs extra time ." The change clarifies the maximum amount of time a due date can be extended and disallows the use of editing due dates to prevent the timely return of an item owned by another library.

2022-10-20: "Refresh penalties" functionality

A "Refresh penalties" option has been added under the "Other" menu when working with patrons.

One use case: A patron has overdue fines of $6 and has the "Patron exceeds fine threshold" standing penalty. If the patron pays their balance off, the penalty will still remain until the next time Evergreen automatically calculates the penalties. However, the staff member can use the new "Refresh penalties" menu option to manually have Evergreen remove the standing penalty immediately.

2022-09-22: Update to Pull List interface

The Holds Pull List has been Angularized in a maintenance update.

Highlights of changes include:

• There is no separate button to view the details for the selected hold. Instead, as with other Angular hold interfaces, you can access hold details using any of these methods: double-clicking on the hold's row; right-clicking on the hold and selecting "Show Hold Details;" or by selecting the hold's row, accessing the actions menu, and then selecting "Show Hold Details."
• Many of the hold actions previously available as individual menu options are now all available in a single, convenient interface. These include editing the pickup library, notification settings, hold dates, active/suspended status, and more. To access this interface, select the hold(s), then either right-click or press the actions menu, and finally select "Modify Hold(s)." You can make any changes to holds all at once now.

Update: Libraries may encounter some printing problems with the new pull list. The old pull list is still available; the link was emailed out to PLS-L. Please email evergreen@pls-net.org if you need further assistance.

2022-09-01: "Laptop" Physical Format Item Stat Cat

A new entry has been added to the Physical Format Item Stat Cat field: Laptop.

2022-07-20: Minor upgrade to 3.7.3

This upgrade contains mainly minor bugfixes and performance improvements.

2022-06-15: Major upgrade to 3.7.2

More information available on the main upgrade page . Scheduled for 6/23, but finalized on 6/15.

2022-05-11: Change to hold limits

PLSDAC voted to accept EAC recommendations for updates to OWWL Policy on hold limits. Patrons may now place up to 20 active holds and may place up to 30 additional suspended holds.

2022-05-11: Change to patron account expiration staff warnings

PLSDAC voted to accept an EAC recommendation to change the patron account expiration warning from 3 days to 30 days. Staff will now be warned by Evergreen of an impending patron account expiration when accessing a patron record that is due to expire within the next 30 days. Please note that these new warnings may not appear in Evergreen immediately.

This setting is now aligned with the patron account expiration emails, which continue to be sent 30 days before a patron's account is set to expire.

2022-05-06: OWWL Policy on holds not picked up updated

PLSDAC voted to accept EAC recommendations for updates to OWWL Policy on holds not picked up. The policy now allows for greater flexibility in the amount of time that a hold may remain on the hold shelf and for libraries to set their own local policies. Language suggesting that libraries should charge a $1 "Hold not picked up" fee was also removed from this policy.

2022-03-24: New "Storage" Item Status

We've created a new "Storage" Item Status. This status could be used for a variety of purposes. One use case is for projects where a portion of your collection may be inaccessible for a significant period of time.

Items that have the "Storage" status will not be visible to patrons in the OPAC, will not be holdable, and will be unavailable. Additionally, if you attempt to delete an item with the Storage status, you will be warned that it is not in an ideal state to be deleted.

As with all statuses that are not OPAC visible, staff members will still be able to see items with the Storage status in the staff catalog.

If you are considering a large-scale project involving making a portion of your collection inaccessible, email us at evergreen@pls-net.org for help in setting your items up with the new "Storage" status.

2022-03-17: Item holds can be placed from the staff catalog again

The bug surfaced by the most recent Chrome update (to Chrome 99, released 3/3/2022) that caused a tooltip to block staff members from placing an item or call number hold in the staff catalog has been patched. You may now use the staff catalog to place item or call number holds directly from the bib record without needing to use a workaround or the Traditional staff catalog.

2022-03-08: Change to default search location for new patrons

PLSDAC voted on 3/4 to accept EAC's recommendation to change the default search location for new patrons to OWWL.

OWWL is already the default OPAC search location used when a patron is not logged on. Now, when any newly registered patrons log on to their account, OWWL will be the default search location. Previously, the default was set to the patron's home library.

This change will only affect patrons registered from now on; current patrons' settings will not be affected.

Patrons may always change their preferred search location themselves by logging on to their account, selecting the "Preferences" tab, selecting "Search and History," and selecting a different "Preferred search location."

Update: Due to a missing setting, this update was not implemented until 4/20/2022.

2022-03-04: OWWL Policy on lost and damaged item bills updated

PLSDAC voted to accept an EAC recommendation to change the OWWL Policy on bills for lost materials and damaged materials.

Specifically, the language of the policy was updated to reference "Work" rather than "Passthru" as the payment type and was updated to reference the envelopes used for delivery. Additionally, the updated policy is that an annotation should be added to the transaction by the library accepting payment.

2022-02-22: Update to Shelf List by Shelf Location ad hoc report

This report now includes annual report and fiction/nonfiction stat cats.

2022-02-22: Update to Item Count by Shelving Location ad hoc report

This report no longer requires you to enter a shelving location. All of a library's shelving locations and the count of items in each will be displayed when you run the report.

2022-02-16: Maintenance Updates

Adjust to zero on lost items

When you use the "Adjust to Zero" function for a lost item bill, Evergreen will now change the item's status to "Lost and Paid." Previously, Evergreen would only change the item's status if the bill was paid in full; if you used the "Adjust to Zero" function, the item's status would remain as "Lost," even though the bill was considered paid in full.

2022-02-02: "Originally registered at" stat cat name change

At their January meeting, PLSDAC voted to accept an EAC recommendation to change the name of the "Registration on File at" patron statistical category to "Originally Registered at." This change has been finalized in Evergreen.

These changes correspond with some updates to OWWL policies about patrons , also recommended by EAC and approved by PLSDAC, which recognize that many libraries no longer retain registration paperwork.

In particular, this aligns with the "Registration paperwork retention" section:

"EAC recommends keeping registration paperwork for no longer than is reasonable for local workflow (i.e. time it takes to enter all data into the system) and recommends the proper disposal of registration paperwork, i.e. shredding."

2022-01-07: End of grace period

PLSDAC voted this morning to end the 7-day grace period as recommended by EAC . This change has been made in Evergreen. This is a return to the pre-pandemic setting.

Please note that this change will only affect circulations that started after the change was made at 12:50pm. All circulations from prior to 12:50pm will still have a 7-day grace period, while all circulations from 12:50pm onwards have no grace period. Checkouts and renewals that don't have a grace period will accrue and post overdue fines immediately if fines are being charged. Fine-free circulations will still continue to be fine-free, of course!

Evergreen Bug Tracker

Date Added	Bug Description	Bug Mitigation / Workarounds
2022-10-03	New pull list sometimes shows duplicate holds when using multiple pages	If you have the number of rows set to display to, say, 50, Evergreen should show the holds only once. After you set the interface to display 50 rows (and save your settings by selecting Save Grid Settings from the Show Grid Options / gear menu in the top right of the table), you should be able to reload the interface and see the correct number of rows.
2022-09-30	New pull list doesn't print to receipt printers	Two option: • Use old pull list interface (still available with link; emailed to pls-l) • Print to a standard printer
2022-04-26	Items that were lost by Patron A, then found, then lost by Patron B have their status changed to "Lost and Paid" if Patron A's bill (for overdue fines) is paid or forgiven.	• This only affects the status of the item; the item will still remain as a checkout on Patron B's account. • Library staff should confirm that items marked as "Lost and Paid" are not still checked out as Other / Special Circulations before deleting them.
2022-03-29	Holds are not captured for items checked in from an unholdable status (like Missing, Damaged, etc.)	• Wait until the holds targeter runs. The holds targeter runs every each hold every 24 hours on a hold and will target items made available within the past 24 hours. • If you know of a hold for the item, manually retarget the hold by selecting Actions > Find Another Target while viewing a patron's or title's holds or while using the Hopeless Holds interface. • Check in the item a second time.