Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, Executive Director of Pennsylvania Integrated Library System (PaILS), a consortium that hosts and supports the open source, Evergreen-based SPARK ILS, announced that several new libraries migrated to SPARK in 2018 with additional libraries queued up for 2019.

This year the Huntingdon County Library, all ten libraries in the Potter-Tioga Library System (which are sharing an ILS for the first time), and ten libraries in Carbon and Lehigh Counties went live. The previously unaffiliated Lehigh-Carbon libraries are instituting a single, shared library card and are beginning to share resources through SPARK. This latter group also includes a previously unautomated library, the Public Library of Catasauqua. In 2019 PaILS will migrate all of the Clearfield County Libraries, the Clymer Memorial Library (which will share resources with two other Monroe County libraries in SPARK), the Degenstein Memorial Library in Sunbury, the Adams County Library System, and the libraries of Wayne and Pike Counties. This will give PaILS a total of 144 libraries.

In 2018 PaILS also focused on deploying the new Evergreen web-based client, providing training to members on-site and remotely, and improving communication through bi-monthly Virtual Town Hall meetings and other means. The SPARK User Group now has officially charted committees and conducted its annual User Group meeting in State College which drew a record 103 attendees.

A newly instituted resource sharing initiative between the Lackawanna County Library System, Cambria County Library System, and the Blair County Library System was a success and has garnered over 17,000 circulations since beginning in October 2017.

PaILS has also become an internationally recognized contributor to the Evergreen community. PaILS funded or co-funded five development projects which will benefit all Evergreen libraries, the PaILS Executive Director is vice-chair of the Evergreen Oversight Board, and will host the 2019 Evergreen International Conference at the Valley Forge Casino and Resort on April 24-27, 2019.

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submitted by:
Scott Thomas
Executive Director
PaILS / SPARK