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Volume 30, Number 1, Spring 2008

Georgia Public Library Service Wins Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has named the Georgia Public Library Service as one of ten recipients of the second annual Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration. The $50,000 grant recognizes GPLS for the development and release of the Evergreen open-source library automation system.

The Mellon Awards honor nonprofit organizations for leadership in the collaborative development of open-source software tools with particular application to higher education and cultural heritage nonprofit activities. The awards were presented December 10 by Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium and inventor of the World Wide Web.

Accepting the award on behalf of GPLS were Dr. Lamar Veatch, state librarian; David Singleton, deputy state librarian; Julie Walker, assistant state librarian for support services and strategic initiatives; Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia, Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES) program director; and Brad LaJeunesse, consultant and leader of the Evergreen development team.

“Evergreen is a most significant milestone in the life of Georgia's public libraries,” said Veatch, “and the Mellon Foundation�s award today is high recognition, indeed, for all those involved in its development.”

“A cooperative library system like PINES,” he explained, “is a miracle of public library collaboration and the realization of a true statewide library card. The Evergreen software that now powers PINES is yet another aspect of this shared vision for a sustained, self-directed, library management system. It is one that permits PINES to develop and grow its services in ways that best meet the needs of the libraries and the publics they serve. We are honored and grateful to the Mellon Foundation for recognizing the potential of Evergreen with this award.”

For additional information, contact David Baker.