About FulfILLment

FulfILLment will join the basic process of the scalable Evergreen library software with "connectors" to other integrated library systems creating a virtual union catalog for library systems or networks implementing FulfILLment.

Evergreen was the first library software written specifically to create a scalable system that would integrate libraries across a geographically-dispersed area to provide resource sharing for the individual libraries. It was first deployed in 2006 in the Georgia PINES system. It has since been adopted in existing and in newly formed resource-sharing networks. Evergreen has proven at least two things: one is that software which encourages the creation of such networks and the resulting breaking down of information silos between libraries is an important development. Evergreen has also shown that open source development methods are able to create such a large scale system.

There are many excellent integrated library systems in the market and ones which have capabilities library users enjoy but only one is specifically designed to be consortial. Is there a way to join the useful capabilities of consortial and scalable attributes of Evergreen with current software?

That is what FulfILLment will do. When finished, libraries which wish the consortial features of Evergreen but which are happy with their current systems will have the best of both worlds. Given that FulfILLment will be released under an open source license, it will be available to the library community.

This site is the home of FulfILLment and has a rich array of resources for those working and making decisions about FulfILLment. For those starting out with this project, some introductory material will help.

• The Evergreen site has an FAQ about Open Source Software that gives a good general introduction to open source software. The Internet is replete with other introductory sources.
• There is a FulfILLment Glossary that has terms specific to the project which are new or have adapted meanings used here.
• The March 2008 blog post The Path to FulfILLment provides a good general introduction that outlines the technical aspects of the project. As work proceeds, this information will be updated.

The project is expected to last two years from the first code (already written) to production. During that time various milestones are scheduled which, doubtless, will shift as work proceeds. Follow the discussions on the various mail lists and in the project's documentation.

FulfILLment is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL.

To to learn more, subscribe to one of our mailing lists or chat with us live on IRC.