Evergreen ILS

Evergreen is an open-source integrated library system designed to manage circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, patron records, and consortial services for public and academic libraries. It uses a service-oriented architecture and provides both staff and public-facing OPAC interfaces.

Key Features

• Full ILS functionality: cataloging, circulation, holds/reserves, acquisitions, serials, and patron account management
• Consortial and multi-branch support with shared catalogs and interlibrary workflows
• Service architecture based on OpenSRF for modular backend services and real-time messaging
• Web staff clients and OPAC: legacy AngularJS and newer Angular-based staff interfaces plus public OPAC skins
• PostgreSQL-backed data store with extensive PL/pgSQL code and SQL-based reporting
• Batch jobs, reporting and migration utilities for large datasets and consortia operations
• Development and build tooling using Node/npm for web clients and traditional configure/make toolchain for server components

Use Cases

• Hosting a public library consortium with shared cataloging and circulation across multiple branches
• Managing circulation, acquisitions, and serials for a medium-to-large academic or public library
• Replacing a proprietary ILS while preserving complex consortial workflows and batch migration needs

Limitations and Considerations

• Installation and upgrades require multiple prerequisites (PostgreSQL, OpenSRF) and system administration experience
• Building modern web staff clients can be memory-intensive and requires Node/npm and Angular build tooling
• The platform has a significant codebase with PL/pgSQL and legacy components, which can increase customization complexity

Evergreen is a mature, feature-rich ILS suited to organizations that need scalable consortial functionality and are able to manage a more complex installation and maintenance process.