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4.4. 2025-2026 Annual Survey Responses

Last Updated 08/27/2026

Responses to 25-26 Annual Staff Survey Feedback

In the 2025-26 fiscal year, we surveyed staff at NC Cardinal libraries at the end of May through early June. We received a total of 463 responses this year on a range of questions from comfort levels with various functions to thoughts on training and communication. You may read the full analysis in our Staff Survey Report.

Each year, we ask the following questions at the end of the survey. 

• Please share your top three requests for changes, improvements, or additions you'd like to see the NC Cardinal team focus on next year.

• Please share any other feedback you have.

Your thoughtful and detailed comments are invaluable in helping us identify areas for improvement and focus our efforts in the year ahead. We go through each of your responses and address every comment as best as we can. The comments are grouped by subject, with individual comments bulleted followed by Cardinal’s responses. By publicly sharing our responses, we hope you can learn from the suggestions and questions your peers ask, and discover resources you might not have known about. 

The Cardinal team endeavors to address every concern. Some things we can answer immediately, some become projects for the year ahead, others may take more research or investigation. Some suggestions related to Evergreen are outside our direct control, so we try to make this clear in our response. The Evergreen software that we support has been created and developed by a large community. Since it is open source software, we have the ability to make some customizations to the software itself. We also have the ability to alter configurations, set policies and improve the cataloging data we have in Evergreen to make it work better for the Cardinal community.

If we can't change something ourselves, we will often add a bug or wishlist item to LaunchPad (https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen). Launchpad is the official tool for the larger Evergreen community to report software problems, suggest improvements, and track the progress of improvements. If your suggestion matches an existing Launchpad request, we'll provide a link so you can follow its progress. We encourage you to create a free account on Launchpad to comment, "add heat" (express support), or monitor the status of these issues. For more details on how you can "add heat", see this Knowledge Book page: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=953

We understand that sometimes our replies may not cover everything you're addressing in your feedback. If you wish to provide further details, clarify a suggestion, or follow up on an issue, please email us at help@nccardinalsupport.org. Screenshots of error messages, barcodes for patrons or items, TCNs, and other specific details can significantly help us understand and resolve the issue.

Thank you again for your feedback and for helping us continuously improve Evergreen and the support we offer to you and your patrons.

Buckets

Comment:

A faster way to add titles to an item bucket (like the record bucket button).

Cardinal Response:

Last year, we developed a patch that allows users to create a bucket using a CSV file. This patch is currently on production and also has been accepted into the main Evergreen code branch in the 3.17 release. You can use this feature in the Add/Edit bucket popup. If you have other suggestions for how to improve this interface, please submit a ticket.

Comment:

Help using Baskets.

Cardinal Response:

We will be creating new documentation related to searching the staff catalog, which will include a chapter on working with baskets. In addition to updating documentation, we will include baskets in a training webinar this year.

 

Comments:

• Make display pull lists easier to accomplish.
• Providing call number information on baskets/lists printouts and downloads.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request, and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Placing items in a bucket from a basket - it never works when I follow the prompts.

Cardinal Response:

Please send in a support ticket with screen shots. We'd be happy to help you figure this out.

 

Comment:

Angular shelf browse has no means to put items into basket. 

Cardinal Response:

We have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Add Search Results From Shelf Browse to Basket), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Baskets don't communicate well across tabs in angular they won't pick up changes until the page is refreshed.

Cardinal Response:

We found a Launchpad wishlist for this (Wish List - Ability to move records from one bucket to another), which mentions a process that may work for you until the fix is in place. In an Item Bucket, highlight the items you want to copy to another bucket, from the Action Menu choose "Open in Item Status" Then from Item Status, select the items and select "Add to Item Bucket" from the Action Menu.

Comment:

If you put the same item in a bucket twice, it only shows up once, but you have to remove it from the bucket twice.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (duplicate items in a copy bucket), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

More information on baskets and how to make better use of them.

Cardinal Response:

We are working on developing our training plan for the coming fiscal year, and will include a webinar on this topic. We will also work on developing more documentation on baskets for the Knowledge Books.

Comment:

When entering delete items in a bucket, I would like to see the items in order as the item are scanned in the bucket.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (Web Client: Copy Buckets Default Sort Seems to be Random), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

Cataloging

Comments (General):

• Images available during general searches
• Images！
• make the interface more visually appealing by adding photos to items
• More book covers
• more images of items for patrons to visualize
• Photos for records
• Pics for the books
• Book Covers
• Cover Photos for ALL media
• Get pictures of the covers as part of all (or as close to all results as possible). There have been way too many times the patron has described the cover they remember, but there are only Cardinal icons for the page of results pulled up.

Cardinal Response

There are two ways for title records to display cover images. We use Openlibrary as the default, which provides a cover based on the ISBN in the first 020 field of the MARC record, if that ISBN has a cover. Alternatively, catalogers can upload covers manually in Evergreen. Instructions for adding cover images are located in the Knowledge Book: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=818

 

Comment:

Authority control.

Cardinal Response: 

We have a section in the Knowledge Book on authorities that catalogers can review here. We also have an Authorities Working Group on Basecamp for discussing and assistance with authorities that we recommend those interested in learning more about authorities join. We welcome any ideas or suggestions on how to address authority control in the catalog more efficiently and accurately.

 

Comment:

Accurate and precise title/volume information on ALL media.

Cardinal Response:

We have guidance in the Knowledge Book for entering title and volume information in a MARC record, but we welcome suggestions and ideas on how to improve both the information in the Knowledge Book and the catalog. Some examples in the Knowledge Book include MARC Field Guidance, handling title and volume information for Graphic Novels and Manga, and Series Statements, which include volume information.

 

Comment:

Cataloging

Cardinal Response:

We would welcome any suggestions or ideas for how we can improve cataloging in NC Cardinal, whether it be training, Knowledge Book information, assessments, etc.

 

Comment:

Continue cleaning up records.

Cardinal Response:

Cardinal has developed an automated process that we run on a regular basis that cleans up large batches of bib records (e.g. removing unnecessary MARC fields, fixing invalid fields, etc.) We welcome any additional suggestions or ideas for how we can improve that process or for other ways we can continue working to clean up records.

 

Comment:

Having multiple format icons on materials.

Cardinal Response:

Some records require more than one format icon to accurately represent the item/s present on the record (e.g. a DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack will have a format icon for a DVD and a format icon for a Blu-Ray). Some format icons cannot be doubled up like that, however, so if you have any specific requests for records that should have multiple format icons but do not, we would be happy to look into the possibility. Alternatively, if there are any records that have multiple format icons that you believe should not, we can look into those, as well.

 

Comment:

More detailed descriptions of materials.

Cardinal Response:

We would welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have for how we can improve the descriptions of materials in the catalog.

 

Comment:

Series cataloging.

Cardinal Response:

We have guidance in the Knowledge Book for cataloging series, such as this page on Series Statements and this page on the difference between multi-volume and multi-part sets, but we would welcome any suggestions or ideas on how to improve this information or any additional training we can provide on the topic.

 

Comment:

Simple Bib-catalogue.

Cardinal Response:

We certainly would like to make bibliographic cataloging simpler for catalogers, and we are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

 

Comment:

The same item being catalogued differently between two systems.

Cardinal Response:

This was the reason we began the Cataloger Assessments, too try to make sure that everyone who is cataloging materials in the shared catalog is doing it in the same way. Duplicate records can often be a result of new libraries migrating into Cardinal, and it is one reason why de-duplication is important. We encourage catalogers to edit/update records as they come across them, and if there are duplicate records, to merge them.

 

Comment:

The lag between adding a holding to a record and it being factored in to the items available for holds.

Cardinal Response:

The holds targeter runs at specific, regular intervals. Newly added items will not be considered available to fill a hold until the targeter has identified them as potential copies. In order to force the targeter to run at the point an item is added, catalogers need to check the item in with the Checkin Modifier Retarget Local Holds.

 

Comment:

The way the Holdings Editor loads and then loads again with the picture of the item.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug (browser caching of added content is too long), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

User friendly MARC templates, need less clicking.

Cardinal Response:

The current templates we have were designed by catalogers from the Cardinal community. We would welcome any suggestions or ideas for how we can improve the MARC templates in Evergreen.

 

Comment:

Adding a Cozy shelving location！

Cardinal Response:

In general, we try to limit the number of shelving locations. If your library wants to add a shelving location, please submit a help ticket. If a local shelving location is requested by a variety of libraries, we will usually elevate it to a Cardinal-wide shelving location. One other thing to consider is using call numbers (or just prefixes) to genre-fy your collection. We have recently helped a member library change from Dewey to genres for their call numbers and could explore that with you for portions of your collection if that is helpful.

 

Comments (Deduplication):

• Consolidating records that are the same
• De-duplication
• Eliminate/clean up many more of the duplicate records that seem to slow the system down in multiple ways.
• Merging duplicate records for materials

Cardinal Response:

We are continually working to improve our annual automated deduplication process. As with last year, we requested the assistance of catalogers to review and merge potential matches that the automated process matched but did not merge. We have also begun sending lists out to catalogers of records that match based on ISBN for their review and potential merging. Each year we are able to make improvements to the overall process, but sometimes these adjustments have to be incremental so as to avoid as many potential mis-merges as possible. We also encourage catalogers to perform manual merges as they come across duplicate records during their normal cataloging duties.

 

Comment:

You shouldn't be able to accidentally complete a merge (with the editor open) without saving your edits (thus losing your edits.) (Maybe a save and merge button next to the merge, or a warning dialog box that changes will be lost, or disable the merge button while the editor is open.)

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (No prompt to save Bib Record Merge Edits/Changes), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

An overlay failure means you lose all of your work on that record.

Cardinal Response:

We were unable to replicate this issue for testing, because we could not get an overlay to fail. However, this seems like it would be the intended behavior, because the record you are editing is a Z39.50 record that has not yet been imported into the local catalog. So even though you have to save the edits before you can overlay, the record as it exists in the other library's catalog is not going to be changed when you do, and since it does not exist in the local catalog, there is, functionally speaking, no record to save the edits to.

Comment:

In a merge situation, if your merge fails, you lose all of your edits.

Cardinal Response:

We were unable to replicate this issue for testing, because we could not get a merge to fail. However, the only way we could replicate losing edits during a merge is to not save the edits first before performing the merge. Whether you choose to merge records or not, if you save the edits you have made to the lead record, those edits will remain. If you do not save the edits first, then those edits will be lost whether you choose to merge the records or not.

 

Comment:

Cataloging is very important. Sometimes we request a LP book from an LP title record but receive a regular size print book. This is very disappointing to our customers who request LP items. Thank you.

Cardinal Response:

We appreciate how important this is and it is what has led to the cataloger assessments. We also strongly encourage catalogers to refer to the Knowledge Book, attend additional trainings throughout the year, and to make use of the expertise of their colleagues from across the consortium on Basecamp.

 

Comment:

Getting the correct format icons to display can sometimes be a tricky process of trial and error. The knowledge book on this topic may need some updating.

Cardinal Response:

We've experienced the same thing and found that sometimes you set the values that have to be a certain way, but then there's also a value that can't be a certain way that's easy to overlook. We'll make a plan to update that Knowledge Book page this year.

 

Comment:

If you mark a target for overlay in import record then choose not to overlay, it's easy to accidently overlay the wrong item.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Remove Overlay Target After Canceling Overlay), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

When using the merge editor, the blue done button does the same thing as the yellow cancel button. If you're doing it that way, you need an exit and save changes button next to it. A blue button shouldn't dump your work.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request ("Done" and "Cancel" buttons in merge editor are redundant), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

Communication

Comment:

Basecamp replies come through one at a time and can be very overwhelming especially when many of us can't seem to figure out what is going on.

Cardinal Response:

Basecamp offers several filtering options. We've created a Filtering Basecamp Notification KB Page that describes filtering options https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=936

 

Comment:

Having a way to upvote comments on Basecamp would prevent a lot of unnecessary chatter. More often than not, people comment that Evergreen is running slowly from multiple libraries. The ability to upvote what another library says would decrease the amount of notifications that everyone in basecamp receives when multiple libraries report the same thing.

Cardinal Response:

This is possible on Basecamp, though it is referred to as "Boosting" rather than "upvoting." If you are not familiar with this feature, you find instructions for how to do it in the Knowledge Book here.

 

Comment:

• Communication about incoming libraries.
• Provide more communication on updates.

Cardinal Response:

We are certainly open to any suggestions or ideas about how we can improve our communication methods. In the meantime, we suggest subscribing to Evergreen's General Discussion Basecamp group to keep up with announcements and updates related to Evergreen and Cardinal, including announcements about new libraries and software upgrades.

 

Comment:

• Communications between branches within Cardinal.
• I feel not all staff at all libraries are on the same page.
• Maintaining communication with library staff.

Cardinal Response:

We stress open communication between member libraries and have even updated our resource sharing guidelines and best practices to emphasize this. Ultimately, though, it is down to each library system to make sure their staff are communicating with staff from other libraries.

e-Resources

Comment:

• Making "Exclude Electronic Resources" sticky or permanent in Search.
• Make "exclude electronic..." always stay on for the staff.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Make "Exclude Electronic Resources" Checkbox Sticky), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Make OPAC clearer to patrons that their searches include electronic choices. They can't seem to understand that we don't actually have those books and we can't say that they are available without searching on Libby.

Cardinal Response:

We will test some ways to make this more clear in the OPAC. This might include a text box on the search page when they're included or alterations to the electronic resources icon. 

 

Comment: 

• Make searches easier to eliminate electronic resources.
• When I ask only for books in my search it will sometimes still show electronic books.

Cardinal Response:

If you are not familiar with it, selecting the "Exclude Electronic Resources" checkbox when performing a search in the catalog will help to exclude many of them. That said, if you are still seeing some electronic resources in your search results even when checking this box, please provide some specific examples as this will help us with narrowing down what might be causing the issue. We have made updates this past year to improve this functionality, and in our tests we have not seen electronic resources appearing when we perform searches on our end. It could be an issue of how the records are cataloged or the feature may be missing a key piece of information that it should be looking for.

 

Comment:

More Libby titles, especially audio books.

Cardinal Response:

Electronic resources are purchased by individual member libraries, or by consortia like e-iNC or NC Digital. Additionally, the NC Public Library Director's Association and NC Live provide a large chunk of the available resources. Cardinal itself does not purchase any electronic resources.

 

Comment:

• When we check a box saying exclude electronic resources, it means we really do want to exclude electronic resources.
• Some electronic resources still show when box is selected.

Cardinal Response:

If you could provide some specific examples where electronic resources are still appearing in search results even when the "Exclude Electronic Resources" box is checked, it would help us with narrowing down what might be causing the issue. We have made updates this past year to improve this functionality, and in our tests we have not seen electronic resources appearing when we perform searches on our end.  It could be an issue of how the records are cataloged or the feature may be missing a key piece of information that it should be looking for.

 

Comment:

Streamline ebooks to include Libby.

Cardinal Response:

We'd be interested in learning more about what you mean.

Growth

Comment: 

• Add more libraries to the system
• Involving Wake/Wilson counties

Cardinal Response:

Chatham County will be joining Cardinal on November 19th, 2026, and Pender County will be joining on February 25th, 2027. 

 

Comment:

Let us know at the beginning of the fiscal year which systems will be joining so we can go ahead and make room on our shelves beforehand.

Cardinal Response:

We can certainly do this.

Holds

Comments (clearing holds shelf):

• A way to clear certain items from the hold's shelf.
• Fix the Hold Shelf functionality so that we can clearing the "Clearable Hold Shelf" with one click, "Clear these holds".
• Have a better way to clear specific holds form the holds shelf. It is currently much too easy to clear the entire holds shelf and not only the selected ones.
• Currently on the Hold's Shelf, there is a tab for "Show Clearable Holds". When it's time to clear them (if they are past the 7 day mark) you have to clear the entire list. The system won't allow you to only clear certain ones, without going into each one and changing the hold date. Also, when clicking the "Clear these Holds" button, you have to refresh the screen for it to actually take effect. I wish that it automatically updated the screen.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request (Unable to clear individual holds from Holds Shelf), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Allow resource sharing holds to be placed for items under age protection - and then just activate them later.

Cardinal Response:

This is currently possible, though only for library staff. Library staff can override the age hold protection to place a hold for a patron, and then once the protection has expired, the hold targeter will begin looking for potential items to fulfill the hold. Or did you mean that this should be possible for patrons?

 

Comment:

Ask patrons on long waitlists if they still need to be on hold for an item.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request, and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comments (hold slips):

• Change wording on hold slips.
• Please change wording on the holds slip to Notified by phone/email as this is very confusing to new staff.

Cardinal Response:

If you would like the wording on your hold slips changed, we can do this for you. Please submit a help ticket with this request, and we will be happy to assist.

 

Comment:

More specific error messages with non-accessible hold requests.

Cardinal Response:

We've investigated modifying these before and found that they're hardcoded into Evergreen in a way that make them very difficult to edit. We'll continue to push for this in the Evergreen community.

 

Comment:

Improving status updates of holds for patrons.

Cardinal Response:

We need more information. For example, would it be helpful to notify patrons of when their holds go into transit? There are hooks for transit start, transit end, hold capture, hold cancel etc. Submit a ticket and we can see what's possible.

 

Comment:

I mentioned it in the OPAC section, but allow more than one DVD to be placed on hold when the rest of the items are books. When a person has around 10 books on hold, and only one DVD, the system does not allow any more DVDs to be placed on hold, despite neither the max-DVD total nor the max-holds total being reached.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (max holds enhancements), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Keep working on the holds management process -- balancing patron needs and timeliness with cost effectiveness and functionality.

Cardinal Response:

This has been an ongoing project of ours. We're working behind the scenes to make adjustments to the process to save time and money. Last fiscal year, we implemented hold stalling to the targeter that will limit a hold's potential copies to those within its pickup library system for up to 10 days.

 

Comment:

• Clarify to patrons if their hold items are fulfillable through resource sharing or if they're only waiting for in-county items.
• The ability to "predict" the amount of time it might take for a book to arrive.
• Make it easier to know where a book is coming from while you are looking for holds.

Cardinal Response:

This is challenging because even if a specific item is targeted, the hold may end up being filed by a different item depending on when the library pulls their items. Until an item is pulled and checked in to fill the hold, its hard to know where it will be coming from. 

 

Comment:

Make it easier to put an individual copy of a book back on hold for a patron when it has just been turned back in by a patron who had checked it out and it is now technically "In Transit." this situation happens in book club contexts all the time, and the hold function doesn't always work.

Cardinal Response:

The options in this scenario depend on whether that copy is just going home or has been targeted to fill a hold elsewhere through "opportunistic capture," which is trying to find what it calculates is the best hold to fill with that item. If the item is simply transiting home to go back to the shelf, then making sure there's an active hold for that title and checking it in again with the "Retarget Local Holds" checkin modifier should get it to be reconsidered to fill local holds. Alternatively, if the item going in transit to fill another hold elsewhere, we'd want that patron to have their turn at the item. 

 

Comment:

Please allow holds to be filled by a library system's branch or library system if showing available in the catalog instead of pulling an out-of-county item to fill the hold first.

Cardinal Response:

This is the intended behavior for filling holds and we've tested some changes this year that wait even longer to allow a local item to fill a hold. If you encounter a specific scenario in which a local hold is available but an out-of-system hold is being targeted, we're happy to investigate.

 

Comment:

• Shorten the 6 month holds limit for new items.
• Allow systems to share new resources at 3 months instead of 6.

Cardinal Response:

Libraries can choose to use a 3 month age hold protection instead of the 6 month age hold protection, but this is up to individual libraries.

 

Comment:

Show number of holds before patron.

Cardinal Response:

Holds aren't "first in first out" which makes it difficult to show an accurate queue order. Instead, we have a "best hold sort order" that will select the best hold given our custom criteria. We can get a count of how many holds target a record, but it might not be particularly useful information to the patron.

 

Comment:

The holds shelf tab.

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

 

Comment:

I just pull books for holds and put items back on the shelf. It does aggravate me to pull a hold only to realize the customer account is blocked by overdues and the item remains on the list.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (Captured hold remains on pull list even after requesting patron is blocked), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

I've had a lot of trouble recently placing copy holds, scanning items in and evergreen indicating that the items were to be sent back to holding libraries and that other copies had been targeted for the holds.

Cardinal Response:

Please send in a support ticket with screen shots. We'd be happy to help you figure this out.

 

Comments (multiple/duplicate holds):

• When placing a book on hold for patrons, the system will inform us if the patron already has a hold for the item.
• Please bring back notification of duplicate holds for the same items. Patrons are accidentally having multiple holds for the same items because the system no longer tells us that the item is already on hold.

Cardinal Response:

This is an existing bug related to the permission allowing staff to place multiple holds for book clubs and programming (Duplicate hold warning). The bug is listed as High Importance, but has not been addressed by the Evergreen developer community yet. If this affects you and your library, please add heat to the bug.

 

Comment:

The only question I've come across recently is related to text notifications. On patron accounts, we no longer have to list the phone/SMS carrier. But when placing a hold, it still asks for an SMS carrier. I'm just curious if it's still necessary, or if the hold page could be updated to no longer ask for it. I apologize if this is an ignorant question. Overall, it's a very small issue, and I'm happy to be using the Cardinal system. Thanks for all you do to make our jobs easier！

Cardinal Response:

SMS carrier is a holdover from how SMS notices used to work. In the past, carriers would allow anyone to send an SMS message through email to their customers. This feature was heavily abused and all major carriers have dropped support for it. We now use MessageBee to send our SMS messages. They have physical machines that send these messages rather than using email. Thus, carrier is no longer relevant information. Removing the carrier from the place holds screen is problematic because of a constraint in the database that requires its inclusion. Until this constraint is removed, the option must appear on the screen in one form or another. Everyone's carrier defaults to "Verizon" now. It shouldn't be changed from this.

Knowledge Books

Comments (general):

• Continue simplifying and streamlining the Knowledge Books -- they're super helpful but still a bit clunky.
• Improve instructions in the Knowledge Book to include more details and screenshots. (I've had to create my own instructional resources for staff on things like how to register new patrons, place holds, and update expired cards because the current Knowledge Book offerings are not sufficient for training purposes.)
• Easy-to-access troubleshooting FAQs for staff.

Cardinal Response:

We will continue our project to update the Knowledge Books based on feedback received from UX testing. If there are particular pages that need attention, or you have suggestions for further improvements, please reach out.

 

Comments (searching):

• The search function in the KB could be more user friendly.
• Improve the search function in Knowledge Book.

Cardinal Response:

This is something we have spent time trying to solve, and have yet to figure it out. We have worked with the company that provides the software, looked at Google options and tried other alternatives. We would like to see it improved as well and are continuing to try to improve it.

 

Comments (reports documentation):

• More detailed reference material for running reports
• More reports how to info

Cardinal Response:

We will work to improve the documentation on reports in the Knowledge Books this year. If there are particular reports you would like to know how to run, please let us know so we can include specific instructions whenever possible.

 

Comment:

Provide a PDF containing basic system tips and helpful shortcuts for staff.

Cardinal Response:

We have a document called "Circ One Sheets' in the Circulation Knowledge Book that is meant to be printed. It contains basic circulation information, as well as tips for navigation.

 

Comment:

Training manuals easier to understand.

Cardinal Response:

We will continue our project to update the Knowledge Books based on feedback received from UX testing. If there are particular pages that need attention, or you have suggestions for further improvements, please reach out.

 

Comment:

Having easy access to training materials and guides covering all possible actions on NC Cardinal could be beneficial in assisting patrons on case by case scenarios.

Cardinal Response:

This is what we're intending to provide with our Knowledge Books. If you have suggestions for things that are missing, we're happy to make additions and changes. 

Library-specific policies

Comments (library policy):

• Bring back Interlibrary Loan.
• Connect the public library collections in N.C. with OCLC so people in other states and countries could see what our rare holdings are.
• Getting rid of fines that are 10+ years old

Cardinal Response:

These are library-specific service that is decided upon by each individual library, rather than by the NC Cardinal consortium as a whole.

 

Comment:

Options for part-time employee involvement for Q & A, comment sessions online.

Cardinal Response:

NC Cardinal welcomes all staff, including part time, to attend webinars and workshops, and we encourage all staff to respond to surveys, and join Basecamp. Individual libraries may have different guidelines about which staff are given the time to participate in NC Cardinal activities. 

 

Comment:

Patron resource options - live chat with a librarian, for example.

Cardinal Response:

Live chat with reference librarians can be provided to patrons by member libraries, but in general, reference services aren't part of what NC Cardinal supplies.

Offline Mode

Comments:

• Easier navigation during offline mode. It can get a little confusing to use when the internet is down.
• Offline checkout streamlined and simplified.

Cardinal Response:

We will plan to develop printable instructions for using offline mode so that libraries have access to step-by-step help even when their internet is down. We are interested in learning more about what you mean regarding streamlining and simplfying Offline Mode. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

Optimization

Comments: 

• Keeping the system from going down, or rebooting it within minutes (if possible).
• Address how slow the system is to use
• Consistent speed and service of evergreen
• Dealing with system-wide slowdowns
• Faster search results
• Faster service when looking something up
• Figure out how to make Evergreen faster (stop the bots)
• If there is a way to keep the Holdings View from taking so long to open because there are so many items
• Improved response times
• Latency when checking in and out library materials
• Less slow down time
• Load times
• Make it faster
• Make the catalog run faster if possible
• Making sure Cardinal runs smoothly with fewer unexpected slowdowns.
• No lag time with cataloguing
• Occasional slow operation of system
• Optimization: Less freezing, slowing, outages
• Slowness of system some days.
• Speed of pages loading when searching
• Speeding up patron search, particularly when searching for patrons by email.
• Speeding up the system so that we don't see blank screens as much and improve the number of clicks we have to make to accomplish a task
• Speeding up the website (it's very slow)
• The random bouts of slowness
• The speed issues
• Working on the lag with the systems especially on Mondays & after holidays
• Work on the slowness of the system that happens way too often.
• If there is a way to improve Cardinal slowness. It seems to lack behind and have long loading times quite often.
• It can be slow.
• One common issue is that this program will sometimes be sooo slooww. Patrons have to wait so long for us to pull up book information because the program is so slow.
• Sometimes the NC Cardinal software can be a little slow
• The constant slow downs of NC Cardinal are really frustrating from a staff's perspective. It seems to be if not once a day, every other day, leaving patrons awkwardly standing in front of us waiting longer than they should.
• Also, navigating to different pages is really slow and clunky and I wish could be sped up. Also, leaving notes on its seems to be very buggy and also clunky. But in all, love my cardinal and thanks for all that you do！
• The only issues we have are lag time in searches but I believe that is due to our Internet, not Cardinal.
• The speed of Evergreen seems to be getting slower and slower. We need this system to perform when needed and not have to tell patrons "I'm waiting on the computer."
• There's probably not much that can be done, but I wish it was faster. Sometimes Evergreen can be fairly snappy, but a lot of the time, I have to wait awhile for things to load, like the Patron Edit screen or the Holds Pull List.

Cardinal Response:

We are constantly working with the vendor that hosts our software to monitor and address performance issues. If you are experiencing slowness, it is helpful for you to post on the Incidents Basecamp list so that we can investigate the health of the servers at the moment and address anything that is happening.

Patron Accounts

Comment:

Any way to make the process of creating multiple library cards for several family members smoother - the clone function does not clone all info (email etc).

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wish List: Copy more fields when using save & clone), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Have a warning pop up when a county is trying to edit another county's patron's library card.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Popup Warning On Attempts to Edit Patron Accounts Not Belonging to Library System), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Linking cards automatically with parent's birthdates and names with dependents.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request (Linking cards automatically with parent's birthdates and names with dependents), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

• Maybe a place to leave notes on the pending patrons page to communicate ongoing situations with other circ staff before processing cards so we don't make multiple calls to same person.
• We would like the ability to add a note to a NEW PATRON account while we are registering them for the first time. This way we can easily add notes about the type of account etc. This USED to be an available function but after one of the upgrades it went away.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Ability to Create Notes for Pending Patron), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

New Patron Registration.

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

 

Comment:

When registering new patrons in the patron registration section, the system's ability to pick up duplicate information (name, address, email, etc) found in other patron accounts can seem slow or unreliable at times.

Cardinal Response: 

Evergreen should alert staff of duplicate records for same combination of first and last name, same email address, same daytime phone number, and same physical or mailing address. These alerts should show up automatically, though you may experience a delay of a few seconds while the system runs a check. If you experience a longer delay than that, or recieve no alert at all, please submit a help ticket with the patron information so we can investigate.

 

Comments (Patron Check-Out History):

• Let us turn on the patron's checkout history from OUR side. So many people ask us about that and, while they can do it on their own account, sometimes it would be a lot easier especially if it's an elderly patron asking, if we could just do that for them on our end.
• Option to see a list of all previously checked out materials on all patron accounts
• Record of patrons lending history
• Staff to be able to view patrons past check outs.
• The biggest suggestion I have is being able to turn on patron checkout history from our side of things. We get asked so many times to do that and it's frustrating that we don't have that option to help the patron out so they don't have to do it themselves.

Cardinal Response:

We can understand how this would be useful, but Evergreen developers made an intentional design decision to let patrons choose to opt-in to history tracking via the My Account section of the OPAC, so that patrons know about and manage the information available about their activity while protecting the privacy of their circulation records.

 

Comment:

Perhaps add something on the checkout history page (maybe a ? icon they can click) that explains to patrons why we do not default to saving their history. I feel most patrons don't understand the privacy protection idea of it. Also if when they activate their history, if the page would tell them that it is only saving that history from that day forward and it is NOT retroactive.

Cardinal Response:

This shouldn't be too difficult to implement in the OPAC. Please submit a ticket and we can see what is possible.

 

Comment:

I would like the ability to return to the patron's home screen after putting them on hold for an item through the holds screen.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Ability to Go to Patron Account from Place Hold Screen), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

When searching for a patron by name if name is misspelled the system find names closely related to name entered and displays on search results

Cardinal Response:

We have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request, and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

When searching for a patron I would like to be able to sort by DOB.

Cardinal Response:

This is currently possible in Evergreen. If you click "DoB" at the top of the column with the dates of birth, the patrons will be sorted according to their dates of birth.

Patron facing functions

Comment:

• A mobile application.
• Would like suggestions on how to encourage patrons to use Cardinal on their end-an app would be great！

Cardinal Response:

Cardinal has looked into pricing of commercial apps, but we found that it was cost prohibitive to implement consortia-wide. Some member libraries have chosen to implement an app called MyLibro, and we are happy to help if you would like to do this. We are also currently investigating how to make Cardinal accessible in the Hemlock app.

 

Comment:

Ability for patrons to check out items using their device.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Ability to Checkout Items from Personal Devices), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comments (Mobile User Interface):

• Mobile-friendly
• More mobile friendly opac
• User friendly mobile version

Cardinal Response:

Over the years we've made several updates to the OPAC to make it more accessible to browsers on mobile devices. The wide variety of mobile devices means that it can be a challenge to land on solutions that work for everyone. If you have suggestions for how to improve the OPAC for mobile devices, please submit a ticket and we can work together to find a solution. 

 

Comment:

A better way to advertise collections in the OPAC. Like the list function in Bibliocommons. I think this could possibly be beneficial to help combat falling circulation numbers. https://durhamcounty.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/display/1936401409/3029268987

Cardinal Response:

Carousels allow library staff to create visual lists that appear on their OPAC home page. These can be hand-selected titles, or use criteria like purchase date or shelving location to create rotating lists.

 

Comments (Requests requiring more details):

• Changes to the Lists options in the OPAC.
• Ease of hold for patrons
• Fix OPAC bugs
• Larger notification for Patrons when a book in at their library.
• Late notices/due/overdue notices do not reach patrons, despite that they have opted in for this and provided contact information
• OPAC features upgrade
• Streamlining OPAC search for patrons

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with some specific examples of what you mean here, we would be happy to look into this issue.

 

Comment:

Kids OPAC

Cardinal Response:

The upgrade planned for November of 2026 will include improvements to the kids OPAC. We will share more details as we get close to the upgrade.

 

Comment:

Make patron checkout history easier for them to find (move the icon to be below the icon for "items checked out" instead of having to click on items checked out).

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Easily Accessible Patron Checkout History), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

Printables

Comment:

Brochures, handouts, flyers, bookmarks, etc.

Cardinal Response:

We would love to provide more templates for printables that libraries can provide their patrons. We currently have a small collection of materials gathered from libraries in the consortium. Please let us know what information you would like to see included in these materials.

 

Comment:

• Instructional materials to help patrons use the catalog/account functions.
• Patron informational resources.

Cardinal Response:

After completing a patron-facing survey about the OPAC we have a number of patron specific training and documentation ideas. We will work on finding ways to develop those in the coming fiscal year.

 

Comment:

It would be helpful to have a printable version of the map with current and future NC Cardinal Libraries that is easy to locate in the Knowledge book.

Cardinal Response:

We keep the map on NC Cardinal's homepage up to date. You can get a bigger version if you right click on it and open it in a new tab: https://library.nc.gov/services-libraries/nc-cardinal Additionally, we have some more images here: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=663

Reports

Comments (Written Report Instructions):

• Better directions for generating reports.
• Continued improvements and/or things to include on Cardinal Cataloging Reports page.

Cardinal Response:

We plan to work continue our Knowledge Book updates this year with major changes to the Reports book, among others. If you have suggestions for what types of instructions would be most helpful for you, please reach out.

 

Comment:

• Circulation reports.
• No standard pre-made reports available and it is complicated to create your own.
• Continued improvements and/or things to include on Cardinal Cataloging Reports page.

Cardinal Response:

We currently have a collection of pre-made templates available for staff to clone and run in the Centralized Reports Templates folder of the shared reports. We hope to curate a more targeted collection of basic reports in the coming year. If you have particular reports you need regularly, please share those details with us to consider as we work towards this goal.

 

Comment:

Pop-up tips in the reporter explaining what each option does.

Cardinal Response:

This could be a good idea but also create a lot of clutter on the interface that might be distracting. We'd be interested in hearing about what particular options need more explanation and expand upon that as seamlessly as possible.

 

Comments (simplifying reports):

• Report templates streamlined and simplified.
• An easier report function.
• Easier lost reports.
• Easier reports (x3).
• I wish it was easier to create a report. Right now, it's still pretty complicated - even the simple reports are not that simple.
• Improve the reporting system.
• Making reports easier for everyone to use on staff.
• Making Reports easier.
• Making reports simpler to run.
• More intuitive report index.
• Reports. Always reports. I'm very bad at them and they are very hard to use.
• Simpler report system.
• Simpler reports.
• Simplifying Circulation and Shelving Location in Reports.
• Streamline building reports for departments.

Cardinal Response:

The complexity and difficulty of the Evergreen reporter is something that's been a long standing concern for everyone in the Evergreen community that uses it. The Evergreen developer community has continued to try to improve it, rolling out Simple Reports in a previous upgrade and making updates to the standard reporter in a more recent upgrade. The reporter is one of the components of Evergreen that we as the Cardinal team don't have much control over, so we try to adjust to the challenges by offering regular trainings online and in-person, as well as offering support for creating new report templates. We will continue to offer your feedback to the Evergreen developer community and advocate for improvements.

Resource Sharing

Comment:

Better system/procedures/reports in place to deal with library closures and staff outages that delay books getting to our library from other counties.

Cardinal Response:

This is something we've taken steps to improve in this last year. We have a page in the Knowledge Book for tracking resource sharing pauses that we recommend all resource sharing staff bookmark, but we would also welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have for improving our methods of communication regarding these matters. We typically request that a library inform us about a month or so before they intend to close or pause resource sharing, but this is not always possible if it is a sudden closure due to an unforeseen emergency.

 

Comment:

When a library is going to be unavailable for a long time for resource sharing, knowing a time frame rather than saying 'TBD' will be much more helpful

Cardinal Response:

We certainly understand the concern, but unfortunately this is not something that is always possible, as the library itself may not know how long they will be unavailable for resource sharing or may not have an idea of when they can expect to begin resource sharing again.

 

Comment:

A best practice guidelines for resource sharing when a book needs to be replaced due to loss, damage etc.

Cardinal Response:

We have guidance in the Knowledge Book for addressing damaged or lost materials, such as this page on assessing damaged materials, as well as this page which lists libraries' preferences for handling lost or damaged materials.

 

Comment:

Address better practices with resource sharing.

Cardinal Response:

We would welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have for this, whether it be additional trainings, clarifying information in the Knowledge Book, or something else.

 

Comment:

Consistency with Cardinal Libraries packaging of materials. There is one region that places the receipt down in the book to ship. The receiving library has to open every single book to find the receipt to determine which library to route the book from their hub library. Very time consuming.

Cardinal Response:

We encourage all resource sharing staff to review the tutorials in the Knowledge Book on how best to package materials. These can be found here and here.

 

Comment:

Continue working and exploring ways to make resource sharing more affordable and effective.

Cardinal Response:

We are continuing to pursue ways to improve resource sharing, to figure out the best carrier, and to make sure it is sustainable. 

 

Comment:

Holds & Shipping.

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

 

Comment:

If a library is planning on keeping the book on IN TRANSIT past two weeks before shipping it out, notify the receiving library so they can alert the patron.

Cardinal Response:

We typically encourage libraries to wait no longer than one week to ship out materials, but we can certainly send out a reminder and make a formal request of libraries that may need to hold items longer for whatever reason.

 

Comment:

Implement policies and procedures to decrease resource sharing costs.

Cardinal Response:

We are continuing to pursue ways to improve resource sharing, to figure out the best carrier, and to make sure it is sustainable. 

 

Comment:

Remember that books are not to be sent in envelope mailers. Several books have been arriving in Amazon/or FedEx Mailers rather than boxes with packing to protect the book.

Cardinal Response:

We can certainly send out a reminder to libraries regarding this.

 

Comment:

Resource sharing guidance.

Cardinal Response:

We would welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have for improving our guidance and instructions for resource sharing.

 

Comment:

I would love to see items get here faster than they do now. Many items take weeks and the patron loses interest or thinks that we are somehow doing something incorrectly to cause the delay. I do understand that this would be hard to accomplish, but it would be awesome.

Cardinal Response:

We understand. Right now we're working on a challenging balance between customer service and cost. Some of the resource sharing changes we're testing give more time for a local copy to fill a hold, which may take more time, in an effort to not spend money on resource sharing if its not necessary. We're trying to find the right balance. 

 

Comment:

Cardinal team itself is great. Sometimes some of the systems staff don't understand that not all library systems have a huge RS team, some only have ONE person that wears many many hats. And if that one person gets sick or has to take time off no one fills in for them as all libraries are more than likely short staffed. Especially when the move to make items pull closer pulls some libraries a lot more than others.

Cardinal Response:

We can appreciate that. Communication about scenarios like that as they're happening helps us to work with you to adjust and adapt as best we can. We're happy to work with you to adapt when these kinds of things happen.

 

Comment:

Resource sharing: would like a way to identify items by shipping hub or library system rather than by individual branch (for reports and such)[I think this exists but I can't make it work to my satisfaction]

Cardinal Response:

This is possible through the reporter. Please submit a ticket and we can help you create a report template.

 

Comments (volume):

• Since we changed holds to account for geolocation a few years ago, our shipping has increased by 20,000 items a year (mainly due to our proximity to a larger system). This has significantly increased my staff's workload and what we are able to accomplish. I think trying to reduce the amount of shipping we are doing across systems is essential. I understand the need to get patron's the materials they would like, but is the cost worth it. I know that many items are not used and sent back because patrons did not understand what type of material they were receiving (out of date, self-published, damaged, etc.). Adding covers to items may help distinguish some items from others, adding publication dates more prominently may also help, as well as reducing duplicate records. I think it is also important to try and get staff to not send items that are in poor condition, so they can be used without having to first be returned.
• The amount of materials we are receiving and sending out with incoming and outgoing can be overwhelming especially in summer when we are at our busiest, I am unsure of how best to approach that, but that is a general feeling among my fellow coworkers.

Cardinal Response:

This is helpful insight for us. As resource sharing has continued to grow over the years, we're trying to figure out the best way to manage it functionally for member libraries and financially for Cardinal as a whole. As we continue to work with the mechanics of resource sharing, we will see what we can do to make sure that the work is distributed in a way that isn't imbalanced.

 

Comment:

The limits on resource sharing holds to 10 per patron will adversely affect some of our homebound patrons who get 25 items per month delivered to them. Many of them have exhausted our collection as far as their preferred genres/authors/formats go, and we rely heavily on resource sharing items to fulfill their needs.

Cardinal Response:

The limit of 10 would only be on the total number of things in the midst of being sent to a patron at one moment, so they would still be able to checkout more than that. Please continue to let us know how our testing impacts your users. We're trying to find the right balance of serivce and cost. 

 

Comment:

Resource Sharing Transit times.

Cardinal Response:

We'll do what we can do to help make the process more efficient. 

 

Comments (tracking transits):

• This would be difficult, but maybe a tracking feature to see how long someone will have to wait for book they placed on hold.
• It would be nice if there was better tracking for the materials. The system should update every time the item is scanned.

Cardinal Response:

There are existing wishlist Launchpad bugs for these requests, and we recommend adding "heat" to them so that they receive more attention.

• wishlist: more granular way to track/audit item transit history
• Wish List Item- alter status to allow for more accurate description captured/in transit
• Wishlist: Stamp copy transits with a prev_hop value when routed to wrong location

Searching

Comment:

650/655 Focus for Search Logic Purposes.

Cardinal Response:

A "Subject" search in Evergreen is scoped to search these fields, but we welcome any suggestions or ideas for how to improve this functionality.

 

Comment:

More intuitive genre search, and search options like NoveListPlus. They also have great features like "author read-alikes" and "title read-alikes" that I would love to see in NC Cardinal.

Cardinal Response:

A search for genre can be performed via a "Subject" search. The features listed from Novelist are actually currently available in the OPAC via integration with Novelist, but this may need to be set up for your library. If you are interested, please feel free to submit a help ticket.

 

Comment:

When you search the catalog by unique identifiers (TCN or Barcode), it should take you directly to the record, instead of taking you to a list that always contains exactly one item first.

Cardinal Response:

This is a library setting that can be set for your library. If you would like this setting applied to your instance of Evergreen, please feel free to submit a help ticket.

 

Comment:

Cleaner and easier options for subject searching. For example, have subjects terms for books that you can click on to get everything within that subject. Yes you have a subject search but it does not give the "proper" subject. An example is "World War, 1914-1918"- it would be nice to be able to see that subject when pulling up a book to see what else is catalogued that way. That subject is not something a person would know to search but if the subject was offered to click on it would be helpful. I hope that makes sense.

Cardinal Response:

If we are understanding you correctly, this is currently possible in Evergreen. When you bring up a bibliographic record for an item in the catalog, you can click on the various subject headings, and these will bring up a list of other records in the catalog that share those same subjects.

 

Comment:

A button to clear the last search/start a new search.

Cardinal Response:

If you are referring to the staff catalog, this is actually currently possible in Evergreen by clicking the "Reset" button. If you are referring to the patron OPAC, we have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Clear Search Button in OPAC), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

The option to change (and permanently save) the default search to something other than "Keyword."

Cardinal Response:

It is currently possible to create search templates that allow you to set your search parameters (such as changing Keyword to Title), and there is an existing Launchpad bug requesting the ability to set one of these templates as your default search (Default Search Template). We recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

• Improved MARC mapping for improved searching--fields/subfields that get "lost" in searches.
• Focus on search logic parameters improving through use of subject headings, genre headings, and authority links. Also, creating records for Large type vs larger type so they stop merging those records.

Cardinal Response:

Searches in Evergreen are scoped to search different MARC field depending on the search, and we would welcome any suggestions or ideas for fields that may need to be added to specific search types. For example, genre (=655 field) was added to the scope of the "Subject" search after a request was made by cataloging staff and libraries. We have been working to improve elements of MARC records such as subject headings, genre headings, and authority linking with the assistance of both the Cataloging Interest Group and the Authorities Working Group, and we have expanded the scoping of certain searches such as Subject searches to include genre headings. We have also developed guidelines and policies for cataloging large print books and "larger" print books separately to try and make sure they do not end up on the same records. However, we are always open to suggestions or ideas for how to improve these aspects of the catalog and searching.

 

Comment:

The ability to search by call number/category.

Cardinal Response:

This is currently possible in Evergreen with a "Numeric Search" in the OPAC and via "Shelf Browse" in the staff client.

 

Comment:

It seems when doing a search, there doesn't seem to be a consistent way to find titles. For example, some graphic novels can be found by entering the series name. Others, need a number behind the title to be found and other times the exact title within the series is needed. There doesn't seem to be any conformity.

Cardinal Response:

This may be down to how the individual graphic novels are cataloged, but if you can provide specific examples, we would be happy to investigate. We have attempted to improve and streamline the cataloging of manga and graphic novels, and guidance can be found in the Knowledge Book here, but there may still be outliers. Also, when you perform a Title search, you will also receive results where the title appears in other fields within a MARC record besides just the =245 field. So you may receive a result where the title you searched for appears in a =505$t field. This is why it may seem like you are receiving results that have nothing to do with the title. 

 

Comment: 

Let the homepage automatically start up at the Branch that we are located at, instead of automatically reverting to the Cardinal catalog.

Cardinal Response:

We'd be interested to learn more about your suggestion. Do you mean the public facing OPAC, or do you you mean the staff interface that you log in to? If you're referring to searching in the staff side, you may need to change your Preferred Library in search settings. You can find more information here: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=453 We'd welcome more details at help@nccardinalsupport.org

 

Comment:

When grouping formats and editions for the metarecord, the subtitle field 245ξb is ignored. e.g. A bunch of Fancy Nancys are grouped into one horrendous pile.

Cardinal Response:

We have received similar requests regarding this in the past, but unfortunately this is something that is baked into the way Evergreen compiles record fingerprints for the metarecord search. At this time it's not possible to make changes to Evergreen's underlying functionality in this way, but we will keep it in mind if future updates seem to allow for it.

 

Comments (search functionality):

• Be able to use keyword with phrases, maybe use " " around the phrase
• Being able to just search for juvenile or easy children's books separate from adult books.
• Better filter system
• Better search functions
• Filtering when looking for a book
• Fixing the entire search system. Everything about it is ineffective in some way.
• Improve the search functionality (x4)
• Improvement to the evergreen search catalog
• Improving series searches
• Keyword Searching
• Make easier to search, with more managabe results
• Make filtering for shelving location faster from the main search screen
• Make it easier to narrow down a search.
• Make the search function more user friendly
• Making the patron's portal for their searches more user-friendly
• More accurate searches
• More intuitive search
• More options for staff catalog searches
• Search Function
• Search optimization
• Semantic search engines
• Series searches - more logical order of numbered books
• Simpler catalog search for patrons
• Smart searching
  
• Specific subject search options
• Spell check corrections (x3)
• Sticky search features (eg electronic resources, formats)
• Usability of the search feature
• Ways to search with sometimes vague details: if a patron says a recent spy novel with a female detective set in London. I can find this book using an Amazon search, but not a Cardinal search.
• Searching the catalog is difficult to navigate sometimes. When I am searching for an item for a patron, I often Google the requested item beforehand to make sure I can find exactly what they are looking for before I place it on hold in the catalog. Also, the format icons are very small and too similar; I have twice placed e-books on hold by accident when I meant to place books. Same with the large print and book icons, etc.

Cardinal Response:

We appreciate the feedback on Evergreen's search functionality and will continue to advocate with Evergreen's developer community for improvements based on your suggestions. Evergreen's search functionality is one of the most deeply embedded elements of the software and we as the Cardinal team have limited ability to alter its behavior. Some of the efforts we've made recently involve redefining some of the formats to better exclude electronic resources and batch edits to bib records to improve their consistency and findability. For most of the core functionalities of the search experience, we're reliant on improvements by the larger Evergreen development community.

 

Comments (fuzzy searching):

• A more forgiving search engine. One letter incorrect gets you nowhere. And at times just changing something gets you nothing to exactly what you wanted. So a lot of time is wasted trying different names, titles and spelling.
• Allow some room for error with spelling during all searches.
• Fuzzy logic
• Non-exact searches
• More forgiving with spelling and punctuation
• "More leniency in keyword searches"; this does seem to have improved as of late, but it could still be a bit friendlier
• Have items pop up on the keyword search even if it's not spelled perfectly
• More leniency with the wording needed to bring back relevant results
• Certain searches won't work if the word "the" or "a" are included in the title.
• Fixing the entire search system. Everything about it is ineffective in some way.
• I have used TLC and it was so much easier to navigate and the searches could easily predict what patrons and staff were trying to find which helped reduce wait time for staff placing holds and finding books.
• It would be nice if software had predictive text when searching for titles or authors
• Make searching easier by allowing for less specific terms to bring up options
• Spell Check corrections within Evergreen
• When searching for a specific title it would be helpful if the system could display possible search results that are closely related to the title name. For example, if the searcher typed, "A Tale for Two Cities", it would be great if the system recognized that the searcher meant, "A Tale of Two Cities" and included that book title in the search results.

Cardinal Response:

In the past we had a "fuzzy search" symspell feature but the size of our catalog and number of users made this inefficient process that slowed down searches. We're looking into ways to use large language models to improve the search functionality. 

Specific Functions

Comment:

Ability to email check out list.

Cardinal Response:

There is currently an option to set up email receipts by default for patrons who request that format, or to select "email receipt" when finishing a circulation transaction. You can find details about this process in teh Circulation Knowledge Book: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=1161

 

Comment:

Acquisition--Cannot cancel one copy when 2 copies or more are ordered.

Cardinal Response:

It is possible to cancel single items even when multiple have been ordered, though this causes a bug in the invoice, so it's best to submit a ticket when cancelling single copies of a multi-copy line item.

 

Comment:

Acquisition--Cannot invoice manually for 1 copy separately when 2 or more are ordered.

Cardinal Response:

It is possible to invoice different copies of the same line item on separate invoices, either via EDI or when using the manual invoice creation. It's a bit tricky, and we recommend you submit a help ticket next time you run into this issue so we can walk you through the process. The basics involve manually changing the number of items being billed/paid in the invoice.

 

Comments (mark for...):

• Adding Mark Item in Repair to the drop down menu.
• Repair button！ 
• Also having a "mark as in repair" feature would be quicker than the current method of putting an item in repair. Thank you！

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (Update item status from Check In / Item Status window), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention. We've also got this on our radar as a local project. 

 

Comment:

Being able to see a clear date when a book will no longer be "new" and available to hold outside home system.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Display Expiration Date for Age Hold Protection Rule), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Enhanced content in the catalog (Read Alikes, Author information, Awards)--similar content to what Novelist Select provides.

Cardinal Response:

This is not something Evergreen offers natively, but as you mention it is available through external services like Novelist. If you are interested in implementing the integration of one of these services into your library's catalog, please feel free to submit a help ticket.

 

Comment:

From an item title, allow toggling from local, to system, to Cardinal. When I go to a title from, say, Item Status (not a catalog search), it shows me only my default search location, but doesn't auto-fill the search parameters above. In order to find NC Cardinal holdings from there, I have to copy the TCN, go to numerical search, choose TCN, change the search location to Cardinal, then submit. I just want to do it in one click -- like Evergreen used to allow.

Cardinal Response:

We'd like to create a LaunchPad bug for this, but we want to make sure we are describing it correctly. Please send us a message at help@nccardinalsupport.org If we're understanding, clicking on a title link from Item Status takes your Preferred Library into account and impacts the display of the Item Table, showing you your things at the top. The method you described with Numeric Search doesn't seem to pay attention to Preferred Library, so you see the default Cardinal context. Perhaps a button on that Item Table page to jump between Branch-System-Cardinal scoping? 

 

Comment:

Make "Item Status" and "Check In" screens look more different from each other. For example, put the words "Item Status" at the top of the screen, instead of "Scan", and/or since "Check in" already has a blue band at the top, maybe put "Item status" in a yellow band, and/or maybe move the location of the scan-in field to the R side. More than once I've accidentally discharged an item when I only meant to check the status.

Cardinal Response:

This should not be too difficult to implement. We'll add that to our list of tasks to do this year.

 

Comments (mark as repair):

• Quality of Life options like the "mark as repair" button.
• Reduce steps to putting items in "repair".
• Simplifying the process for damaged books, books for repair, missing books.

Cardinal Response:

This is something we've been brewing on as the Cardinal team. We'd like to develop a feature in Evergreen that will allow you to add any status to that action menu as a "Mark item as" action. There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (Update item status from Check In / Item Status window), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Showing availability of books based on distance from Branch.

Cardinal Response:

When you search for a title in the public catalog and go to the page with the information about the title, there is a box on that page that says "Sort by distance from" and lets you enter a zip code. If you would be interested in seeing that functionality in the staff catalog, please let us know.

 

Comment:

When paying or waiving fines for a patron, if a patron has purchased a replacement copy of a title, having "replacement copy purchased" or something similar on the payment method would be useful. 

Cardinal Response:

We have created a launchpad bug for this issue (Wishlist: Add “Replacement Copy Purchased” Payment Type). We may circle back to this in a future project.

 

Comment:

I'd like a way to use item id's through the interface, rather than just the address bar.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Use IDs in Staff Client Interface, Not Just URL), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Check-in items from an uploaded list on the Check-in menu so that you can use modifiers.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a launchpad bug for this issue (upload CSV on check in screen). We may circle back to this in a future project.

 

Comment: 

Would there be a way to track the operator's eyes to remind "staff" to "Watch the screen" if the system sees they are checking books in or out, but not watching the screen. Maybe that is something for the future.

Cardinal Response:

An interesting suggestion, but probably outside of the scope of the current Evergreen project.

Training Requests

Comment:

Additional training regarding Summon be made available via recorded webinar.

Cardinal Response:

Summon is a resource made available through NC Live. While we are not able to provide much training on this tool, you may view NC Live's training calendar here: https://www.nclive.org/for-librarians/training/calendar

 

Comment:

It might be beneficial to have tests we could take on different aspects of NC Cardinal to see what areas it would be helpful to focus training on. We don't always know what we don't know. If you got a question wrong then the Correct Answer could also link to the relevant section of the Knowledge book.

Cardinal Response:

We are hoping to overhaul our online training materials and will consider this as part of that project.

 

Comment:

More video lessons attached to knowledge books.

Cardinal Response:

We will work on identifying some KB pages that would benefit from video demonstrations and see what we can put together. Please reach out if you have any specific suggestions.

 

Comments (admin training):

• I would love designated time for branch managers to sit and learn.
• I am a new Branch Manager, so I would appreciate any training possible. Thank you.

Cardinal Response:

We are working on developing our training plan for the coming fiscal year, and will include a webinar aimed at administrators. If there are particular topics that would be helpful to you as a branch manager, please reach out to Samantha O'Connor with your suggestions at samantha.oconnor@dncr.nc.gov.

 

Comments (specific training requests):

• Bills-training to explain
• Acquisitions training
• An acquisitions-specific training program for any new hires or recently promoted.
• General cataloging training.
• Reports training
• Training on making reports
• Acquisitions information knowledge book section or more guidance on how to perform acquisitions
• More accessible general Cardinal training on Cardinal features/functions

Cardinal Response:

We are working on developing our training plan for the coming fiscal year, and will include a webinar on this topic.

 

Comments (requests for in-person training in Jackson County):

• Come to Jackson County Library for trainings
• In person trainings Western NC (Jackson)
• SLP trainings hosted Jackson County 2027

Cardinal Response:

We are working on plans for our in-person training events this year, and would love to host one in Jackson if feasible.

 

Comments (new staff training):

• New employee training.
• Would love it if there was a beginner training for NC Cardinal for new circulation staff, and then maybe an Advanced version for more seasoned staff.

Cardinal Response:

We plan to work on expanding the Niche Academy modules for new staff. Please reach out if you have ideas for specific training that might be helpful for new staff. We will continue to explore a wide variety of topics in our webinars, with introductory topics in our "New Staff Series" and more advanced topics throughout the year. When reviewing webinar information in the knowledge books, check out the Audience tag to determine if the topic is right for you.

 

Comments (general in-person training requests):

• In person training.
• I think we need more hands on training.
• There needs to be more training as there still seems to be a gap in understanding of basic features.

Cardinal Response:

We will continue to offer in-person training events around the state. We currently have one session scheduled in Carteret County in September. Keep an eye on Basecamp, your email inbox, and the training landing page of the Knowledge Books for details about additional dates and locations.

 

Comments (upgrade training):

• Just have some training on updates.
• When there is a proposed upgrade, showing the specific changes

Cardinal Response:

We will have our standard pre-upgrade webinar and some webinars looking at specific functions after the upgrade. We hope to provide some self-paced training materials prior to the upgrade this year, as well.

 

Comments (general training requests):

• I think that we need more webinars and learning
• Keep training
• More training (x2).
• Training
• Training in Evergreen

Cardinal Response:

We will continue to host 1-3 webinars a month on a variety of topics. You can see our upcoming schedule and register to attend on the training landing page in the knowledge books: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=930

 

Comments:

Easier access to training sessions.

Cardinal Response:

We try to make trainings easy to access while still reducing the ability for outside people to come in and potentially create disturbances. We will continue to work on streamlining our efforts to share WebEx links. If you have suggestions of ways training could be easier to access, we would love to hear them!

 

Comment:

I do not typically ask question in the live webinar training. Many times I feel if I ask a question, I will be embarrassed by what I do not know. Most of the time I do not know what is going on. It is kind of like "this is way above my head." I am not sure how to improve this. I attend many of the sessions when the library isn't busy but many times it is. It is not easy to find time to watch the videos either when one works in a small library. I am not criticizing in a detrimental way. This is purely to let you know how it is with small libraries and low staff numbers. A goal of mine is to improve my viewing of the videos even after attending them to reinforce what I can. I think I may do some reaching out to some of the presenters when I have questions on a one on one communication.

Cardinal Response:

We can appreciate what you're saying. We try to offer different channels for questions and feedback because we realize sometimes it can be intimidating asking questions that you feel like others may know the answers to. We're here for you and we want to make Evergreen easier for you to use. There are options for asking direct questions in the webinar chat. These questions are only visible to panelists, and can be addressed without mentioning the name of the person who asked. Additionally, many participants email the host with follow up questions after the sessions, and we encourage you to do so. We assure you, we feel the same way sometimes and we're here to answer your questions with grace and empathy. 

In addition to the videos, many topics are also covered in Niche Academy modules, which may be easier to fit into your day at a busy library. If here are particular topics you would like to see covered in these self-paced learning modules, please let us know. 

Comment:

A lot of Evergreen training seems to cover the basics of Evergreen, which is where a lot of staff need help. But many of the advanced features and nuances of Evergreen are not covered, such as the triggered events. I have to explain to staff many times about how to check where items are coming and going to within the item status screen and that they cannot count on the "Check In Workstation" to see where an item last was. I also have to explain about voiding patron bills and how to handle negative balances and how these negative balances were generated. I think some additional training that goes into detail in different sections of Evergreen would be helpful. Thanks！

Cardinal Response:

We are working on developing our training plan for the coming fiscal year, and will try to include some advanced learning topics.

Upgrades

Comment:

Better address bugs/hiccups with upgrades and how to fix.

Cardinal Response:

The best way to address bugs it to create tickets on the support site and check launchpad to see if anyone has had the issue before. If the issue already has a launchpad bug, you can add comments and heat to it.

 

Comment:

Evergreen upgrades more than once per year.

Cardinal Response:

The upgrade process is one that takes several months due to the amount of testing and work that must be completed. NC Cardinal has many customizations and patches that are not currently part of default Evergreen software. Over time, several of these patches have been accepted into the main Evergreen software, but the others must be manually updated and tested to ensure their compatibility with the new versions. 

 

Comment:

Keep stream lining the glitches and updates.

Cardinal Response:

We have refined the process that we use to manage projects so that we are able to address issues more efficiently and accurately.

User Interface

Comment:

A more simplified and streamlined layout of patrons accounts.

Cardinal Response:

The angularized patron editor is coming soon in a new update. 

 

Comment Requiring More Details:

• A more user friendly layout for associates and patrons that are not technically savvy
• a more user-friendly and simplified interface when searching for items on both the staff and patron side
• clean up the UI
• Continued interface improvements
• Ease of navigation
• Ease of use/shortcuts
• Easier Catalog Usage
• Easier for patrons
• Easier interface
• Easier user interface
• Functionality of Evergreen
• General user interface design improvements. Cardinal's design looks a little clunky and dated！
• improved ui would be great, it isn't very user friendly as is.
• make Evergreen more user friendly.
• Make everything as user friendly as possible
• Patron interface
• Reduce clicks more streamlining
• The option for a more modern, less academic look for public libraries would be nice.
• UX Design

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

 

Comment:

Website accessibility for patrons

Cardinal Response:

Accessibility is a major concern of the Evergreen Project. Significant steps were taken to improve the accessibility of the staff client over the past few upgrades, and those efforts are continuing along with new projects aimed at addressing accessibility concerns in the OPAC.

 

 Comment:

Acquisition--PO printout is not in order by title or same on screen.

Cardinal Response:

The printable purchase orders are based on a print template. It may be possible to impact the order of line items, and we will add this project to our goals for this year.

 

Comment:

Alphabetize the field list when configuring screens.

Cardinal Response:

We're happy to submit a Wishlist bug to the Evergreen Community in Launchpad on your behalf. However, further details regarding the fields in Evergreen that you would like to have alphabetized are appreciated. Are you referring to fields found in forms such as the patron registration that you would like to have alphabetized? Or, maybe you’re referring to alphabetizing the drop down menu for the columns that can be added to the grids? 

 

Comment:

Change the default options on the sidebar after initiating a basic search. Patrons don't care about subject or corporate author. They prefer drop-down over pre-linked filters for them to click on. They care about being able to filter by shelving location, or intended audience. Ex. Charlotte Mecklenburg's Catalog.

Cardinal Response:

There are several libraries that have expressed that they do not wish to use facets. Facets can also slow down searches due to the complexity of generating them. We will look into a new project to optionally remove these facets for systems that do not want them.

 

Comment:

Make the OPAC screens simpler and easier to navigate. Maybe even make an option where the user answers prompt questions in order to find an item (e.g. Do you know the exact title of the book you want?" "Can you type in at least one word from the title? or Do you know the author's name?" "We can get that book for you from another library in the state, but it will take a week to ten days. Is that wait time okay with you?"). The NCDMV has a similar setup when paying your taxes and registration online.

Cardinal Response:

Thank you for those suggestions. We did a survey this year about a few ideas on how we can improve the OPAC, but were looking for more ideas. We'll see what's possible with a process like you mention where it walks you through the decision making and searching.

 

Comment:

Night Mode not being hard to use.

Cardinal Response:

There are a number of existing Launchpad bugs related to Dark Mode, and we recommend adding "heat" to them so that they receive more attention. You can find a list of them in the Knowledge Book here.

 

Comment:

Please add the ability to save column templates.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Import/Export Column selection), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

• Updating OPAC appearance to look/act more "of-this-century".
• I'd personally love any "beautification" efforts on both the patron and staff side. We like the straight forward aspects of using the service but that doesn't mean UI couldn't look a little better！
• Make the whole program less clunky more user friendly

Cardinal Response:

We are always striving to keep the OPAC accessible and up to date. If you have suggestions for how we can improve, please submit a ticket on our support site and we can see how to address the issue.

 

Comment:

F-Key shortcut for holds shelf.

Cardinal Response:

We have created a wishlist Launchpad bug for this request (Wishlist: Keyboard Shortcut for Holds Shelf), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Alphabetical order does not ignore articles and treats capital letters as a different character set. All Capital letters come before a lowercase letter.

Cardinal Response:

This issue has been addressed in Evergreen 3.17. You will see standard capitalization in most grids starting with the planned upgrade to the latest version of the software, currently scheduled for December 5th.

 

Comment:

Evergreen is difficult to use with many features and functions that are hard to learn and follow. The system is set-up for database management that is cumbersome and time-consuming. Also, it is not always accurate. Example: a recent patron registration with information about another patron to check for prior registration. The two patron accounts showed completely different information, including birthdate, etc. NC Cardinal is rarely used by patrons themselves for account management with librarian assistance preferred.

Cardinal Response:

We're here to help! We can appreciate the challenge of making sense of it all and getting comfortable with how Evergreen works. We try to balance the information we have for people that are learning Evergreen with the depth of information we have for people that have been working with it for a while. We'd encourage you to email us at help@ncncardinalsupport.org when you hit a hurdle so that we can help

 

Comments (UI):

Maybe add a sidebar for the items most used/ the quick tabs on the home page for easier access than the drop bar.

Cardinal Response:

If you're referring to the screen you see when you log in to the staff side of Evergreen, it is customizable. You can find more details here: https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=810

 

Comment:

Optimize the MARC editor interface to reduce click fatigue and improve keyboard navigation.

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

 

Comment:

When I center-click to choose something from an angular menu, it closes the menu. I'd prefer it stays open.

Cardinal Response:

Is this occurring in Windows or Mac? Please send us an email at help@nccardinalsupport.org with more information on which screen you're on when this happens.

Other

The comments in this section don't fit neatly into any category listed above.

Comment:

Billing, it is sometimes complicated when we are trying to remove a fee for a book and we have to adjust the math when the late fee is included or they've made a partial payment.

Cardinal Response:

Feel free to submit a help request for assistance with billing matters. Several library settings are referenced when dealing with billings in Evergreen. Some complications may be due to values currently assigned to your library system that may need to be updated or removed to reflect updated workflows.

 

Comment:

Evergreen doesn't function optimally in Edge which our County wants us to use. We still use Chrome.

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (Exploring official support for Microsoft Edge), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

Evergreen improvements that would limit access at the system level instead of having a manual process

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.

 

Comment:

Fixing inconsistencies

Cardinal Response:

We're always open to suggestions when you find inconsistencies that can be fixed.

 

Comment:

For outreach collections that are put on and off a bookmobile it would be nice if there was a way to know what we had on the bookmobile and what we didn't by simply scanning the item.

Cardinal Response:

Shelving locations can be used to identify an item’s physical location. Library Staff should be able to scan an item’s barcode in the item status screen to and go to the Detail View in order to review the item's current Circulating Library. Running an Item Inventory Report may also provide assistance to staff.

 

Comment:

Hatch/receipt issues.

Cardinal Response:

We don't recommend using hatch because it can cause white screen issues in the staff client. For help with receipts and formatting, please submit a help ticket.

 

Comment:

Have buttons for general questions (or comments) visible on each page so we might ask or tell you our thoughts when things come up, rather than trying to recall details while doing surveys.

Cardinal Response:

We welcome comments and feedback throughout the year. General questions and comments may be submitted using Cardinal Ticketing System https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=request. Anonymous suggestions may be submitted at https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=request. We also offer our General Discussions Basecamp Group.

 

Comment:

I would like to see in Summon a way to search for a genre. I haven't figured out how to do that if that is an option that is already available.

Cardinal Response:

We would recommend reaching out to Summon directly regarding this, as they are not associated with Evergreen or NC Cardinal.

 

Comment:

It would be nice if circulation staff didn't have to have multiple tabs open at one time

Cardinal Response:

We'd be interested to learn more about which functionalities require the multiple tabs in your workflow. We'd be happy to see what we can do to suggest improvements.

 

Comment:

Nuances of Evergreen.

Cardinal Response:

We would like to provide more training materials and documentation on specific functions, troubleshooting, and other nuances. Please reach out with details about any specific you would like us to focus on.

 

Comments (streamlining):

• Streamlining processes
• Not so many complicated rules

Cardinal Response:

We can appreciate what you're saying. There are local policies, Cardinal policies, cataloging rules, etc. We try to be as straightforward as we can and simplify things, and seek to explain the complexity as best we can when offering training. If there's anything specific you come across that you'd like to highlight to us as something that can be simplified, we'd like to hear it.

 

Comment:

Photo ID.

Cardinal Response:

The implementation of photo ids in Evergreen is possible using the “Photo URL” field found under the “Edit” tab in the patron account screen. Use of this feature allows photos to be displayed on top of the patron information column on the left hand side of the patron account. This feature requires you to have an online repository where the photos may be stored in order to link to the appropriate accounts. In general, the Evergreen community chose this solution to avoid having pictures stored in the database.

 

Comment:

Suggestions on materials that are similar.

Cardinal Response:

This is not something Evergreen offers natively, but is available through external services like Novelist. If you are interested in integrating this service with Evergreen, please feel free to submit a help ticket.

 

Comment:

The ability to document and organize donated and replacement books so that every library has access to the discarded books for a period of time. This would help build collections, especially collecting books for book club collections.

Cardinal Response:

Similar to how NC Cardinal Libraries share extra or unwanted resource sharing packing items, library staff could post to the General Discussion Basecamp Group regarding available items that they would like to offer to other Cardinal Libraries. To create a more organized process within Evergreen, library staff could create a shared item bucket to display their unwanted items to other libraries. When staff locate an item they are interested in obtaining, staff could reach out to the owning library to retrieve the item.

 

Comment:

I need to set up a meeting to see about getting our local school system set up with Student Access.

Cardinal Response:

We are happy to assist you with this. Please feel free to reach out to Will Szwagiel at william.szwagiel@dncr.nc.gov for assistance with the Student Access program.

 

Comment:

I would be interested on serving on a team to help with any part of Evergreen. I served as a Circulation manager for the last 10 years in ARL and I serve in Harnett at the Erwin library in circulation.

Cardinal Response:

Thank you! Reach out to us directly and we'll be happy to get you involved.

 

Comment:

If a patron searches for an item in Cardinal and it is unavailable, could it be possible to create a service where patrons are then directed through Cardinal to their library's ILL services?

Cardinal Response:

We should be able to customize the search results page that says "Sorry, no entries were found for..." to include links to information about ILL. Submit a ticket so we can pursue this for your library.

 

Comment:

it’s 2026 with a rise in AI. use it, implement it, get it on the site to help users do their own searches.

Cardinal Response:

AI can be a useful tool to include in applications, but implementation can be difficult and fraught with errors that are hard to detect and that skew the results. As more organizations expand their use of AI, they're finding that the costs are quickly going up. Each request to an AI takes "tokens" that have a cost associated with them. Costs can balloon depending on how complex the task is. We currently don't have the budget to explore that. That being said, one thing we have been experimenting with is the creation of a local AI that can assist with searching. Rather than directly communicating with the patrons, the AI would take in marc records and output "embeddings" that numerically represent the meaning of the data and can be used in the database to improve the accuracy and efficiency of searching. This is only in the research stage right now, and development on the feature will take quite some time should we choose to pursue it.

 

Comment:

It's a bit overwhelming with being new to this system, as it is my first time with Evergreen and NC Cardinal. So, I am still learning things.

Cardinal Response:

We are happy to assist in any way that we can!

 

Comment:

Item notes should be viewable from somewhere in the item view. 

Cardinal Response:

There is an existing Launchpad bug for this request (Web Client: Item Alerts in Item Status Detailed View not visible), and we recommend adding "heat" to it so that it receives more attention.

 

Comment:

More staff

Cardinal Response:

We're not sure if you mean at your library or on the Cardinal team, but as we grow, this is something we've been advocating for to adjust the growing demands and needs for services. 

Comments requiring more details:

• Evergreen improvements that would limit access at the system level instead of having a manual process
• more functionality of local SAMs
• processing
• quick reference
• Why some libraries aren't recognized through their barcode as a library in the system and have to be pushed through
• Cardinal system has help increase our resources, our overdue list of books is hard to get, maybe if we can get an easy way for each library to print our list will be helpful
  thank you

Cardinal Response:

We are interested in learning more about what you mean. Please submit a help ticket with more information and we will get back to you.