EvolvePlus Blog

A new version of Aurora Cloud Desktop has been released to all library customers during January 2018.

Highlights of the release include:

Circulation 

Get ready for the new school year and preparing your strategy for how your school plans to engage students in wider reading.

My Reading List for Schools is a new approach to independent reading to inspire and engage students as readers. It provides a place for students to log their reading and write short reviews. It engages students through the hooks of technology, competition and the social aspect of reading other student reviews. 

My Reading List can help to enable dialogue between teachers and students about reading and the online nature of the application makes logging the books a fun activity. The application features have been developed with the input of Teachers, Librarians and Teacher-Librarians.

We are excited to announce that EvolvePlus has moved to a new location in Mulgrave, Victoria.  

After spending the previous two years in Scoresby we are on the move to the Monash Enterprise Centre.

This provides us (and our customers) with improved facilities including a training room with seating for up to 30 people as well as modern meeting rooms with large built in TV displays.

People counting solution for the outdoor exhibition at Australian National Maritime Museum.

Background
The first-ever outdoor exhibition held at the Australian National Maritime Museum where visitors can explore six colourful containers scattered around the museum like giant Lego pieces. Each container uses solar power to run internal lighting and displays.

The Challenge
To gauge the popularity of the exhibition, a unique and cost-effective people counting solution was required. The people counting solution had to operate on batteries and/or required a minimum power drain from the solar power supply of each container. The people counting solution had to be inconspicuous and automatically report visitors in real time.

EvolvePlus is delighted to support the NSW Public Libraries Association (NSWPLA) at their public library conference SWITCH 2017, being held from 21 to 23 November in Penrith.

For public libraries interested in the latest library technologies & products we will have an exciting range of cloud & technology solutions on display.

This include our Wireless People Counters, Overhead Thermal People Traffic Solutions, Public PC Bookings and Print Management, Aurora Library Management System, Million Word Reading Challenge App, Online Social Community Directory Platform with Mobile Apps, VuFind Discovery Layer and much more.

EvolvePlus deliver a range of Outdoor People Counter solutions that provide detailed statistical analysis via a web dashboard.

We offer Outdoor People Counter models with the choice between real-time visitor traffic analysis and offline pedestrian traffic analysis that is uploaded to a server on a regular basis. The weatherproof casing of the people counters enables implementation in a variety of outdoor environments including toilet blocks, outdoor pathways, car parks, festivals, markets as well as indoor venues that are exposed to water such as swimming pools and leisure centres.

The battery powered USB People Counter with Weatherproof Casing is moulded from the finest commercial grade plastic. The weatherproof case is designed to withstand the harsh outdoor elements whilst providing superior security for the counter sensors. 

EvolvePlus is pleased to announce our appointment as Approved Supplier for QLD Local Government (Contract No. BUS243-1113 "Council Business Systems") by Local Buy - Local Government Association of Queensland.

As a Local Buy pre-qualified supplier it enables Councils, Local Government authorities and other Government entities to purchase directly from EvolvePlus without having to go through a separate time consuming and costly tendering process.

EvolvePlus is an Australian company providing a range of cloud based applications including Facility Booking Management, PC Booking Management, Library Management, Community Engagement Platform (including Community Directory), Reference Tracking and Customer Request Management, Reporting & Dashboard Designer, Community Survey Application, Deep Freeze Cloud and Content Management solutions.

The Public Libraries WA (PLWA) conference is taking place 7th and 8th September 2017 at The University Club of WA and is the premier professional development event for the public library network in WA.

EvolvePlus is proud to support the PLWA 2017 Conference "Challenge Accepted!" and we will  have an exciting range of cloud & technology solutions on display for libraries including:

• Wireless People Counter Solutions, including 3G Connectivity, Infrared Sensor and Overhead Thermal Counters
• PC Bookings & Print Management 
• Aurora Library Management System
• Million Word Reading Challenge App
• PD Manager
• Online Social Community Platform with Mobile Apps
• Event and Room Booking Management
• Customer Request & Reference Tracking
• Web Reporting & Dashboards (Combining Data from People Counters, ILS and more)

We will be at Booth 16 in the Trade Exhibition - come and visit us to learn more about our People Counting & Cloud solutions for Libraries.

Our Wireless Infrared and Overhead Thermal People Counter solutions include the SensorServer software application which allows users to analyse traffic count data by hour, day, week, month, and year in table or graph form simply using their web browser. This valuable information reveals peak traffic periods to determine optimal operating hours and staffing requirements, and helps calculate peak visitor times. The People Inside Web App for SensorServer also enables organisations to view the number of people currently inside a venue, which is ideal for venues that are required to monitor capacity numbers in real time to comply with liquor licensing laws, venue capacity limits, etc.

Up to now the On-Premise edition of SensorServer has been installed on the Windows and macOS operating systems.  We are pleased to announce that we have successfully implemented the SensorServer software for our People Counters on the CentOS Linux platform.

This is ideal for customers who are using Linux as their preferred operating system platform. It also represents a lower operating cost when implementing a dedicated Linux virtual server in AWS or Azure compared to monthly costs of using a Windows virtual server. 

Our USB and Wireless People Counter solutions include the SensorServer software application - which customers can choose the On-Premise edition for installation on their own server/PC, or they can choose to use the Cloud edition delivered from the EvolvePlus cloud infrastructure.

Up to now the On-Premise edition has been installed on the Windows operating system.  We are pleased to announce that we have successfully implemented the SensorServer software for our People Counters on the Apple macOS operating system.

Gertrude Contemporary, a not-for-profit gallery and studio complex that has been supporting contemporary artists for over 30 year, uses Apple iMacs as their primary IT platform. 

We are pleased to announce the availability of the Print Management and Self Service Kiosk capability for the BookingsPlus PC Booking solution for libraries.

Using BookingsPlus PC Bookings it’s easy for library members, guests and staff to easily reserve public access PCs and view availability. 

The new Print Management module and associated Self Service Kiosks makes it easy to manage printing and recover costs from members and guests printing from public workstations. It is designed to check and manage the usage of your print equipment, whether they are printers (network and local) or multifunction devices (MFD). 

Our people counters record the number of people entering and exiting a venue in real time. From this information, we can then calculate and display the total number of people in the venue at any one time. This feature is ideal for venues that are required to monitor capacity numbers in real time to comply with liquor licensing laws, venue capacity limits, etc.

The live count total is displayed on a custom styled web page that is compatible with any web-enabled PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

EduTECH 2017 is taking place 8th and 9th June 2017 at the International Conference Centre in Sydney, and is the largest education expo in the entire Asia Pacific region.

EvolvePlus is proud to support EduTECH 2017 and we will be have an exciting range of productivity & technology solutions on display for libraries, schools and tertiary education including:

• Million Word Reading Challenge App
• PD Manager
• Wireless People Counter Solutions, including 3G Connectivity, Infrared Sensor and Overhead Thermal Counters
• Online Social Community Platform with Mobile Apps
• PC, Event and Room Booking Management
• Customer Request & Reference Tracking
• Aurora Library Management System
• Web Reporting & Dashboards (Combining Data from People Counters, ILS and more)

We will be at stand 150 in the "Libraries Zone" - come and visit us to learn more about our Productivity & Technology solutions for Libraries and Education.

EvolvePlus offers libraries a range of professional services for the Amlib library management system that save time and automate regular tasks. Whether your library is looking to optimise its processes or migrate Amlib data to another system, our staff have extensive experience across all aspects of Amlib.

We offer cloud hosting, software customisation, project planning, data migration, consultancy and managed admin services for the Amlib LMS. Our services include:

• Amlib Managed Admin Services & Support
• Amlib Data Conversion & Extraction
• Amlib Software Customisation
• Amlib Cloud Hosting & Archiving
• Amlib Project Planning
• Fully Featured Discovery Layer to Replace Amlib WebOPAC

Some of our most recent projects have included SMS integration for Patron Notices, delivery of web dashboards & reports that combine Amlib data with information from other sources (e.g. people counters), and troubleshooting SIP2 integration. 

Whitehorse Manningham Libraries have started using our cloud-based BookingsPlus application to manage room bookings across the organisation. After a short series of set-up and customisation sessions, Whitehorse Manningham Libraries clients are now able to view meeting room availability and make bookings. This is what the key room booking management staff from Whitehorse Manningham Libraries have to say about BookingsPlus:

“We have been looking for a cloud based booking system for our library meeting rooms for some time.  Evolve Plus has so far met and exceeded our requirements with BookingsPlus.  Tony and Trevor have been very good at responding and have offered us some great advice and are easy to deal with.  We’d highly recommend their system to anyone wanting an easy to use booking system.”

Ann & Nikki

Statistical data from the EvolvePlus Wireless People Counter solution has recently been integrated into the SirsiDynix BLUEcloud Analytics platform.

The integration enables libraries to combine their people counter statistics with other SirsiDynix library data - for example loans, membership, etc. - and display this within unified web dashboards and reports.

RefPlus is an intuitive web based Reference and Request Tracking application that provides rapid information discovery and simple processes for capturing requests and responding with automated notifications.

With the release of version 10, RefPlus is even easier to use with a range of new features and enhancements:

• New Advanced Search where you can search by any field (built-in or custom fields), save searches and have search results displayed in a separate list.

We've been busy collaborating with our customers to develop new features and enhancements to BookingsPlus - our cloud based bookings platform for rooms, events, public access PCs, game consoles and more.

Some of the latest enhancements include:

Room Bookings - Recurrent Bookings in Public View

EvolvePlus is proud to announce the launch of SurveyPlus - a fully managed community survey web app that automates online surveys & questionnaires for your community, library members, visitors, ratepayers, staff, job applicants and more.

Importantly, SurveyPlus is delivered via our Australian cloud infrastructure, to ensure the privacy and security of your community's survey results and assist with compliance to your statutory obligations.

Some examples of how SurveyPlus can be used:

EvolvePlus is pleased to announce the launching two new people counting products.

Overhead Thermal - Our Overhead Thermal People Counter fits discreetly onto the ceiling facing downwards and counts the people that pass underneath using thermal technology. The sensors are designed to detect the heat emitted by people passing underneath it as infrared radiation. Click here for more information

3G Gateway Device – Our door and thermal counters can now be connected to a 3G Gateway Device. This will enable the count and timestamp of people traffic to be directly transmitted to our hosted site via the mobile network. Then access the reports via the web interface to see how many customers visit day-by-day, hour-by-hour. Click here for more information