Libraries have been society's trusted sources of authoritative information for centuries, and have traditionally been technology innovators and early adopters. Yet something changed: libraries turned to proprietary solutions for their core library systems in the 1990's, and their ability to deliver new services diminished as they discovered they were locked into systems with minimal APIs and minimal investment in enhancements to system interoperability. However, in 2006, after two years of rapid development, the Evergreen open source library system went live for a network of 200 public libraries in the state of Georgia. Since then, other libraries in North America, Africa, and Asia have migrated to or started working towards Evergreen. Learn what Evergreen offers today from both an infrastructural and user-facing perspecti ve for library-initiated innovation, and find out why three Ontario universities have joined together to adopt Evergreen and how they are contributing to the project.