A presentation delivered at LIANZA 09 by Joann Ransom and Chris Cormack.
Key areas: intro to Koha, Koha 3.2 features, Koha community, librarians in a FOSS world and Koha for Consortia.
Chris Worked with him since 1997 Koha since 1999 Open Source Contributor of the Year 2007 Katipo, Liblime and then Catalyst IT Everything it does is Free and Open Source. Clients include: TAB, Fairfax (Stuff.co.nz), Electoral commission (electoral role) .nz registry. 103 staff
Intro to Koha : briefest history possible Koha 3.2 features : how is it different Look at international community of developers and library users which has embraced Koha How Librarians need to learn a new set of skills and ways of working to maximise their participation in a FOSS world Koha is used by a number of consortia, particularly in the States – especially relevant given the thinking going on around shared public library systems.
Very brief – less than a minute worlds first open source library management system
EDIT this hard Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). Full-featured ILS. libraries of all sizes, Basic or advanced options. Koha is built using library standards and protocols that ensure interoperability between Koha and other systems and technologies, while supporting existing workflows and tools. Web-based Interfaces. Koha's OPAC, circ, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies--XHTML, CSS and Javascript-- a truly platform-independent solution. Free / Open Source. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). No Vendor Lock-in.
Fully Customizable at the desktop: yes/no options, settings, Style sheets, Templates etc 51 different Translations – turn on with the flick of a switch!. eg HLT: Maori, English, Taiwanese, Mandarin and Tagalog happening, need a translator for Samoan and Tongan. MARC21 or UNIMARC Copy cataloging using reservoir or z39.50 Advanced serials management module. Built in sql report writer – export lists Print your own barcodes and labels. Very good budget and acquisitions control ie granular budgets, full audit trail Use as a document manager or digital library; manage online and off line resources with the same tool. RSS feed of new acquisitions. E-mail and/or txt patron's overdues and other notices.
Fully Customizable at the desktop: yes/no options, settings, Style sheets, Templates etc 51 different Translations – turn on with the flick of a switch!. eg HLT: Maori, English, Taiwanese, Mandarin and Tagalog happening, need a translator for Samoan and Tongan. MARC21 or UNIMARC Copy cataloging using reservoir or z39.50 Advanced serials management module. Built in sql report writer – export lists Print your own barcodes and labels. Very good budget and acquisitions control ie granular budgets, full audit trail Use as a document manager or digital library; manage online and off line resources with the same tool. RSS feed of new acquisitions. E-mail and/or txt patron's overdues and other notices.
Of course … becoming pretty standard in LMS now – don't want to labour the point
EDIT I don't think OPACs are used much in the library and our staff tended to use the staff interface not the public to find stuff When preparing for Koha 3 worked on the OPAC – if staff can't find stuff using OPAC then how can we expect customers to be able to? I want to talk about the Koha 3.2 OPAC Looked very carefully at how we arrange our collection and what information we wanted to have display in the new catalogue
Strength of community how it works role of libraries / developers will have to touch on liblime show how the community responded could announce biblre trademark gift to HLT where to hear for the community Pictures of koha libraries left to right Samoa Croatia Greece Margapatta India Paris Qian Xi, China
By Horton, G. http://tinyurl.com/3jvumn
Mindset shift: What you want NOT what you are given: think. Arguments about librarians needing to take control of their own tools again … Dewey and Ranganathan both developed tools for the job. Koha : recipricocity – expand on this philosopy: puppy not beer Need to develop n ew skills in order to interact or participate fully
Point: not locked into 1 vendor in NZ can work with any or all of them happy to work together complimentary areas of expertise community stronger with more than 1 vendor All do work offshore on Koha too ie Kohaaloha & Biblibre Calyx & Kapiti Katipo in UNIDO (Austria) Catalyst – German consultancy firm for Romanian Client library