WebJunction

If folks have questions about the Koha open source library system project I will do my best to answer them here.

Joshua Ferraro
Nelsonville Public Library

Maybe I can jump start this discussion by posting a few links.

[url http://www.koha.org/mailing/ ]http://www.koha.org/mailing/[/url]
join the mailing lists
(there are several)

[url http://www.koha.org - ]http://www.koha.org -[/url] the main koha page

[url http://sourceforge.net/projects/koha ]http://sourceforge.net/projects/koha[/url]
download koha

[url http://www.koha.org/wiki ]http://www.koha.org/wiki[/url]
the koha wiki

[url http://bugs.koha.org/ ]http://bugs.koha.org/[/url]
the koha bug database

There are a couple of different situations that your question describes. For instance, at NPL, we did have the skills necessary to install and configure Koha and although we originally thought we would have to outsource our data migration we eventually did that ourselves as well. But when we first looked at Koha it didn't have support for MARC and we had to outsource the MARC development because at the time none of us had the skill to develop it in-house. But what about libraries that don't have the ability to handle any of the computer installation, configuration, or data migration issues--can they still use Koha? Well, Koha itself was conceived by such a library: the Horowhenua Library Trust. The Horowhenua folks essentially outsourced both the initial development of Koha and the continual upgrading and configuration process to Katipo Communications, a web-design consulting company; and even to this day when Koha is upgraded, it's Katipo that upgrades Horowhenua's Koha installation.

So the level of technical expertise of the local library staff has less to do with a library's ability to use Koha than does the library's vision of Koha's potential. And let me take the opportunity to emphasize that for the majority of libraries, it's not the case that Koha is "free" in the sense that it costs nothing. Horowhenua, Nelsonville, UNIDO, and the other libraries using Koha have all spent time and money to get Koha where they want and need it to be. But the point is, Koha WILL get to where they want it to be. For Horowhenua and UNIDO, it's already there. For us at NPL, we anticipate being able to offer services to our patrons that will appear in Koha years ahead of proprietary systems. With our old ILS we simply had no control over which direction the software development took. So Koha is "free" because we have the freedom to change it to meet our needs. But it's the freedom to change Koha that separates it (and all Free Software) from proprietary systems, not whether that change comes about through in-house development or outsourcing.

So how does a library that is interested in Koha get started if they don't have adequate technical resources? Many of the folks working on Koha [shameless plug] (including me) [/shameless plug] can be hired for support. In fact, there's a contact page on the Koha site (http://koha.org/installation/support.html) that lists organizations and consultants around the world who can help out with implementation. Also, because Koha was built using open standards, a library's 'local computer geeks' or consultants should be able to help out with any or all of the installation, data migration and upkeep processes.

There must be a lot of small libraries wondering if Koha is an option for them when there is limited automation experience on staff. No programmers, barely any experience with network issues, often relying on outside vendors (or just local computer geeks) for hardware and software support. Is Koha even an option for these libraries?

Thanks Joshua. That's the first clear explanation I've read of how an open source ILS can benefit small libraries. There is no free lunch even with open source. But anyone who is on a listserv for a proprietary ILS for small libraries knows that much of the discussion on the list revolves around libraries wanting features they can't have. Even the most simple changes (e.g. "can't we have that screen display the patron's phone number too") seem to take years between suggestion and implementation. And often, the desired change never occurs. Koha's appeal lies is in giving the library some control. I think small libraries would welcome this as long as they could be sure that a) Koha can currently provide all the functionality of the current proprietary systems, and b) Koha has a community of user/developers ready to help make it better. Maybe Koha already can deliver in these areas?

As an alternative, I would like to suggest another open source ILS called OpenBiblio. It is not as featured as Koha but it is an easy and simple program for small libraries with small book collections or for libraries with multimedia collections.

The program is an simple web-based database using PHP, MySQL and Apache. It also runs on Windows as well as Linux. If interested I can post install instructions.

Here is a link for a comparison of the open source ILS

[url http://www.anctil.org/users/eric/oss4ils.html ]http://www.anctil.org/users/eric/oss4ils.html[/url]

Importing from an Excel spreadsheet should be pretty easy; getting the data in CSV (comma seperated value) would be a good place to start. From there you could write a small perl script to put the values in the database in the right places. If you do plan to move to Koha I would suggest joining the Koha mailing list where you can get answers to very specific question that will arise...and if you need help with your scripts, etc., there are plenty of folks ready to lend aid.

Hello, Joshua, and thank you for being willing to answer my questions.

I'm JUST getting started investigating Koha, and here's my first question: One of the website's FAQ's says that it runs with Windows, and another says I need something else as well -- Unix, or Apache, or others mentioned.

This seems like a contradiction. If I install one of these operating systems, will it conflict with my Windows XP?

Thanks!

Chris Finer, Director
Sanbornton Public Library
Sanbornton, NH

How I havve it in my mind (very untechnical) is that Koha "Classic" is for small /small-medium libraries, Koha with Zebra indexing /search engine - I think they call this version "Zoom" - is for medium-medium-large libraries and the Open ILS - Evergreen is for big libraries or consortiums.

Open ILS - Evergreen is being tested by King County (WA) - one of the largest (in terms of circulation) public library systems in the US.