Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
Thanks all! I am more curious about the general utility of Koha since each organization will have different needs. I'm just thrilled to see Koha spreading and the launch of foss4lib and other exciting developments in the LAM communities as of late. Cheers, Tod -- Tod Robbins iSchool GSA Crew MLIS Candidate 2012 University of Washington
Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
Jon Gorman > There's vendors/companies that develop for and support Koha. Open > source and vendor/commercial activity are not mutually exclusive. Yes, exactly! I work for a commercial vendor (software.coop) which has done all of the following combinations: > Open Source ILS / local servers / no support contracts > Open source ILS / hosted / no support contract > Open source ILS / hosted / support contract > Open source ILS / hosted / no support contract We've even done Open Source ILS / local servers / multiple support contracts. Someone else mentioned Marshall Breeding's ILS survey. It has some numbers, but I don't think they cover all of the above situations (so we encourage most co-op libraries to report as Independent if at all), as I comment almost every year (along with suggesting that having the survey open-sourced could offer big improvements). > And you could distinguish between support and development contracts, > with the nice advantage of open source you can always change vendors > or fund someone who's not your usual developer group depending on how > the community around the project has been established. Harder to do > that with proprietary software, but I've still heard of it happening. Even with open source, you have to make sure that you can export and import your data. Most vendors that support Koha-community.org do offer that, in support of the Open Network Libraries idea. Hope that informs, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
http:/ Also, you may read the List of Paid Support Companies for Koha: http://koha-community.org/support/paid-support/ Oscar Gaona oscar.ga...@organizadatos.com www.organizadatos.com From: Tod Olson To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 1:23 PM Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running Also, suitability of any particular ILS will depend in part on the nature of the organization using. Academic libraries have different needs from publics, scale of the environment, staff resources and skill sets and willingness to learn, these all come in to play when evaluating an ILS or any other large piece of software. -Tod Tod Olson Systems Librarian University of Chicago Library On Jan 12, 2012, at 1:56 PM, Genny Engel wrote: > Todd, you might want to check out Marshall Breeding's annual ILS survey > results: > > http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2010.pl > > He compiles responses from many hundreds of libraries re: open source and > proprietary ILSs. > > Genny Engel > Sonoma County Library > gen...@sonoma.lib.ca.us > 707 545-0831 x581 > www.sonomalibrary.org > > > -Original Message- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of > todd.d.robb...@gmail.com > Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 10:20 AM > To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU > Subject: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running > > Hello all, > > I'm curious to know of this lists current thoughts on Koha as an ILS. Where > would you rank it among the various options, open source and vendor? > > Cheers, > > Tod > > PS: If this has been addressed recently and I just happened to miss it in > the archives: my apologies. > > -- > Tod Robbins > iSchool GSA Crew > MLIS Candidate 2012 > University of Washington
Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
Also, suitability of any particular ILS will depend in part on the nature of the organization using. Academic libraries have different needs from publics, scale of the environment, staff resources and skill sets and willingness to learn, these all come in to play when evaluating an ILS or any other large piece of software. -Tod Tod Olson Systems Librarian University of Chicago Library On Jan 12, 2012, at 1:56 PM, Genny Engel wrote: > Todd, you might want to check out Marshall Breeding's annual ILS survey > results: > > http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2010.pl > > He compiles responses from many hundreds of libraries re: open source and > proprietary ILSs. > > Genny Engel > Sonoma County Library > gen...@sonoma.lib.ca.us > 707 545-0831 x581 > www.sonomalibrary.org > > > -Original Message- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of > todd.d.robb...@gmail.com > Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 10:20 AM > To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU > Subject: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running > > Hello all, > > I'm curious to know of this lists current thoughts on Koha as an ILS. Where > would you rank it among the various options, open source and vendor? > > Cheers, > > Tod > > PS: If this has been addressed recently and I just happened to miss it in > the archives: my apologies. > > -- > Tod Robbins > iSchool GSA Crew > MLIS Candidate 2012 > University of Washington
Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
Todd, you might want to check out Marshall Breeding's annual ILS survey results: http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2010.pl He compiles responses from many hundreds of libraries re: open source and proprietary ILSs. Genny Engel Sonoma County Library gen...@sonoma.lib.ca.us 707 545-0831 x581 www.sonomalibrary.org -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of todd.d.robb...@gmail.com Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 10:20 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running Hello all, I'm curious to know of this lists current thoughts on Koha as an ILS. Where would you rank it among the various options, open source and vendor? Cheers, Tod PS: If this has been addressed recently and I just happened to miss it in the archives: my apologies. -- Tod Robbins iSchool GSA Crew MLIS Candidate 2012 University of Washington
Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
> I'm curious to know of this lists current thoughts on Koha as an ILS. Where > would you rank it among the various options, open source and vendor? I'm confused, what do you mean by "open source and vendor"? There's vendors/companies that develop for and support Koha. Open source and vendor/commercial activity are not mutually exclusive. Did you mean open source and proprietary? There's lots of combination of ILSes and how to manage them out there. Open Source ILS / local servers / no support contracts Open source ILS / hosted / no support contract Open source ILS / hosted / support contract Proprietary ILS / local servers / no support Open source ILS / hosted / no support contract Proprietary ILS / hosted / support Some of those combinations are pretty rare, but I could see all of them existing. And you could distinguish between support and development contracts, with the nice advantage of open source you can always change vendors or fund someone who's not your usual developer group depending on how the community around the project has been established. Harder to do that with proprietary software, but I've still heard of it happening. Are you interested in stuff like that? Or are you more just interested in how people's experience using Koha software itself compared ot other ILS options out there? Or the actual overall experience? Or which Koha vendor is the best? Jon G.
Re: [CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
The only thing I can say is be careful of PTFS/LibLime as a vendor. There are other vendors that provide Koha support in the US, however. http://bibwild.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/koha-support-or-hosting-options/ On 1/12/2012 1:19 PM, todd.d.robb...@gmail.com wrote: Hello all, I'm curious to know of this lists current thoughts on Koha as an ILS. Where would you rank it among the various options, open source and vendor? Cheers, Tod PS: If this has been addressed recently and I just happened to miss it in the archives: my apologies.
[CODE4LIB] Koha in the Running
Hello all, I'm curious to know of this lists current thoughts on Koha as an ILS. Where would you rank it among the various options, open source and vendor? Cheers, Tod PS: If this has been addressed recently and I just happened to miss it in the archives: my apologies. -- Tod Robbins iSchool GSA Crew MLIS Candidate 2012 University of Washington