Koha Project

Koha is FreeSoftwareForLibraries. It is a platform providing CIRC (CirculationModule?) and OPAC (OnLinePatronAccess?). It uses the PerlLanguage and MySQL, and the MarcRecord module.

http://www.koha.org and http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/koha

Koha was initially developed in 1999, and was first deployed in January of 2000. It has been in production since that time. Koha is currently installed in a number of libraries on at least four continents. While the initial development work was done by KatipoCommunications? and funded by the HorowhenuaLibraryTrust? (both in New Zealand), the developer base is now international in scope.

The 1.2.0 release of Koha was made on June 14th, 2000. Work on this branch is continuing, and a new 1.4.0 release is being planned which will feature a number of key features including MARC compliance.

The development of Koha is also undergoing a transition. It was first developed in the CathedralStyle? within KatipoCommunications?. Gradually, OutsideDevelopers? started to work on the system. Recently, responsibility for the direction of the project was passed to PatEyler.

The new development is geared to establish several things: a larger, more vibrant KohaCommunity?; a better FreeLibrarySystem?; increased recognition for Koha in the library community; and a move to better programming methods including ExtremeProgramming.

Another new development is the investment in Koha by libraries. Nelsonville Public Library has announced that they will be migrating to the Koha system and will be releasing a series of three RFPs, the first one is out at http://pate.eylerfamily.org/geek/MARCRFP.txt, for work they'd like to see done on Koha.

They've started a collection of links at http://www.athenscounty.lib.oh.us/koha.html

CategoryProject