Getting involved in the Aspen Discovery and Koha Open Source Communities

by Morgan Daigneault on Feb 11, 2024

We refer to libraries we work with as "partners" because in the open source community, our working relationship is truly a collaborative partnership. We want to work together to make Koha and Aspen Discovery better for all libraries and library users.

There are multiple channels available for you to get involved with the open source communities.

ByWater Partner Google Groups

These are mailing lists where you can communicate with other partners via email. We invite our partners to these groups shortly after your kickoff. If you are currently in implementation, we encourage you to submit a support ticket for assistance rather than post to the greater community while you are still learning the ropes in your new systems. After going live and beyond, these Google groups are a great resource to ask about workflow ideas, experiences with certain vendors, etc.

Koha Special Interest Groups

https://koha-us.org/

Find tutorials and special interest groups here! Special interest groups are open to anyone who wants to attend, and the dates can be found on the Koha US calendar.

Koha Community

https://koha-community.org/get...

Find links to join Koha listservs, a community IRC channel, and more.

Aspen Gathering

https://bywatersolutions.com/n...

The Aspen Gathering is a monthly meeting hosted by ByWater for discussing Aspen features, upcoming releases, special community topics, and more. The first fifteen minutes of every Gathering are spent demoing upcoming functionality in the next release.

Aspen Community

https://community.aspendiscove...

Visit the Aspen community site to learn more about AspenCon and other regular Aspen meetings. Check out the calendar to join an upcoming special group meeting, such as the Aspen Community Meeting or the Aspen Catalogers Group -- anyone is welcome to attend!

Weekly Resources

Monday Minutes: https://www.youtube.com/playli...
Aspen Weekly: https://aspen.bywatersolutions...

Soon after joining the ByWater-supported Koha and Aspen communities, you'll start receiving weekly resources right in your inbox! Monday Minutes are bite-sized videos focusing on different Koha topics each week. Aspen Weekly provides Aspen tips, tutorials, best practices, feature previews, partner spotlights, and more.