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Del Norte County Library Now Live on Koha with Support from ByWater Solutions
March 2nd 2011
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Nathan Curulla
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Del Norte County Library Now Live on Koha with Support from ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that the Del Norte County Library of Del Norte CA. is now live on their official Koha integrated library system.
Del Norte County Library and the Open Source-Open Libraries Consortium have partnered with ByWater Solutions for their Koha implementation. The library’s Koha installation will be moved into the NorthNet union catalog that will be made up of several Northern California libraries who have chosen to move to Koha with support and implementation services provided by ByWater.
Linda Kaufmann, Library Director of the Del Norte Library, commented on their move to Koha and ByWater Solutions:
“I have to tell you that we are happy with Koha but we love the folks at ByWater.At first I didn’t think I would like their ticket system.When we had TLC we would just call and we usually got to talk to someone but not always; I thought your ticket system would be very slow with responses and I couldn’t have been more wrong!All my issues have been dealt with very quickly and in the beginning I had numerous tickets (mostly because I was unfamiliar with the workings of the new program).”
She continues: “We switched to Koha mainly for financial reasons and we’re very glad we did.The cost of our tech support from ByWater is way less than 1/2 of what we were paying with our pervious ILS. Now with the total elimination of state funds for libraries we will be cataloging exclusively using Koha.”
Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater stated: “We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with Linda and the staff of Del Norte. We cannot wait to get their installation rolled into the future NorthNet Library Catalog so that they can take full advantage of the collaborative effort that has been put together by the NorthNet members and Open Source – Open Libraries!”
About the Del Norte County Library:
The Del Norte County library branches serve all the people of Del Norte County as well as the many visitors who visit the northwestern most county of California.The library system holds over 54,000 materials , books, magazines, DVDs, Videocassettes, compact discs, audio books, and more. The current building was dedicated in 1983 and was remodeled in 2006.
The main branch library was established as the Ladies Library by volunteers in 1906. The library moved to its current location in February 1983. The Smith River branch opened in April 2002 and is staffed entirely by volunteers.
The existence of the Del Norte County Library District assures public ownership of print collections, digital resources, and gathering space for the citizens of the library district. We are committed to sustaining the value of public library services for the greater Del Norte County community through the use of traditional and innovative technologies. For more information please visit: http://www.delnortecountylibrary.org/
About Open Source-Open Libraries:
Open Source , Open Libraries is a consortia of libraries, library systems, and other organizations committed to pursuing Open Source Software alternatives for libraries. The primary focus of the project is on Open Source Library Systems as potential replacements for commercial, proprietary integrated library systems (ILS).The goal is to empower libraries and library consortia by encouraging participation and collaboration in software products generally, and encouraging them to consider an Open Source Library System such as Koha or Evergreen. Just as libraries provide opportunities for people to empower themselves, Open Source Software provides an opportunity for libraries to empower themselves by asserting more control over the software tools used to run their libraries.The project is funded by member contributions combined withsupport from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. For more information please visit: http://opensource.califa.org/
About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.
Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://www.koha-community.org
About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com
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