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Goddard College Partners with ByWater Solutions for Koha Support and Implementation

August 4th, 2010
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Nathan Curulla
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Goddard College Partners with ByWater Solutions for Koha Support and Implementation

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that Goddard College, of Plainfield, VT. has partnered with them for the implementation and support of their official Koha integrated library system installation.

ByWater Solutions will provide the Eliot D. Pratt Library of Goddard College with a full Koha Installation, data migration of their over 42,000 records, customization of their staff and public interface, 24/7 comprehensive support, and hosting services.

“Any software is only as good as the services that it provides and a database is only as good as its retrieval system.” Stated Clara Bruns, Director of Information Access at the Eliot D. Pratt Library. She continues; “The Open Source model means that we’ll pay for the services that the system provides and programming as needed, rather than paying for the use of a private company’s proprietary system. It’s a different business model that seems more directly in line with what a system really is because a piece of software has no “intrinsic’ value.”

When asked about the open source model and how it fits with her library needs, Clara Bruns stated; “Open Source will give us more independence in the long run. With ILS vendors, the larger libraries and contracts determine what companies are offering and there is the risk that system ownership will change or that they no longer support a product. We are a small institution and are currently paying too much for a system that only marginally meets our needs.”

She then went on to say that ByWater Solutions “met our criteria to find the most cost- effective solution for our library system and they have a great reputation with the libraries who have used their services.”

“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with Clara and the staff of Goddard College‚Äù stated Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Solutions. “Our two institutions share the same excitement and enthusiasm about open source, and we look forward to giving them the personalized levels of support that they deserve.‚Äù

The Eliot D. Pratt Library is targeted to go live by the end of 2010.

About Goddard College:

At Goddard you will encounter a unique learning environment where adult learners are encouraged to pursue their passions. Supported by expert faculty and dedicated staff, students seeking to complete a bachelor’s or a master’s degree individualize study that integrates personal interests, professional commitments and creative aspirations.
Goddard programs engage students in learning that is personally meaningful and socially responsive. Each person who comes to Goddard College enters a collaborative community that is committed to achieving academic excellence, deepening intellectual curiosity and developing the skills needed to promote social justice.
Goddard is nationally and internationally recognized for its leadership in educational innovation, its deep commitment to the ideals of democracy and for its active efforts to live consciously as stewards of the earth. For more information, please visit: www.goddard.edu

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: 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: bywatersolutions.com

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