2017 Koha-US Conference in Coeur d’Alene

by Todd Goatley-Seals on Sep 5, 2017

Hi everyone! There are so many wonderful things to be said about the 2017 Koha-US Conference in Coeur d’Alene. The Coeur d’Alene Public Library and site made for a fantastic venue. The library is beautifully situated on an expansive grassy mall area right off the main drag that holds lots of wonderful lake front stores and the walking trails by the lake are awesome. What a view! The conference drew lots of fun and insightful participants and informative presenters mixed with engaging discussions and roundtable sessions, oh, and all the delicious snacks ;~). There’ll be blogs and videos shared on the Koha-US.net site so be sure to check it all out.

Now quickly, I’ll focus on the item that is currently of interest to everyone… our website, membership and fundraising.

Since our first conference in Wenatchee, WA, Koha-US has been evolving at a slow pace but this past November 2016, we received our 501c3 status. To all of us this signals GO TIME! So, now that Koha-US has its official nonprofit status we can get things rolling and implement our plans. You can’t be a nonprofit without having plans, right?!

Our immediate plan is to build a vibrant website to serve as the headwater from which everything will flow! We have some gifted Koha-US members who are passionate about Koha-US and in creating an incredible website. They’ll have something up for everyone to ewww and ahhh about very soon. Our site will be informative to its readers offering insightful write-ups from membership and serve as the portal for membership registration and donations. These are the main topics that have been in the discussions of current supporters and members of Koha-US and it is paramount to the development of a vibrant Koha-US.

So, what do we need? To hear from you! Feel free to email one of the newly elected board members of Koha-US and be sure to participate in our monthly meetings to offer your idea(s). Let Koha-US hear your voice and let them know how you can help with community development. Sure, everyone realizes we each have busy lives but even small contributions are very helpful. Small contributions can be something like a helpful suggestion(s), writing a helpful article for the website, word of mouth promotion of our community, coming to our yearly conference, becoming a Koha-US member and/or making a tax deductible donation to Koha-US. Together, we will succeeded in making Koha-US the type of community we couldn’t live without.

The Koha-US organization exists for all of us and together we will make Koha-US great!

2017/2018 Board of Directors

Koha-US President – Christopher Brannon –  cbrannon@cdalibrary.org

Koha-US Vice President – George H Williams – gwilliams@nekls.org

Koha-US Secretary – Jason Robb – jrobb@sekls.org

Koha-US Treasurer – John Sterbenz – jsterben@umich.edu

Koha-US Member-at-Large – Fred King – fred.king@medstar.net