Two New Libraries Join VOKAL With ByWater Solutions' Koha Support

by Kalleen Marquise on Aug 16, 2021

ByWater Solutions, America’s forefront provider of Open Source library technology support, announced that VOKAL (Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries) has added Fletcher Free Library and Lincoln Library to its consortium. They will be using Koha for their ILS.

About Fletcher Free Library

Today the Fletcher Free Library is a vibrant partner in the Burlington community. The collection includes over 155,000 items, including: 5,493 DVDs; 40,820 e-books; 7,845 downloadable audiobooks; 3,380 books on CD or MP3; 315,910 streaming videos; and 111,708 books and everything else (museum passes, book club kits, magazines, databases, subscriptions and gardening tools, etc). Free internet access is available to laptop users and at public access computers. The Library offers the community programs and services that meet your educational, cultural and life-long learning needs.

Find out more about the library here: https://www.fletcherfree.org/History

About Lincoln Library

After a flood in 1998 destroyed the library, the community came together to build a new library. It was opened in July 2000. The Lincoln Library has become a community center for Lincoln and the surrounding area. Many people contribute their time and talents to create the 200 or so programs the Library offers each year for young and old.

Find out more about the library here: https://www.lincolnlibraryvt.com/history.html

About VOKAL

The Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL) is a project of the Green Mountain Library Consortium dedicated to creating a shared catalog and Integrated Library System.

In late 2007, three Vermont libraries joined with a representative from the Vermont Department of Libraries to explore a replacement ILS for Follett, the system currently used by the three libraries. After exploring many options, the group settled on Koha, an open-source ILS solution originally created in New Zealand.

In May of 2008, the group chose the name VOKAL - the Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries - as a name for the group and the project.

Initially, VOKAL's Koha project was implemented on a stand-alone system. In October of 2010, VOKAL implemented a consortium version of the ILS and began migrating member libraries into the shared system. By January 2011, 4 libraries had been migrated.

Today VOKAL has grown to 59 libraries. Read more at https://www.gmlc.org/index.php/vokal

About ByWater Solutions

ByWater Solutions is a full service, high-quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in the first-rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit https://bywatersolutions.com.

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, HTML5, 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://koha-community.org.

For more information

Jessica Zairo
Marketing & Outreach Coordinator
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944