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Marywood University Library and Learning Commons Goes Live on ByWater Solutions Koha Support
11/3/2016
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Nathan Curulla
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Marywood University Library and Learning Commons Goes Live on ByWater Solutions Koha Support
ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America’s forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Library and Learning Commons at Marywood University in Scranton, PA. is now live on their Koha open source integrated library system.
ByWater Solutions completed the migration of the Libraries’ more than 260,000 titles and is providing ongoing hosting and support services to the library. As part of their implementation, ByWater assisted in the configuration of Koha to work with Marywood’s automated storage and retrieval system which houses 98% of their physical collection. The Library’s customized online catalog can be viewed at: https://libcat.marywood.edu/
Lee Jamison, Automated Library Technician for the University, commented on the results of their switch to Koha:
“Since having Koha live for just one semester, we are already seeing positive effects. Although it took some time for our patrons to adjust to the new system, their response and reaction has been positive. We have transformed our online system to one we are proud of and it is a relief to not have to explain tedious “workarounds” or glitches to patrons and they report much better success in finding what they need. Instead of “let me explain” we can now say “let me show you what else the catalog can do!” Our staff and Librarians are also pleased by the level of flexibility and problem-solving that the system provides. If a patron mentions a feature that isn’t currently available, we can say “we’ll look into adding that feature” knowing that our ideas and suggestions are real possibilities and we will get help with implementation from ByWater Solutions or the Koha community.”
He continues: “Overall, Koha is a total 180 degree change from our former ILS in the best way possible. Staff and patrons remark on greater ease of use, and faculty (some for the first time in years) are actively integrating library resources into their classes, using public lists, reserves, comments, tags and more to get more of our resources in the hands of students. With ByWater’s help we enabled the Koha EDS plugin so that patrons have access to not only our physical collection but also our subscribed databases in a one-stop-shop fashion. The feedback so far has been overwhelming and we hope usage continues to grow at such a rapid pace.”
Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater commented on this new partnership:
“We are thrilled to partner with the team at the Learning Commons at Marywood. Working with Lee has been fantastic and his enthusiasm and skills have already proven to be an invaluable addition to the global Koha community. We look forward to many years of partnership and working together to make Koha even better for Academic libraries worldwide!”
About the Library and Learning Commons
As the Intellectual and Social Heart of campus, the Marywood University Learning Commons puts knowledge creation at the forefront of the educational experience. Students develop patterns of discovery and achievement that last a lifetime, with abundant opportunities to discern what learning styles and environments work best for them.
The use of flexible and more open physical spaces, new ways of using technology for accessing resources, and the expertise of skilled specialists, such as technologists and digital media professionals, turn what was once the familiar library into an environment infused with creative energy and engaged learning. The impressive physical design of the Learning Commons also ensures adaptability to future advances in teaching and learning. For more information please visit: http://www.marywood.edu/library/
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/
About ByWater Solutions:
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions for Koha support not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: /
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