This announcement from Liblime officially established a forked version of Koha (or possibly two versions: see their new "budget-friendly ILS for Small Libraries"). This is a sad day for the larger Koha development community.
Not sure if you've been following the developments with Koha but there is a strong movement afoot to develop a Koha Foundation. This impetus in no small part due to issues with Liblime who has been a strong supporter and development partner for Koha but has come under fire recently about how they are doing business. You may have noticed that some of their employees have left Liblime for other OS projects (e.g.
If you have ever wondered how materials handling automation could fit into your library environment, you might enjoy this study I did for a client.
Just finished doing a webinar with Infopeople called Open Source Library Systems: Free is Just the Tip of the Iceberg.
This message came through on the Koha mailing list. It's from the 3.0 Release Manager Galen Charlton. It is worth sharing with everyone who wishes Koha continued success and appreciates the hard work of the initiators of the project as well as all the contributors that continue to add value to it. That includes me! Happy Koha Day on September 6!
This note from Galen:
Hi,
I just realized that I had created a happy coincidence by picking 6
September as the soft feature freeze date for 3.2.
This is a slightly redacted version of a study I did (with Melissa Stockton of Quipu Group) on the library delivery system in Massachusetts. We evaluated delivery, sorting, and in-library practices and everything in between.
I thought you would like to know that there will be an off-site Open Source Unconference during ALA 2009. It will be held Saturday morning, July 11, 9:30am-12:15pm at the Harold Washington Library Center. The goal is to get people informed, inspired, and involved in Open Source Library System projects in the Library.
The group Books Not Filters is trying to fight the push for installing expensive, and imperfect internet filters on public computers at San Jose Public Library. The group is behind the Vice Mayor's proposal.
I'm one of the contributing authors for a new book titled Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries available from ALA Editions.
Valerie Horton and Bruce Smith are the editors. It's $70 (crazy high ALA prices) and is available for preorder now.
Here's how they describe the book:
Picking, packing, delivering, and returning library materials can be very time consuming and expensive; yet, it is one of the most important and least understood functions within a library.
Attached is the result of a study I did for King County Library System comparing materials handling operations at two very similar libraries: one with automated self check-in and library sorter, and the other using manual materials handling. The report (PDF) demonstrates significant savings at the library with automated check-in. It's short and sweet. Give it a read!