I decided to evaluate the Koha ILS. Here is the conclusion to my essay:
Koha’s features, cost, technical support, customization, and use by other libraries have been outlined. The amount of savings cannot be determined at this point without a thorough analysis of the cost of support and staff training. However, implementation of the Koha ILS would be facilitated by the experience of the systems staff in managing an open source operating system like Linux at the DPL. Furthermore, any savings can be used to improve and specialize service provided to DPL users. If customization and the possibility of savings are priorities for the DPL, then perhaps a switch to the Koha ILS is a viable consideration.
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8 comments:
Hi Erica, nice conclusion. I wondered about the issue of cost as well. Part of me wanted to actually approach Liblime and try to get an estimate. But I really had no idea where to start with that.
I disagree. Koha is awful. It will cost $1 000 000.
Just joking. I liked Koha too. Its hard to think of anything to say, really. It seems like we've all reached pretty much the same conclusion.
I think that Koha could be a good library system. However, the financial savings are much higher in the short term if the library resorts to in-house maintenance, rather than on third party support.
Koha discovered world peace! Using Koha cures the common cold! Koha is better than sex! That should have been my conclusion ;-)
Well written, Erica. I can't believe I forgot to mention Linux anywhere in my evaluation!
I kind of wish I reviewed Koha - there's such a community around it.
Me? I got lost in DSpace.
Koha is the one true god.
That's not true at all.
There are many one true gods.
I agree with your comment about it being hard to evaluate cost savings as we do not know the library.
Besides that I liked Koha and would tell a library to investigate it as an ILS
Looking down through your comments on Koha, I have to take issue with Nathaniel . . . Koha actually caused global warming and is the reason gas prices are so high today. More than that, there is surfacing evidence that the Koha proto-type was instrumental in the whole push for western industrialization. Go to DSpace at MIT, the evidence is all there!
Peace, Librarymann
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