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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wednesday, April 21, 2004 15:05
CDT</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Greetings, Peter,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Just a 'quick' reply to your message inquiring
about Koha, that others on the listserv will hopefully augment with their
wisdom.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>First, I (and many others) think Koha is a great
system. It is extremely versatile and compared to other ILS that one would have
to purchase at significant cost, it is astoundingly good.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In terms of technical support and further
development, the prospects are at least as good. Most questions to the listserv
receive a response within 24 hours, usually less. The community is very good at
lending a hand with advice.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Development is continual and the nice thing there
is that, being an open source product, your library could direct further
development along lines that would give you features you wanted simply by
financing the programming and/or appealing to the Koha community to see if
some nice volunteer could effect the change you wanted.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As people write in to the listserv with different
questions and requests for features, many are added to the programmer's 'bug'
lists for future work. If you look back at the archive of message, you can see
how much has been accomplished in just one year (something we should all be
applauding and thanking the developpers for)!!.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There are only 2 significant issues that I can see
in terms of your library adopting Koha.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The first is that it would be <STRONG>preferable if
there were a member of the systems administration team who were familiar or
willing to familarise him- or herself with the program so that you would have
technical support closer to home</STRONG>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The second -- and this is really the major one --
is that <STRONG>Koha is <EM>NOT</EM> at present compatible viz. LC
classification numbers</STRONG>. I am not sure what the progress has been in the
last several months towards that. I know that the understandable focus of the
developpers has been on achieving a stable 2.0 release, which is now
done.</FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><BR><STRONG>In the meantime, perhaps somebody on the development side could
reply with a guesstimation on how long it might be until LC-numbers are usable
within Koha. Also, if there is a library that uses LC classification that has
found a way around this issue, it would be helpful to let the community
know.</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Hope this lengthy response helps a bit, Peter. I think your library would
ultimately benefit greatly by adopting Koha.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best wishes in your automation/migration project,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Steven F. Baljkas</DIV>
<DIV>library tech at large</DIV>
<DIV>Koha neophyte (and cheerleader!)</DIV>
<DIV>Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=pgichiri@strathmore.edu href="mailto:pgichiri@strathmore.edu">Peter
Gichiri</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=koha@lists.katipo.co.nz
href="mailto:koha@lists.katipo.co.nz">koha@lists.katipo.co.nz</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, April 21, 2004 4:09
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Koha] Library System</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=698225708-21042004>I am
an assistant librarian working at Strathmore university, an up-coming
university in Kenya, Africa. We are scouting for a library
system that will address all the aspects of the library. We are using the
Library of Congress systems of cataloging books. We hope to have a system that
is compatible with other departments of the university for we share
enough information with other department. The university has a well laid
computer network.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=698225708-21042004></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2><SPAN class=698225708-21042004></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=698225708-21042004>Is
Koha a suitable system and what are is the best way ahead.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=698225708-21042004></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=698225708-21042004>Peter Wanyoike Gichiri</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=698225708-21042004>Ass.
Librarian</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=698225708-21042004>Strathmore University</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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