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Rachel and all other Koha Users and Soon to be Koha Users,<br>
<br>
The idea for the IRC meeting is NOT to create another user group, it
is simply to follow-up on responses from USA Koha users and soon-to-be
Koha users in the planning ALAMW08 KUDOS meeting. Many people who were
not able to attend requested a method for having a tool for
online-real-time meetings. <br>
<br>
The intention for the IRC meeting is to have the participants discuss
and share issues, which will then be shared with John, so those can be
part of the information at the PLA Conference meeting. Again, it is
NOT intended to take the place of the PLA meeting at all.<br>
<br>
As you know, by building a strong user group, the users have the
ability to help make the Koha ILS stronger and LibLime grow as a
company, while users learn and help one another. It's a win, win, win!<br>
<br>
I will talk with John Brice today, having seen his email yesterday for
the first time.<br>
<br>
I humbly apologize for any misunderstandings that have occurred. <br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Deb<br>
<br>
Rachel Hamilton-Williams wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:47AFC6E2.5030702@katipo.co.nz" type="cite"><br>
Hi John & Deb
<br>
<br>
An in person meeting for a USA Koha Users Group sounds like a fine idea
- particularly if you can get a few people together at a conference to
do it.
<br>
<br>
If both you and Deb are thinking of 0rganising USA specific User Group
things then joining forces would be a grand idea.
<br>
<br>
If the idea for an IRC meeting was for a more general user group, or if
it looks like not many will actually be able to make the in-person one
then presumably that could still go ahead.
<br>
<br>
Cheers
<br>
Rachel
<br>
<br>
Koha Kaitiaki
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
John Brice wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Dear Koha Mail list Member:
<br>
<br>
Announcement!
<br>
<br>
<br>
We will be having a formal organizational meeting of Kudos (Koha Users
Group) at PLA. We are still working on the date and time of the
event. Once it is determined we will e-mail everyone on the list of
current developments. The meeting will be broken into two parts first
meeting will be for existing Koha users or Koha users planning to be up
and running within six months. This meeting will be an organizational
meeting to discuss what type of national organization to form the
agenda will be as follows:
<br>
<br>
1. How did we get here? A short history
<br>
of Koha
<br>
2. Do we need a formal users group for
<br>
Koha?
<br>
3. Develop a mission statement.
<br>
4. What type of structure do we need?
<br>
5. Form a committee of three to write a
<br>
by-laws proposal.
<br>
6. Schedule next meeting.
<br>
<br>
<br>
The second part of the meeting will be a general interest session and
will be opened to anyone who is interested in Koha.
<br>
<br>
<br>
I understand that there is an IRC meeting being organized to talk about
exactly these same issues. I request that the meeting be postponed to
after PLA.
<br>
I ask for this postponement based on the following reasons:
<br>
<br>
Previous meetings between vested parties of Koha, from many
<br>
different nations, asked that any organizations based on the Koha
<br>
ILS be based on national boundaries, ie the French Koha
Organization.
<br>
<br>
I believe that any Users Groups should be limited to only those
<br>
individuals who are using Koha presently or are planning to use Koha
<br>
within a relatively short time, say six months or so.
<br>
<br>
Using the IRC to form an new organization as complicated and unique
<br>
as a Koha User's Group would be difficult at best and and anarchy at
<br>
worst. Once we have some sort of structure in place we can then
<br>
use the IRC channel to discuss specific steps and or issues. But
<br>
to get started we need at least one sit down meeting with 7 to 10
<br>
vested users of the Koha ILS.
<br>
<br>
<br>
I understand that many of you may be asking yourselves what the heck is
going on here, who is in charge of the Koha Users Group? Well the
answer is no one is at this time, hence the confusion and multiple
paths of discussion. Each library has to make their own decision about
the best path to follow in helping form a users group. Anyone else
interested in discussing this matter with me can reach me at
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jbrice@ccfls.org">jbrice@ccfls.org</a> or call me at 814-336-1773.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Sincerely,
<br>
<br>
<br>
John Brice
<br>
System Administrator
<br>
Crawford County Federated Library System
<br>
<br>
Executive Director
<br>
Meadville Public Library
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________
<br>
Koha mailing list
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz">Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz</a>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha">http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha</a>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
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<title>Untitled Document</title>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
href="mailto:bergeron@macalester.edu">Deb Bergeron</a> System Admin:
User Support <br>
<a href="http://clic.edu">CLIC Consortium</a><br>
1619 Dayton Avenue, Suite 204A <br>
Saint Paul, MN 55104 <br>
O:<strong>651.644.3878</strong> C:<strong>651.487.7609</strong>
F:651.644.6258 </font>
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