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Salvete!<br>
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These are my stream of consciousness thoughts. There are some things in here that will doubtless bring the wrath of Paul and Josh down on me, but they're in here in the interests of community discussion, not picking a fight. (If I wanted to pick a fight, I'd wager I can take both Paul and Josh by sitting on them. They're entirely too skinny, and I'm traditionally built. :) )<br>
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That being said, I also think there might be enough starting material here to get someone more eloquent to take them up and refine them. I'm hopeful too, Nicole. We're not your mother's ILS. (Don't forget to phone yer Mums tomorrow Yanks.)<br>
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Planning is a really keen Librarian project, in my opinion. It's not that developers and release managers shouldn't offer feedback, it's that we're very dorky over here in the stacks and would love to help plot a course since it's something we can assist with. (It's also got to have the added benefit of getting us out of your hair while coding, too! Not too mention less bothering in future.)<br>
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Cheers,<br>
Brooke<br>
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Koha is a gift with a string attached. While it's wonderful to enjoy a free product, it's even better to leave the ILS in a better condition than you found it. So:<br>
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At the start, it's good to use Koha, feel free to download it. You might have some convincing to do just to put this step into action.<br>
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After you've adopted it at your Library, think of your personal strengths, and how you might put part of you back into Koha. Thinking about giving back is better than never considering it, and the smallest contribution is better than not helping at all. Many hands make light work.<br>
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If you're more fortunate than others and can contribute substantially, please do so with the good of all users in mind. The ideal user does this, whether by donation, coding, or other means.<br>
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Ranganathan's Laws apply. <br>
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Koha is for use. We aren't researching or developing in a vacuum.<br>
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Every system his user. Our origins are in a public Library, Horowhenua Library Trust. Koha has been adopted by every type of Library (Public, Academic, School, and Special) all sizes of Library (small, medium, and large), and even in consortial situations, true to the spirit of Open Source.<br>
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Every user his system. Koha is not for everyone, and we should foster and maintain relationships with other OSILSs and not hesitate to recommend one should it fit a user better. <br>
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Save the time of the user. The order of operations MUST remain Patron focused if time saving concerns are in conflict. Save the time of the reader, then save the time of the Librarian, then save the time of the developer.<br>
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Koha is a growing organism. Time wears on and needs change, but consultation should be made with the community before doing away with features. Effort should be made to take a step back and widen the circle as new talent comes to join us.<br>
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Development originates within the community and is carried out by the developers under the guidance of the current release manager. The full process occurs under the guidance of the community elected Kaitaiki. The process of innovation should never be unilateral nor top down. The Kaitaiki and Release Manager should not be from the same corporation in the interests of neutrality.<br>
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Time and money are precious commodities. Care should be taken to assign priorities to development so that efforts are not unnecessarily replicated and that features that would appeal to the widest swath of users are bundled first. While everyone is free to contribute, and we greatly appreciate monetary contributions, the scales of innovation should not tilt to the needs of the wealthy over the needs of the wider user base. Independent contributors should not be overlooked for pride of corporation.<br>
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Koha as a name and the koru as a symbol are not the sole property of LibLime or BibLibre, regardless of being registered as trademarks. Users of Koha, providers of support, and anyone in general should not have the threat of legal action hanging over their heads in reference to using the Koha name or koru symbol. These rights should be relinquished and released by LibLime and BibLibre and registered as a Share Alike under Creative Commons with immediacy. <br>
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There is no single or best Koha support provider.<br>
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Your bibliographic data and Patron data are your own. Care should be taken in development to ensure that export of data is clean and easy to accomplish in the event that a user decides on a different future ILS.<br>
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We are innovative<br>
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We want the best ILS possible and are willing to work hard to make it<br>
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We are collabourative<br>
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We are open not proprietary<br>
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We are lovers of chocolate and damn fine drinkers who believe in fun<br>
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