I don't know if there's a current official "head count" for Koha libraries, but according to librarytechnology.org, the number is just shy of 500, including 399 LibLime libraries (surely not!) I guess it depends on how you run the query, the way I did it I get 572 total, of which, 399 are LibLime customers. the 399 number is accurate in the sense that all of our customers that have publicly selected LibLime or gone live on Koha are in Marshall's database. We make a diligent effort to keep his database up to date, but I know for certain that many many Koha libraries 'in the wild' aren't represented
In the past, I've suggested privately to LibLime that they take a page from several models that already exist for facilitating cooperative sponsorship of projects.
Why not use http://www.fundable.com, http://www.dropcash.com, or http://www.chipin.com? Or develop a comparable utility in-house?
Given the number of Koha libraries out there, wouldn't such an approach have the potential to accelerate the evolution of the software? With a transparent price tag for any particular enhancement, it would soon become very clear which projects are most highly desired as they would be funded the quickest. In general I like this idea, and LibLime has implemented a small-scale experiment we call the LibLime Development Exchange that attempts to
On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 4:38 PM, Cab Vinton <bibliwho@gmail.com> wrote: there. So hint hint, if you're a Koha library, and you haven't registered in libwebcats, please do so: http://librarytechnology.org/libwebcats/ provide this kind of transparency to our customers. However, one problem with doing this as the Koha project, is that price tags for enhancements aren't generally considered transparent by the companies providing support on Koha. I think most of the Koha companies (correct me if I'm wrong folks) would consider unfinished specifications and quotes for those specifications to be private. If you don't understand why that tends to be the case, you likely haven't ever managed a services company :-). Another problem, and we've seen this happen on the LibLime Development Exchange, is that there is really very little overlap between what one library wants and another library wants. It's really surprising, but unfortunately true. So there is less opportunity for co-sponsorship than you might think. Cheers, -- Joshua Ferraro SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE CEO migration, training, maintenance, support LibLime Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS jmf@liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS