Otamarakau School Library
----- Forwarded message from Glenn & Ginny Meikle <g.v.meikle@xtra.co.nz> ----- Hi, My name is Virginia Meikle, I'm the librarian at Otamarakau School, We are a very small rural school, with a role of 40 children. I am looking at updating our library software, and was wondering if Koha would be suitable, This needs to be kid friendly, as I would like to get the student using the library as an information resource, rather than just a place where they have to go once a week to get a book. Also firstly, I'm a Mum, and do the library 3 hours a week, so IT knowledge is limited, and time. I want to bring us up to 2006 and forward, could you please let me know if Koha would work, or is there anything else you could suggest. Thank you Virginia Meikle Otamarakau School Old Coach Rd RD 6 Te Puke email; g.v.meikle@xtra.co.nz ----- End forwarded message -----
On Wednesday 22 Feb 2006 09:28, Chris Cormack wrote:
This needs to be kid friendly, as I would like to get the student using the library as an information resource, rather than just a place where they have to go once a week to get a book. Also firstly, I'm a Mum, and do the library 3 hours a week, so IT knowledge is limited, and time.
The Koha software is user friendly and quite easy to use. The online catalog is either a very good or a very bad resource, depending on how much data has been entered into the system. I see you main problem will be installing and configuring the pre-reqs. You could have quite a steep learning curve with Apache and MySQL, not to mention Linux if you decide to go that route (which I personally would recommend). -- Regards Martin Woolley ICT Support Handsworth Grammar School Isis Astarte Diana Hecate Demeter Kali Inanna ************************************************************* This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify postmaster@bgfl.org The views expressed within this email are those of the individual, and not necessarily those of the organisation *************************************************************
I think I can say that yes, Koha will be suitable, I am not aware of any other software with the same capabilities for the price :-) That being said, it requires more from the installer than a lot of of the shelf software. After lurking on the Koha mailing list for a while, I decided to run it on Linux. Windows is a lot of hassle and little support. (Besides, I had a computer that did not work with windows anymore anyway) Any question I have had about Linux, MySql, Perl or Koha I have been able to solve by either searching on the internet or asking in appropriate groups (like this one). I am running Debian Sarge, to keep life simple I ordered CD's from someone in California (yes, I know you can download it, but this is faster and easier, I got it within days and I live in Canada, I can give you their website if you want) My advice is to go with a mainstream distribution, Debian or Fedora, because it is easier to get specific help. I am kind of learning as I go, and I have bookmarked the kohadocs.org page, because, believe me, you will need it. My Koha is running, I am importing a lot of data (about 6300 books) and basically finetuning it. Still learning ;-) And in case you were wondering; I am not an IT person, and if you have questions you can always ask in this group, or directly. Marty Jongepier Blue Jay Design and Drafting Www3.sympatico.ca/bluejaydesign -
participants (3)
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Chris Cormack -
Martin Woolley -
Marty Jongepier