[Koha] Koha for Libraries

[Gautam John]

Hello:

I'm sorry about the non-descriptive subject line!

A short introduction:

I'm helping the Akshara Foundation [1] implement Koha across their 400 odd
libraries in Bangalore and we are working with a developer in Bangalore to
do the customizations for us. We have a peculiar set of requirements:

1. The patron database [2] is, as of now, housed externally from Koha as
that database exists for other common projects too. We need to find a way
for Koha to access that database to be able to pull patron and branch
information out of it. As of now, we're looking at exporting the data from
the KLP DB (where it is stored) via CSV and importing that into Koha on a
periodic basis.
2. The book DB will be stored within Koha but as of now it exists as a set
of Excel files. We need to import that into Koha.
3. We also need to be able to send the transactional information back to the
KLP DB for aggregation and GIS based display.

We're using the Koha 3 Beta.

Where we need some help is, at this early stage,:

1. In understanding the data model for Koha wrt to patrons, books and
transactions. The last one because we also have transaction collected in
Excel sheets.
2. Ways and methods to import xls or csv files into Koha for patrons and
books.
3. Ways and methods to make available to KLP transactional information so
that they can generate reports.

We've only just begun this project. One additional complication is that out
of the 400 libraries a significant number don't have internet access so we
also have to think/find a way to have an offline method of capturing
transactions. One way we've considered is to use the transaction importer we
hope to write to then, on a fortnightly basis, import the xls/csv files that
we receive from the offline schools.

Thank you.

Best,

Gautam

[1] http://aksharafoundation.org/
[2] http://www.klp.org.in

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