[Koha] Official Koha Newsletter: Volume 3, Issue 8: August 2012

[Daniel Grobani]

[Below is the text of the newsletter. For active links and a more
readable format, please visit
http://koha-community.org/koha-newsletter-volume-3-issue-8-august-2012]

Official Koha Newsletter (ISSN 2153-8328)
Volume 3, Issue 8: August 2012

Edited by Daniel Grobani, Koha Community Newsletter Editor.

Please submit news items to danielg.koha at gmail.com.

Table of Contents

    Koha Development
        Koha 3.8.4 Released
        Koha 3.6.8 Released
        Koha 3.10 Release Delayed
        Koha Statistics
        Release Manager’s Newsletter
    Koha Community
        New Koha Libraries
        Community Gossip
    Past Koha Events
        August General IRC Meeting
        Global Bug Squashing Day
    Upcoming Koha Events
        August General IRC Meeting
        PASIFIKA Koha workshop
        Help Make KohaCon13 a Success!

Koha Development

Koha 3.8.4 Released
by Chris Cormack

The Koha release team are proud to announce the release of Koha 3.8.4.

This is a maintenance release and contains a lot of useful bug fixes.

You can download the release here.

Debian packages will be available here soon.

Release notes are here.

Koha 3.6.8 Released
by Jared Camins-Esakov

The Koha release team are proud to announce the release of Koha 3.6.8.

This is a maintenance release and contains a lot of useful bug fixes.

You can download the release here.

Release notes are here.

Koha 3.10 Release Delayed
by Paul Poulain

The official release of Koha 3.10.0 is delayed by one month. For Koha
3.4 and Koha 3.8, we faced some nasty bugs that were not detected
before the release. We think the “feature freeze” was too short to
identify all potential problems.

That’s why I have the following plan that delays the release by one month:

    1. until 22 Sep: development
    2. 22 Sep: feature freeze, no more large or core enhancements
pushed for 3.10, whatever the patch submission date
    3. 22 Oct: string freeze, no more string changes
    4. 22 Nov: Koha 3.10.0 is released

If you plan to upgrade your version immediately when the new one is
released, please note that the release will be made on 22 November.

I could release a 3.10.0RC1 (“Release Candidate”) on 22 October for
early adopters. If you’re interested in such a RC1, let me know!

Koha Statistics

Chris Cormack, Koha Community statistics wizard, has posted statistics
for Koha 3.8.4 and Koha 3.6.8, and signoff statistics for July.

Chris also addressed on his blog how long it takes patches and
enhancements to make it into master.

Release Manager’s Newsletter

Paul Poulain, Koha 3.8 & 3.10 Release Manager, publishes a monthly
newsletter dedicated to Koha development. It can be found on the Koha
Community website in the Koha News category.

The latest issue is here.
Koha Community

New Koha Libraries

    Clatsop Community College (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)
    Indiana Supreme Court Law Library (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)
    French Cultural Center of Boston (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)
    Kenya Polytechnic University College Library (Kenya)
    LCC International University Library (Lithuania) (via ByWater Solutions)
    Palco and Lucas Public Libraries (USA) (via ByWater Solutions)

Community Gossip

Nancy Keener reports that the Systems staff at Washoe County Library
System will be presenting a program on “Migrating to Koha” at the
Nevada Library Association conference in Las Vegas this October. They
will also be doing a program on “Do-it Yourself”, Self-Service Kiosks,
and using Linux in the library. Nancy, whose library is hosting
KohaCon13, also says, “This same Nevada Library Association conference
will be held in Reno next October at the same time and place as
KohaCon13. It is our hope to get a better deal on rooms and meeting
space by having the two separate conferences in the same location. It
also will show Nevada libraries that the Koha community is a vibrant
and innovative group.”

Catalyst Academy students continue to contribute patches to Koha. Koha
3.8.0 had 15 patches from Academy students.

Irma Birchall reports that a mailing list for Australian Koha users
has been established.

Rutgers MLS students will be using Koha in their “Library Systems and
Software” class this fall. Hosting is being donated by ByWater
Solutions.

The National Library of the Philippines and its use of Koha was
featured in an article in the online Sun Star newspaper.

Jesse Maseto posted a description of the stages a Koha bug moves
through on the way to being fixed.

Koha Kenya is an association of information managers, librarians and
IT specialists fostering the diffusion of open source technology in
libraries and Information Centers across Kenya. More info is here.

Kathryn Tyree of Catalyst IT went from not having a git checkout of
Koha to having her first patch pass QA in less than 90 minutes.
Past Koha Events

August General IRC Meeting

The August general IRC meeting was held on 8 August 2012.

More information, including the agenda and links to the minutes, is here.

Global Bug Squashing Day
by Magnus Enger

Global bug squashing days are days designated to a concerted effort to
get bugs and patches moving along in the right direction.

A Global bug squashing day was held on Friday, 10 August 2012, and
there was much rejoicing.

More info is here.
Upcoming Koha Events

September General IRC Meeting

The September general IRC meeting will be held on 5 September 2012 at 18:00 UTC.

More information, including the agenda, will be available here.

PASIFIKA Koha workshop

Pacific libraries using or considering using Koha are invited to a
free one-day PASIFIKA Koha workshop on Monday 10 September 2012 at the
University of the South Pacific Laucala campus based in Suva, Fiji
Islands.

More info is here.

Help Make KohaCon13 a Success!

KohaCon13 will be held Reno, Nevada, USA, at a date to be determined.
There will be three days of conference, one day of an activity, and
three days of hackfest.

Main and summary wiki pages have been created.

Community members are encouraged to volunteer to help organize the
conference. A volunteer IRC meeting has already been held.