[Koha] Kebede Hundie's email (fwd)

[Pat Eyler]

I responded to a private email from Kebede earlier, perhaps he/she has not
yet received my email ... I'll repost it here.

Pat Eyler
Kaitiaki/manager               migrant Linux sys admin
the Koha project               ruby, shell, and perl geek
http://www.koha.org            http://pate.eylerfamily.org
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:04:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Pat Eyler <pate at eylerfamily.org>
To: Kebede Hundie <khundie at bca.bw>
Subject: Re: Koha

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004, Kebede Hundie wrote:

> Dear Pat Yeller,

Hello Kebede,
I've added Rachel Hamilton-Williams (Hi Rach!) to this email, as she's the
head of the largest firm commercially supporting Koha (and  the firm which
originally developed it.)

>
> My name is Kebede Hundie, working as Systems Librarian for several
> years in several African countries. I have a Masters degree in
> information science and Bachelors degree in library science. Originally,
> I am from Ethiopia.
>
> Having briefly introduced myself to you, I would like to inquiry about
> Koha free ILS. I have read an article on Linux Journal, Feb. 2003 as
> well as looked at the Koha website, where I first learnt about the
> software. And I have been so much impressed with the whole thing about
> Koha and people who involved in developing and supporting the system.
>

Thanks for the kind words.  It sounds like you have an excellent
background for getting involved and contributing to Koha.

> I would like to ask you about the sustainability of the system, like
> further versions, supports, its future whether it may be a commercial
> system after certain period of time or discontinued.

The GPL (the license used for Koha) is interesting in that it allows Koha
to be used/sold/supported commercially right now, while keeping the
software free for people to use, to share, and to improve.  The license
also protects the software from being discontinued -- because it is free,
a library can hire anyone they want to support or improve it (even taking
on those roles themselves if they so desire).

> I am asking this
> because I am very much interested in providing support to local
> libraries in Africa, particularly, Eastern and Central Africa, where
> most libraries are unable to pay for commercial systems. I am also very
> much interested in marketing the system to libraries in the region so
> that they will be able to benefit from this free software. That is why I
> want to know about its future!
>

This sounds like an excellent venture!  Do you think you'll be working
alone, or do you have other people who might work with (or for) you?  I
think trying to 'go it alone' would be difficult, especially in such a
large but undeveloped part of the world.


> The other thing is, how can I be a "support" center for the software in
> the above region? What are required from me?
>

Well, I can't *require* you to do anything.  I'd ask that you do a couple
of things:
  * Subscribe to the koha-devel and koha mailing lists.  These will help
you become involved in the Koha community and give you some perspective on
what problems Koha users typically face.

  * Participate in the development community.  This may mean doing some
development work (either adding features or fixing bugs) which your
clients are interested in, working on translating Koha into appropriate
languages, and/or helping design (and maybe implement) major new features.

   * Help to publicize Koha to both libraries and to technical people in
your area.  You'll find that it is much easier to keep Koha going when
there are several of you working on it in your area.

It would also be great if you could let us know what is happening with
Koha in Africa.  Sometimes, we might be able to provide the
advice/help/resources that you need.  At other times, news of your
progress might be the good news we need to hear.


thank you for contacting me, I hope that we'll be working together a lot
more in the future.

Pat Eyler

> Any additional information, should I know.
>
> Kind regards,
> Kerbed Hun
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Senior Librarian - Info. Technology
> Botswana College of Agriculture Library
> Private Bag 0027
> Gabion, Botswana
>
> Tel. (+267) 3650118
> Fax. (+267) 328753
> ------------------------------------------------------------------