[Koha] Stuff

[BWS Johnson]

Salvete!

These are my stream of consciousness thoughts. There are some things in
here that will doubtless bring the wrath of Paul and Josh down on me,
but they're in here in the interests of community discussion, not
picking a fight. (If I wanted to pick a fight, I'd wager I can take both
Paul and Josh by sitting on them. They're entirely too skinny, and I'm
traditionally built. :) )

That being said, I also think there might be enough starting material
here to get someone more eloquent to take them up and refine them. I'm
hopeful too, Nicole. We're not your mother's ILS. (Don't forget to phone
yer Mums tomorrow Yanks.)

Planning is a really keen Librarian project, in my opinion. It's not
that developers and release managers shouldn't offer feedback, it's that
we're very dorky over here in the stacks and would love to help plot a
course since it's something we can assist with. (It's also got to have
the added benefit of getting us out of your hair while coding, too! Not
too mention less bothering in future.)

Cheers,
Brooke

Koha is a gift with a string attached. While it's wonderful to enjoy a
free product, it's even better to leave the ILS in a better condition
than you found it. So:

At the start, it's good to use Koha, feel free to download it. You might
have some convincing to do just to put this step into action.

After you've adopted it at your Library, think of your personal
strengths, and how you might put part of you back into Koha. Thinking
about giving back is better than never considering it, and the smallest
contribution is better than not helping at all. Many hands make light
work.

If you're more fortunate than others and can contribute substantially,
please do so with the good of all users in mind. The ideal user does
this, whether by donation, coding, or other means.


___________________


Ranganathan's Laws apply. 

Koha is for use. We aren't researching or developing in a vacuum.

Every system his user. Our origins are in a public Library, Horowhenua
Library Trust. Koha has been adopted by every type of Library (Public,
Academic, School, and Special) all sizes of Library (small, medium, and
large), and even in consortial situations, true to the spirit of Open
Source.

Every user his system. Koha is not for everyone, and we should foster
and maintain relationships with other OSILSs and not hesitate to
recommend one should it fit a user better. 

Save the time of the user. The order of operations MUST remain Patron
focused if time saving concerns are in conflict. Save the time of the
reader, then save the time of the Librarian, then save the time of the
developer.

Koha is a growing organism. Time wears on and needs change, but
consultation should be made with the community before doing away with
features. Effort should be made to take a step back and widen the circle
as new talent comes to join us.

Development originates within the community and is carried out by the
developers under the guidance of the current release manager. The full
process occurs under the guidance of the community elected Kaitaiki. The
process of innovation should never be unilateral nor top down. The
Kaitaiki and Release Manager should not be from the same corporation in
the interests of neutrality.

Time and money are precious commodities. Care should be taken to assign
priorities to development so that efforts are not unnecessarily
replicated and that features that would appeal to the widest swath of
users are bundled first. While everyone is free to contribute, and we
greatly appreciate monetary contributions, the scales of innovation
should not tilt to the needs of the wealthy over the needs of the wider
user base. Independent contributors should not be overlooked for pride
of corporation.

Koha as a name and the koru as a symbol are not the sole property of
LibLime or BibLibre, regardless of being registered as trademarks. Users
of Koha, providers of support, and anyone in general should not have the
threat of legal action hanging over their heads in reference to using
the Koha name or koru symbol. These rights should be relinquished and
released by LibLime and BibLibre and registered as a Share Alike under
Creative Commons with immediacy. 

There is no single or best Koha support provider.

Your bibliographic data and Patron data are your own. Care should be
taken in development to ensure that export of data is clean and easy to
accomplish in the event that a user decides on a different future ILS.


____________________

We are innovative

We want the best ILS possible and are willing to work hard to make it

We are collabourative

We are open not proprietary

We are lovers of chocolate and damn fine drinkers who believe in fun

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