[Koha] Federated Library based on Koha

Anselm Olweny aolweny at gmail.com
Wed Aug 18 20:55:55 NZST 2010


Dear Ian,

Thanks for your mail. Actually ugrading is one challenge here and we intend
to plan when we upgrade carefully. Any upgrades will only be reflected in
one library http://fpl.apkn.org. For the changes to be reflected in the
other libraries it will have to be done manually which is quite some work.
However, we dont intend to upgrade whenever upgrades are released.

I am interested in the work around you hinted to and am going to look into
it

Thanks again

Anselm

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 4:19 PM, Ian Walls
<ian.walls at bywatersolutions.com>wrote:

> Anselm,
>
>
> Thank you for sharing your method so clearly and concisely.  This is open
> source at work!
>
> My first reaction this is: how does one maintain this?  If you've got as
> many copies of the template code as you do branches in the system, you'll
> have a lot of files to update when newer Koha code comes out.  This gets
> even more complex with library-specific edits to those codes.  Do you use a
> version control to keep track of the changes?
>
> If the bulk of the template files are not being changed, maybe it'd make
> sense to use symlinks to point them back to the core Koha files.  That way,
> at least for the files you aren't customizing, updating would only need to
> take place in one directory.
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> -Ian
>
> 2010/8/16 Lori Bowen Ayre <lori.ayre at galecia.com>
>
> Anselm,
>>
>> Thanks for this.  I think it may come in very handy with a group I'm
>> working with.
>>
>> I have a question about holds.  Do any of these libraries lend materials
>> to one another (via patron initiated requests)?
>>
>> If yes, do you have any limits on that?  I'd be interested to hear more
>> about that if you do.  Or are you just keeping everything in one database as
>> a cost saving measure more than as a way to support resource-sharing?
>>
>> Lori
>>
>> 2010/8/15 Anselm Olweny <aolweny at gmail.com>
>>
>>>  Dear List members,
>>>
>>> Recently I was involved in setting up a federated library system using
>>> koha for African parliamentary libraries. See http://fpl.apkn.org/
>>> In this set up all the libraries (18) are using a single database
>>>
>>> If you visit the particpating libraries found at http://fpl.apkn.org/you will notice that they all have there own look and feel as well as
>>> different addresses for both the opac and staff interface. For example the
>>> opac for the Parliament of Kenya library is accessed using
>>> http://ke.fpl.apkn.org and its staff interface is at
>>> http://ke.fpl.apkn.org:8080; whereas the opac for the Uganda
>>> Parliamentary Library is accessed using http://ug.fpl.apkn.org and its
>>> staff interface is at http://ug.fpl.apkn.org:8080. Using these addresses
>>> these libraries are able to search only their collection.
>>>
>>> With this mail I intend to share with you how I achieved this, just in
>>> case someone may want to develop the same or even help me improve.
>>>
>>> The illustration below is limited to the creation of a single
>>> participating library, however, the steps described were peroformed for all
>>> the 18 libraries. The default koha installation serves as the Federated
>>> Parliamentary Library interface
>>>
>>> After successfully installing koha:
>>>
>>>    - I duplicate the perl scripts located in koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac and
>>>    koha/intranet/cgi-bin/.
>>>    - I duplicated the templates located in
>>>    /koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/htdocs/opac-tmpl/prog/en/modules and
>>>    koha/intranet/htdocs/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules
>>>    - I duplicated the files located in
>>>    koha/opac/htdocs/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes and
>>>    koha/intranet/htdocs/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/includes
>>>    - I duplicated the file opac.css located in
>>>    koha/opac/htdocs/opac-tmpl/prog/en/css
>>>    - I duplicated the file Auth.pm located in koha/lib/C4
>>>    - I identified a two letter code to represent the individual
>>>    libraries e.g. "ug" for Uganda and "ke" for kenya. These codes were also
>>>    used in distinguishing the opac and staff interface URLs
>>>    - I renamed all the duplicated files, adding the two letter code e.g.
>>>    "ug" as a suffix to the file names i.e a file like opac-main.plbecomes
>>>    opac-mainug.pl, masthead.inc becomes mastheadug.inc; opac-main.tmpl,
>>>    becomes opac-mainug.pl and opac.css becomes opacug.css
>>>    - I edited all the renamed files and modified all links in each of
>>>    them to reflect the new file names e.g. a reference to a file like
>>>    /cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl was modified to /cgi-bin/koha/
>>>    opac-searchug.pl; opac-bottom.inc was modifed to opac-bottomug.inc
>>>    etc in all files in which it occurs
>>>    - In the perl scripts I change C4::Auth; to C4::Authug; and C4::Auth
>>>    qw; to C4::Authug qw; in all ocurances
>>>    - I created a new DNS record for the new library e.g ug.fpl.apkn.orgfor the Uganda Parliament Library and enabled the "Repeat this virtualhost
>>>    stanza" found in /koha/etc/koha-httpd.confSavitra's advice see
>>>    http://old.nabble.com/Re%3A-Koha-as-a-federated-library-p28289266.html)
>>>    (thanks to
>>>    - I created new virtual host entries for the new library opac and
>>>    staff interfaces in /koha/etc/koha-httpd.conf
>>>    - I restarted the apache server
>>>    - I accessed the individual library opac e.g. the uganda
>>>    Parliamentary library opac using http://ug.fpl.apkn.org
>>>    - I created logo and banner images and transfered them to
>>>    koha/opac/htdocs/opac-tmpl/prog/images and
>>>    koha/intranet/htdocs/intranet-tmpl/prog/img
>>>    - I edited mastheadxx.inc, opacxx.css, loginxx.css and
>>>    staff-globalxx.css to achieve required look and feel
>>>
>>> I hope this may help anyone who might need to achieve the same kind of
>>> library with koha.
>>>
>>> I will be glad to provide any clarification and receive advise from you
>>> all.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Anselm O
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Koha mailing list
>>> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>>> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Ian Walls
> Lead Development Specialist
> ByWater Solutions
> Phone # (888) 900-8944
> http://bywatersolutions.com
> ian.walls at bywatersolutions.com
> Twitter: @sekjal
>
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