[Koha] Official Koha Newsletter: Volume 3, Issue 2: February 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-2-february-2012]

Official Koha Newsletter (ISSN 2153-8328)
Volume 3, Issue 2: February 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 3.6.4 Status
        Koha 3.6.3 Released
        Koha 3.4.8 Released
        Koha Release Statistics
        Release Manager’s Newsletter
    Koha Community
        New Koha Libraries
        Community Gossip
    Past Koha Events
        February General IRC Meeting
        Global Bug Squashing Day 2012-02-08
    Upcoming Koha Events
        Marseille Hackfest
        March General IRC Meeting
        KohaCon12

Koha Development

Koha 3.6.4 Status
by Chris Nighswonger

The 3.6.x branch is in a string freeze. Koha 3.6.4 is scheduled for
release on 1 March 2012.

Koha 3.6.3 Released
by Chris Nighswonger

It is with pleasure that I announce the release of Koha 3.6.3.

The package can be retrieved from:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz

You can use the following checksum and signature files to verify the download:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz.MD5
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz.MD5.asc
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.06.03.tar.gz.sig

Release notes for 3.6.3 are at http://koha-community.org/koha-3-6-3.

Koha 3.4.8 Released
by Chris Nighswonger

It is with pleasure that I announce the release of Koha 3.4.8.

The package can be retrieved from:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz

You can use the following checksum and signature files to verify the download:

http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz.MD5
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz.MD5.asc
http://download.koha-community.org/koha-3.04.08.tar.gz.sig

Release notes for 3.4.8 are at http://koha-community.org/koha-3-4-8.

Koha Release Statistics

Chris Cormack, statistician par excellence, has posted some stats on
recent Koha releases:

Statistics for Koha 3.6.3
Statistics for Koha 3.4.8

He also posted signoff statistics for January 2012.

Release Manager’s Newsletter

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

The first two issues were distributed via the koha-devel mailing list.
The third issue is here.
Koha Community

New Koha Libraries

    Huntington Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)
    Kimball Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)
    Montgomery House Warrior Run Area Public Library (self-hosted)
    Plaistow Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)
    Sandown Public Library (via ByWater Solutions)

Community Gossip

Equinox Software is seeking a Library Data Specialist to work with
library data and configure Koha and Evergreen systems.

Kyle Hall has joined ByWater Solutions as Development Support Specialist.

Nicole Engard has created a number of useful video tutorials on using Koha.

Check out the map of Koha sites.
Past Koha Events

February General IRC Meeting

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

For more info, including the agenda and links to the minutes, see
http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/General_IRC_Meeting,_8_February_2012.

Global Bug Squashing Day 2012-02-08
by Magnus Enger

A Global bug squashing day was held on Wednesday, 8 February 2012, and
there was much rejoicing.

For the numbers, see
http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/2012-02-08_Global_bug_squashing_day.
Upcoming Koha Events

Marseille Hackfest
by Paul Poulain

25 Koha developers will be gathering to work on improving Koha from
19-25 March in Marseille, France.

There will be people from Croatia (2), Switzerland (1), Italy (1),
Germany (1), USA (1), and France (19).

Six of us are librarians; the rest are IT/developers.

We plan to focus on these topics:

    a small group working on performance and persistence issues,
trying to make Koha Plack/mod_perl compatible
    a small group working on database issues, trying to remove MySQL
dependencies and incorporate business/database separation logic into
Koha
    a small group working on user interface issues, trying to improve
HTML, CSS, etc.
    a small group working on Solr integration (that will, hopefully,
be submitted for October 2012 release)
    the rest of us working on what we could call a Global Bug
Squashing Week–testing patches, etc.

We still have space, so if you’d like to come, just email me.

March General IRC Meeting

The March general IRC meeting will be held on Wednesday, 21 March 2012.

For more info, see
http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/General_IRC_Meeting,_21_March_2012.

KohaCon12

KohaCon12 will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 5-7 June 2012. A
hackfest will be held 9-11 June.

This is a free conference for everyone interested in the Koha library
system, which is Free and Open Source Software. There is no
registration fee, but we will ask that attendees pre-register. Further
calls, including calls for papers and registrations will be posted
soon.

Details (travel, hotels, agenda draft, etc) can be found linked from
http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/KohaCon12_Summary.

KohaCon12 is the fifth KohaCon, following last year’s successful
conference in India which brought together users and developers
worldwide. KohaCon12 will feature an international slate of speakers
(both Koha users and active Koha contributors) conducting
presentations and workshops on a diverse range of topics. Talks will
cover a range of topics from general experiences of Koha through to
technical information on the various modules.

“We expect this event to have wide appeal,” said MJ Ray of host
organisation and Koha support provider software.coop. “The conference
is for both techies and non-techies. In addition to presentations on
the technical side of Koha, the conference will be a demonstration of
how users and developers around the world cooperate to improve Free
and Open Source Software. software.coop is delighted to host KohaCon
in Edinburgh in our tenth anniversary year and this UN International
Year of Co-operatives.”

“Koha conferences are always an informative and uplifting event, I
have no doubt that this years conference in Edinburgh will be the best
conference yet.” said Chris Cormack, one of the original authors of
the Koha version 1.0.