Decoding Koha
koha-us 2025
Presentation
overview
Introduction to Koha
History
What is open source
Glossary of Terms
koha-US
Community (international)
Introductions
QUIZ
How long has your library been using Koha?
History
Koha starts growing its roots in 2000
QUIZ
What global software bug led to Koha being Created?
Answer
Y2K
Nelsonville Public Library
First Koha Public Library in the US (Athens County Public Libraries)
QUIZ
Who was the first committer to Koha?
Answer
Chris Cormack
LibLime
QUIZ
What year did the koha release schedule change from a number release to a date.month release?
Answer
2016
Koha Users and Developers of Open Source
ByWater Solutions
QUIZ
Who was the 418th developer to have a patch pushed in March 2020?
Answer
Andrew Fuerste-Henry
Emergence of New Vendors
QUIZ
Who was the first female release manager?
Answer
Katrin Fischer
What is Open Source?
“Open source projects only survive if a community builds up around the product to ensure its continual improvement. Koha is stronger than ever now because it is supported by an active community of developers, librarians and vendors—who actually talk to each other!”
Which of the following is not open source ?
Which of the following is not an open source ILS?
Which of the following is not an open source library product?
Glossary of Terms
All the words and things in and surrounding Koha
Translation
Integrations
Searching
Authorized Values
System
Terminology
→ SIP /SIP2
→ API
→ z39.50
→ Cronjob
→ Plugin�→ Mana�→ OAI-PMH
→ Elastic Search
→ Zebra
→ CCODE
→ BSORT
→ ASORT
→ LOC�→ HSBND_FREQ
→ Library transfer limits
→ Transport cost matrix
→ Use "allowlist", not "whitelist".
→ Use "staff interface", not "staff client"
QUIZ
Where was the first koha-US conference held?
(then called called the NA Koha Users Group)
Answer
Wenatchee, Washington
koha-US
promotes the ongoing communication, collaboration, and education of Koha users in the United States and beyond, partnering with the global community and supporting organizations.
Strengthening involvement with the global Koha community
Meetings
Education
501(c)(3)
Non profit and membership based organization
Bimonthly General and Board Meetings, open to all
Videos, resources, quick start guides
Special Interest Groups
Baby Devs
Lisette Scheer
Cataloging
Open
Circulation
Jon Frederick & Georgette Rogers
Demonstration
open
System Administration
Juliet Heltibridle
Web Development
Lucas Gass
Rhonda Kuiper
Acquisitions
George Williams
Consortia
QUIZ
Who was the 500th developer to have a patch pushed on
November 23 2023
Answer
Brendan Lawlor, CLAMS
Committees
Development
Title
Education
Title
Finance
Title
Fundraising
Title
Conference Planning
Title
Regional User Groups
Kansas
Mountain West
Texas
Kansas Koha Explorer’s Group – All Kansas Koha users and those interested in the software are welcome! They typically meet twice a year, once in the spring/summer and once at the Kansas Library Conference in the fall. Contact Jason Robb (SEKLS), Michael Adamyk (CKLS), or George Williams (NEKLS) for more info.
The Mountain West Regional Group invites participants from Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, welcoming Koha users and interested parties.
As the Koha community continues to grow in the North Texas region, with school, academic, public, and special libraries all embracing the world’s first open source ILS, we feel it is time to get to know each other a little better!
International Community
Home of the world's first free and open source library system
In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of users collaborating to achieve their technology goals.
Meetings
Education
501(c)(3)
Non profit and membership based organization
Bimonthly General , Developer, Documentation meetings
Manual, Wiki, Website
QUIZ
Who was the first Vice President of koha-US?
Answer
Nick Clemens
Community Roles
Release Manager
Release Team
Quality Assurance
QA Manager
Documentation
Documentation Manager �
Experts
Specialized
Public
MISC
How Development Works
Bugzilla
Testing & QA
Release manager
Released to Community
Fixes and enhancements are both done by community members. Developers, librarians and users worldwide contribute thousands of lines of code a year.
Community members then test functionality, making sure the steps work and make sense, providing feedback.
The QA team is responsible for the second step in testing patches before they are integrated into the Koha code.
The Release Manager checks over the final set of testing- which will lead to the submission in the next release.
Suggestion from one becomes available to ALL. Two major releases a year in May and November and continues monthly updates.
QUIZ
Where was the last joint KohaCon / koha-us conference held?
Answer
Lawrence, Kansas
Next steps
How do you get involved ?
Mattermost
Koha Community and koha-US instant messaging
ALWAYS open to all
ALWAYS open to all
Community Meetings
koha-US
Thank you
Thank you for being a part of this amazing community!
Bob Benhoff | Aspencat Manager
CLiC
jzairo@bywatersolutions.com
bbennhoff@clicweb.org
Jessie Zairo | Director of Sales & Outreach
ByWater Solutions