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Koha: �25 Years of Progress in Supporting Libraries

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beginnings

Rachel Hamilton-Williams

Joann Ransom

Rosalie Blake�(d. 2022)

Chris Cormack

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Overview

  • Koha currently holds the position as the most widely implemented open source integrated library system (ILS) in the world and one of the top ILS products of any type globally. This product was initially created to serve a small group of libraries in New Zealand. Since they released it as open source software, other libraries began to implement and improve it. Today Koha embodies a feature set comparable with almost any commercial competitor, has a technical architecture able to meet the demands of at least mid-sized libraries, and finds use in ever larger libraries and consortia. The history of Koha has been one of continuous development, marked by multiple episodes of involvement by commercial organizations. Today Koha finds use in almost all regions of the globe.

Breeding, Marshall. Open Source Library Systems: The Current State of the Art – Chapter 2. Koha. The Original Open Source ILS�https://librarytechnology.org/document/24481/open-source-library-systems-the-current-state-of-the-art-chapter-2-koha-the-original-open-source-ils

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Major US Koha Support Companies

  • 2002: Nelsonville Public Library implements Koha in 2002
  • 2005 LibLime: The First Commercial Koha Support Firm in the United States
    • 2007: acquires Koha assets from Kapito Communications
    • LibLime Enterprise Koha introduced in 2009 that included proprietary components
  • 2010 PTFS Acquires LibLime
    • Eventually morphed LibLime Enterprise Koha into Bibliovation, which is explicitly not open source
  • 2009 ByWater Solutions founded

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Breeding, Marshall. LibLime Launches LibLime Enterprise Koha, or, Rift Splits the Koha Development Community�https://librarytechnology.org/document/14589/liblime-launches-liblime-enterprise-koha-or-rift-splits-the-koha-development-community

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Open source values

Collaboration

Many organizations and individuals work together to create and maintain an application

Common code repositories

Separate development efforts contributed to the shared codebase

Community

Common interests in advancing the technology

Shared communication channels among participants and stakeholders

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The Business of Open Source

Most open source projects welcome commercial involvement

A services-based economy: cannot charge for the software but can provide services:

Hosting

Support

Sponsored Development

Migration / Configuration / integrations

Also possible to implement open source without commercial services

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Koha Installations by Library Type

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US Open Source: Today vs 2020

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US Academic: Now vs 2020

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US Public: Today Vs 2020

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UK Open Source: Today vs 2020

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UK Public: Today vs 2020

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UK Academic:

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Market share for US Public Libraries

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Market share for us Academic Libraries

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Migration patterns: all years

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Migration Patterns: 2024

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Migration Intentions

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Migration Trends

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Satisfaction Scores for Koha

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Satisfaction Scores for Koha (ByWater)

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Satisfaction Scores for Evergreen

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Satisfaction Scores for FOLIO

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Looking Forward

  • Koha on track to see continued adoption in the US
    • Especially in public and small academic libraries
  • Moving into the ranks of ever larger public libraries
    • Often paired with Aspen Discovery
  • Consideration for the longer term:
    • Will Koha eventually need to transform its underlying technical platform?
    • Will Perl/Plack, etc be viable 10 years from now?
    • …though it has endured for over 25 years
    • How do open source projects continue incremental enhancements in parallel with creating next-generation solutions?

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