Koha Community Newsletter: February 2015
Koha Community Newsletter 
February 2015
Volume 6, Issue 2
ISSN 2153-8328
Edited by Chad Roseburg, Koha Community Newsletter Editor
Please submit news items to 
Table of Contents
- Development
- Community
- Upcoming Events
- Past Events
Development
Koha 3.18.4 Released
by Chris Cormack
The Koha release team are proud to announce the release of Koha 3.18.4. This release contains one security fix and users are recommended to upgrade to this release.
You can either wait a day or 2 for the packages to be released, or you can download the tarball at Koha Downloads.
Please read http://koha-community.org/koha-3-18-4-released/ for the release notes.
Koha 3.16.8 Released
by Mason James
The Koha release team is proud to announce the release of Koha 3.16.8.
This is the latest release of the 3.16.x branch of Koha, and a bugfix release. We recommend all 3.16.x users upgrade to this latest version.
You can either wait a day or 2 for the packages to appear at debian.koha-community.org, or if you are still running from tarballs – you can download them at Koha Downloads.
You can read the full release notes at koha-community.org/koha-3-16-8-release/.
Community
EBSCO Partners with Koha Community
by Sebastian Hierl, Ph.D.
The Koha Gruppo Italiano is delighted report that the close collaboration over several months with Gianluca Di Bella, Vice President EBSCO Latin Europe & Israel, led to EBSCO’s investment in Koha in support of ElasticSearch integration. Following the agreement between the Koha Gruppo Italiano, EBSCO and ByWater Solutions, the latter will coordinate the effort in order to complete the following developments by the end of 2015:
- Strategic upgrade of Koha’s core full-text search engine technology to ElasticSearch
- Increased functionality and accuracy of facets
- Development of a browse function (author, title, subject, call number)
- MARC to RDF crosswalk enhancing capability of linking to online data repositories
- Greater flexibility in ingesting metadata schemes beyond MARC21
- Improved speed
- Enhanced patron functionality API access
Koha libraries will be able to chose between the current Zebra and the new ElasticSearch engine.
The financial support from EBSCO will be provided via the Koha Gruppo Italiano, founded by the American Academy in Rome, The American University of Rome, and the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce. ByWater Solutions will coordinate the development with key Koha contributors. In keeping with open source tradition, these enhancements to Koha are truly open source and will be available for others to use, modify, and redistribute.
The grant and initial work flow will be presented at the Hackfest 2015 in Marseille, organized by BibLibre from March 2nd to 6th, and presented at the national Italian library conference “Stelline” on March 12th in Milan.
Please contact the Koha Gruppo Italiano for any questions at kohagruppoitaliano@yahoo.it.
Koha News from India
by Abdullah al-Modabber
Prof. G. K. Chadha Library of South Asian University, established by the eight countries of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), is using the Koha Acquisitions module. The Acquisitions module makes the work of the librarian much easier than before. Patrons can send their requests using Koha purchase suggestions and track them through auto email notifications from Koha. This library started using Koha in October 2011. Initially cataloguing, patron and circulation modules were used by the Prof. G. K. Chadha Library. The OPAC of this library is http://library.sau.ac.in.
Community Gossip
Chris Cormack lists the areas in Koha with the most changes.
Galen Charlton discusses the myth of the authorized Koha service provider.
How To
Rocio Jordan explains the process for updating lost statuses in Koha.
Unexplained slow downs? Mario Guilin discusses one cause of server thrashing and how to prevent it.
Larry Baerveldt explains why you should set the OPACBaseURL system preference.
George Williams shares some jQuery code that will allow you to move overdues to top of checkout table.
Vimal Kumar shows you how to create labels that display branch code, call number and accession number.
Upcoming Events
5th Koha Italian Annual Meeting
Koha Workshop in Nigeria
by Akin Adigun
Bowen University Library, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria is the foremost user of KOHA Open Source Integrated Library System in Nigeria. We have tested, and are satisfied with the sustainability and trusted services of the Koha ILS, hence we want other Libraries and/or other organisations to benefit from the usefulness of this software through our Maiden Workshop Training coming up from 18th – 20th March, 2015 at Timothy Olagbemiro Library, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria.
KohaCon 2015 [ UPDATE ]
Registration is now open!
They are also accepting presentation proposals – so Submit your talk!
Location:International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) lbadan, Nigeria
Dates: October 19 – 21
For more information, please see http://kohacon15.projektlinkkonsult.com/ .
Koha North American User Group Conference 2015
Dates: August 4-7, 2015
Location: Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania
Now accepting presentation proposals. From the announcement:
The Koha North American User Group Conference planning committee is seeking session proposals for the 2015 meeting on August 4-7, in Erie, PA. The committee invites proposals that: attract Koha end users such as librarians, technical services and support staff in libraries; offer work arounds for known system issues and bugs; highlight technological advances impacting Koha development; deliver work-flow best practices and innovative approaches to using Koha; utilize other open-source software within Koha; provide tips and tools for cataloging, serials management, accounts clean-up, patron uploads, record maintenance, and other system functions.
Submit session topics here.
Past Events
Koha Training in Bangladesh
by Md. Mamun-Or-Rashid
A 10-day course on Integrated Library System and Digital Library Software was organized successfully by the EWU Library team from 11 to 24 February, 2015 at the request of Bank and Financial Institution Division, Ministry of Finance for the officials of the banking sector of Bangladesh. Twenty officials (Library & IT) from ten Governments and Autonomous Banks of Bangladesh, participated in this course. The training covered Digital Library Overview, Library Management Software: Koha, Greenstone Digital Library Software and MARC21 Cataloguing. This training course was conducted in a hands-on and interactive way.
The closing ceremony of the 10-day training course on ‘Integrated Library System and Digital Library Software’ was held at East West University on 24 February 2015. Prof Ahmed Shafee, Vice-Chancellor, East West University was the Chief Guest at the closing session. The training course was coordinated by Dr. Dilara Begum, Head of Library, East West University. The participants were enthusiastic about applying the new digital technology in library and information centers.
February General IRC Meeting
The February general IRC meeting was held on the 11th at 19 UTC.
The agenda, links to the minutes, and other information is here.
February Development IRC Meeting
The February Development IRC meeting was held February 5 2015 at 15 and 22 UTC.
The agenda, links to the minutes, and other information is here.
Editor, Koha Community Newsletter