Koha Community Newsletter: August 2013

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Koha Community Newsletter: August 2013

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August 2013

Volume 4, Issue 8
ISSN 2153-8328
Edited by Daniel Grobani, Koha Community Newsletter Editor.
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Table of Contents

Development

Koha 3.12.4 Released
by Tomas Cohen Arazi

The Koha community is proud to announce the release of 3.12.4. This is a bugfix/maintenance release and contains 4 enhancements and 30 bugfixes.

This release can be downloaded here; installation instructions are here or in the INSTALL files that come in the tarball.

Release notes are here.

Koha 3.10.10 Released
by Bernardo Gonzalez Kriegel

The Koha community is proud to announce the release of 3.10.10. This is a bugfix/maintenance release and contains 3 enhancements and 39 bugfixes.

This release can be downloaded here; installation instructions are here or in the INSTALL files that come in the tarball.

Release notes are here.

Koha 3.8.17 Released
by Chris Hall

The Koha community is proud to announce the release of 3.8.17. This is a bugfix/maintenance release and contains 2 enhancements and 23 bugfixes.

This release can be downloaded here; installation instructions are here or in the INSTALL files that come in the tarball.

Release notes are here.

Koha 3.14 Release Manager’s Update #2

Galen Charlton, 3.14 Release Manager, has posted the second of a series of periodic updates on the progress of the next major release of Koha.

Feedback Sought on Responsive Koha Theme
by Owen Leonard

I’m working on a new theme for the OPAC and I’m looking for lots of feedback. Liz Rea of Catalyst IT has kindly set up a demo.

The design of the theme is based on the new CCSR theme, but the pages are designed to be even more flexible on a variety of devices, from desktop browsers to tablets to phones. Users of any such device are encouraged to give it a try. You can log in if you wish with the username “member” and the password &lrdquo;member1”. I would really like to get this tested thoroughly enough to get it into 3.14.

Feedback can be added to the corresponding bug report or can be emailed directly to me.

Community

New Koha Libraries

Community Gossip

Owen Leonard, who has done a lot of work on Koha’s user interface, has written about how to customize Koha’s display of online resources, including eBooks.

Galen Charlton, Koha 3.14 release manager, has posted some thoughts on Koha’s database-dependent tests.

Ben L. is working on a dissertation entitled “Investigation of User Challenges with Open Source Library Automation in the United Kingdom” and is inviting libraries to answer his questionnaire, “Open Source Library Automation Survey Questionnaire”.

Simon Ball, EIFL’s FOSS Programme Manager, is seeking Koha developers or expert users to deliver a one-hour Q&A webinar for librarians in developing and transition countries. Contact Simon.

Support Provider News

Kenza Zaki has completed her summer internship at BibLibre, during which she contributed significantly to expanding Koha’s test coverage.

Melia Meggs has left ByWater Solutions to attend graduate school. Melissa Lefebvre replaces Melia as ByWater’s Operations Manager.

Mahatma Gandhi University Library Moves to Koha
by Vimal Kumar V.

Mahatma Gandhi University Library, Kerala, India, officially moved to the Koha open source library management system on 13 August 2013. Dr. Sheena Shukkur, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of MGU, inaugurated the Koha system at the MGU Library.

The MGU Library team completed data migration from SOUL (ver. 1) software the previous month. Bibliographic, user, and transaction data were successfully moved to Koha from SOUL. The Acquisition, Circulation, Technical (Cataloguing), Periodical, and Maintenance sections have started using the relevant modules. All of the modules of the software are now functional after a one-month trial period.

Koha is installed in a server housed in the library building. In the near future, the same server will be used to install multiple Koha instances for other departments and study centre libraries. At present the Koha service is available inside the campus only; the online catalogue can be accessed from anywhere inside the campus.

A few months ago, library staff received a week of hands-on training. A team of Koha experts are now available in the library to provide continuing support and training to staff. We received the support of the community in the successful implementation of Koha and are thankful to all Koha community members from India and abroad for the quick and enormous support during our migration process.

Upcoming Events

September General IRC Meeting

The September general IRC meeting will be held on 11 September 2013 at 18:00 UTC.

The agenda and other information are here.

New Zealand Koha Users Group Meeting
by Jannie Win

Plant & Food Research Library is pleased to invite you to attend the New Zealand Koha Users Group Meeting to be held on Thursday, 21 November 2013, at Plant & Food Research, Mt. Albert, Auckland. If you are interested in attending, please email your name and topics of interests through. More information to follow later.

KohaCon13 Planning August Meeting Report
by Nancy Keener

We have approximately 95 people registered for the conference, with 2 weeks before I meet with the hotel to see if we have enough rooms (125) rented to get our free meeting space and wifi. If we are short on people, we may have to pay for the meeting rooms. Our cut-off date for the Atlantis special room rate is 15 September.

We have 50 people going on the Saturday trip. They can pay to go on the 2.5 hour boat trip on the lake, or go via the bus to stateline. The boat trip costs USD$50. I will send out info in making the boat reservations. We have room for more on the buses.

A sponsors page will be up shortly with logos. So far we have Trail Bosses: ByWater Solutions, Washoe County Library System, Catalyst, CollectionHQ, and Transformed Woodworks. Wranglers: Librotech, and C&P Bibliography Services. I will be looking for more sponsors.

I have a mailing list for registered people and will be emailing more info as we have it.

I met with the NLA conference people last night and our plans to coordinate breaks and events are going well.

Lee Miller at BMSB library has asked Colin Cote at her location to put KohaCon13 on Eventbase for your smart phone, and will set us up on Twitter and Facebook.

I still need some direction on the Hackfest. I have a meeting room, round tables, some food, and some good wifi. Who will be heading that part of the conference? What do you want the program to say? Do you want to encourage newbies to come to learn to be testers?

I still have openings for volunteers to help with registration (1 for Wednesday and maybe 1 for Thursday), and Hackfest boss.

KohaCon 2014 Proposals
by Mirko Tietgen

Proposals to host Kohacon 2014 are due by 15 September. If you are interested in hosting the conference, make sure to check the general Wiki page on Koha conference bidding and proposals for KohaCon 2011 and KohaCon 2013 to get an impression of what people would like to know about location and dates.

Past Events

August General IRC Meeting

The August general IRC meeting was held on 7 August 2013.

The agenda, links to the minutes, and other information is here.

Global Bug Squashing Days
by Magnus Enger

Global bug squashing days are days designated to a concerted effort to get bugs and patches moving along in the right direction.

Global bug squashing days were held on 9 August and 23 August 2013. More info is here and here.

 

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