Horowhenua Library Trust

HLT : Horowhenua Library Trust

Koha was originally developed for the Horowhenua Library Trust by Katipo Communications in 1999. The first version of Koha went live at HLT in January 2005. The following is the transcript of a presentation given by Rosalie and Rachel about how Koha came into being.

Koha : Free Library Software

by Rosalie Blake, Head of Libraries, Horowhenua Library Trust, Levin and Rachel Hamilton-Williams, General Manager and Webmistress, Katipo Communications, Wellington.

Rosalie

The first thing I remember learning about computers, back in the early eighties, was "Never buy the hardware and then try to make the software fit". This worthy precept was followed fairly quickly by "Never buy a programme that someone promises to write for you".

Why then, in 1999, was I contemplating a course of action that defied both precepts?

In 1999 we had a system we'd used and loved for 12 years. It was simple to operate and ran fast at our branch libraries over an ordinary dialup modem. But it was looking tired, and we suspected our networking system wasn't going to stand the challenge of 2000.

I started the time-honoured procedure of searching for a new system. As I read through the 25cm high pile of paper that resulted from a (very selective) RFP, I got more and more depressed. It wasn't just that the new offerings were expensive to purchase, the real killer was in the running costs. The support charges were a steep increase, but added to that was a huge 500% increase in telecommunication costs every year, stretching relentlessly into the future. That pretty Windows interface was going to be hideously expensive to implement.

Now, along with every other red-blooded kiwi, I resent sacrificing a huge chunk of my hard-won budget to a telco. What to do? 1 January 2000 was approaching much too fast for comfort.

Rachel

Katipo had worked with the Library for many years, training staff and supporting the network. We watched the RFP process with interest - read it and thought "you could do this using the Internet, and that would at least take care of the telco costs". We'd already done an OPAC for Wellington City Library and lots of database work, and somewhat naively thought "How hard can it be?"

So we got together a plan: as long as the library could tell us how a library worked, we could do the rest. As it turned out, figuring out how a library worked really was the hard bit.

Our Mission was to have a new system running in the library for the first day of business in 2000. The requirements: At the branches it should issue and return at least at the same speed as the incumbent system, it should run on the libraries' existing equipment, a motley collection of 486 and pentium hardware, it must still be nice and easy for the public and librarians to use.

With the lofty goals in place it was time for the hard grind. It would have two interfaces - a web browser for most of the system, but a simple fast Telnet interface for issues and returns. We quickly choose the systems we would use, free and fast all the way. Linux server OS, MySQL database, Perl programming for the web and telnet interfaces. Hmm all we were missing was a report writer, but one would turn up.

What followed was 16 weeks of incredibly close work with the Library. Dropdead dates came and went - amazingly without us dropping dead.

Rosalie

The new system started to take shape, and it looked good. When you change to a new system it has to look good - people are more sympathetic to something that looks nice, and there are all those members of the public to win over.

What colour should the screens be? And what shall we call it? Hard experience teaches you never to let a committee near decisions like these. But we were wedded to democratic processes, and we finally found solutions everyone could live with. The colours were a compromise, and the name chosen was Koha. Why Koha? Because it's free. Because it's our gift.

Rachel

We recommended to the Library that they release the software as "Open Source". That means that anyone else can download the software and run it up on their machine without paying either us or Horowhenua Library Trust a cent.

I can see the colour draining from your faces from here. Really a free system? But why?

Rosalie

Not just for the glory (though this is a world first)!

Katipo convinced us this was a good idea for several reasons. One was to give the Library some surety. Katipo is a small business, and it's important that the Library be future-proofed against anything happening to that company. Another was because neither the Library nor Katipo saw themselves as in the business of marketing and supporting a new library system. With an open-source system, that's not a problem. Word of mouth markets it, and the users support each other. The more libraries and programmers using and working on a system, the better it becomes.

Rachel

We tested on the librarians who were fantastic, coming in over the holidays to throw us the curve balls. We had Christmas day off, and then started installing in the library system. The last days on the old system were between Christmas and New Year. On the third of January 2000 Koha met the public, for real, for the first time.

By lunch time we still hadn't switched back to the old system. The OPACs were in use, and issues and returns, while a bit flakey, were happening. Neither the librarians nor the patrons had stormed out in protest. We'd done it!

Since then the pace has eased a little, and we've fine-tuned and even rewritten some of the code that went by as a blur before Christmas. We won two awards for Koha in September 2000 - the 3M Award for Innovation in Libraries 2000 & the ANZ Interactive Award, Community/Not for Profit category 2000.

Stage two was the online features for members, and some sexier bits to make the Library staff's lives easier.

Both of us

We'd like to see other public libraries take it on. If you're a small to medium-sized library, with or without satellite sites, or a mobile library (yes you could run this from a laptop and cell phone!) Koha could be just what you're looking for. But don't just take our word for it. Have a look. www.koha.org
Or email either of us: rosalie@library.org.nz and rachel@katipo.co.nz

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