Thing 7 -- Open Source ILS

Two open source integrated library systems have been getting a lot of attention lately. I think that the concept of open-source is just awesome, and I am so excited to see that open-source ILS such as Koha and Evergreen are made available, free-of-charge to library communites around the world. Evergreen is the system developed by a consortium of 252 public libraries in the state of Georgia. These libraries were actually SirsiDynix customers (and were using Horizon, I believe) before they decided to embark on this grand journey of developing their own ILS. Koha was originally developed by a company for the public libraries in the district of Horowhenua in New Zealand. Koha means gifts or donations in Maori, and decided to make it a free gift to the library communities around the world.

Imagine having full control of your ILS and can tailor it to suit your exact need. New features can be developed and added (if not on a daily basis) in a much faster pace, because you will have full control, rather than waiting for a certain future lease by the vendor (who knows when will come out). This would be what I call heaven for ILS administrators or even, heaven for any users of ILS (including the public).

I also read that some library school is making use of Koha in the classroom, so that their students can get a first-hand experience of operating an integrating library system. This is really great!! A lot of people when attending library school, are not actually working in a library yet. Even for those who are working in a library, they often don't get to access all different modules or get to see the administrative aspects of an ILS. Ah I am so jeaslous... makes me want to go back to school again...