We’ll be at the Conference in Melbourne, 6-9 Feb. If you’re attending, be sure to come and see us at Booth #27!

Chris Cormack from Catalyst IT who wrote the first line of Koha’s code in 1999 and knows Koha inside out will be there too.

VALA is the conference for all matters relating to information technology for libraries.

CALYX’ practice is to upgrade our hosted clients twice per annum. Upgrades are timed to ensure that clients receive prompt access to the latest software developments whilst being offered only stable software that has been tested and proved not only by CALYX personnel but by librarians around the world. The Koha project makes major feature releases twice per annum, in April and October. Every month there is a maintenance release that applies patches to any problem software that has been identified since the previous release, where the patch has been tested and signed off by users, has passed QA and been accepted by the Release Manager for inclusion in the next release. The Release Manager for Koha 3.04 and for the forthcoming Koha 3.06 is Chris Cormack, of Catalyst IT in New Zealand. The Release Manager for Koha 3.08, due in April 2012, will be Paul Poulain of Biblibre in France. The outcome for users of Koha is that they receive stable software that does what it is supposed to do.

Koha just keeps getting better and better. And it works. For more information about Koha visit the community’s web site: http://koha-community.org/ or call Irma today on 0413 510 717

KohaCon is a free conference. Previous conferences have been held in Paris (France), Plano (Texas, USA) and Wellington (New Zealand). The Koha community is excited to be taking KohaCon to India where deployment of Koha is widespread and flourishing. This promises to be the largest KohaCon ever with several hundred delegates from around the world expected to attend.

Registrations are still open.

As we did in Wellington in 2010, CALYX is proud to be a sponsor of KohaCon11 in Thane.

With no registration fees and a strong Australian dollar, this conference provides a great opportunity for Australian librarians who wish to influence the future direction of Koha. Rub shoulders with librarians and software developers from the USA, UK, France, Germany, New Zealand and other European, Asian and African countries. Or simply come to learn more about Koha and the advantages of the free software model. Whilst you are there, take the opportunity to see something of the rich culture and history of India, an emerging world power. CALYX directors will be making a side trip or two and would love you to join us!

Information about KohaCon11 in Thane can be found here: http://kohacon11.vpmthane.org/ocs/index.php/k/k11 or contact us: irma@calyx.net.au

openSA Presents: “Open Source Software & Open Standards: The Sustainable Alternative for Information Management”

Venue: Hilton Hotel, 233 Victoria Square, Adelaide SA

Date: June 14th, 2011

Registration: 5:30pm registration for a 6pm start ~

1. “The cost alternatives of commercial data management software” presented by Anastasia Govan (Director, Inforg Information Services)

Upon comparing open source and commercial library, records and digital management repository in the Australian market one may be mistaken for thinking there is a distinct expensive Americanisation occurring in product offering, implementation and support. Functional specifications were identified by interviewing a client’s information management staff and analysing foreseeable technology trends and information management standards. The specification was sent to vendors with an Australian presence requesting level of compliance and estimated costs. There is a particular gap in the Australian market to provide cost effective, single, Australian focused and supported data and document management systems that bring data and objects from various systems together. Could Open Source and the cloud be that cost effective solution?

Anastasia Govan is the founder of Inforg Information Solutions, an Australian consulting, research, education and labour placement organisation specialising in project management, data quality and electronic document management solutions. In 2006 Ana was named Australian Young Professional of the Year and has consulted in Australia and Asia for 15 years whilst holding academic positions with the University of South Australia and Charles Darwin University. Ana has extensive experience as a Director of not for profit and private sector organisations, publishes and speaks regularly, holds research grants and is an active member of relevant professional societies helping others to develop their professional information and technology potential.

2. “Information Managers: Has Open Source’s Time Arrived?” presented by Irma Birchall (Director, CALYX Information Essentials)

Koha, the first free library management system, has since 2000 been a trend setter and with much wind in it’s sails has been part of deep changes in the global library landscape. The focus of the presentation will be the features of Koha Version 3.4. as well as some other free and open source applications. Developing collaborative capacity is at the core of dynamic open source communities and libraries. How this is achieved, the challenges, the necessary structures, the meritocracy and who benefits from the bridges built will be explored to understand more fully the change open source applications like Koha are offering and how libraries can be empowered in the process.

Irma Birchall is the founder of CALYX information essentials, a Koha and Kete support provider in Australia since 2003. She worked at Sydney University’s Fisher Library and other libraries for 10 years after graduating in Library Sciences and is an active member of ALIA the Australian Library and Information Association. She is also a member of various free software user groups and takes part in many GLAM (galleries/Libraries/Archives/Museums) sector activities. During Koha implementations, Irma’s focus is on training, and she brings to her clients a solid understanding of Koha, library processes, international library standards and of the Australian library context.

Koha is the world’s first free and open source integrated library management system. Originally developed by Katipo Communications of New Zealand for Horowhenua Library Trust, Koha is now maintained and developed by a world wide community of librarians and software professionals. The Koha community is located at http://koha-community.org.

Koha 3.4.0 is a major feature release. Numerous new features and additional system preferences are added. There is a major change to the underlying architecture (adoption of Template::Toolkit for templating) and performance enhancements (removal of item data from biblio records).

A feature sponsored by a CALYX client has been incorporated into 3.4.0.

Work by French universities at Aix-Marseilles, Lyon and St Etienne has enhanced the readiness of Koha for academic libraries and will be added to in future releases. CALYX looks forward to seeing Australian universities contributing to this effort. (Please contact us to discuss!)

The release notes for Koha 3.4.0 may be found here:

http://koha-community.org/koha-newsletter-volume-2issue-4-april-2011/#notes

This release will be followed monthly by maintenance releases, with the next major feature release (Koha 3.6) due in October 2011.

CALYX will liaise with clients individually regarding the upgrade schedule to Koha 3.4.

Located at Box Hill in Victoria, the college is part of the Yarra Theological Union, a teaching institution of the Melbourne College of Divinity. The library collection was previously hosted by a Koha support company in the United States.

The library chose CALYX for its value for money offering, ability to provide support locally and long standing involvement in the Koha project. According to Library Manager Siobhan Foster, “It is very reassuring to know that CALYX staff are available to provide such prompt and professional advice and support.”

The Divine Word Missionaries are a religious missionary society within the Catholic Church. The society’s work in Australia dates back to 1900. Dorish Maru College was founded in 1988, consolidating the society’s participation in Yarra Theological Union, where formation ministry and teaching are integral to the society’s mission in Australia. The Patrick Murphy Memorial Library contains several thousand theological books and journals to meet the needs of seminarians and YTU students for their undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

CALYX information essentials has provided Koha support services in Australia since 2004. We are committed to the distribution of free software and participate actively in the international Koha community.

According to Professor Michael Mason C.Ss.R., CALYX was chosen for its value for money offering, ability to provide support locally and long standing involvement in the Koha project.

The Redemptorists are a religious congregation of priests and brothers within the Catholic Church who live in community for the sake of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, especially among people on the margins of society and church. The Redemptorists came to Australia in 1882 and established the seminary at Kew, Melbourne in 1935. Academic teaching and research is a vital aspect of the varied missionary works of the Redemptorists.

CALYX information essentials has provided Koha support services in Australia since 2004. We are committed to the distribution of free software and participate actively in the international Koha community.

Jessie Street National Women’s Library, located in Sydney, Australia is a specialist library that collects, preserves and promotes awareness of the cultural heritage of Australian women. It is self-funding and staffed by volunteers, many of whom are professional librarians. The collection contains over 10,000 books as well as video and audio cassettes and a varied and developing archives collection.

“As an entirely voluntary organisation, we needed a system that is simple and intuitive but has the full functionality expected by senior professional librarians,” said Jane Pollard, a member of the Executive Committee. “Koha provides all this together with Web 2.0 features that will enable readers to interact with the collection. We are delighted to partner with CALYX information essentials, who have patiently and professionally tailored their services to our unique situation. Their expertise in the migration of our data has been a special bonus.The Software as a Service (SaaS) model offered by CALYX will free the library from the concerns of housing and maintaining the computer server and network as well as saving the expenses of hardware acquisition and maintenance.”

The online catalogue is available @ http://jsnwl.calyx.net.au/

CALYX information essentials is delighted to be chosen to assist this very special library.

Irma, Gill and Robyn take care of all library issues and this trio manges every aspect of cataloguing and archiving expertly.

Bob is our project manager and overall technical problem solver.