CALYX information essentials: Open Source Library Solution Consultants

KohaCon11 will be the fourth international gathering of the Koha community and will be held in Thane, India from 31 October to 2 November 2011. The three day conference will be followed by a hackfest for Koha developers from 4 November to 6 November.

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.

Dorish Maru College, the Melbourne seminary of the Divine Word Missionaries in Australia, has chosen CALYX information essentials to provide hosting services for the Koha library management system of the Patrick Murphy Memorial Library.

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.

Jessie Street National Women’s Library has chosen CALYX information essentials to provide a hosted implementation of the open source Koha integrated library management system. The contract provides for system installation and configuration, data migration from a legacy Athena system and training of library personnel. The system will be hosted off site in CALYX’ state of the art data centre. Links to the City of Sydney library and to the National Library of Australia will be maintained.

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.