ByWater Solutions and The Donohue Group, Inc. Partner to Bring Advanced Cataloging Module to Koha

ByWater Solutions and The Donohue Group, Inc. Partner to Bring Advanced Cataloging Module to Koha

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America’s forefront provider of Koha support, is happy to announce that we have partnered with The Donohue Group Inc. (DGI) to develop an advanced cataloging module for the Koha Open Source ILS.

This new cataloging interface will be offered alongside the editor that is already in use in libraries around the world as an alternative for professional catalogers. The new interface will feature:

Textual, much more compact record view
Free entry of tags and subfields
As much as possible, keyboard-driven UI
Direct import and export of USMARC/MARCXML records
Integrated Z39.50 searching
Macros for easy template management and field population.

Audra Zimmermann, President and Co-Owner of The Donohue Group, Inc., commented on the decision to work with ByWater:

“When DGI decided to upgrade from our bibliographic software system, we were very clear about the features and capacities needed to effectively serve our diverse client base. As a professional cataloging agency that works simultaneously with multiple sets of client specifications we needed a fully-functional cataloging tool that is powerful and sophisticated with the ability to manage records in separate silos when needed. Since our ideal system did not yet exist in the marketplace, we decided to partner with ByWater to design one! ByWater’s developers have been receptive to our ideas and able to collaborate with DGI to design the features that are essential to maintaining our productivity and commitment to quality bibliographic products. We like what we have seen thus far, and are eager to work with the finished product.”

Brendan Gallagher, CEO and Co-Owner of ByWater Solutions, spoke of the decision to bring this new feature to Koha:

“There has been an overwhelming desire for a new interface for cataloging in Koha, so when DGI approached us we found this to be the perfect opportunity to bring this new component to Koha. With funding from both ourselves and DGI we were able to sponsor the development of the advanced cataloging editor. We are very excited to see this module used by Koha libraries around the world and thank DGI for helping us bring this feature to Koha.”

Developers can view the working code for the new module at https://github.com/pianohacker/koha^[2] and Koha community members can watch the development process at http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=...^[3].

About The Donohue Group, Inc.:

The Donohue Group, Inc. (DGI) is a comprehensive library services contract firm based in Windsor, CT. For 30 years DGI’s teams of expert catalogers, project managers and support staff have worked with countless libraries, archives, publishers and distributors to provide high-quality MARC records for materials in all formats and multiple languages. DGI provides original and copy cataloging, retrospective conversion, reclassification, and a host of other services to institutions of all sizes. DGI also works on-site at client institutions to manage and execute complex projects such as barcoding, RFID tagging, and collection shifting and re-labelling. For more information about DGI, please visit: http://www.dgiinc.com^[4]

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/

About ByWater Solutions:
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions to support Koha not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/

References

1. ^{^}PRLog (Press Release) (www.prlog.org)
2. ^{^}https://github.com/pianohacker/koha (github.com)
3. ^{^}http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=... (bugs.koha-community.org)
4. ^{^}http://www.dgiinc.com (www.dgiinc.com)