As part of the agreement, WALDO has commissioned LibLime to substantially enhance Koha to meet the requirements of academic libraries. Enhancement specifications were developed jointly by LibLime and WALDO during the course of a scoping study completed in the Spring of 2007 and include over 35 functional areas. LibLime's Koha ZOOM solution will provide WALDO members with a complete integrated library automation solution, including acquisitions and serials modules, as well as a union catalog. The migration of the full members will begin with a pilot implementation at St. John’s University, Queens, New York, in the Spring/Summer of 2008 followed by the migration of the other 14 libraries pending success of the pilot.

“WALDO’s membership was impressed with the advanced capabilities and architecture in Koha, which included many features and functionality not available in current proprietary ILS systems,” says Linda Poston, WALDO President. “WALDO chose Koha ZOOM because it presented the best architectural fit for WALDO, offering data and policy independence for individual libraries and institutions. WALDO decided to sponsor some additional features and functionality to better support the needs and workflow of academic libraries. Sponsored development will expand acquisitions, serials and cataloging modules. It is exciting to have such a significant role in and timely response to development needs expressed by our membership,” explains Poston.

“A major attraction of the open source model is the opportunity it affords for libraries to exercise direct control over the development and evolutionary pace of their systems,” says Theresa Maylone, University Librarian at St. John’s University. “This control is critical to any successful enterprise and libraries are no exception."

WALDO has incorporated funding of on-going development into its commitment to open source. Participating libraries will initially contribute 20% of operating costs to a special development fund to insure the ability to keep up with the pace of technology and with the accelerating expectations of academic library users. “Such a commitment is now possible financially because the lower overall costs of operating on the open source model,” Maylone explains.

The initial development project and phased migration of the WALDO academic consortium members is part of a broader WALDO/LibLime agreement that provides for migration, support, hosting and development services at reduced prices for all participating WALDO members.

“There is widespread interest in open source among the broader WALDO membership and WALDO encourages libraries who are not currently members of WALDO to explore the advantages of joining the consortium,” says John Stromquist, Executive Director of WALDO. “Advantages include volume discounts, standard contracts, consolidated renewals and invoicing and centralized billing. Participation in the LibLime discounts through WALDO are available to all WALDO full, associate and limited members,” Stromquist explains.

About WALDO

Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization (WALDO) is a membership organization supporting the procurement & administration of electronic information services for libraries since 1982. Supporting over 900 member libraries, WALDO offers consortial discounts for over 5,000 products and services. For more information, please visit the WALDO Website located at http://www.waldolib.org or contact Robert Karen at (800) 326-6495 ext. 1 or rob@waldolib.org.

About Koha

Since it was first put into production in early 2000, Koha has enabled new realities of open access, affordability, and free innovation for hundreds of small and medium-sized libraries around the world. Koha has lived up to its name, which means ‘Gift’ in the Maori language of New Zealand. From the outset, many libraries understood the power of this gift. They downloaded it, they installed it, they changed it, and they contributed their solutions back to the library community.

Several companies around the world support Koha, providing libraries with a full array of services including installation, migration assistance, data integrity testing, staff training, software maintenance, support and customization. To learn more about what services are available visit http://koha.org/support/.

About LibLime

LibLime is the global leader in open-source solutions for libraries, with a mission to make open source accessible to libraries. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, LibLime educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. LibLime then facilitates implementation of open-source in libraries by providing outstanding development, customization, support and training solutions--solutions tailored to each library's needs. For more information, see http://liblime.com.

Press Contact:

Tina Burger • Vice President, Marketing LibLime

(888)Koha ILS (564-2457) • tnb@liblime.com

LibLime and the LibLime logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of LibLime. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact Sales:

E-mail: sales@liblime.com

Phone: (888) Koha ILS (564-2457)

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