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Statistical Report for Koha -- ByWater Solutions

2022 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	131			1	2	1		7	28	41	51	9	7.92	8
ILS Functionality	131			1	2	1	1	10	27	51	38	8	7.76	8
Print Functionality	129	1			3	2	1	5	22	48	47	8	7.85	8
Electronic Functionality	118	1	1	4	4	6	13	16	24	26	23	8	6.69	7
Company Satisfaction	129			1	1	1	1	2	19	34	70	9	8.22	9
Support Satisfaction	130				2	1		4	24	26	73	9	8.21	9
Support Improvement	0											0	0.00
Company Loyalty	130	3		2	1	1	3	4	15	23	78	9	8.01	9
Open Source Interest	84	9	1	1	1	1	4	3	4	5	16	9	7.74	10

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	135	6	4.44%
Considering new Interface	135	4	2.96%
System Installed on time?	135	0	0.00%

Average Collection size:		179582

Type	Count
Public	72
Academic	28
School	6
Consortium	4
Special	6

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	11
[2] 10,001-100,000	87
[3] 100,001-250,000	13
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	12
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	5
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2021 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	140				1		1	3	36	58	41	8	7.94	8
ILS Functionality	140		1		1		3	8	39	54	34	8	7.70	8
Print Functionality	138		1			1		7	21	54	54	8	8.06	8
Electronic Functionality	135	6	1	3	5	3	18	20	27	27	25	7	6.47	7
Company Satisfaction	139					1	4	2	17	53	62	9	8.18	8
Support Satisfaction	138					1	4	3	24	41	65	9	8.14	8
Support Improvement	0											0	0.00
Company Loyalty	137	2			1	2	3	1	19	44	65	9	8.04	8
Open Source Interest	77	6	1	1			1	2	2	5	27	9	8.27	10

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	141	4	2.84%
Considering new Interface	141	5	3.55%
System Installed on time?	141	0	0.00%

Average Collection size:		244844

Type	Count
Public	79
Academic	23
School	3
Consortium	6
Special	5

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	8
[2] 10,001-100,000	79
[3] 100,001-250,000	33
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	13
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	5
[6] over 10,000,001	0

Statistics according to type and size categories

The following table presents the 2020 results according to the type and size of the library.

2020 Koha -- ByWater Solutions Responses by Sector
Koha -- ByWater Solutions	all		Academic						Public						School		Consortium
			small		medium		large		small		medium		large
	n	avg	n	avg	n	avg	n	avg	n	avg	n	avg	n	avg	n	avg	n	avg
SatisfactionLevelILS	170	7.84	28	7.71	3		1		94	7.87	11	7.55	0		4		6	8.17
ILSFunctionality	170	7.72	28	7.57	3		1		94	7.82	11	7.18	0		4		6	7.50
PrintFunctionality	169	7.95	28	7.93	3		1		93	7.87	11	7.73	0		4		6	8.67
ElectronicFunctionality	157	6.77	26	6.88	3		1		84	6.74	11	7.00	0		4		6	7.33
SatisfactionCustomerSupport	169	8.26	28	8.18	3		1		93	8.31	11	8.09	0		4		6	8.00
CompanyLoyalty	166	8.13	28	8.14	3		1		92	8.05	10	8.00	0		3		6	8.83

2020 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	170		1	1	2		2	7	40	61	56	8	7.84	8
ILS Functionality	170		1	1	2		2	10	45	63	46	8	7.72	8
Print Functionality	169	1	2		1	1	2	5	33	53	71	9	7.95	8
Electronic Functionality	157	4	3	3	3	9	12	18	34	36	35	8	6.77	7
Company Satisfaction	166			2		1	4	6	26	45	82	9	8.10	8
Support Satisfaction	169			1		2	3	6	16	46	95	9	8.26	9
Support Improvement	0											0	0.00
Company Loyalty	166	1		2		2	4	5	21	38	93	9	8.13	9
Open Source Interest	101	13	3			2	8	2	5	6	21	9	7.38	10

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	173	4	2.31%
Considering new Interface	173	4	2.31%
System Installed on time?	173	0	0.00%

Average Collection size:		143006

Type	Count
Public	108
Academic	35
School	5
Consortium	6
Special	5

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	15
[2] 10,001-100,000	99
[3] 100,001-250,000	36
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	11
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	4
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2019 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	129		1	1		1	4	7	22	45	48	9	7.87	8
ILS Functionality	128			1	1	1	5	10	24	52	34	8	7.69	8
Print Functionality	126		1			2		5	13	43	62	9	8.19	8
Electronic Functionality	122	4	1	4	4	5	16	16	19	30	23	8	6.53	7
Company Satisfaction	128		1				2	4	11	42	68	9	8.28	9
Support Satisfaction	128		1				1	5	15	36	70	9	8.27	9
Support Improvement	123				3	8	27	7	13	24	41	9	7.07	8
Company Loyalty	122	4		3		2	4	3	11	21	74	9	7.89	9
Open Source Interest	107	6	3		2	3	4	2	4	11	72	9	7.64	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	130	7	5.38%
Considering new Interface	130	21	16.15%
System Installed on time?	130	124	95.38%

Average Collection size:		2470664

Type	Count
Public	65
Academic	36
School	4
Consortium	5
Special	3

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	14
[2] 10,001-100,000	76
[3] 100,001-250,000	22
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	11
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	4
[6] over 10,000,001	1

2018 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	129				1	2	6	3	32	46	39	8	7.77	8
ILS Functionality	128		1	1		2	5	10	36	50	23	8	7.46	8
Print Functionality	127	1	1			1	3	7	18	46	50	9	7.92	8
Electronic Functionality	121	2		2	4	7	14	19	35	21	17	7	6.56	7
Company Satisfaction	127			1	2	1	4	4	17	33	65	9	8.06	9
Support Satisfaction	125		1	1	1	2	1	4	14	39	62	9	8.09	8
Support Improvement	123	1		2	1	11	19	6	21	26	36	9	7.00	8
Company Loyalty	128	3	1			1	5	6	13	34	65	9	7.92	9
Open Source Interest	113	5		1	1	1	4		2	2	97	9	8.25	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	130	3	2.31%
Considering new Interface	130	8	6.15%
System Installed on time?	130	121	93.08%

Average Collection size:		123904

Type	Count
Public	72
Academic	34
School	4
Consortium	4
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	3
[2] 10,001-100,000	88
[3] 100,001-250,000	27
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	6
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	3
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2017 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	173			1		5	5	10	40	55	57	9	7.75	8
ILS Functionality	172			1		6	9	14	43	62	37	8	7.47	8
Print Functionality	172	2			1	6	3	10	32	60	58	8	7.72	8
Electronic Functionality	164	4	2	7	3	6	22	24	29	46	21	8	6.48	7
Company Satisfaction	171		1		1	2	6	11	27	46	77	9	7.94	8
Support Satisfaction	171		1		1	3	9	11	25	35	86	9	7.93	9
Support Improvement	164	1			3	11	37	14	15	38	45	9	6.93	8
Company Loyalty	169	5	2	4		5	14	8	22	31	78	9	7.41	8
Open Source Interest	158	11	4	1		8	5	2	10	9	108	9	7.53	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	175	10	5.71%
Considering new Interface	175	17	9.71%
System Installed on time?	175	166	94.86%

Average Collection size:		90943

Type	Count
Public	89
Academic	38
School	14
Consortium	6
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	21
[2] 10,001-100,000	108
[3] 100,001-250,000	31
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	10
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2016 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	124		1		1	1	4	8	25	47	37	8	7.74	8
ILS Functionality	124			2	2	2	3	10	32	52	21	8	7.44	8
Print Functionality	124	3		1	1	1	2	6	28	45	37	8	7.61	8
Electronic Functionality	120	9		3	8	5	8	18	24	30	15	8	6.17	7
Company Satisfaction	124		1	1	1	2	1	10	15	37	56	9	7.94	8
Support Satisfaction	121		1	1	2		4	9	11	41	52	9	7.90	8
Support Improvement	110			2		3	29	6	18	21	31	9	7.00	7
Company Loyalty	120		1	1	1	4	8	6	14	28	57	9	7.78	8
Open Source Interest	109	8	1	1	1	4	4	1	4	8	77	9	7.64	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	125	3	2.40%
Considering new Interface	125	10	8.00%
System Installed on time?	125	121	96.80%

Average Collection size:		85491

Type	Count
Public	75
Academic	28
School	4
Consortium	1
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	16
[2] 10,001-100,000	80
[3] 100,001-250,000	22
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	5
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2015 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	152	3	2	1	2		7	11	33	50	43	8	7.43	8
ILS Functionality	152	1	1	2	3	4	5	17	37	59	23	8	7.20	8
Print Functionality	150	2	2	2	4	1	5	4	22	56	52	8	7.61	8
Electronic Functionality	140	8	2	2	4	7	14	22	27	34	20	8	6.35	7
Company Satisfaction	152	3	2	1	3	2	4	12	18	44	63	9	7.62	8
Support Satisfaction	149		2	1	2	4	7	11	21	36	65	9	7.70	8
Support Improvement	145	2		1		9	36	9	12	21	55	9	7.03	8
Company Loyalty	146	7		2	4	5	8	11	10	32	67	9	7.34	8
Open Source Interest	130	10	3		2	7	4	2	3	11	88	9	7.46	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	155	5	3.23%
Considering new Interface	155	16	10.32%
System Installed on time?	155	149	96.13%

Average Collection size:		101914

Type	Count
Public	91
Academic	32
School	6
Consortium	6
Special	3

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	12
[2] 10,001-100,000	100
[3] 100,001-250,000	23
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	13
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	2
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2014 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	116	1		1	1		9	12	30	39	23	8	7.34	8
ILS Functionality	116			3	1	2	6	18	31	35	20	8	7.17	7
Print Functionality	115			1	1		6	9	20	47	31	8	7.69	8
Electronic Functionality	112	3	4	2	4	3	11	14	31	28	12	7	6.43	7
Company Satisfaction	116		1	2		3	6	8	23	30	43	9	7.61	8
Support Satisfaction	115		1	1	1	2	6	12	21	25	46	9	7.63	8
Support Improvement	110	1		1	3	9	24	9	16	16	31	9	6.73	7
Company Loyalty	111	1	3	1	3	6	10	8	9	23	47	9	7.26	8
Open Source Interest	101	6	1	2	2	1	5	1	4	12	67	9	7.65	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	119	7	5.88%
Considering new Interface	119	12	10.08%
System Installed on time?	119	109	91.60%

Average Collection size:		97617

Type	Count
Public	73
Academic	21
School	4
Consortium	5
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	14
[2] 10,001-100,000	72
[3] 100,001-250,000	17
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	9
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2013 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	89			1	1	2	3	8	19	27	28	9	7.61	8
ILS Functionality	89	1		1		2	4	9	29	25	18	7	7.29	7
Print Functionality	89			1	2	1	2	3	15	32	33	9	7.84	8
Electronic Functionality	85	3	3	2	1	3	10	12	17	20	14	8	6.46	7
Company Satisfaction	89		1	1	2	1	3	5	10	25	41	9	7.83	8
Support Satisfaction	88		1	2	1	1	4	3	10	24	42	9	7.84	8
Support Improvement	82	1		1	1		13	8	11	19	28	9	7.30	8
Company Loyalty	88	4	2	2		1	7	1	9	14	48	9	7.48	9
Open Source Interest	78	2	1	1	1	1	6	2	2		62	9	8.00	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	91	3	3.30%
Considering new Interface	91	7	7.69%
System Installed on time?	91	86	94.51%

Average Collection size:		100698

Type	Count
Public	53
Academic	21
School	3
Consortium	2
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	5
[2] 10,001-100,000	57
[3] 100,001-250,000	16
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	6
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	0
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2012 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	63					1	1	5	14	25	17	8	7.78	8
ILS Functionality	63			1	1		2	4	18	27	10	8	7.48	8
Print Functionality	0											0	0.00
Electronic Functionality	0											0	0.00
Company Satisfaction	63				1	1	1	2	12	11	35	9	8.11	9
Support Satisfaction	63		1		1			2	14	12	33	9	8.05	9
Support Improvement	59		1	2		4	5	5	6	13	23	9	7.27	8
Company Loyalty	61				2	2	2	2	8	8	37	9	8.02	9
Open Source Interest	57	2				1	2	2	3	2	45	9	8.21	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	65	0	0.00%
Considering new Interface	65	1	1.54%
System Installed on time?	65	59	90.77%

Average Collection size:		148035

Type	Count
Public	40
Academic	11
School	3
Consortium	2
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	4
[2] 10,001-100,000	44
[3] 100,001-250,000	9
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	5
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	1
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2011 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	59			1		1	3	3	13	23	15	8	7.61	8
ILS Functionality	59		1			1	3	9	17	17	11	7	7.25	7
Print Functionality	0											0	0.00
Electronic Functionality	0											0	0.00
Company Satisfaction	59			2			1	1	8	18	29	9	8.07	8
Support Satisfaction	59			1			2	3	7	11	35	9	8.17	9
Support Improvement	56	1					11	6	4	9	25	9	7.43	8
Company Loyalty	59	2				2	2	3	3	9	38	9	7.98	9
Open Source Interest	49	2			1	1	2	2		3	38	9	8.06	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	62	0	0.00%
Considering new Interface	62	5	8.06%
System Installed on time?	62	59	95.16%

Average Collection size:		104566

Type	Count
Public	42
Academic	7
School	3
Consortium	2
Special	2

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	7
[2] 10,001-100,000	34
[3] 100,001-250,000	8
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	5
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	0
[6] over 10,000,001	0

2010 Survey Results
Product: Koha -- ByWater Solutions		Response Distribution										Statistics
Category	Responses	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Mode	Mean	Median
ILS Satisfaction	37						1	2	12	8	14	9	7.86	8
ILS Functionality	0											0	0.00
Print Functionality	0											0	0.00
Electronic Functionality	0											0	0.00
Company Satisfaction	37								4	14	19	9	8.41	9
Support Satisfaction	36								3	14	19	9	8.44	9
Support Improvement	37						1		3	10	23	9	8.46	9
Company Loyalty	37								2	6	29	9	8.73	9
Open Source Interest	37										37	9	9.00	9

Category	Total	Yes	percent
Considering new ILS	40	1	2.50%
Considering new Interface	40	1	2.50%
System Installed on time?	40	36	90.00%

Average Collection size:		57706

Type	Count
Public	26
Academic	8
School	1
Consortium	1
Special	1

Size Category	Count
[1] Under 10,000	4
[2] 10,001-100,000	28
[3] 100,001-250,000	5
[4] 250,001-1,000,000	1
[5] 1,000,001-10,000,000	0
[6] over 10,000,001	0

1 Responses for Koha -- ByWater Solutions in 2009

0 Responses for Koha -- ByWater Solutions in 2008

0 Responses for Koha -- ByWater Solutions in 2007

2022 : gen: 7.92 company 8.22 loyalty 8.01 support 8.21

2021 : gen: 7.94 company 8.18 loyalty 8.04 support 8.14

2020 : gen: 7.84 company 8.10 loyalty 8.13 support 8.26

2019 : gen: 7.87 company 8.28 loyalty 7.89 support 8.27

2018 : gen: 7.77 company 8.06 loyalty 7.92 support 8.09

2017 : gen: 7.75 company 7.94 loyalty 7.41 support 7.93

2016 : gen: 7.74 company 7.94 loyalty 7.78 support 7.90

2015 : gen: 7.43 company 7.62 loyalty 7.34 support 7.70

2014 : gen: 7.34 company 7.61 loyalty 7.26 support 7.63

2013 : gen: 7.61 company 7.83 loyalty 7.48 support 7.84

2012 : gen: 7.78 company 8.11 loyalty 8.02 support 8.05

2011 : gen: 7.61 company 8.07 loyalty 7.98 support 8.17

2010 : gen: 7.86 company 8.41 loyalty 8.73 support 8.44

Comments (survey2020)

The customer service provide by ByWater is exceptional. If your ILS contract comes up for renewal, you absolutely should give them a call. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

We are already an open source library using open source platforms for ILS, library guides, digital archive, and institutional records repository. (Library type: Theology; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

As no vendor is perfect, I would not consider ByWater Solutions to be completely flawless. However, they have been a magnificent partner in working with our consortium on a variety of needs that range from support to future developments. I would recommend their services to any type or size of library. They can deliver at a competitive price point and the more people that contribute to Koha, the better it gets for everyone. (Library type: Consortium; collection size: very large; ils satisfaction: 8)

Bywater has provided superb customer service and tech know-how to retrieve records lost due to a technical glitch during our shut-down and removal to remote location. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 7)

We've been using Koha, with support from ByWater Solutions, since 2016. We are very pleased with the functionality and customization of Koha. We had significant budgetary savings by going with an open source ILS. Support from ByWater and other Koha libraries is awesome. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

We are very pleased with Koha and the Aspen Discovery product (added this year). ByWater Solutions has been very easy to deal with and they are very responsive to our requests. Koha offers pretty basic support for electronic resources, but Aspen Discovery has provided us with a very easy to use and manage way to provide electronic resource access. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 8)

We already use two open source products: Koha and Libki. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 8)

As with all growth issues, economic and technological, there are days that the sophisticated and complex capabilities of KOHA seem all too much for our small, high touch service model. That said, at least we are positioned for the next generation of users in our community and our human resources bridges any gaps that may occur when current seniors are introduced to our systems. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 8)

Bywater's customer service is stellar. The limits of the Koha ILS is where most of our problems occur. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 7)

We use Ebsco Discovery for 4th and 5th grade students in an elementary school. The interface works pretty well, and allows us to include all the links we need to other non-Ebsco sites as well on our landing page. We use it as a landing page for our one-on-one laptop program for these grades. While we are happy with Koha and very happy with Bywater, we still do not feel that Koha is as kid-friendly in its OPAC as we would want. There is a real need for kid-friendly OPAC interfaces: and some of it would be as simple as suppressing certain fields, and being able to highlight others by controlling the font size, etc. As a small stand-alone library, we don't have the funds to pay for or even contribute to the development of improvements in the interface. (Library type: School; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 7)

already open source (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 9)

Overall, customer service with Bywater is very good. It would be nice to see more digital resources implemented/integrated free of charge. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

We are happy with our ILS, Koha, and very happy with our vendor, ByWater Solutions. (Library type: Consortium; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 8)

We currently use Koha, which is an open source system. We are pleased with it as an integrated library system. We do not take advantage, however, of the opportunities for customization that open source offers, because we are a very small library. (Library type: Academic; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 7)

We already have an open source ILS. (Library type: Public; collection size: large; ils satisfaction: 2)

We do not use the ILS for print or electronic management. (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 9)

We have been very favorably impressed with ByWater Solutions' expertise, knowledge, and willingness to work with us to achieve our goals. Particularly when we shut down unexpectedly in March 2020 for COVID19, it was heartening to know that ByWater already had systems and processes - and documentation! - in place for us to use. Serving our public during lockdown was only possible because of ByWater's foresight and support. Our previous ILS certainly could never have coped with this unforeseen situation. (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 9)

Product works well for our library and system. (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 8)

The Open Source Considerations question was about considering implementing an open source. We have migrated to KOHA a year ago, so that's why I answered "likely", not that we would do it again. (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 7)

Bywater Solutions has been an excellent vendor, with friendly and helpful support and training individuals. Overall, I am very satisfied with their service. One small weakness of theirs is speed in responding to some tickets. Some tickets take several weeks to receive a response, particularly in the "Systems" queue. I suspect their Systems team is often overwhelmed with work and running behind. (Library type: Consortium; collection size: large; ils satisfaction: 8)

Koha has been good. Our concerns are when patrons pay a fine, Koha adds more money which results in a tremendous over-credit and you can't remove it. Also, items that are being checked out sometimes are indicated to be due back on the same day; specifically this happens a lot with board books. Also, sometimes when there is a hold on an item, when you go to confirm and print it out, it goes to an 'internal server error' and then you have to go back to do the process twice. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 7)

ByWater has been an excellent source of support for over 3 years. (Library type: Academic; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

[...] already uses an open source ILS, Koha. This is the response for the consortium. Individual member libraries will submit their own responses. (Library type: Consortium; collection size: very large; ils satisfaction: 8)

One thing I would appreciate having back is the Browse key, it is just a personal preference as a cataloger, it is a key that is immensely helpful in making sure all titles, series, subscriptions are cataloged in the same consistent manner. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

ByWater's upgrade webinars and documentation are excellent and they were really wonderful in the chaos of this year. Looking back at the series of tickets I opened (beginning with "if we closed, how would this work?" and progressing through "this seems likely, so what if we..." ending with "Oh no, this is happening now and I'm just going to turn off a bunch of things, I hope nothing breaks, thanks!") I'm amazed at how calm and helpful they were knowing they were getting that from all of their customers with varying levels of technical acumen and panic. If I were to change anything about Koha, it would be to add more robust features to the acquisitions module. Templates for creating orders and the ability to receive items in groups instead of one at a time would save us considerable time. I follow the acq SIG in the Koha community but haven't been able to participate as much as I would like. It's lovely to have that outlet and resource though - the joys of Open Source! (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 8)

We are very happy with Koha overall, but we have a few concerns/difficulties. We offer a monthly Fine Forgiveness Day, and the system does not forgive fines for Lost/Long Overdue items easily. It is also difficult to record when a patron pays for or replaces a lost item. The accounting tab and item records do not "communicate" with each other well. However, overall we are pleased with the system, and the only way we were able to automate 6 years ago was because Bywater Solutions offered a discounted price through our state library. (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 7)

Koha is a robust library management system, but we do not currently use a discovery layer. Our online public access catalog searches take a noticeable amount of time (close to 5 seconds per search or screen) and feel slow. Patrons and staff would prefer a faster response and a better known title result display. Because most searches are keyword, the known title searches sometimes show the desired result several screens down the list. Also, our Overdrive ebooks are searched from the Overdrive site, but the results are not integrated with the list of print titles in the search results. This is supposed to be in development, but does not yet work. (Library type: Public; collection size: very small; ils satisfaction: 8)

I have always been very pleased with the support services provided by ByWater Solutions and our Koha partners. They respond quickly and are willing to work with other vendors from whom we have products. (Library type: Academic; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

ByWater is quite responsive to our customer service tickets and emergency calls even on weekends. They have regularly helped me to create new statistical reports to find the odd data from time to time. Their regular improvements have improved functionality with the Aspen Discovery layer which has been amazing in aggregating records and formats to ease searching for patrons. The only complaint I have heard is about the functionality of the Libki print management which relies on Google. We have been hesitant to switch to it due to our neighboring libraries' concerns. (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 7)

ByWater is very attentative to our needs. They answer support requests quickly and are always open to our new ideas, and new coding challenges. (Library type: Law; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 7)

We are considering Aspen for discovery, through Bywater (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 6)

[...] to implement an open source ILS. We would like to see a better system in terms of electronic resources. Koha is fine for print materials, although circulation would like to see better functionality in this area as well. Also, acquisitions needs to be bolstered in Koha. As a product, Koha would seem fine for smaller public libraries. With the amount of acquisitions and electronic resources we purchase, Koha leaves a lot to be desired. I should note this is separate from ByWater Solutions, Inc., which has excellent support and customer service. (Library type: Academic; collection size: very large; ils satisfaction: 7)

Technically KOHA (our ILS) is an open source ILS, we just have a vendor set it up and troubleshoot. (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 6)

We do not share discovery systems or any other services, programs, or software except for the Koha ILS as serviced by ByWaterSolutions, Inc. (Library type: Consortium; collection size: large; ils satisfaction: 8)

See the note in the section pertaining to academic discovery. One area to consider asking about is if the Library uses an events management platform. Post pandemic for public libraries that is seemingly going to be a big area. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 8)

We use Koha (so already open source); the product is good, the customer service is excellent. There's things I wish they did/didn't do and some long-term bugs that need fixing, but I'm overall happy with the ILS and have no plans to change it. I'd recommend them if someone was asking. I have no clue how it works for e-resources because all of our e-resources have their own systems and we don't add e-records to Koha so I left that blank. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 7)

Bywater is always great to work with. They are responsive, friendly, and helpful every time I work with them. (Library type: Public; collection size: medium; ils satisfaction: 9)

I do not feel I am qualified to answer any of these questions. My system library would be more qualified to answer. I did my best. (Library type: Public; collection size: very small; ils satisfaction: 6)

We currently use an open source ILS, so I probably answered incorrectly above. Just guessing! thanks! (Library type: Public; collection size: small; ils satisfaction: 7)

We currently use an open-source ILS. We are not an academic institution and so have no data on the effectiveness of discovery services for students/instructors (Library type: Museum; collection size: very small; ils satisfaction: 7)

ILS

Library Technology Guides is a service provided by Marshall Breeding, independent consultant, author, and speaker.